Assuming most on here have at some time bought substantial piles of vinyl as I have…what’s everyone’s method for ripping to give the best quality?
I’ve been using Ableton but not convinced its the best (or I need to tweak settings somehow to improve sound - bottom end seems to get lost a bit).
Any pointers on software or kit?
I take it to a studio in London and get a mate to do it on CEDAR. That pretty much takes care of everything. Before I’d use Audacity and clean it on Izotope with the De-Click module…it depends on what level of quality you’re after.
There’s no way I could possibly ever be bothered doing this. It’s a shame as my 1210s are sitting there and have hardly been used in years with a unit and 3,000 odd vinyl that my wife is always complaining about as I never play them. (Fair dos really)
I tend to just repurchase tracks digitally if available and I really want them
Just get an s4 mk3 or similar and plug in your 1210s surely? Best of both worlds. This forms a big part of my retirement plan.
Millsy same here, that’s my I bought the PLX1000
Millsy I’m slowly transitioning to CDJ’s and the plan would be to gradually flog big parts of my vinyl collection - also for bar gigs (when we ever get back to them) im still lumping vinyl about and would want to be cdj’s for those to save my back! Still not convinced about these controllers…
What do you think of the pioneer turntable, g?
-si- only using it as a record player at the moment - it’s for once I get my vinyl from storage and have more time (and learn to mix effectively with the XZ
It looks exactly the same as a 1210
After getting rid of my 1210s and CDJs years ago, I’m thinking about investing in a turntable – just to do vinyl rips.
Am looking to spend circa £300, so still definitely in the budget range. From what I have researched so far, you can get a fairly decent turntable like the type that What Hi-Fi recommends. They mainly focus on sound quality but they also tend to be belt drives or moving magnets, such as the first two listed here: https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/best-usb-turntables-budget-to-premium-vinyl-spinners
You can get a direct drive turntable like https://www.burtonblake.co.uk/products/audio-technica-at-lp120xusb-direct-drive-fully-manual-turntable-black?variant=39306723852375¤cy=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_sDo2JWu8wIVzYBQBh2uYwc0EAQYASABEgLCz_D_BwE
This type of turntable with a pitch control etc seems to be geared towards DJ’ing on vinyl, which I’m not doing these days but might be better because it is a direct drive and more likely to mean steadier rips.
Does anybody experienced with ripping vinyl have a view on what might be best? Does belt drive vs direct drive matter for the purposes of ripping vinyl or is it best to just focus on quality of sound?
I will also have to invest in stuff to clean up the vinyl as well.
..for DJ’ing purposes, DD is obviously preferable (pick-up speed/torque, stability for cuing etc.), but for listening, no reason not to go belt-drive. In fact a lot of mega-expensive audiophile TT’s are belt-driven, the purist argument being that having the motor beneath the platter causes unwanted noise/distortion.
These days entry DD options are fairly expensive, so for your purposes you’ll get a lot more bang-for-buck with a half-decent belt-drive, leaving you more to spend on a quality (non-DJ) cartridge and sound card which you’ll need for good rips.
whatever As @Unbroken1 has said above…good cartridge and a decent AD converter are where the differences will be most apparent. Some decent mastering software will also make a huge difference.
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. The reviews for the audiophile belt drive TTs, definitely focus on the quality of the cartridge, which should make that aspect of it easier but I’ll have to do a bit more research to make sure it has a good one. I hadn’t thought about the sound card and to be honest, I know nothing about them. Do you mean something like this: https://ototo.fm/best-sound-cards-for-music-production/
….yeah, something along those lines. They vary in price massively, but if your usage is limited to mainly single-source recording, something like a Focusrite Scarlett, SSL2 or even a used Apogee Duet would prob suffice.
In fact, the SSL comes bundled with software that might be useful to tidy up recordings as Alex suggests above.
