So, let me explain. I recently inherited my dad's collection of somewhere around 2000 vinyl records; I want to get these backed up to a digital format.

Problem being... I really don't know too much about this. I like to think of myself as something of an audiophile; or at least a music lover. Despite this, I've been simple in how I listen to my music, thus far... mp3s and a crappy pair of computer speakers have been good enough for casual listening, and a somewhat-more-expensive-but-nonetheless-still-cheap stereo set for more dedicated listening. However, none of this is good enough for this project. I have the stereo my dad used, which is better than anything I could buy nowadays, but this doesn't help me with backing these up.

Basically, to stop rambling... I need help with -every part of these vinyls.- I'm not even sure how to play them properly; I know the very basics, but I also know that just knowing that is enough to permanently screw up these albums; considering what they meant to my dad, and rare and monetarily worthy alot of these are, even hurting one of them would kill me. I need to know how to play them, care for them, clean them...

I also need to get opinions and ideas on the best formats for doing this, the best computer and recording hardware, etc. I know one needs to replace needles; I need to know how to find out what kind and where to get them. Basically, I need something of a noobie guide; I don't know if such a thing exists elsewhere, as I haven't begun Googling, yet. Even if I do find one, I'd still be posting this for more personal opinions that I feel I can trust. (I've trolled around before on BugMeNot accounts; I might've even signed up with a real account before today... if so, I don't remember any of the info. )

So... please help? If more information is needed, just let me know.

I also have old cassettes, eight-tracks, and some formats I don't even know the name of... I wasn't prepared for this addition to my music collection. I'd like to try to do the same thing with these.

Thanks in advance!

-Wolfi

Open and lostless: FLAC or WAVPACK ... or TAK (soon open ?).



No big issue ... avoid very slow ones (<500 MHz).



Card quality is important

Unless the collection is predominately music that is not available on CD, I would invest in a decent turntable and enjoy them as is and purchase CD versions of the ones you want on disc.

It will be an expenseive and time consuming process to achieve CD-comparable quality from the collection. It also takes a fair amount of trial and error to "learn" a repeatable process to rip the records.

If your in it for the "fun" of the process, then go at it! Otherwise I would seriously consider my options before I invested too much $$$ and time. You will need a decent turntable/cartridge(s)/phono amp/sound card and software to get started.

I have a few thousand albums and enjoy playing them very much, but I have added digital copies of many/most of them as opposed to ripping them.

The ones that are not available, I have ripped, but most can be found if you look hard enough.

Just my 2 cents.

There are thousands of posts in many audio forums on this topic, which could be rather stiff reading, but there are also a number of sites with complete guides, each taking a somewhat different viewpoint on what is important and not important. Here is a good one to start with
http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm

Thanks for mentioning my site, Andy. However, in Wolfi's case I think there is a lot of important preliminary stuff to consider that is not covered on that page. Wolfi points out that the last thing he (she?) wants to do is damage these precious records.

Apart from physically abusing it, the easiest way to damage an LP is to play it on a bad turntable. Most stereo equipment these days is solid-state and has benefitted from the dramatic cost reductions that implies. Turntables are primarily mechanical devices, and do not benefit in the same way. Good turntables (the sort that don't damage LPs) are not cheap. Unfortunately many people expect ALL stereo equipment to be cheap and in response to this there are a host of cheap (and very nasty) turntables available for purchase. You must avoid them.

Good turntables can't be bought from chain stores. You'll need to visit a specialist dealer who understands the needs of vinyl replay. You're probably hoping for some concrete examples of makes and models that I recommend. I'll just say this: the cheapest turntable I'd be prepared to put one of my LPs on would probably be the ProJect Debut. Here in the UK they cost about £150 ($300). If you're prepared to buy secondhand, you can pick up some nice old models on eBay for not very much. I'd guess that things like Technics SL1200s would go for about $200, and you could also look out for things like Rega Planar 2s and 3s for around the same price.

Even once you've got a decent turntable, it has to be properly set up. Incorrect geometrical alignment and/or tracking force/anti skating can easily lead to mistracking which damages LPs quite badly. (Mistracking is what happens when the stylus loses contact with the groove wall, and instead of faithfully following the wiggles it bounces around randomly, gouging little pits out of the vinyl).

It may be that the turntable you have inherited from your dad is fine. If you can tell us the make and model number, someone here may be able to comment. But even if it's a good one, it is probably still worth: (a) replacing the stylus; and (b) having a specialist check it over to make sure it's properly set up.

The secret to making good digital transfers of LPs to is to get the initial replay as good as possible, so start off by getting that part right. Once you're satisfied with that, you can start thinking about recording them to hard disk and then fiddling with them in software. Which opens up a huge can of worms that we'll leave for another day....

PS. I hope this hasn't scared you too much!

Thank you guys so much! Haven't looked at that guide, yet, but hopefully, this will get me started.

(He, by the way. )

From what I've seen, most of what he had were quite hard to get anywhere else. I was offered $6,000 for the collection shortly after he passed, and told by others that I could get double that and more if I really wanted to sell them. I personally don't know how true this is, but even the $6k isn't exactly something to shake a stick at.

I will try to get the make and model number; I know it's oooold. Thirty years, at least, and probably more like forty. The stylus in there is probably stilll good, since I know he played them once in a great while, and even if not, no doubt I have some replacements with the rest of his stuff. Nonetheless... it would be awesome if you guys could link me around to places where I can find all this antique hardware, and if you know anyone... reputable enough to look at this stuff (San Antonio, Tx area), that'd be nice, too. I don't trust the people around here, frankly; these albums meant a helluva alot to him, and I don't want -anything- to happen to them, as I've said.

All that being said, I'm not horribly concerned about money. I don't want to overspend, obviously, but I am more than willing to spend money on equipment that's worth it. He made sure his kids were well taken care of, too.

And no, I'm not even remotely scared; if anything, I'm more excited than ever, haha. I've been staring at and lusting after these things since I was eight or so; at the moment, I wish I didn't have them, if you know what I mean, but nonetheless... making lemonade and all that.

I'll probably be here an awful lot; I've always loved my music, and this gives me a good excuse to get into the audiophile scene, as it were.

Thanks again!

While you are looking at ideas and equipment related to such a project, this site is worth considering.
http://www.kabusa.com/

Coming from so long ago, your father quite possibly did not have any modern knowledge of adequate LP cleaning, which can be quite important to preservation and to getting the best transfers. This site, and the one above, can provide some insights
http://discdoc.com/

My "standard comments" about LP transfers (some redundant links to Clive's page & software)...

That's a shipload of records! If you want to fix-up the "ticks" and "pops", you need to get an automatic de-clicker. (It would take me 2000 weekends with Wave Repair!) There are some mentioned on Clive's site. Normalization doesn't take much time. But if you apply any EQ, you will need to spend some trial & error time listening to the effect. And, noise reduction can add artifacts. So if you use these tools, you will need to listen carefully to the full-recording to make sure you are not making things worse. This is what really chews-up the time... You might have to listen to a 40-minute recording 2 or 3 times... You can always archive first, and then fix-up some or all of the digitized recordings later. The most important thing is to get a good recording-level for a strong signal-to-noise-ratio, but to keep the level below clipping.

High quality MP3 may be good enough. If you use a high-enough bitrate, the sound should be indistinguishable from a "pure" WAV file (or the LP). But, for "archive quality" you may want to use WAV or lossless compression. If my "quick & dirty" estimates are close, you'll need somewhere around 1TB (1000GB) for uncompressed WAV files (assuming 44.1kHz, 16-bit). And, double the disk-space requirements for a full backup... You don't want to do this twice!

WAV ~ 600MB per hour
Lossless compression ~ 350MB per hour
256kbps MP3 ~ 110MB per hour

The word "best" always scares me... The analog side... The turntable, cartridge, and preamp are more important than the digital-side.
As far as recording, the software shouldn't affect the sound at all. (I've been using GoldWave (~$40 USD) for about 10 years.) When you start processing (filtering, etc.) it can make a difference. But, if you don't do anything to the sound, the software won't hurt it. The soundcard isn't too critical either. The only thing to watch-out for is recording-noise. The soundcard's preamp and other analog circuitry will add some noise before the sound is passed to the analog-to-digital converter. Once it's digitized, the soundcard has no effect on the digital file. (When I once used my motherboard-soundchip for a recording and then added some high-frequency boost. The processing boosted the noise to a "noticeable" level.)

Go for it. I got great results with a Music Hall MMF7 turntable that comes already set up (no fussing with cartridges or aligments) and Alesis Masterlink ML-9600 CD recorder at 96KHz / 24-bit. You will need a lot of CD-Rs!. You do need to clean the LPs, it really makes a difference; I use a VPI HW-16.

www.audiogon.com is still a good place to buy high quality used audio equipment. They have a forum there where you might be able to find some helpful people in your area.

You can find the Alesis on eBay, but be aware that the HDD inside is fragile. I got mine on eBay but the HDD didn't survive the shipping. It wasn't a big deal, you can just put a new HDD in there and load it up with software from the alesis web site ( www.alesis.com), I would have upgraded the HDD anyway.

This worked for me, there are many other options, half the fun is looking at all the ways you could do this.