Audacity Advice [Archive] - The Art of Sound Forum

johnB

05-01-2019, 14:29

Hi

I’m looking for use Audacity to digitise a number of LPs.
Can anyone advise or else point me in the direction of a previous
discussion on this subject before I dive in.

Thanks
John

mikmas

05-01-2019, 15:08

mikmas

05-01-2019, 15:13

... also handy if you have an AD converter that allows the strength of the signal being fed to Audacity to be varied, not all do that.

struth

05-01-2019, 15:18

There is Wavosaur as well. think its still free

johnB

05-01-2019, 16:22

Thanks Mike. I’ve just retired also - so my Winter job-list includes cataloguing all my LPs, singles and CDs on Discogs, as well as digitising the LPs that I can’t find already in a digital format!

I think I’ve cracked setting track labels on Audacity - it is slow but not terrible.

What Hz rate do you use and do you export as MP3 or WAV?

Cheers
John

johnB

05-01-2019, 16:22

Thanks Grant - i’ll Take a look.

mikmas

05-01-2019, 17:18

What Hz rate do you use and do you export as MP3 or WAV?

I record at 24/96 and save as AIFF as I find it keeps metadata better across different devices - however my TV only recognises WAV or MP3 for playback :rolleyes: but I usually convert later if needed.

dave2010

05-01-2019, 21:36

I use Audacity and quite enjoy the process - however it is laborious and the software lacks some of the automated features found in others such as Vinyl Studio, Pure Vinyl, etc.
Splitting tracks and entering metadata are two of the most obvious chores but Audacity also lacks an automated 'tick removal' system. It does have filters than can be set up to do that but I have never managed so do it manually.

Like I said, I enjoy the process and (being retired) have oodles of time ... but YMMV ;)1. Not sure about tick removal - there may be a filter which will do this, or someone may have produced a plug in. The noise removal can be useful, for example for removing/reducing mains hum, or turntable rumble - not that anyone round here will have those. It is possible to overdo the noise removal, but if a short section of "quiet" is used as the noise signature in Audacity the results can be rather good. If you try this, try with differing degrees (percentages?) of noise filtering, until you find a level which works for you. Some recordings have hum built in. Perhaps they were made when the companies were a bit slapdash, or thought that most punters wouldn't notice or have kit good enough to reproduce that. I have some digital downloads of earlier recordings which are like that - so didn't pick up any hum or rumble from me.

2. Re oodles of time - you probably won't have that for long - but good luck if you do.

dave2010

05-01-2019, 21:42

There is Wavosaur as well. think its still freeIt seems to be free - see https://www.wavosaur.com/

However, it's a Windows program, and may only work with earlier versions. I mostly gave up Windows years ago, and I'm not rushing back to try it again.

struth

05-01-2019, 21:50

I looked at audacity but decided it was all going to be more work than it was worth. I just buy the CD or use tidal was my answer.

dave2010

05-01-2019, 22:00

I looked at audacity but decided it was all going to be more work than it was worth. I just buy the CD or use tidal was my answer.I'm with you if there's a CD with a good transfer - though sometimes there isn't and perhaps recording from LP is a better option - if you have the time and patience. Some LPs made from tape have been reissued in CD format, but the original tapes have deteriorated badly, and recordings from LPs probably do get much better results. Where the masters are good, or the masters are digital, there isn't really much point in trying to squeeze quality out of an LP by home digitisation. However, each to his/her own! It's fun to try - once!

serendipitydawg

09-01-2019, 00:32

If it's not too late, I would urge you to try Vinyl Studio.

It's idiot-proof (I've tried it on myself!). Not expensive and there's a free trial.

johnB

14-01-2019, 13:42

Thanks Matthew, I will try Vinyl Studio.

Mixc

14-01-2019, 14:57

Im an audacity fan, it does everything i need for free.
Gets regular updates, has a huge fan-base lots of info and support available.
Easy to use, etc. I export as wav 192khz 24bit

Intenso

14-01-2019, 15:27

If it's not too late, I would urge you to try Vinyl Studio.

It's idiot-proof (I've tried it on myself!). Not expensive and there's a free trial.

Agreed, I use Vinyl Studio with a Schitt Jil ADC and get very good results.

VS is great as it will download track and covers from discogs which results in a very good rip with good metadata.

Edward

14-01-2019, 16:32

This thread brings back lots of happy memories. About 20 years ago (good grief time flies!) I ripped probably two dozen LPs and was most happy I did so. However the process was quite cumbersome and took probably 2-4 hours each LP. The results were very nice and overall was very satisfying. I did pop/click removal, background noise removal, normalising and track/meta management - all at the highest possible resolution and bit rate both at the capture and save stages.

However I would probably not do this again given that most material has now been released on either CD or good quality downloads both using original master (or near master) tapes. On the rare occasions a LP is not available digitally usually someone has done a LP rip using top quality equipment and a well proven process.

Mixc

14-01-2019, 16:34

I open the files with the media player Foobar, which will do the same, download track info and covers from discogs attaching the same metadata.
Haven't tried Vinyl studio does it do anything better or extra than Audacity?
Is there an easy way of splitting an album into individual tracks? That would be nice.

Intenso

14-01-2019, 16:37

VS splits the tracks according to either silence between tracks or on the expected track split provided by the meta data.

Its then an easy job to adjust this yourself.

The value of VS is its simplicity of use...