I really am an analogue person. Vinyl, but even more so R2R (15ips, 2 track). However, after I retired, my wife asked a simple question. She was looking at my 15K records and 1000+ tapes and asked "What are you going to do with all these records and tapes - our daughter and son-in-law won't take them." They both love classical music and are fine amateur musicians. So I started thinking about the collection as a legacy. I went to the first Computer Audiophile symposium in 2009, looking for possible digital solutions, having heard about Amarra and their soon to be released digital recording system. There I met Tim Marutani, consultant extraordinaire (and his friend and audio dealer Maier Shadi (of Audio Salon in Santa Monica), and Mr. CA himself Chris Connaker. With Tim, I was introduced into the high end of pro audio, including several superstars. Tim helped me search for the best solution to my problem and after several months of research arranged a shootout at my home, conducted by mastering engineer Paul Stubblebine, with several different A to D convertors and different software packages.
I realized that with the goal of digitizing 10,000 records and tapes, it would take, in real time, over 5 years (actually took 6 years), so my time was the most expensive commodity. With my wife's support, I decided that getting the best equipment to do the digitizing was important, since I didn't want to do the ripping more than once per record or tape.
I ended up choosing the Pacific Microsonics Model Two (which can digitize at 192/24) using Merging Technologies Pyramix software and their Mykerinos card. I had a custom designed phono preamp with adjustable EQ curves for my old and new vinyl and a balanced output to the Model Two built by Dan Schmalle of Bottlehead. The PM Model Two was the most difficult to get. There were only 150 or so ever built and almost all of them are locked up in recording and mastering studios. Tim started his hunt, and after about four months, I had my Model Two, found by Maier Shadi at Warner Bros studios, where it and another (now owned by Maier) were used in mastering sound tracks for films. And I was off.
My collection includes about 3000 British Decca classical recordings, 95% are original pressings and labels, and include just about all of the Decca stereo classical records released in the analogue era, and about 3000 British EMI recordings, almost all original pressings and labels, including about 90% of all the EMI analogue stereo recordings. I also have fairly complete collections of the great RCA and Mercury recordings, and several other labels. I also have a complete collection of all records (600 of them) that ever appeared on HP's TAS Super Disc List, while Harry Pearson was still alive. Those are the heart of the 10,000 records and tapes that I have digitized.
Of course most of the records I bought used, mostly from British dealers during almost annual visits to the UK for the past 20 years. So there were issues with clicks and pops and occasional surface noise. Through Tim Marutani, I met and hired recording engineer Mark Willsher to teach me how to use all of this equipment and he introduced me to Izotope RX which I used, in various forms, to remove clicks and pops without affecting the sound quality and even reduce surface noise when needed with minimal effect.
So now I have a legacy for my daughter and son-in-law and our two grandchildren, who were born during this odyssey. Chris Connaker has built two computers for me, the first for recording all the files, and the second, just last year to play back all the files using Roon and HQP (and powerful enough to playback mch files in DSD, upconverting them to DSD256.) The latter was designed by Chris who consulted with Jussi of HQP in making sure that everything would work.
I still play analogue mostly, a lot from my over 500 15ips 2 track tapes. But my digital set up allows me to play 5.1 mch digital files, other digital files I have purchased and my 10,000+ digital rips. And my daughter and her family have a good sampling of my rips and many of my duplicate records for their analogue set up.
Larry
). So I took a job as a Senior System Administrator at the county. Government benefits are by far the best I have ever seen. I am hoping to retire in a few years! I wanted to move out of California because of how expensive the Central Coast is, but it is also an amazing environment and my wife prefers to stay near the grand kids.
