{"id":307,"date":"2024-09-25T12:23:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T10:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/?p=307"},"modified":"2025-01-17T18:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T16:43:10","slug":"the-art-of-vinyl-ripping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/music\/the-art-of-vinyl-ripping\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Vinyl Ripping…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

…or How I Spent 30 Years Collecting Records Only to Spend 30 More Digitising Them<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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So, you\u2019ve heard about streaming, right? You know, that magical service where you can access 100 million songs, at any time, with just a flick of your finger on a smartphone screen. Convenient, easy, and possibly the answer to world peace. But I, your humble vinyl obsessive, look at that wonder of modern technology and scoff. Because why stream effortlessly when you can spend hours setting up an elaborate system, carefully ripping vinyl records, one at a time, with all the care of a master jeweller polishing a diamond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be clear here: I don\u2019t dislike streaming. I even have Plex<\/strong> set up to stream my digitised vinyl collection. But that\u2019s the point: it\u2019s not Apple Music<\/strong>, it\u2019s my music<\/strong>, digitised painstakingly from my thousands of vinyl records<\/strong> collected over 30 years, a personal trove that isn\u2019t just music, it\u2019s a testament to my persistence, stubbornness, and absolute refusal to do things the easy way. And, should the zombie apocalypse come and the internet fall apart, I\u2019ll have my FLAC files while the rest of you wonder why Taylor Swift<\/strong> won\u2019t buffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, you may ask, what\u2019s involved in this truly noble process? Oh, only a turntable<\/strong>, phono stage<\/strong>, audio interface<\/strong>, Mac<\/strong>, VinylStudio Pro software<\/strong>, hours of time, and a healthy dash of obsessiveness. I\u2019ll walk you through the details, but let\u2019s be real: this is an undertaking only for the dedicated or the truly deranged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Workflow of a Madman (AKA Me)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It all starts with my Audio-Technica AT-LP5 turntable<\/strong>, spinning a record that I\u2019ve likely had since I was too young to know better. The Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge<\/strong> delicately traces the grooves, pulling out that warm, rich analog sound that only vinyl can produce. But, of course, vinyl sound doesn\u2019t magically turn into FLAC files. No, no, we have steps to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the sound goes through my iFi Zen Phono<\/strong> stage, which amplifies the fragile signal while making sure it doesn\u2019t get muddied by distortion. It\u2019s like giving a gentle pat to the sound, saying, “There, there, let\u2019s clean you up for the next stage.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, the amplified signal gets sent to the Audient iD14<\/strong> audio interface, which acts as the gatekeeper to the digital world. It converts the precious analog signal into ones and zeros, but in a way that ensures I don\u2019t lose that vinyl magic in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And where do these precious digital bits go? Into VinylStudio Pro<\/strong> on my Mac, a software designed specifically for people like me … people who look at a streaming service and think, “Why not make this more difficult?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I forgot to say is about cleaning … it makes sense to clean your vinyl before recording. Even new records come out of the factory dirty sometimes. I use a SPINCARE Record Cleaning Machine. Simple and effective. Failing to clean will mean you’ll have to fix more later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VinylStudio Pro: The Real Hero (Or Villain?)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s where the real magic (or madness) happens. VinylStudio Pro<\/strong> is like a Swiss Army knife for vinyl rippers. It doesn\u2019t just record the sound; it pulls metadata from online sources to fill in the album info and artwork automatically. The software even detects track breaks for me, ensuring that each song is split just right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And let\u2019s not forget the automated pop and crackle removal. You know those little imperfections that give vinyl its \u201ccharacter\u201d? Well, VinylStudio Pro scrubs them out, because if I\u2019m going through all this trouble, the least I can do is get a clean copy of my record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This might sound efficient, but trust me, each record takes time. The software is somewhat automated, sure, but I still sit there with my glass of whiskey, watching the progress bar inch across the screen like it\u2019s 1999 and I\u2019m waiting for a dial-up connection. My wife, ever the supportive partner, often walks by and rolls her eyes, as if to say, “You could be done with this in 30 seconds with Spotify, but sure, let\u2019s do it the hard way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Bother When Apple Music Exists?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At this point, you might be wondering why on earth I\u2019m doing this. Why not just lean into the digital age, pay my streaming subscription, and be done with it? Well, you see, not everything is on Apple Music<\/strong> or Spotify<\/strong>. Some of these records I\u2019ve spent decades hunting down aren\u2019t available in the streaming ether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse, some of them have been remixed<\/em> and not in a good way. You know what I mean: compressed, “modernised” versions that remove the soul from the original recordings. When I listen to my vinyl rips, I\u2019m listening to the original pressings, with all their quirks intact (or lovingly edited out by my automation software, but still).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Real Reward: Streaming My Vinyl From Anywhere<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s where I indulge in some tech geekery. Once I\u2019ve gone through the elaborate process of ripping my vinyl, I store everything as FLAC files<\/strong> on my Synology DS220+<\/strong> NAS. And here\u2019s the kicker: with Plex<\/strong>, I can stream those files to any device, anywhere in the world. So, yes, I could just open Apple Music, but when I\u2019m travelling or at work, I can stream the same rich, warm sound of my vinyl, preserved in all its FLAC glory, from the cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be honest: this is the ultimate man-cave hobby<\/strong>. It\u2019s not just about collecting vinyl or having a big digital music library, it\u2019s about knowing that every single track was personally curated and cared for. Paired with the right whiskey (highly recommended), it\u2019s an evening ritual that connects me to my collection in a way no streaming service could. And while my wife may roll her eyes, I suspect that deep down, she knows that this little obsession will keep me occupied for hours, thus freeing up the TV for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Zombie Apocalypse Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And if the zombie apocalypse<\/strong> comes? Well, while the world is collapsing and streaming services are down, I\u2019ll be in my bunker, listening to FLAC rips<\/strong> of my records. Taylor Swift\u2019s catalogue may have vanished from the digital universe, but my vinyl-based music collection will live on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, yes, it\u2019s an insane amount of work in a world where effortless streaming is the norm. It\u2019s obsessive, time-consuming, and probably unnecessary. But for those of us who are committed to preserving the authenticity of music<\/strong>, it\u2019s an obsession worth indulging. And if I end up with the world\u2019s only zombie-proof vinyl collection, well, I\u2019ll consider that a win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…or How I Spent 30 Years Collecting Records Only to Spend 30 More Digitising Them So, you\u2019ve heard about streaming, right? You know, that magical service where you can access 100 million songs, at any time, with just a flick of your finger on a smartphone screen. Convenient, easy, and possibly the answer to world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gear","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368,"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions\/368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cann.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}