The Reripper, or "Rip it Again, Sam."

The Reripper

I was listening to a weekend radio show - a combination tech advice/infomercial half hour on audio video. 

I don't often agree with their suggestions like $40-a-foot speaker cable (the stuff that in true double-blind tests showed no significant difference from good old #12 stranded).  But they got to talking about ripping instead of ripping off.

Their point:  Everyone is going back and ripping their audio and video.  New, faster technology, better compression and greater flexibility are the main reasons.

I had to smile.

I'm betting we're all reripping our media.  I never was a fan of lossy recording but I have to admit that my initial rips of CD's were in mp3.  The reason?  Most radio automation is centered on that format.  Hey!  Don't let the word out.  If people start figuring out that CD's go to mp3 then to iBoc, they may abandon HD forever.

A little balance:  I know a lot of non-tech folks who loaded their iPods with music at 64, or worse, 48 kbps.  I feel a tinge of guilt even calling that music.  But they did get thousands of songs on their players.  Some still listen that way.  Those folks won't recognize the artifacts that come with the signal path that I described above.  Many of us, though, will and do hear the difference.

So, to the ultimate end of best quality audio, I'm reripping everything at full bandwidth, uncompressed.  I practiced this with vinyl to hard drive, giving Adobe Audition its best shot at working when I applied corrections.  Then, I started with CD's some time ago after laying a big fat scratch down the side of Patricia Barber - well, a CD of hers, that is.  When you realize that even the best mp3 has something missing - even though at my age, I may never notice - you feel like you're cheating yourself.

So I'm one of their unwashed...feeding them all in again and doing the full processing.  Those of you who have done so all along (I can only name one person), feel free to send me the Bronx cheer.  Anyone else, get 'em stacked up and let the reripping begin.

I only have a couple of suggestions:

Vinyl:  Don't transfer on a bad stylus.  Don't transfer on a "DJ" stylus.  Don't increase the stylus force to try to track a warped or scratched record.  Think first.  If the record's a mess, move it to last in the pile.  If it's gummy or dirty, clean it.  There are some great vinyl washers still floating around. 

Some folks say, no, transfer it first, that way you'll have something.  True enough, if you can afford to replace a stylus damaged by gunk or from being rattled out of a record's grooves.  If you want to ensure that you at least get something, switch to that conical stylus and have at it.  Then clean the record and get back to the elliptical gem.  But remember, a vertical, conical stylus tracking at 6 grams is a lot like dragging a 10 penny nail around the grooves and future passes will have reduced quality.

After recording, I keep two copies - the dry or unprocessed right-from-the-disc copy and the Audition-processed one.  It's fun listening to the processed version and the clean sound that comes from click, pop, and surface noise removal.  But I have some great stuff that is filled with noise - parties 40 or more years ago where an out-of-uniform gorilla was flipping records on his Garrard grinder - and I guess I'm just used to that sound.  In fact, We're only in it for the Money sounds shallow without the wushes and ticks.  Keeping that in mind, sometimes you can add a little processing without destroying the sound.  Duh.

CD's:  Check out the CD for scratches.  If you're reading this, you know how to clean one.  Here again, you may want to try an initial transfer without cleaning to see what you get.  However, if you're monitoring errors and see a lot, a second pass, after cleaning, is a good idea.

Cassettes: Cassettes can be fun to transfer.  First, demagnetize the heads.  A straight pass works first time around, provided the tape hasn't been stretched.  If it has, try this - unspool about 50 feet onto the ground.  Carefully pull it across an ice cube at abouts one foot per second.  This should shrink the tape.  Then carefully wind it back... OK, listen.  DON'T do that!  Toss the tape. 

But if it's generally OK, do a pass and see how it sounds.  Do a full fast-forward/rewind to exercise the cassette.  From there, you can EQ it, apply noise reduction or whatever you please.  There are some who will tell you to EQ it going in to the computer.  You sure can but what you get is what you get and you can't go back without hauling out the cassette player again.  Yeah, I have a couple of tricks for jammed cassettes or those with high friction or bad tape paths...lemme know if you want them.

I'm almost done with the CD's.   Full resolution, full backup, even for the stuff I don't even like.  Hey! Tastes change.  Then, you bet, I'm cloning the drive and storing it somewhere else.  Remember the story about the guy who bought a suit with two pair of pants - and burned a hole in the coat?

Photos:  I don't think anyone has imported stills at a lower resolution than the original digital file.  If so, you may want to go back and redo those...if you still have them on the camera disc.  Where the big change has come is in scanning flat art.  Really high quality scanners and big drives have made way for 1200, 4800, even 9600 dpi and more.  (Check if you're going to buy.  Is that true resolution or interpolated?) 

If you scanned in photos at 300 dpi that may be OK, depending on use.  But if you have some good 8x10 publicity shots or news photos, you may want the highest resolution...in case Angie Harmon wants to blow up the digital version to check a license plate number.

Video:  It's software/hardware combination. I've found a couple that really work.  And I ingest videos at the highest rate possible (I mean, my machine ingests them).  I have a high quality VHS player and commercial interface and hardware.  But even with somewhat lower quality acquisition software, you can get HiDef files.