Vinyl is back in style!
Around 1991 I was underemployed and decided to sell of some of my extensive collection of LPs from the 1960s on. Since I always handled them carefully, kept them in plastic sleeves, and only played them with a quality cartridge and stylus — they brought high prices. Most of what didn’t sell at the record show, I sold in cardboard boxes to a local bookstore, which paid less than $1.00 each compared to the $9.00 average price at the show. I’d kept around 400 at home the whole time, as they were too special to sell at the time.
Around 2001, thinking they had no more value, I embarked on a project to rip them to music files, and even wrote an article for a computer magazine to document the process. Later, during a living room remodel, they were evicted from the custom made oak cabinet and relocated in the hall closet, where they remained until 2017.
Now, since vinyl is back in style, and local store sell far more LPs than CDs — I’m again in the process of ripping to music files. Wanting the best quality that I can manage, I did a bit of research. Here’s what I’ve come up with:
- A spare dual core desktop computer
- A version of Ubuntu linux with a the lightweight LXDE desktop, called Lubuntu.
- The low latency kernel replacing the generic kernel, for more faithful capture
- The best of several sound cards that I tested for low background noise
- Capture using Audacity, and removing clicks with the Click Filter, and selecting the whole side of the LP to save
- Save as 24 bit flac files for future proofing, or further editing to split into tracks when I’m retired
- Save as variable bit rate mp3, joint stereo, of next-to highest quality available
I’m quite happy with the sound of most of these decades-old vinyl discs, though some have lots of clicks and pops despite looking perfect. Concerned that running the click filter on the entire file may dull the sound, I do what I call “selective click reduction” by selecting an area where clicks are visible and running the filter on that. Usually the clicks are near the beginning and the end, with a few random clicks in between.
