[Macworld]

Post your comments for Ripping 78 RPM records to Mac here

[mdixon]

Ingenious, Christopher! I've used Audacity for years and have had a pile of 78s handed down from family members, but I never thought about using Audacity to import them into my Mac. I thought I was going to have to buy a turntable with the 78 speed on it. Whew.

[mooncaine]

Thanks for this article. It's a good workflow for amateurs who want to preserve, in some form, the old family 78 rpm records.
The noise-reduction step you describe, however, is a quick and dirty method -- OK for some users, but not OK if they really expect to preserve the most detail possible. Libraries converting their records, for example, will want to do it a bit differently, taking more time and more expertise.
Musicians and historians, who want to study the recording closely, are other examples that comes to mind.

[Chris Breen]

mooncaine said:

The noise-reduction step you describe, however, is a quick and dirty method -- OK for some users, but not OK if they really expect to preserve the most detail possible.

I agree. If you want a serious archive you'll use the right turntable with the right stylus and then use a serious (and expensive) tool for removing the noise.

[Lanny]

Quote: "Ideally you’d find a way to lay hands on a turntable that plays 78 recordings natively and has a diamond 3 millimeter stylus...."

No, it's not 3 millimeters, it's like 2.5 to 3 mils. "mils," are a thousandth of an inch.
3 millimeters is equal to 118 mils.

[Chris Breen]

Lanny said:

No, it's not 3 millimeters, it's like 2.5 to 3 mils. "mils," are a thousandth of an inch.

My bad. I've updated the story with the correction. Thanks!

[Lanny]

There's also a surprising amount of available 78 stylii out there for most popular cartridges. And, they're generally cheap too.

[BradPDX]

+1 on the proper stylus. If you use a smaller, more modern type it rides in the bottom of the groove where a lot of dirt tends to accumulate, resulting in very noisy playback. If you love the old recordings, do it right.

[Moloch]

I thought I was the only person crazy enough to be cleaning up 78s for my iPod. There are a couple of things to bear in mind if you want to get the best sound cheaply.
First off most 78s weren't recorded at 78, most are a bit slower, and one or two a little faster, which was why almost all early players had variable speed. If your recording sounds a bit like the singer was breathing helium just slow down the disc a little, either physically - if you have an older turntable - or electronically in Audacity.
Second, another reason voices can sound unnatural is that the old electronic recordings all used different equalisation curves to more modern microgroove records. Audacity has a range of these curves built in as well as the ability to strip off the modern 'RIAA' eq and apply older curves. Depending on the 78 the change in quality with the right eq can be quite miraculous.
Third, remember these recordings can be 90 years old - and used to be played with steel needles which wore down so fast you were only ever supposed to play one side per needle! The needles wiggling in the groove wear out one wall more than another. If you have a stereo cartridge you can listen to the left and right channel of the stereo (which equates to the right and left wall of the groove) separately. You may be shocked at how good the quality on one channel is! It's easy to combine channels into mono (which you should do anyway - these are mono recordings and they sound best in mono!) or simply delete the poorer quality one and create a mono track from the best one.
Finally for removing pops and that 'frying bacon' sizzle I have not found anything better than the shareware apps produced by Brian Davies, an Australian academic at the Australian National University. Using algorhythms that don't cut into the sound like conventional filters - . See http://wwwmaths.anu..../~briand/sound/ I've tried all sorts of apps that dull the sound quality for no good effect but these really do what they say quite brilliantly!
One thing that I've learned from a decade of cleaning up old vinyl and shellac is to trust my ears! If something sounds wrong, it probably is and can be corrected without too much trouble.
This hobby has turned up wonderful music for me, the sexy and naughty blues from the twenties - most rappers don't know they are in a tradition that old, the first song to name check 'rock & roll' (a US black euphemism for sex) from 1924 and Nashville's first ever No 1, a jazz track from a semi-retired bandleader...
Cheers
Jeff

[cfw123]

But where can I get a proper stylus? I have a lot of very old 78 RPM records that are in Japanese, which I brought back from Japan where I was at the end of WW2. I've saved them ever since, hoping to eventually record them properly someday -- today on my iMac. I do have a 33 & 45 turntable that plugs into a USB port. But the stylus is something else for the old ones.

[Chris Breen]

cfw123 said:

But where can I get a proper stylus?

Google is your friend in this regard. Just search for "78 stylus" and you'll produce a lot of links.

[Moloch]

@ cfw123
Nagaoka do a great stereo 78 cartridge. If your USB turntable has a headshell with a detachable cartridge that's you very best bet - cost about $150 Australian a couple of years back. I've replaced the stylus twice since then for about $50 Aus.
If the table has a fixed head/cartridge combination and you can only change the stylus you're probably out of luck.
For a collection that you care about its worth ebaying for an older turntable, say a Goldring/Lenco or a Garrard. The Lencos have a variable speed rim drive which is a lot simpler to adjust speed than doing it in the sound editor. I got one for $300 Aus a couple of years back and the sheer quality of the sound in combination with the Nagaoka cartridge means I'll often play the 78s direct anyway and use my onboard in-brain filters to listen past the crackle!
J

[pieme]

Simply use a 78 rpm turntable regularly on sale (and very good quality):
http://www.rega.co.u...ml/planar78.htm

[newpolluter]

great advice. I also recommend the Numark PT-01 USB turntable. Usually on sale for around $100 and has a native 78 rpm setting, audio through a USB port, which I've found can be less noisy that the mac's audio ins, but it might just be my machine. It also fits in a record crate, which I've always found handy. I picked mine up on sweetwater.
Seriously, between this thing and Audacity I've gotten as good results as when I had a really expensive truntable going into Pro Tools, with way less of the hassle.