LP to Digital vs 'Already' Digital - Sound Quality?

[Chip Fossa]

Lately I have had some down time, and a project I've been meaning to get in motion has thus, become in motion.

I'm slowly transferring my LP collection to my PC.

Analog to Digital.

Many of my LPs are in excellent shape, considering how old they are, and a few are not.

I've been using Goldwave to transfer the songs into MP3 files. Within Goldwave I do this:
Effects/Volume/Change Volume/and increase the dB from 0.00
to 1.00.

And: Effects/Filter/Smoother/Presets/Reduce hiss/which, when opened, has LENGTH set at 2 and VOLUME(dB) 6.0; when Reduce hiss is chosen, then Length = 4 and Volume = 3.0.

OK - this may have been more info than necessary, but these LP to MP3 files sound just terrific. I know they sound better than the same songs that I've been lugging around from older FREE MP3 file download sites. I don't do that anymore, for many reasons, but,

Here is my question [God, I thought he'd never ask]....

Do you think sound quality is better converting an old LP to a digital file, than buying a re-recorded digitized identical album?
Or no differnce at all?

My thinking is that the LP is analog and retains all those qualities supposedly absent in a re-released digital CD.

What do you all think?

I just know these MP3 files I created from these old LPs sound
just great.

Thanks all...

[Per Berner]

I've tried both ways, and I certainly prefer a re-released album on CD (provided it contains the original master tape, which is not always the case with the cheapest reissues).

I've just transferred my entire remaining LP collection, around 600 albums (only tracks I like though - still ending up with 62 80-minute CDRs), getting good results using my Technics SL-1210 with a Pickering pickup feeding a Pioneer CD player/CDR recorder , which was high-end when it was new a few years ago.

But I still get all the scratches, noise between tracks, rumble from warped discs, distortion from inner tracks on bad pressings... With a mint album (only the bad ones are in mint condition!), results are great. But a new CD is even better to my ears.

I did a full comparison with Emmylou's "Blue Kentucky Girl", since I happen to own four versions of it: a well-worn LP, an LP in great condition, the original CD edition and the remastered, extended CD version. I recorded "Save the last dance" and compared. The remastered CD is the clear winner, with the old CD a close second, both better than the recorded LP.

Software that removes imperfections in LP-CD transfers also remove a lot of treble – way too much for my taste.

[Chip Fossa]

Per,

Good points. I haven't used hardly anything in GW. Very limited.
If you like I'll send you a file from an old album, and let me know what you think.

You, however, may be more discriminating about what you want to hear. I'm not that fussy.

The end user on a recorded song has the option within his own system to EQ anything, including treble. Believe me, I am aware about the compromise when trying to delete hiss, pops, and noise.

I can live with some residual LP "sounds" - it's sort of nostalgic.
We all got used to scratches, hiccups, and "broken records" as kids, so to me it's really no big deal.

Let me know about if you want me to send you a file.

Regards,

[Bryan Daste]

I would be surprised if a CD you recorded from your vinyl LP were to sound better then a remastered CD. If so, you've got a better master than the record company! Call them up and make some money!

[Jack Stoner]

One comment and it sticks out like a "sore thumb". You are worried about the sound quality but you are coverting them to MP3. MP3 is not "full fidelity" - it is something less (how much less depends on the bit rate and the recording).

If you want to convert to digital, use a wav file, which is full fidelity and go from there. Also, if you save the file, originally, as an MP3, and then convert it to wav you will not regain the full fidelity - it will still be at whatever fidelity the MP3 was.

Sort of like a photograph. If you take it at the full resolution of your camera and save it, it will have all the "fidelity" or colors, etc. However, if you convert it to a "jpg" file, that is a compressed file and some "fidelity" will be lost (and can never be regained).

[Greg Cutshaw]

I've converted a few hundred LP's to digital using a Dual turtable and lately a cheapo AT turntable. All the recordings sound much warmer and fuller than any of the digitized commercial ones. I convert the .wav files to .wma files at 44khz and 192 bps and can't tell the original .wav from the .wma. I think Bear Family records has set a pretty high standard for music CD's in their compilations. Their's are certainly pop and click free but mine sound more like the original vinyl. In fact they sound exactly like the original vinyl!

The vinyls also have the original mix. In a few of the Bear Ray Price songs, the harmony part is missing. In their Ernest Tubb collection, Buddy Charleton's steel is a lot lower in the mix than it was in the vinyl original. I run the turntable through a Kenwood amp to pick up the RIAA equalization the into the computer sound card line in. It just comes out sounding pristine and uncompressed. I haven't had any luck with any sound processing like scratch and pop removers. They just kill the original dynamics and seem to roll off the highs.

Greg

[Chip Fossa]

The pop/scratch option doesn't work very well in Goldwave, and/or I haven't worked with it enough to gleen anything from it. It sounds muddy, actually.

I agree, too. that unless some LP is really messed up, it's best to leave in the pops/scratches. I'm aware of the compromise in the lost of sound when using this feature. The pops etc. gives it a nostalgic feel, too.

Jack, I'm not worried about the sound at all. My point I'm trying to make, and Greg hit on it, is that remastered songs onto CD are lacking some qualities, and have reduced parts that are there on the original LP.

Would I get a better MP3 file if I were to SAVE the song 1st as a WAVE, and then convert to MP3?

I'm not that fussy. The MP3's now, sound fine to me, but I would go the extra step if fidelity and quality were more noticeable.

[Jack Stoner]

If you are ultimately going for MP3's, there is no use to save them as wav files. But, if you want to make regular audio CD's (not MP3 CD's) then save them as wav files as that is what is used to make regular audio CD's.

I use GoldWave and although it will process MP3 files, it works better with wav files, on the noise reduction, pop, cracks, etc. I had one old LP that I put on a CD and it was fairly noisy, and amazingly it came out great after processing each song on GoldWave. I use the GoldWave default settings for the noise reduction.

[Chip Fossa]

Thanks for all these tips, fellas.

Keep 'em coming. This is a great and quick learning curve.