====== Extract tracks from LP (Vinyl Records) ======
This guide covers everything you need to know to master excellent restauration from Vinyl Records to FLAC and MP3 track files with minimum effort.\\ (updated 3<sup>rd</sup> December 2022)

===== Prerequisites =====
  - A good phono turntable with a new stylus, or if not new, a stylus in excellent condition. The better your equipment, the better the quality of your recordings. I use a Technics SL-1210MK2 with an Ortofon Concorde Anniversary 40 stylus (a better version of the Ortofon Concorde  10 R), which is the lowest mass cartridge on the market. The type of stylus you use depends on your preferred music, as well as your preference in sound. Experiment and make sure you are satisfied with the sound before you start recording.
  - A phono preamp with USB connection so you can directly record to your computer. I use the [[https://nadelectronics.com/product/pp-4-digital-phono-usb-preamplifier/|NAD PP4]] and the Alpha Design Labs [[http://adl-av.com/products/usbdac/gt40a/|ADL-GT40a]]. The GT40a comes with higher specs than the PP4, the PP4 is more convenient to use and has an auto-off function which is quite nice, both deliver excellent results.
  - A computer which is sitting close to the turntable and phono preamp. My setup is such that my turntable and amplifier can be accessed on the back side through another service room, in which also a Linux computer is located.
  - A tablet to operate the computer "remotely". I do this through VNC, which let's me access the computer's desktop on the tablet's screen.
  - [[https://www.audacityteam.org/|Audacity]] open-source software, which is an excellent audio editor available for Linux, Windows, and MacOS. You should install version 3, under Linux that means install the snap instead of the packet manager version, see [[deb11:audacity|Install Audacity 3 on Linux]].
  - Additional software to facilitate enhancing the resulting audio files. Audacity can do it too, but it is quite labor intensive, be ready to put down hours for each record you intend to extract, except if you tolerate clicks and cracks from dust, scratches, and other imperfections of the some times very old vinyl records. There are tons of programs who claim to do a good job with this, I tried some, but was never happy until I found [[https://clickrepair.net/|ClickRepair]] by Brian Davies. This is a Java application and as such platform independent, it runs on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. I agree with others saying that "It is nothing short of magic at removing clicks, pops, and crackle without damaging the audio", and it does this basically with a single click, even if you leave the tweaks at default settings. It costs USD 40. UPDATE: Brian Davies has given up on maintaining his software, and it seems it's not available for sale anywhere else anymore.
  - You might also want to use [[https://clickrepair.net/|DeNoise]] by Brian Davies to reduce the noise floor, which is so much better than the Audacity built-in noise reduction algorithm. You don't need to do this step as the resulting WAV does already sound very nice, but it adds one more improvement to the resulting audio track file.
  - A DeEsser can improve your audio further, specially if your recordings suffer from very strong 's' and 'sh' sounds, specially within vocal dominant sections of the track. I found 2 DeEssers which work quite well, but you need to play with the settings and hence the processing efforts for each track will increase.
    - [[https://www.airwindows.com/?s=debess|DeBess]], a free VST plugin written by Chris from [[https://www.airwindows.com/|airwindows]]. This is a VST plugin which can be enabled in Audacity.
    - [[https://www.waves.com/plugins/sibilance#how-to-de-ess-vocals-sibilance-plugin-tutorial|Sibilance]] from [[https://www.waves.com/|Waves]]. This is a paid plugin ($29.99 as of 23<sup>rd</sup> February 2021), and you need a 64bit version DAW to use it, for example [[https://www.audacityteam.org/|Audacity]] Version 3 (open source) or [[https://www.reaper.fm/|REAPER]] Version 6 (60 days trial period - $60 for a license).
  - [[media:aah|Audacity Audio Helper]] to automate tagging and moving the audio track files to their final location.

===== Preparations =====
  - Make sure your turntable is setup correctly, [[https://www.theransomnote.com/tech/articles/how-to-set-up-a-turntable-properly/|How To Set Up A Turntable Properly]] explains how, you might also want to use a  [[http://www.phaedrus-audio.com/protractor.htm|Phono-cartridge alignment protractor]].
  - Set up a record cleaning "station". I use a carbon brush to wipe off extensive dust and particles, then clean the record with [[media:spinclean|Spin-Clean]] which does a pretty decent job. There are other cheaper and less cheaper solutions available on the market, you could also use a do-it-yourself solution like the one in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNLGo5K5m_M|video]] which I will try one day when I run out of Spin-Clean cleaning liquid.
  - I use 2 different computers to do the task, a Linux host "server" which records Audio to a network served folder (server or NAS), and a Windows host "client" to do the processing. I also use an Android "tablet" to operate Audacity on the "server", then I am able to operate Audacity without leaving the turntable. Other setups using a laptop might be easier, where you just set the laptop in front of the turntable. But for my setup following are the required software installs.
  - Linux "server":
    - Install and configure [[deb10:vnc|TightVNC]]
    - Install [[https://www.audacityteam.org/|Audacity]].
    - If you installed an additional plugin like //**Sibilance**//, verify that the plugin is recognized by Audacity.
  - Windows "client":
    - Install [[https://www.audacityteam.org/|Audacity]]
    - Install [[https://www.waves.com/plugins/sibilance#how-to-de-ess-vocals-sibilance-plugin-tutorial|Sibilance]] from [[https://www.waves.com/|Waves]] or [[https://www.airwindows.com/?s=debess|DeBess]], a free VST plugin written by Chris from [[https://www.airwindows.com/|airwindows]] (copy DeBess32.dll to Audacity's Plug-Ins folder and enable the plugin within Audacity).
    - Install [[https://clickrepair.net/|ClickRepair]]
    - Install [[https://clickrepair.net/|DeNoise]] and [[https://clickrepair.net/|DeNoiseLF]]
    - Copy [[media:aah|Audacity Audio Helper]] to a portable location
  - Android "tablet":
    - Install [[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.realvnc.viewer.android|VNC Viewer]] and set up a connection to display :2. You might need to allow the server's firewall to open port 5902 for VNC Viewer to work.
  - If you don't like Audacity, you might find [[https://www.goldwave.com/goldwave.php|GoldWave]] a good and inexpensive alternative, although it's not free software.
<color red>**WARNING: Do not install Audacity 3.4 if you have recordings made with any version of Audacity 2. The import of the old recordings will crash, the latest good version is Audacity 3.3.3.**</color>
===== Work flow =====
I refined my work flow with the help of [[https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=20347|Vinyl Cleanup Best Practice]] and [[https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/sample_workflow_for_lp_digitization.html|Sample workflow for LP digitization]].
  - **Preparation**: clean the record to be captured, don't put it back into the sleeve but let it dry completely
  - **Audacity**: capture the record which was just cleaned. This delivers the best results as the record will not pick up new dust or static before being captured. Make sure the project settings are at Stereo, 44100Hz, 32-bit float. Capture each LP side into a separate track, which can be in the same Audacity project or in different projects.
  - **Audacity**: //Effects --> [[https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/high_pass_filter.html|High-Pass Filter...]]//, 24 db/octave roll-off, cut-off frequency of 20 Hz, which gets rid of sub-sonic garbage
  - **Audacity**: //Effects --> [[https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/amplify.html|Amplify...]]// to boost both stereo channels equally
  - **Audacity**: //Effects --> **Sibilance**// (optional). Apply the plugin after //Amplify// but before repairing the audio from clicks and noise.
  - **Audacity**: some badly damaged records might need customized [[media:audacity#repair|Repair in Audacity]], for example tracks with dominant vocals and strong ess'es, which you can repair with the "DeBess" effect.
  - **Audacity**: //Export --> Export Audio...// as WAV, or //Export --> Export Selected Audio...// if you have more than one stereo track in the same project. 
  - **Audacity**: //Edit --> Undo// all effects applied to all tracks, or //File --> Close// without saving the project. This leaves your original recording and allows to redo it with different effects or settings should you not be satisfied with the result.
  - **ClickRepair**: process with //**ClickRepair**// to remove clicks and pops. Start with //DeClick: 30// then increase if required. Set //DeCrackle: Off// and //Method: Wavelet//.
  - **DeNoise**: process with //**DeNoise**// to remove the noise floor. Set to default values but Limit reduction to 9 dB.
  - **Audacity**: Import the DeClicked and DeNoised file back into a new project in Audacity
  - **Audacity**: //Effects --> [[https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/amplify.html|Amplify...]]// again (the removal of clicks and pops will usually mean you can do further amplification without clipping)
  - **Audacity**: Having done this for both LP sides, use the time shift tool to drag the side 2 recording onto the side 1 track
  - **Audacity**: split the recording into songs by setting Labels 0.2 - 0.5 seconds before the song audio. Use //Edit --> Labels --> Add Label at Selection//, then use //Edit --> Labels --> Edit Labels...// to make sure all songs are labeled and extend with their end time to the beginning of the next song. Use the song's name as label.
  - **Audacity**: check whether you want to silence the gaps between songs if it's not quiet after DeClick and DeNoise. It's done with //Generate --> Silence...//.
  - **Audacity**: some clicks or damages to the audio can be difficult to repair with DeClick. If the damage is in one channel only and the music is similar in both channels you might have success with Audacity by copying a short period of time from the good channel over the same period of the bad channel.
    - //Split Stereo Track// to have the stereo channels each in their own track
    - Select the period to be replaced in the track of the good channel and copy to clipboard (for example 00:03:28.200 - 00:03:28.800)
    - Select the identical period in the track of the bad channel and paste from clipboard
    - Use //Make Stereo Track// to combine both channels back into one stereo track
  - **Audacity**: export all songs with //Export --> Multiple...// to create FLAC and MP3 track files. Refer to the [[media:aah#work_flow|Audacity Audio Helper Work flow]] for recommended export settings for FLAC and MP3, which are important if you want to use Audacity Audio Helper to tag and move the track files. You can also use any other format you prefer, as set out in Audacity Audio Helper. Do not add any meta tags except the song's name.
  - [[media:aah|Audacity Audio Helper]]: tag all track files and move them to the destination folder.

To do the best job you need to tweak the DeClick, DeCrackle and DeNoise processes for each LP. I normally do not use DeCrackle, but for some LPs it might be necessary.