My hardware for recording

[iMark]

I'm very happy with the results I get from recording vinyl to digital with Vinyl Studio. We have bought a few albums that also come with digital downloads (mp3, 320 kbps). The recordings have a much better Dynamic Range than the mp3s. It's great to listen to records on my iPod.

For recording I have used a Griffin iMic but I wasn't too happy with the results. Then I remembered that I had an old Minidisc deck in the attic that I could use for analogue to digital conversions and has optical out so I can plug it into my old MacBook (one that still has optical connections). I record on an external hard drive and then import the files for editing on the Mac Mini in my study.
I record the records as Apple Lossless (ALAC) at 16/44.1. This means I can put them on my iPod without any conversion and I can very easily burn CDs from the iTunes library. Since the iTunes library gets streamed to the stereo via an Airport Express and a separate DAC, Apple Lossless is the way to go.

I really like the integration of VinylStudios and iTunes. Wonderful stuff and much easier to use than any other software I have tried. The workflow is also much quicker.

I use the following hardware for my recordings:
- Pro-Ject 1Xpression III (with the standard Ortofon 2M Red cartridge)
- Yamaha RS-500 stereo receiver (with phono and rec out selector)
- Sony MDS-JE 520 Minidisc deck for the analogue to digital conversion. (Just press the record button without a minidisc in the machine). I use the MD deck for gain control.
- MacBook from 2007 with optical in.

The rec out selector on the receiver is extremely convenient when I want to record vinyl while using the receiver for others things like watching TV or listening to the radio.

I have thought long and hard about buying a more expensive A/D converter that can record at 24/96. As things are, the results are great at 16/44.1 so I think I will stick with the current setup. Surprisingly, the MD deck is quite a bit better than the Griffin iMic. So if you can get your hands on an old deck with optical (or even coax) out, I can recommend old Minidisc decks if you don't need to record at a higher sampling rate than 16/44.1. Unfortunately hardly no portable minidisc recorders were ever produced with optical out, so it's decks only that have the feature.
There's quite a few old Minidisc decks on the market and here in NL you can find them from EUR 50 on the different second hand websites. For the purpose of recording vinyl, it doesn't even have to be fully working. As long as you can activate the A/D converter by hitting the record button (without a disc in the machine) it should be fine.

For more information on the specs of different Minidisc decks I can recommend this website:
http://www.minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

A word of warning to anyone that would like to record digitally on a Mac. In the current lineup of Macs only the Mac Mini still has optical inputs and outputs. With any other current Mac you will need a solution with USB (or FireWire with a converter) for your recordings. Apple has ditched the optical inputs on all other computers than the Mini.
To check whether a particular Mac has optical audio in you can download an app for Mac OS or iOS here:
http://mactracker.ca

[rkay5]

Hi,
   I started my vinyl recording using pro Marantz  CDRecorder so 16bit 44.1KHz but move up to a E-MU 0404 usb it does 24bit 192KHz.Having 24bits to work with will gave much better recording more head room for cleaning the click and all things that you should  do for good sounding vinyl recording.
   I have gone to the high end now I'm using a Mytek Stereo 192 DSD DAC as firewire Audio interface with Mytek Stereo 192 A2DC and the SQ is so good .I'm thinking about getting a Tascam DA 3000 so I can recorded in DSD128 with the newest VinylStudio upgrade.
   All I know is that using 24Bit word will make your recording much better there are a lot of good low cost audio interface that do 24bit and up to 192KHz that you try out and hear if it for you.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

If your Mac has a line-in socket, it can probably do 24/96.  But, IMO, 16/44 is enough for vinyl.  In particular, scanning for clicks does not require any additional 'headroom' in the way that other DSP processes might.

I agree that Apple Lossless is a good choice for both recording format and saving your tracks on the Mac (these formats don't need to be the same).  It offers a useful degree of compression with no loss of sound quality and plays on a wide variety of devices (although not all).  If you keep your albums and 'raw' recordings on your hard disk, you can always save your tracks again in a different format should the need arise.