Transferring LP music to CD

This page is based on a presentation made by Daryl Thomas on 17 August 2005
it may take a few minutes to download on a phoneline because of the graphic and music content.
Modified October 2011 to remove broken links - RYE.

Before you leap...

If an LP is in bad shape, consider buying a CD version of it.
Can get expensive if you have to buy lots of hardware and software.
Commercial ripping/editing services available - however, they are usually expensive

Hardware

Before you start, you are going to need:

LPs (or Cassettes - all the processes described here are applicable to cassette tapes)
Good quality turntable & stylus (or cassette deck)

Make sure that the turntable is properly grounded and has no ground loops (make sure that it grounded in only one place)
Amp or pre-amp with phono input and line-out jacks (Note: A cassette deck can plug directly into the Mac, no amp needed)

Mac w/ sound in or mic jack -- Caution on mic jack: Many experts say that the mic jack is unshielded and can add noise, hum and other undesired sounds. I've used the mic/sound in jacks on three different Macs and have had no problems. Your mileage may vary. Experiment before buying sound card.
If needed, get USB sound card (e.g. Griffin iMic, about $40)
Computer speakers or headphones
Audio cables from amp to computer - Generally 2 RCA jacks Y'ed into 1/8" stereo jack
Ample HD space: a LP can be 500 MB or more, backup and segmented files can double or triple that.
Recordable CD-Rs
LP cleaning kit and stylus brush

Optional but nice additional hardware:

wide screen or dual monitors
multi-button mouse

Recording & Editing Software

Amadeus II ($30 shareware, 15 day free trial) http://www.hairersoft.com
Sound Soap II ($100 commercial) - Doesn't record
Audacity (free)http://audacity.sourceforge.net

CD Burning Software

Toast ($100 commercial)
iTunes (Free with most versions of OS-X or $79 bundled with iLife)

Recording Setup

Set recording app to 16 bit, 44.1 KHz sampling, stereo
Select sound input/output either from app or sound system preferences
Set gain to avoid clipping on loudest passages.
Recommend set recording time to max possible for LP, 45-50 min
In Sound Studio it should look like this:

Recording

Clean LP and stylus
Place stylus on LP and click record on app
After LP finishes, stop recording and save entire file, flip LP to other side and repeat
Make temporary backup copies just in case

Editing

STRONGLY recommend breaking the music into separate tracks

Inspect waveform and place markers at end of each tune.
The software will automatically split the music into separate files at markers.
Save as .aif file format (default)

Setting Markers with Sound Studio
Editing with Sound Studio:

Magnify waveform from one of the files, select and crop off noisy ends. Can add intervals of silence if desired
Edit Pops and Clicks

Inspect expanded waveform for clicks & pops
Magnify waveform of click, use interpolate function to fix
Before:
After:
Repeat for entire waveform for all file segments
Can get very tedious and time consuming if LP is in bad shape
I find it very difficult to edit out hiss and crackle with Sound Studio. Sound Studio has adjustable graphic equalizers and notch filters, but I haven't had much success with them. Instead I use CD Spin Doctor.
Batch editing of crackle, hiss and pops with CD Spin Doctor

	Use this controller to hear a few bars of "Barbara Allen" recorded by Joan Baez in the 1960s - before CD Spin Doctor Filtering
	Use this controller to hear a few bars of "Barbara Allen" recorded by Joan Baez in the 1960s - after CD Spin Doctor Filtering

Audacity

Audacity is an alternative possibility, but it is less intuitive. Its editing capability limited. On-line documentation available at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/documentation

CD Burning

CDs can be burned with music using either of the following applications:

TOAST
iTunes

Summary

Editing is the crucial part of the process.
So far, I haven't found a single app does does everything well. A combination of Sound Studio and CD Spin Doctor seems to do the job.
Filters can degrade music
Lots of trial and error is involved in setting filtering levels
I suggest the following editing sequence:

Edit major clicks and pops and inter-track intervals with Sound Studio
Apply crackle, hiss and pop filters with CD Spin Doctor as necessary. This will minimize filter distortion
Either Toast or iTunes can be used to convert to MP3 format and to burn to CD

References and Links

MacAddict, July 2003 Articles:

Digitize Vinyl and Audiocassettes
Clean Up Digitized Audio Files

What's under the hood - got vinyl? Part 1 - http://www.atpm.com/9.03/index.shtml
What's under the hood - got vinyl? Part 2 - http://www.atpm.com/9.04/index.shtml
Lots of audio apps at: http://download.cnet.com/mac/

Finally

After you have recorded your LP and backed up all your work, you can immerse the LP in boiling water until it is flexible and then curve the edges - it makes an excellent Frisbee. Try it!