record scratches...?

**mixtape** · November 7th, 2003, 01:35 PM

does it up set you when you get surface scratches on 12"'s or LP's? I know scratches make me mad :evil: But what do you guys do??

**BrunoRepublic** · November 7th, 2003, 01:38 PM

I record them to hard disk and remove them. :D

**SandraDee** · November 9th, 2003, 04:59 PM

How does this happen? I assume you need special equipment as well as a computer. Does it involve an MP3? Sorry to be so techno-ignorant. :-?

**BrunoRepublic** · November 9th, 2003, 05:08 PM

Originally Written by Steely Dan

How does this happen?

Record the vinyl to computer as a WAV file (or AIFF in the Mac world), and remove pops and clicks with a program like Cool Edit pro. Can either be done automatically (easy but only so-so results) or manually (very tedious, but as close to perfect as you're going to get).

I assume you need special equipment as well as a computer.

Just a decent sound card.

Does it involve an MP3?

Not if I have anything to do with it :)

**SandraDee** · November 9th, 2003, 05:51 PM

Thanx for the info Graham. I'm definitely gonna get into this cleaning up business as I have quite a few 2nd hand records that are in a dire condition; I recently bought a copy of Debbie Jacobs' High On Your Love LP & I'm sure someone had used it as a frisby! My records never get scratched like that.

**Nitro** · January 8th, 2004, 06:52 AM

Originally Written by mixtape

does it up set you when you get surface scratches on 12"'s or LP's? I know scratches make me mad :evil: But what do you guys do??

Yeah, it sure as hell does annoy the crap out of me... :x What I generally do: find a replacement copy in near mint to mint condition that doesn't have scratches and give the scratched copy away as a birthday present... or in case it's a reasonably rare track sell it :)

Have a nice day,
-Nitro-

**Voyage** · January 10th, 2004, 11:33 PM

Do you the name of a good program to convert 12" to mp3 that one could get online?

Voyage :P

**Albano343** · January 14th, 2004, 08:38 PM

Originally Written by Steely Dan

I'm sure someone had used it as a frisby! .

:o

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Onetime(in 80's), i did see my brother, doing this with my
7" (starsky and hutch tv.theme), because i did lost his
telex -moscow disco, in an ex-girlfriend party...

and
Thanx too, for the info Graham..

**The Golden Touch** · May 23rd, 2004, 11:22 PM

Another good software for removing the scratchs is
SoundForge (PC).

...and don´t forget the vinyls that not only were used like a frisby, someone used them like a dish to serve very Hot pizza!!!

:cry:

_________________________

Cerrone = Music of Life

**buckaroo** · May 24th, 2004, 07:38 AM

Originally Written by Voyage

Do you the name of a good program to convert 12" to mp3 that one could get online?

Voyage :P

Try Roxio's website. http://www.roxio.com/en/index.jhtml

**MixMasterMax** · May 25th, 2004, 10:30 AM

I have had great results with Steinberg Clean (now called Pinnacle Clean) and highly recomend it.

http://www.steinberg.net/ProductPage...59&Langue_ID=7

**judydoggie** · August 4th, 2004, 01:04 AM

SoundForge, developed and once owned by Sonic Foundry but now owned by Sony, is a magnificent program that works with any relatively fast (Pentium III or above) computer with at least 256K or better of memory. The latest versions, however, do much better with a fast processor and lots of memory. And by all means, get a decent sound card. There are a few very, very good ones out there (Audigy, Yamaha) and when you think of how little you spend on them, compared, let's say, to a good preamp or power amp, c'mon... buy the best. The neat thing about SoundForge is that you learn fast by doing. And it has plug-ins and filters on-board that will take out the clicks and pops without significantly impacting any of the other data on your records.

Now, I outgrew SoundForge because, you see, it is limited to two tracks (stereo). I went out and spent beaucoup bucks on Digimarc's ProTools LE. This remarkable instrument is so complex the Berklee School of Music offers a full-credit course in its use (that'll set you back about $7,000). If you're going to invest in ProTools software, I strongly suggest you avoid the $600-$700 "MBox" interface (which really only allows you to record in stereo for all intents and purposes) and spring for the $2,000 (list price... look for sales) rack-mount interface or the studio interface with a few more features. You must have a computer with at the very least 512K memory or more; a very fast Pentium processor, a FireWire port, and Windows XP Professional. Once, however, you get all of this together, and start mixing with it (and, by the way, the LE version comes with about $1,500 worth of looping and sampling software) it's like driving a Porsche on the Autobahn. All you need is one good turntable; play all of your records into your hard-drive (that's another thing; they suggest that you utilize a separate FireWire harddrive with mega-size (80 gig or more) and do NOT record your projects onto the system drive, no matter how large).

If you're not a purist; you can pre-set the mixes of one record into another, and add SFX (voices, noises etc.) if you want. However, if you ARE a purist, all you need do is have the records you want to mix on standby, cued right up to where you want 'em; and mix 'em the old school way. [I included that so as not to draw the ire of the professionals I know and respect who make it look easy].

After the fact, you can always go back and adjust things like Equalization, echo, normalization (dynamics), aggregate beats per minute, etc. In the event that a dramatic click or pop escaped the watchful eye of ProTools' filters, you can go in and clean 'em up by hand with relative ease. In fact, once you find one; you can have it look for others (invariably the waveform is nearly the same 'cause the scratch was made in the same fashion) and it erases them, too.

Have fun, but be careful. ProTools is addictive. My wife says she's a ProTools widow. And it's true.

**Noman** · August 13th, 2004, 06:28 PM

I have a bad feeling about all automatic tools to remove clicks and unwanted sounds from vinyl transfers. I have tried a few and I think there are too much loss in sound quality.
I ended up with manual cleaning, removing unwanted sounds one by one in fractions of 1/10 to 1/100 sec. And I'm very conservative using noice reduction (only the worst parts of the very bad records). I use Adobe Audition (Same as the last version of Cool Edit Pro)

I have now transfered and "remastered" appr 1000 12", 500 7" and some albums and the soundquality is near "perfect"

This has taken most of my spare time for about 8 months . So I don't have a problem with what to do on rainy days for the next couple of years....

**kaliffen** · August 24th, 2004, 06:02 AM

Noman can you please mail me.. ?

kaliffen2000 @ mail.dk

Tack

**BrunoRepublic** · August 24th, 2004, 07:58 AM

Originally Written by Noman

I have a bad feeling about all automatic tools to remove clicks and unwanted sounds from vinyl transfers. I have tried a few and I think there are too much loss in sound quality.
I ended up with manual cleaning, removing unwanted sounds one by one in fractions of 1/10 to 1/100 sec. And I'm very conservative using noice reduction (only the worst parts of the very bad records). I use Adobe Audition (Same as the last version of Cool Edit Pro)

I have now transfered and "remastered" appr 1000 12", 500 7" and some albums and the soundquality is near "perfect"

This has taken most of my spare time for about 8 months . So I don't have a problem with what to do on rainy days for the next couple of years....

This is my approach too. I still use Cool Edit 2000 though; there's an annoying bug in CEP/AA when using page scroll in spectral view.

**Videoskooter** · September 1st, 2004, 09:07 PM

First I find that a little noise and some clicks are part of the good old vinyl-experience.

I always wet my old records with water while playing and most of them keep sounding like (almost) new. If the scratch is too deep and the record is "looping :D " I put a coin on my needle-unit.

Yes, I'm old-fashioned

**Noman** · September 2nd, 2004, 10:00 AM

The "wet playing" method was heavily discussed back in mid seventies among hifi enthusiasts. I have later read as many pros as cons so I won't argue if it is good or bad for your records.

I think a cleaning with 10 to 20% IPA and distilled water makes wonders when it comes to "dirt related" crackle and clicks.
I intend to transfer my vinyls once and for all to digital format, so I think that if you can get rid of the clicks without affecting the soundquality (by manually fix them one by one) it is worth the time and effort. You still get the noice from the old recordings (actually, if the vinyl is in descent condition, the noice comes from the actual old analog recordings, not from the vinyl)

**Bernie** · September 2nd, 2004, 10:49 AM

Numan, you may want to go back to this thread about Cleaning Analogue Vinyl Records as some interesting points were brought up.

**Noman** · September 2nd, 2004, 11:22 AM

Thanks
It was a very good thread, short and informative, a real concentrate on the issue of cleaning vinyl.

**Videoskooter** · September 2nd, 2004, 06:25 PM

Hey Bernie, thx for directing us to that topic-link. But (for the first time :D ) I don't fully agree with you when you say to never "wet play" a record.

Maybe you're right but...I always do it with my oldies and when you play 'em like that you get a really deep and almost noise-free sound. The DJ's I work with all do it and nobody has problems with their old vinyl. Only one guy who mixed a little bit of dishwasher in his sprayer which he says is the perfect solution but now he has records he can't play anymore because when drying up the mixture stays in the grooves.

And indeed: never use tap-water and avoid moistening the label but considering that I never experience problems.

I think that it's one of those discussions with pros and cons just like Noman said.

**Bernie** · September 2nd, 2004, 09:44 PM

Originally Written by Videoskooter

I think that it's one of those discussions with pros and cons just like Noman said.

Most certainly. There are times when it is necessary, but as a general rule I stay away from wet playing. Now all I need is a laser turntable and I'm all set!