Re: [ARSCLIST] Analog to digital capture question

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

REgarding Karl's post about ticks and pops, my opinion about record surface noise is this:

1. I don't even bother with badly damaged or really badly made LPs. Forget it. It's just an 
excercise in frustration. Find another copy. If there is no other copy, you must use extreme 
measures and expect poor end product sound quality compared to cases where you didn't use extreme 
measures.

2. The most important thing with transferring typical LPs is, clean them and clean them well. I use 
a VPI machine, worth every penny. The second most important thing is, make sure your stylus is 
clean. I still use an old Discwasher brush and fluid. Next in line of importance is use a good 
cartridge (ie one that is not too colored -- they're all colored but some are flatter and more 
accurate than others, to the point of being very transparent) and a good preamp (ie one that won't 
overload on the extremes of the RIAA curve and one that is very close to the curve). Others think 
it's best to transfer flat and then do RIAA curve in the computer. I've tried that and do not like 
the results in most cases. I definitely have a bias toward keeping as much processing as possible 
for analog material in the analog domain.

3. While I transfer a record, I listen. I don't go off and get a cup of coffee, I don't make 
cellphone calls, I don't chit-chat, I listen. And I make notes as to where there are problems worth 
correcting in the computer (ie last few seconds of B2 have a series of ticks). This then makes the 
less enjoyable part (computer work) go faster.

4. One of my audio mentors, Art Shifrin, is an ace at manually removing ticks and pops in 
Soundforge. He taught me the tricks and they work fantastic. Mostly, I use the pencil tool, zoomed 
in at 1:1, to re-write the tick/pop as the proper waveform. It's a learned skill but it becomes 
self-evident after a while. Somewhat harder is carefully rewriting mangled waves from longer 
"crick-crackle" kind of vinyl damage, which is usually an injury to the groove itself. I don't even 
attempt this when there's something like a hole or wart in the vinyl because there is no underlying 
information to fix. Like I said, I try to avoid outright junky records.

5. Another problem with vinyl that is just not fixable is groove distortion, where a groove was 
either overcut or has been damaged with time or bad pressing so the needle can't ride it properly. 
You find this with some older records, especially toward the inner label. I had a couple where I 
thought that my system wasn't good enough but I took them to a super-high-end hifi shop and tried to 
play them on systems that cost more than my vehicles. Still no joy, although one interesting 
learning is that different cartridges/tonearms resonate at different frequencies in these bad 
grooves, so what exactly is distorted varies. Alas, it's usually around violin or horn frequencies, 
which is a big bummer for classical records. In the case of these records, I found other copies and 
in a couple of cases, all copies had the same problem which tells me it's a mastering or 
manufacturing problem. One old hand at LP mastering told me that cartridges were stiffer and heavier 
back in the early days of stereo, so a problem like that would be bullied through on the playback, 
eventually gouging the groove and rendering the LP to skipping. Modern, lighter, more flexible 
cartridges just bounce around and resonate. This problem is not common at all on post-mid-60's LPs, 
in my experience, but mastering was more conservative later on and in some cases vinyl got better 
(softer/quieter).

6. I am very hesitant to use digi-tools to auto-zap ticks and pops. I find that all but the very 
good and very expensive remove parts of the music. Some of the Sadie examples Graham Newton has sent 
me convince me that that particular tool (which is very expensive) is useful on older, 
lower-fidelity disks like radio transcriptions and probably music 78's where one must work off 
shellac because metal parts aren't available. I think the Bias tools are also pretty good if used 
conservatively. If I have a record that is just popcorn crackle but doesn't have other problems, I 
will use Soundforge's vinyl tool but with the settings made much more conservative than default. It 
still removes too much air and space for my liking and also will zap an occasional music transient, 
but sometimes there is so much popcorn that they can't all be practically zapped by hand. If I were 
working for a client or restoring something for release, I'd keep the clock running but do all the 
tick-zapping by hand. But this is an issue of personal taste. If you can't hear anything taken away, 
use the digi-tools to your heart's content. I also am very hesitant to go after tape hiss, but 
that's just me.

7. Finally, what I did with my LPs was divide into three categories -- 1) excellent condition, 
excellent sound, easy transfer candidates. In these cases, if there is a CD version out there, I'll 
compare. It's about 60-40 that the CD sounds better to my ears than the LP but I generally keep the 
LP anyway. In the cases where the CD was badly remastered, I'll transfer the LP and thoroughly enjoy 
the convenience of the transfer CD.  2) excellent condition but not the greatest-sounding albums, 
see if there is a bearable CD out there already. This is the bulk of the collection. These go about 
75-25 that the sound improved in the CD remaster. Depressingly, about a quarter of them have WORSE 
sounding CD remasters. Some albums were just poorly made, but I think many suffer from bad LP 
mastering decisions (EQ, compression, levels) and then poorer CD remastering decisions (EQ, 
compression, over-loud, digital problems).  3) poor condition, low priority for transfer. In these 
cases, if there is a bearable CD, the LP gets donated to the Salvation Army. If the material never 
made it to CD, I ask myself if it would ever be enjoyable to listen to a transfer of that LP. 
Usually, the answer is no. In the few cases where the music is so compelling and likely never to 
make it to CD (for instance, cases where I know or am pretty sure the master is lost or unplayable), 
I will use extreme measures including wet-playing to try and get usable sound quality. There have 
only been a handful of these.

One man's opinions, etc. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

-- Tom Fine