I start by cleaning the LP with my Nitty Gritty 2.5 FI record cleaning machine. This gets it as clean as possible and eliminates static. I always maintain it with fresh vac-sweep pads and a good blend of alcohol and distilled water.
The next step is to put the record on my turntable, a Thorens TD-318 Mk II, with an Ortofon MC-30 Super Mk II cartridge, sitting on the floating lid of a 100 lb. sandbox for vibration isolation. I maintain the cartridge alignment with a DB Systems 2 point gauge, and maintain the optimum tracking force, bias and VTA. I use tracks from the Cardas Test LP to fine tune the alignment, bias, tracking force and VTA. I record the tracks to a Tascam SS-R1 digital recorder and analyze them in Audacity to ensure it is optimized.
The phono pickup is a low output moving coil cartridge (0.2 mV), so it needs a lot of gain in the head amp. My head amp is a DACT CT-100. This is the cleanest, fastest, most linear phono head amp that money can buy. But money can't actually buy it, because it is just a circuit board. You have to design the power supply, box, connections and grounding yourself. I did this several years ago. It is powered by dual 12V rechargeable batteries with large stabilizing capacitors.
The phono head amp is connected directly to the digital recorder using Blue Jeans LC-1 cable which has extremely low capacitance of 12.2 pF / foot. There is no preamp in between; it's plugged directly into the recorder.
Next, I sweep the record with my grounded carbon fiber brush. I find the loudest sections and set the digital recording level to -6 dB. Since no LP actually has anywhere near 90 DB of dynamic range, there is no loss of resolution. It also gives some headroom in case I miss the actual loudest parts of the LP.
Next, I clean my needle and record the LP (in real time at 1 X speed). When the recording is done I load it into my computer. I use Audacity to mark the tracks - silently, gapless, no audible transition between tracks. I scan every track to ensure there is no clipping - no samples at or near 0 dB. If it peaks higher than -1 dB, I go back and record it again at a lower level. Otherwise, I amplify the signal to set the peak level across the entire LP to -1 dB (applying dither to make it sonically transparent).
Next, I burn a CD from the files - no compression or filtration. This CD is an 80 minute Taiyo Yuden blank and I burn it at 32 X to ensure no burn issues. I can also digitally record at 48 kHz sampling, and burn it to a DVD in DVD-A format. I package the disk in a new jewel case (whether single or double). I print a label using my laser printer and insert it into the jewel case.
Alternately, I can also create FLAC files for download. This means no CD, no Jewel case, etc. The FLAC file is lossless compression, typically half the size of the WAV file. Many devices can play FLAC files natively, though there are free open source tools to transform FLAC to WAV.
The results vary tremendously because the condition of LPs varies so much. The best case would be an LP that is a 200 gram half speed master or 45 RPM single sided set. With a good original master recording this makes a reference audiophile quality CD. The worst case would be scratchy old records that sound thin, tinny and distorted. These are not worth transcribing with a process like this.
If you have some high quality LPs you want transferred to CD, feel free to email me at mike@mclements.net. You pay shipping both ways and we negotiate a reasonable fee for time and materials. I am not in this as a business or to make money, so it is not expensive. It is just a hobby I enjoy sharing with other music lovers. I can't mass produce so huge boxes of LPs are out of the question. And they would be heavy and expensive to ship anyway. The ideal is batches from one to a couple dozen records. This isn't overwhelming for me and the shipping is more reasonable for you. That means going through your collection and cherry picking a select set of your very best LPs. Only the best LPs are worth such an intensive process.
SAMPLES
Here are some samples of what a good vinyl transfer sounds like. Each is provided in WAV and MP3. The WAV has the full audio fidelity but is a large file. The MP3 is about 6 times smaller and has 99% of the audio fidelity. It is done in highest quality VBR using LAME 3.98, averaging above 200 kbps and using up to 320 kbps where needed. Most computers don't have great sound quality, so if you want to know what these really sound like, I recommend you download these, burn them to an audio CD and listen to them on a real stereo system.
Bach, Coffee Cantata
From the L'Oiseau-Lyre LP with Emma Kirkby directed by Christopher Hogwood
WAV, 11 MB
MP3, 2 MB
Moussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition
From the 180 gram Chesky ressiue of the original RCA Victor master
WAV, 6 MB,
MP3, 1 MB
Bottessini, Melodie
From the Telefunken 200 gram half speed master, # 219 of 300
WAV, 6 MB
MP3, 1 MB
Dizzy Gillespie and Joe Pass, Frelimo
From the Fantasy 180 gram tube half speed master
WAV, 16 MB
MP3, 3 MB