Archiving Records with a USB Turntable

About 6 years ago my father gave me a vintage turntable – a run of the mill 1980’s Pioneer model. That rekindled my interest in collecting and listening to vinyl records. A couple of years ago I upgraded my turntable to an Audio Technica AT-LP120XUSB.

I didn’t choose the LB120XUSB specifically for the USB connection, but it is a useful feature that offers an easy way to archive my albums. I generally use it for records where the only copy available online (such as the Amazon “auto-rip” files) are in MP3 as opposed to a lossless format like FLAC or WAV. After some trial and error, I came up with the procedure here to archive my records relatively quickly and efficiently.

Technology Needs

Hardware

This post assumes that you have a turntable with USB out, so I will focus on the computer side of things. You can do this process on either a PC or a Mac, as long as you have a USB port. I use a laptop (Surface Pro 7) to get the initial recording as my turntable is integrated into my entertainment center and it would be a pain to pull it out to connect it to my desktop system. While I do my editing work on my desktop, that’s not necessary – I just like the bigger screen.

You might need an adapter, such as a USB-A to USB-C dongle, depending on the cord from the turntable and your specific system.  

You’ll also want a good set of headphones for the editing process so you can listen for clicks, track endings, etc.

Software

This tutorial uses Audacity to record and edit the music. Audacity is a free multi-track audio editor and recorder and works well for copying vinyl records. Some of the steps may be relevant to other software packages, but likely it will be a very different procedure.

The Process

With the hardware and software in place, it’s time to copy your vinyl! I’ve divided this tutorial into three parts – preparing the computer, recording the record, and editing and exporting the tracks.

Preparing your computer

You want to copy the album in the highest quality that your turntable can provide. That means you have to set your recording device’s sample rate and bit depth in the computer operating system. To do this in Windows 10 (this may work similarly in earlier versions of Windows, especially after you get to the advanced properties):

1. Make sure your turntable is plugged into the computer and turned on.
2. Right-click the speaker icon and select “sound settings.”
3. Under “Input,” select the turntable and then click “Device properties.”
1. The turntable may not show up by name. My AT-LP120XUSB shows up as Realtek USB Audio.
4. Under “Related settings” on the right, click the link for additional device properties.
5. Select the “advanced” tab in the window that pops up.
6. Use the “Default format” drop-down to select the highest quality you can. This is typically limited by the device, so you can’t select something higher than it can provide.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Click “ok” and then close the Device Properties window in settings as well.

I do not have access to a Mac, but if I can find instructions, I will link to them.

Copying the Record

Now that you’ve set your recording sample rate and bit depth, you’re ready to copy the record. This step will take a while – as long as it takes to play the album. I record each album side as an Audacity file, and then combine them during the editing process. You can also pause the recording, flip the record, then record side 2 right after side 1, but I prefer to do each side separately in the event something happens, and I lose the recording – I would rather only lose one side at a time. To copy the record:

1. Open Audacity
2. Select your turntable as the audio input.
1. Use the dropdown to the right of the microphone image to select your turntable as the input.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Set the project rate.
1. In the drop-down in the lower left of the screen (Project Rate (Hz)), select the highest sampling frequency your turntable supports.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Note that Audacity allows you to select higher sampling rates. For digital recording, you won’t gain anything by selecting a higher rate than your equipment provides (except for file size in your exports…).
4. Click the record button and then play the selected side of the record.
1. If you’ve set everything up properly, you will see a waveform in the Audacity window. If you don’t, you need to check your setup again. It will likely be that the wrong input is selected.
5. When the side is finished, save the recording as an Audacity project. I generally name my files <Album Title> Side <side # or letter>.
1. You can close the recording after saving, though I tend to leave it open until I am done with the other sides – YMMV based on system specifications.
6. Click “File -> new” in Audacity and repeat steps 3-5 for each additional side.

 When you’ve copied all sides, you’re ready to edit and export.

Editing and Exporting

This is the most intensive work of the project. It might not take the most time, depending on the album and number of tracks per side, but unlike recording where you’re just waiting for the copy to finish, this is all you. The process below cleans up the audio, especially the low frequency sounds you can get from the stylus in the groove that aren’t part of the music.

For each side, independently:

1. Trim the front and end of the file (especially the needle drop), but leave a little space before the first track, around two to five seconds.
2. Apply a High-pass filter. Set the frequency to 25.0 and the roll-off (dB per octave) to 6 dB for best results.
3. Apply Noise reduction (under the effect menu) to remove any residual noise that was not handled by the high-pass filter. I find that the default settings are generally fine for this.
1. Select a section of the noise - I use a second or two of the front of the file.
2. Click "Effect ->Noise reduction"
3. Click "get noise profile." It will close the Noise reduction box when done.
4. Remove the selection by clicking anywhere in the file.
5. Click "Effect ->Noise reduction" again.
6. Click "OK" to apply noise reduction to the entire recording.
   
   
   
   
   
4. When you’ve processed both sides, CTRL-A (or click on the "select" button in the Audacity track details pane on the left side of the window) on the side 2 file to select and then use CTRL-C (or edit -> copy) and then place the cursor at the end of the Audacity track in the side 1 file and use CTRL-V (or edit -> paste) to paste it at the end of side 1.
5. Look for spikes that indicate clicks and check them out by placing the cursor and playing the file. If they are clicks, use click removal on each one.
1. Select the audio around the click’s spike. You need a little on each side or click removal will complain.
2. Select “Effect” then go to “Click removal.” The default settings generally work, but you can tweak them if it does not.
6. Go to a position right before the first album track’s start and click to place the cursor there. 
7. Select “Add label at selection” from the “Edit => Labels” menu. Type the title of the song in the box that opens at the bottom part of the track.
8. Optional: Go to the end of the song, cut out the “silence” between it and the next song
1. You will probably want to do this between the last track of one side and the first of the other, as you usually end up with a long silence and perhaps the needle drop (if you didn’t trim it before pasting) at the beginning of side 2.
9. Repeat 6 through 8 for each album track, moving the cursor to the appropriate spot at the beginning of each unlabeled on the waveform.
10. Select the whole Audacity track with CTRL-A or the Select button and choose Normalize from the Effect menu. 
1. Set the peak amplitude however you want – I leave a couple of DB headroom generally to avoid clipping during playback.
2. You may want to normalize album tracks independently. To do this, select the portion of the Audacity track you want to change and run Normalize on it. This may be necessary because some albums have varying levels for each track. This is not common, but I’ve found that some compilations have varying peak amplitude where normalizing each album track creates a better end product.
11. Once you’ve normalized everything, select “File -> Export –> Export Multiple” to save the individual tracks. It will automatically drop the information before the first track label, so you don’t need to trim the beginning too close as long as the label is where you want it.
1. You can select whatever format you want for the export. I recommend FLAC as it provides a lossless compressed file that is much smaller than a .WAV and can be played by most audio software and hardware these days.
2. You will be prompted for tag info for each track you are exporting. I don’t add it – I just use a tagging software package to update the whole album at once when I’m finished exporting.
3. Audacity will tag the exported file with the track name and number, which makes editing in tagging software easier.
4. Note that if you select WAV, tags will not be saved as the format does not support them.

That’s all there is to it! I hope you found this tutorial helpful. If you have any suggestions for improving the flow, or other advice, feel free to leave a comment.