Digitize Lp's

[Margate]

Help! I thought Toast was the answer to digitizing LP's, am I completely wrong. I see no tutorials for this task. I tried to play with Spin DOctor and the computer shuts down.

 

How do I digitize LP's with Toast? Is there a better program?

 

Should I just go ahead and return the software?

[tsantee]

Spin Doctor should work to capture the line input audio, create a waveform, allow you to mark tracks and apply filters and send to Toast. It has other features that don't seem to work, but those steps should be okay. I don't know why the computer would shut down when launching Spin Doctor. It does have a conflict with some third--party VST plugins. Those are located in the Library>Audio>Plugins>VST folder. You might try temporarily removing any non-Apple plugins to see if that fixes the issue.

 

Make sure you're using Spin Doctor 1.0.1. If it is 1.0 then use the Software Update command to download the update.

 

You should also be able to capture line-in audio with QuickTime Player. After capturing the audio you can open it in Spin Doctor to mark tracks, apply filters and send to Toast.

[prl]

Spin Doctor should work to capture the line input audio, create a waveform, allow you to mark tracks and apply filters and send to Toast. ...

in Spin Doctor X 1.0, I was never able to make capture the line input audio, create a waveform, automatically mark tracks, correct the tracks and send to Toast work. The tracks in Toast really never seemed to reflect what I'd created in Spin Doctor. I think the failure was in the "edit tracks" bit. I haven't yet tried 1.0.1.

 

Automatically generating tracks from classical recordings on vinyl never worked well for me on the old or the new Spin Doctor, and the recordings always needed a lot of editing after automatic track extractions. Classical stuff often just has too many quiet passages that track extraction can't distinguish from movement breaks.

[tsantee]

in Spin Doctor X 1.0, I was never able to make capture the line input audio, create a waveform, automatically mark tracks, correct the tracks and send to Toast work. The tracks in Toast really never seemed to reflect what I'd created in Spin Doctor. I think the failure was in the "edit tracks" bit. I haven't yet tried 1.0.1.

 

Automatically generating tracks from classical recordings on vinyl never worked well for me on the old or the new Spin Doctor, and the recordings always needed a lot of editing after automatic track extractions. Classical stuff often just has too many quiet passages that track extraction can't distinguish from movement breaks.

Spin Doctor X 1.0 doesn't work, period. As for marking tracks on classical music, do that manually on the waveform. Turn off the automatic track marking. Delete any tracks that were wrongly marked so you can set ones where they belong.

[lw26@cornell.edu]

why cant they come up with an new version that functions?

sounds like I need to keep my PPC G4 powerbook running. I use an old version of cd spindoctor. it is 2.2, or 3.1 i think...

I use an RCA to mini Headphone cable connected from my HI-Fi Receiver's tape "rec" connection and plugged in to the audio in port of the venerable powerbook.

Adjust the audio source in cdsd for line in, check audio level on a loud portion of the LP. make sure it is not clipping. Start the recording session, drop the tone arm and do both sides of record in the session.

stop program. save file, quit.

then use a brilliant application called ClickRepair. (clickrepair.net) It uses advanced math (wavelet processing and fourier transform) to eliminate the clicks and pops, but leave the high frequencies intact. Much better than any other app I have found for this process.

open the raw recording from CDSD in ClickRepair. run it. save the resulting file. quit.

open this repaired file in spin doctor. roughly lay out tracks manually based on the track listings from the album sleeve. (dont worry about absolute size accuracy or if there is a large space between side 1 and side 2 for the moment)

save.

set cdsd preferences to allow full magnification of file.

move cursor to the approx end of last track. zoom up to a scale where the time is marked individual seconds, with ten .1 sec hash marks. adjust end of final track to about 3 sec after last audible sound of the recording.

save.

move to beginning of last track. set start of track to .4 sec before opening transient.

save.

set next-to-last track to end at the beginning of the last-track. (can be done from cdsd menu - key short cut is command-] )

THIS MEANS EACH NEWLY DIVIDED TRACK INCLUDES THE LEAD OUT GROOVE INTO THE NEXT SONG AND THERE ARE NO SPACES BETWEEN TRACKS.

repeat this working backward process until you get the first track of side 2 set to correct size- track begins .4 sec before opening transient .

save.

now adjust side 1 last track to remove the empty space that was recorded while you flipped sides of the lp . set last track side 1 to end about 2-3 sec after last audible recorded sound.

save. continue to work backward as just done with side 2 - through side 1 until you have set all tracks to have no space between them and .4 sec of lead-in to the opening track transient.

save.

your album list should now have all tracks labeled, with no breaks except for the gap between side 1 and side 2.

send all the individual tracks to toast.

In toast window, set the space before track 1 to 2 sec.

set the spacing between all the other tracks to 0.0 sec.

burn a cd of your project at 1x speed.

when recorded in this fashion, many/most of your LP records freshly placed on cd will be recognized by iTunes Gracenote (CDDB) and will appear with titles and tracks properly labeled.

From personal experience, the sound of a digitized LP is much better when the audio "sound" of the blank groove is left intact as part of the just finished song. if divided in other ways, cutting off the leadout groove , or using toast to put X sec of digital silence between the lp tracks, the effect will be somewhat jarring. If you know an LP record intimately well, you will notice if the spacing between the tracks is "wrong".

Using the leadout grooves in the manner I laid out preserves nearly all the LP experience, save for the time spent flipping the disc over.

Further, ClickRepair can process your old LPs to remove noise effectively enough to withstand critical listening on high quality headphones. after using ClickRepair, there is no need to mess with any of the gimmicky effect sliders or eq controls in CDSD.

[lw26@cornell.edu]

Oh, couple things I forgot to mention. Time: this sounds involved, but once you become familiar with the process, most of it is done without your active involvement.

1 select/clean lp, connect laptop. - 3 min.

2 record. 40 min- 80 min

depending on if you get involved in something else and forget to flip the record over. most of this time does not require you to monitor the recording process.

[lw26@cornell.edu]

Oh, couple things I forgot to mention. Time: this sounds involved, but once you become familiar with the process, most of it is done without your active involvement.

1 select/clean lp, connect laptop. - 3 min.

2 record. 40 min- 80 min

depending on if you get involved in something else and forget to flip the record over. most of this time does not require you to monitor the recording process.

[lw26@cornell.edu]

3. once the initial recording is complete, ClickRepair needs about 3 min of attention to get configured. ( more to learn the program initially. it can be ignored as it processes. you will need some decent monitoring headphones for this and the track dividing steps that follow. built in computer speakers are a poor choice. external speakers playing the sampling that is needed can annoy others in your household. headphones are best.

4 track dividing- 5-10 min. during this step, you can check individual tracks to confirm the clarity of the audio.

5 burn 12 min. does not require your presence once task is started.

 

if you choose not topurcvhase and clickrepair your tracks, the unfiltered/processed version of audio from CDSD will likely be more pleasing over the long term than any messing with eq or separation, hiss/noise reduction that can be added to the file. digital processing noises from cdsd are more jarring than "real' pops and clicks. but if you dont want them either, get clickrepair.