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when you record albums onto your computer....

akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
edited October 2005 in Strut Central
do you do anything to the sound once its on there?

im kind of a stickler for making transfers as good as i can...i always chop the tracks up to the VERY SECOND the song starts, apply a rumble filter, a bass/treble boost where needed, pop/crackle eliminator (if its bad enough...a few minor clicks here and there doesnt bother me though...), and some other things to get it sounding as good as i can. usually if the song has a fadeout, i do an additional fadeout over it so you arent left hanging with some record rumble that cuts into the next track...ends nice and quiet like it was meant to.

you?

its really painful to hear some people's transfers on soulseek and stuff, i mean if youre bothering to put it on your computer in the first place, you might as well make it sound decent..haha. unchopped tracks OVER-chopped tracks, terrrribly trebly/bassy/hissy transfers? eh...i guess its handy in making the people wanna just go buy the actual album so its at least listenable...haha

then again some people dont have as much free time as i do...


additional question: anybody ever transfer their raer cassettes? i need to start doing this.

  Comments

  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    do you do anything to the sound once its on there?

    im kind of a stickler for making transfers as good as i can...i always chop the tracks up to the VERY SECOND the song starts, apply a rumble filter, a bass/treble boost where needed, pop/crackle eliminator (if its bad enough...a few minor clicks here and there doesnt bother me though...), and some other things to get it sounding as good as i can. usually if the song has a fadeout, i do an additional fadeout over it so you arent left hanging with some record rumble that cuts into the next track...ends nice and quiet like it was meant to.

    you?

    its really painful to hear some people's transfers on soulseek and stuff, i mean if youre bothering to put it on your computer in the first place, you might as well make it sound decent..haha. unchopped tracks OVER-chopped tracks, terrrribly trebly/bassy/hissy transfers? eh...i guess its handy in making the people wanna just go buy the actual album so its at least listenable...haha

    then again some people dont have as much free time as i do...


    additional question: anybody ever transfer their raer cassettes? i need to start doing this.

    Damn it, Ako! I just spent 2 hours uploading an album to share and tried to clean it up the best I could (with what little I know) on CoolEdit. (Amplified each track to +10db, ran 'em through a Standard Hiss reduction and normalized 'em. I was gonna do a crackle/hiss/pop filter thingy on 'em, but it said it would take 30 minutes for a 2 1/2 minute song. WTF?!?!?!)

    I figured all that mess would make 'em sound somewhat better/crisper/more clean, but nope, they STILL sound kinda dull. Now you're making me feel like an ass for putting 'em up in this condition.

    Thanks a lot, buddy.

    Herm
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    haha, im just saying what i do, its overkill really. as long as its audible and clear its a good enough transfer in my book. hell, my connection's so slow i dont even post anything on the internet that often, i mostly just do it for myself.

    you at least chopped the tracks right? THAT'S what really matters.
  • idiotproofidiotproof 880 Posts
    Yeah edit the track right to the beginning & yes I also fade out where appropriate.

    I also EQ slightly & if I'm in a hurry check to see if 'normalize' will fix it.

    But yes, I try & remove that dullness & the cloudy vinyl air in Sound Studio's EQ.



    30 mins for 2 1/2 mins is way off. That doesn't sound quite right. Should be less than a minute.



    I've counted about 6/7 tracks so far that have skips in them. As though whoever recorded them never even checked. Funny stuff. Nico Gomez 'Ritual' had a few.

  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    haha, im just saying what i do, its overkill really. as long as its audible and clear its a good enough transfer in my book. hell, my connection's so slow i dont even post anything on the internet that often, i mostly just do it for myself.

    you at least chopped the tracks right? THAT'S what really matters.

    Yeah, I chopped 'em. I'm a sucker for that "start AS SOON as you press the arrow" business, too. I was taught by my audio-savvy ex-roommate to ALWAYS put the bass, treble & mid levels of my mixer (which my tables go through to feed to my computer) in the center, but the audio doesn't sound quite crisp enough when I do that. How do you adjust the bass & treble once it's in .wav format?
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    mess with the filters. theres good equalizers in cooledit, i usually use the FFT with my personal boost setting i made. works like a charm. i also always, on ANY waveform, use the "subsonic rumble filter" under scientific filters. makes the waveform MUCH cleaner and easier to work with. the day i discovered how much easier this makes stuff was the best day ever.
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    30 mins for 2 1/2 mins is way off. That doesn't sound quite right. Should be less than a minute.

    yep...i dont think ANYTHING in cooledit should take longer to do than the wave itself takes to play. 30 is ridiculous.
  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    mess with the filters. theres good equalizers in cooledit, i usually use the FFT with my personal boost setting i made. works like a charm. i also always, on ANY waveform, use the "subsonic rumble filter" under scientific filters. makes the waveform MUCH cleaner and easier to work with. the day i discovered how much easier this makes stuff was the best day ever.

    I'm gonna have to play around that next time. Thanks for the advice, Ako!!

    Herm

    P.S. I'm hoping my SoulStrut EP shows up by Tuesday so I can play your track at my weekly gig!
  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    I think when you edit wearing headphones you hear a lot more crap than is actually audible. I try not to do anything if the quality is good. I figure all those softwares clean by removing and I'd rather have everything on there. Usually the high ends get stripped out when cleaning for hiss, scratches, pops, hums.
  • DubiousDubious 1,865 Posts
    yeah i do pretty much the same as you ako... only in peak.

  • dCastillodCastillo 1,963 Posts
    when ripping an album, I will do as dry a transfer as possible. Record it in with the EQ flat (unless the bass is really weak and I want something to KNOCK). If there is few clicks, I will eliminate them one by one. I NEVER use noise reduction on a record unless the thing is thrashed, and even in that case, wouldn't bother recording it unless it was some acetate that will never be found again.



    with gaps and fades, I do not put an additional fade on the track. That's too much playing God to me. When recording a whole album, I will start the track right where the audio starts, and end it just before the audio of the next track starts, thus, when making CDs, it has the same distance between songs as the LP does; it is a virtual LP.



    and for lots of pops and click's, jeff klein's clickfix is a godsend. I live and die by it. Though I haven't died yet.



    oh yeah, and after recording, I remove subsonic rumble (everything below 30Hz) with my scientifical madness filter.



    Adobe Audition.
  • the3rdstreamthe3rdstream 1,980 Posts

    with gaps and fades, I do not put an additional fade on the track. That's too much playing God to me.

    truth

    and for lots of pops and click's, jeff klein's clickfix is a godsend. I live and die by it. Though I haven't died yet.

    is this freeware?

  • DubiousDubious 1,865 Posts
    I NEVER use noise reduction on a record unless the thing is thrashed, and even in that case, wouldn't bother recording it unless it was some acetate that will never be found again.


    i agree ive tried various reduction softwares and they really ruin the hi end transients. takes all the sizzle out of the recording for the most part.



    with gaps and fades, I do not put an additional fade on the track. That's too much playing God to me.

    thats pretty admiral but i cut it the second the track ends... clean the fade like AKO said... if im digitising the record its cause its goign to be listened to on my ipod / itunes library.. which nine times out of ten is on shuffle so i want track hittin one after the other.. crooss fader fo sho.



    and for lots of pops and click's, jeff klein's clickfix is a godsend. I live and die by it. Though I haven't died yet.



    this reminds me i need a good declicker for osx .. freeware.. anybody????


    oh yeah, and after recording, I remove subsonic rumble (everything below 30Hz) with my scientifical madness filter.

    hmmm 30hz??? i would say 20hz is a better idea man.. vinyl only records 20 - 20 so i roll off everything under and over those freqs.

  • guy_alcindorguy_alcindor 621 Posts
    For de-clicking I use Wave Corrector, which can be found with some patience on SOulseek. Although it won't eliminate everything on a particularly scratchy record. I've heard that for badly scratched records, "wet" transfers are the way to go... however, whether they meant it in the context of EQ or actually applying cleaner to the record during transfer I'm not totally sure. If anyone on here is using Sound Forge as an editor, I'd love to hear ideas of the best ways to apply filters in removing hiss, distortion, etc.
  • ArtifactorArtifactor 887 Posts
    If there is few clicks, I will eliminate them one by one. I NEVER use noise reduction on a record unless the thing is thrashed

    Word. Takes forever but is better. Noise reduction takes out too much of the sound. I search for every click and zoom on it and take it out without leaving spaces between the song.

    As for tapes. I do the same thing and just leave it. I never cange anything on them except Normalize and I'm cool. I don't need to give it that CD sounding sound. I only dub tape onto comp for backup purposes though. Magnets on the end of scribes have fucked up a few of my tapes so I just record them onto new tapes and clear up whatever sounds messy then.
  • BaptBapt 2,503 Posts
    yeah i do pretty much the same as you ako... only in peak.
  • BaptBapt 2,503 Posts
    I NEVER use noise reduction or a pop/crackle eliminator

  • hammertimehammertime 2,389 Posts
    I record with Audio Cleaning Lab 2004 because it was $10 and can do all kinds of filtering/cleaning. Although up until a couple weeks ago I NEVER filtered anything out, I would cut it off at the beginning and end and that was IT. But I've started using noise reduction and so far I'm pretty happy with the results.
  • sabadabadasabadabada 5,966 Posts
    I record with Audio Cleaning Lab 2004


    i use the same.
  • DK_EssenceDK_Essence 189 Posts

    this reminds me i need a good declicker for osx .. freeware.. anybody????

    have searched for some while but gave up at the end. if you find one, pleeease let me know. working on peak too. ripping as ako but i still hate it. it needs too much time for all that processing and such.
  • GrafwritahGrafwritah 4,184 Posts
    do you do anything to the sound once its on there?

    chop the tracks up to the VERY SECOND the song starts

    Yes

    apply a rumble filter

    I just do noise reduction by taking a sample of the noise by itself and filtering it out. This usually eliminates most hiss and any electronic hum or feedback.


    a bass/treble boost where needed

    I amp the volume not only to 100% but I'll usually do a technical clipping on it (not noticeable) to get it maxed out properly. Then if it's something I'm really interested in listening to repeatedly where bass is essential (hip hop) i'll bass boost it to whatever sounds right.

    pop/crackle eliminator

    Usually, but some stuff can't really be done well, like long horn riffs where the peaks "look" similar to static pops.

    its really painful to hear some people's transfers on soulseek and stuff, i mean if youre bothering to put it on your computer in the first place, you might as well make it sound decent..haha. unchopped tracks OVER-chopped tracks, terrrribly trebly/bassy/hissy transfers? eh...i guess its handy in making the people wanna just go buy the actual album so its at least listenable...haha

    Yeah, but you can usually adjust them yourself. I keep noise profiles of clean record/turntable hiss and most of the time I just use those instead of resample the noise every time. You could just run those over it, do a decrackler, etc. Same deal.

    additional question: anybody ever transfer their raer cassettes? i need to start doing this.

    A few times. Same process.
  • GrafwritahGrafwritah 4,184 Posts
    ran 'em through a Standard Hiss reduction and normalized 'em.

    Noooooo.... Hiss Reduction is a pain. Just sample the noise and do a Noise Reduction. Much more accurate.
  • prof_rockwellprof_rockwell 2,867 Posts
    I record my LPs onto my CD recorder, putting a track marker between tracks whilst recording, then just import it into my itunes. I use CD-RW so I can erase and re-use the CDs over and over. But I like my MP3s to be a 'true' representation of the actual record I have, imperfections and all. I'll do a little EQing on my DJ mixer to beef up a thin sounding record, but that's about it.
  • crazypoprockcrazypoprock 1,037 Posts
    i'd say try to avoid any digital processing if possible because that is number crunching and it's not something you want included in the gain structure of your signal. you want to take advantage of the analog gain structure and only have to relay on digital boosting/cutting/filtering as a last resort.

    use the input trim on your mixer and get the incoming signal from the turntable to where the peaks sit comfortable in the yellows, peaking a bit is ok, assuming this is an analog mixer. then set your recording software to input and use the master output of the mixer to get your input recording level to also sit under peaking...you never want to peak when you are recording digitally...tape is a different matter. getting in the red on your mixer is fine but make sure you never are in the red on the software. also, be sure to use direct outs from your mixer to go straight to your audio interface. probably the biggest factor in the equation next to the needle and the quality of the mixer and turntable is the quality of your digital/analog converter so don't scrimp on your soundcard! i'm not one to talk because i use the griffin imic...but i'm also broke.

    i manually remove pops using gain enelopes in Peak. pops always look the same and i usually draw a different envelope for the right and the left sides of the audio to really fine tune the pops. ideally you want to do everything you can to prevent getting pops in the first place. use good needles, clean the records and the needles, massage out any pops that are on the record using the needle if possible.

    so the main thing is to have good gear and to understand the signal flow of your set-up, and to get a good recording level to digital but not too hot to where it's close to peaking. you want some dynamic range, and you want a good level to prevent get a good signal to noise ration and minimize the inherent noise floor of the vinyl.
  • AlGarthAlGarth 353 Posts
    I record my LPs onto my CD recorder, putting a track marker between tracks whilst recording, then just import it into my itunes. I use CD-RW so I can erase and re-use the CDs over and over. But I like my MP3s to be a 'true' representation of the actual record I have, imperfections and all. I'll do a little EQing on my DJ mixer to beef up a thin sounding record, but that's about it.

    My technique exactly!
    Except no EQ. I always go flat.
    I figure anyone listening can do all that adjustment stuff themselves.

  • dCastillodCastillo 1,963 Posts
    Hi CPR!

    How's it going?
  • crazypoprockcrazypoprock 1,037 Posts
    hi sketch. things are good! except for the being broke all the time part but maybe that will change one day. i work at a studio. moby is coming in tomorrow for a week. should be interesting.
  • meshmesh 925 Posts
    quality of the mixer and turntable is the quality of your digital/analog converter so don't scrimp on your soundcard

    TRUTH.


  • chasechase 767 Posts
    Just sample the noise and do a Noise Reduction.



    how do you sample the noise? Is it built into most noise reduction software, Im using waves X-noise.. but I dont really mess with it to much
  • crazypoprockcrazypoprock 1,037 Posts
    take a piece of the audio where there's no program material and that would be sampling the noise. you could use the beginning or the end of the track or even better might be the gaps between songs. and then edit the sample so that when you loop it it sounds like a continuous sound. be sure to make sure the beginning and end of the audio file is at the zero crossfade.
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