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VinylStudio Quick Start Guide

VinylStudio's view of the world looks like this:

As you can see, VinylStudio organises your recordings in a collection. You don't need to open, edit and save audio files
in the way you might be used to. The only time you might do this is when you import an existing recording into your
collection. After that, you just select the file you want to work on from a dropdown list and VinylStudio will take care
of the rest. You can create as many collections as you like, but you must create at least one. VinylStudio will prompt
you to create a collection when it first starts up. You can create another one any time you need it via Menu -> File ->
New Collection.

Within a collection, VinylStudio stores your recordings as a list of albums. These are recorded a side at a time and these
recordings are then split up into individual tracks which can then be played on your , downloaded to an MP3 player or
iPod, or burned to CD. You can also elect to remove clicks, hiss, hum and rumble before you save your tracks and there
is also a graphic equaliser. VinylStudio can also digitise singles and the spoken word.

VinylStudio is not an Audio Editor

It is important to realise that VinylStudio is not an audio editor. That is to say, it does not directly edit your recordings
or any audio files you might have imported. Instead, VinylStudio is 'non-destructive'. Any changes you make within the
program are stored separately and then 'overlayed' onto the original audio when you save your tracks or burn CDs.
Consider VinylStudio as a decision-making tool, where you can change those decisions later if you choose. Your
original recordings are never altered.

This, once you get to grips with it, is a big plus. You do not, for example, have to worry about keeping both original and
cleanup-up copies of your recordings. It also means that if you change your mind about something (perhaps you overdid
it with the hiss filter) you can go back into VinylStudio, make whatever changes you feel appropriate and then save your
tracks again (or burn another CD).

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VinylStudio Step-by-Step

1. You first need to hook up your turntable or tape deck to your and check that it is working correctly. This is covered
in more detail here. Don't miss the section entitled 'Testing your Setup' near the end. The golden rule is that you need to
see the recording level indicators moving in time with the music (and not stuck on maximum, for example).

2. VinylStudio has five main working areas, which you select by clicking on the tabs at the top of the VinylStudio
window:

3. To record an album, click on the Record tab (if necessary) which will take you to the Record window where you can
enter the artist and title of the album you wish to record. Albums are recorded one complete side at a time and you
should record both sides of the album before you proceed to the next step. Alternatively, if you have already recorded
the album in another program, you can import an existing recording. You can also record singles, or other material with
no trackbreaks.

4. While your album is recording, you can lookup or type in the album's track listing. With luck, you will be able to
find a track listing on-line.

5. Once you have a recording to work with, you need to split it into tracks, which you do in the Split Tracks window.
Please note that no additional files are created at this point (this happens later on). You are merely telling VinylStudio
where the tracks begin and end. We recommend you start with an album you know well, as this makes the task a good
deal easier.

6. You can also, if you wish, removes clicks, scratches, hiss and hum from your recordings. This step is optional, but
often worthwhile. VinylStudio does not make any changes to your original recordings when you do this, so feel free to
experiment. And if you decide, when listening to a CD you have made, that these features might be worth a try after all,
you can always give them a whirl and then burn another CD. Declick your recording (if it needs it) before applying any
of the other filters for best results.

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7. When you are happy with the results of your work, you can burn CDs and/or save your tracks as individual, tagged
files. These files can be played on any computer (using Windows Media Player or iTunes, typically) or copied to your
iPod or MP3 player. VinylStudio for Macintosh can also save tracks in AAC (MP4) format.

A couple of things worth knowing

Most actions in VinyStudio can be undone with the Undo / Redo buttons in the toolbar ( / ).

VinylStudio can record to, and work with, files in a variety of formats. Uncompressed formats (such as WAV) provide
the best performance and musical fidelity while a compressed format (such as MP3) is much more economical on disk
space. See here for more information.

As of version 8, VinylStudio provides additional tools for keeping track of your collection as it grows. The are:
l album status - a value such as Recorded or Cleaned, which reminds you of the stage you have reached for each
album you have recorded
l sort or filter the album list - to help you locate an album in your collection quickly and easily

Connecting up your Turntable or Tape Deck

Connecting a Turntable to your

Recording Cassettes
Recording Reel-to-Reel
Hooking up your Computer's Speakers
Testing your Setup
Using a Laptop

Connecting a Turntable to your

To record vinyl albums (or 78s) you will need to hook up your record deck to your sound card or other input device.
This can be achieved either by running a cable from your Hi-Fi, or by using a Phono Pre-amp (which you will have to
purchase separately). You can also use a USB turntable or cassette deck if you have one.

In all cases, you can monitor what you are recording through your computer's speakers.

If you are using a Hi-Fi

If your turntable is already connected to a Hi-Fi, there should be a phono socket on the back labeled REC OUT, or
TAPE REC or similar (if you have a tape deck connected to your Hi-Fi, this socket will be in use, so you will need to
disconnect it). Run a cable from this socket to the the line-in socket (usually colour-coded blue) on your sound [Link]
your Mac. The cable you need is a 3.5mm Jack to Twin Phono Lead:

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If you are using a Phono Pre-amp

If you are using a Phono Pre-amp, you will need a similar cable; run it from the output of the pre-amp to line-in on the
sound card. In the UK, Phono Pre-amps can be purchased from Maplin Electronics at moderate cost. In the US, try
[Link]. Connect the flying leads from your turntable to the input of the preamp.

If you are using a USB turntable or other USB device

If you are using a USB turntable or other USB device, VinylStudio should recognise it the first time you plug it in to a
USB port. If it does not, open the Check Level dialog and select your device (usually 'USB Audio CODEC') from the
drop down list. Do not be put off by the fact that some USB devices identify themselves as a Microphone - they are
lying.

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Recording Cassettes

If you have a conventional cassette deck, you can run a cable like the one pictured above from the output sockets on
your tape deck to the line-in socket on your sound card (normally colour coded blue).

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Another, very simple way to record cassettes is to use a personal cassette player (walkman) and run a cable from the
headphone socket to the line-in socket on your sound card. This usually gives surprisingly good results. The cable you
need has a 3.5mm / 1/8th inch male jack on each end and is not hard to obtain. Again, try Radio Shack in the US or
Maplin Electronics in the UK. Plug one end of the cable into the headphone jack on the tape player and the other into
your .

If you are using a USB cassette deck or other USB device

If you are using a USB cassette deck or other USB device, VinylStudio should recognise it the first time you plug it in
to a USB port. If it does not, open the Check Level dialog and select your device (usually 'USB Audio CODEC') from
the drop down list. Do not be put off by the fact that some USB devices identify themselves as a Microphone - they are
lying.

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Recording Reel-to-Reel

The easiest solution here is to run a cable like the one pictured above from the output sockets on your tape deck to the
line-in socket on your sound card (normally colour coded blue). Again, you can monitor what you are recording through
your computer's speakers.

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Hooking up your Computer's Speakers

Most s already have speakers attached so there should be no problem here, but some USB devices change the default
playback device (to themselves) when they are plugged in for the first time which means that, in effect, your speakers
stop working. If this happens to you, you can change the playback device VinylStudio uses from the Change Playback
Device dialog under the Options menu. You can also reset the default playback device (as used by all other
applications) by clicking on Change Default Playback Device in this dialog.

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Testing your Setup

To check that everything is correctly hooked up, start a record or tape playing, go to VinylStudio's Record Albums
window and click on the Check Level button. You should then see the recording level indicators moving in time with
the music:

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If you check the 'Monitor Recording' box (or sometimes even if you don't), you should hear what you are recording
played back through your computer's speakers.

If no sound is getting through, a bit of experimentation might be needed:

l double-check your connections
l try selecting a different Input Source in the dropdown box
l try selecting a different Sound Card in the dropdown box (XP only)
l check that the recording level slider is not set at zero

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Using a Laptop

Laptop computers are not always suitable for recording as many only have a microphone input, which is mono. The
easiest way to tell if this is the case is to make a short recording and listen to it on headphones. If you need one, you can
buy a USB sound card, such as the Griffin iMic, or even a phono-preamp equipped with a USB connection such as the
NAD PP-3 or PP-4. If you are using a USB turntable, there is no problem recording on a laptop.

Please note that the iMic is not compatible with Windows Vista.

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Recording Albums

The essential steps to record an album are as follows:

l ensure that your turntable (or tape deck) is hooked up correctly to your
l check that your setup is working
l set the record level
l enter the artist and album title
l start recording

Albums are recorded one complete side at a time and, usually, VinylStudio will stop recording when your record deck
lifts the needle at the end of an album side.

For more details, please refer to the following sections within this help page:

Setting the Record Level

Recording an LP
While you are Recording
Recording Side 2
Recording from Tape
Setting the Needle Down Level
Speed Conversion
Using Software Recording Equalisation (VinylStudio Pro only)
Using ASIO
Loopback Recording (VinylStudio Pro only)
Recording in DSD Format (VinylStudio Pro only)
Notes

Setting the Record Level

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Start the record or tape playing and then click on the Check Level button. If all is well, you should see the recording
level indicators moving in time with the music (you may need to select the correct input device and (on XP) source line
in the dropdown boxes first time through):

While the album is still playing, adjust the recording level using the slider. The recording level indicators should just
enter the red zone on the loudest sections of music. If the indicators flash completely red, you definitely need to reduce
the recording level.

If you cannot get the recording indicators to move in time with the music, you will need to check that you turntable (or
tape deck) is hooked up to your correctly. There are some details on how to do this here.

If you wish to record in DSD format, see also Recording in DSD Format

If you are using Windows Vista or later, the Check Level dialog looks a little different:

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in this case, select your input device from the Input Device dropdown and leave Use WASAPI enabled unless you have
difficulties, in which case please try unchecking it. WASAPI is a Windows technology that offers a cleaner signal path
when recording and is this recommended if you can use it.

If you have a USB device on Windows Vista or later, the Check Level dialog might look like this:

In this case, you should use the 'Set Digital Gain to 1` button to set the recording level. This gives the best dynamic
range and minimises the risk of clipping. The important thing to note is that the recording level on your USB audio
device is not adjustable. The slider just boosts or cuts the gain after the signal has been digitised, and either of these

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actions is undesirable. If you need to boost the playback level after recording, you will find the tools to do it in the
Graphic Equaliser window.

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Why is The Recording Level Slider Disabled?

Some USB devices, notably the Ion USB Turntable and the NAD PP-3 / 4 phono pre-amp, have no software level
adjustment. There is nothing VinylStudio can do about this as any clipping which occurs happens before the signal
reaches the computer. Some Ion USB turntables have a manual control on the back of the unit and some USB phono
preams have a gain control. The NAD is calibrated for most popular cartridges and implements something called 'soft
clipping' which reduces the severity of the distortion that clipping introduces.

If this is a major bugbear for you, you might consider disconnecting the USB cable and running a cable from line out on
the USB device (most USB devices have one) to line in on your computer's soundcard instead. VinylStudio's normal
level control will then become available. The cable you need is a 3.5mm Jack to Twin Phono Lead as pictured here.

If you need to boost the playback level after recording, you will find the tools to do it in the Graphic Equaliser window.

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Recording an LP

Once everything is connected and working, note the following area of the Record window:

To record an album:
l Lift the needle (important!).
l Close the Check Level window, if it is open.
l Ensure that 'Record or import a new album' is selected as shown above.
l Click Record.

The following dialog is then displayed (shown with some fields filled in):

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To start recording:
l Enter the artist and album title for this album (required) and any other relevant information.
l Click Record.
l When VinylStudio asks you to, lower the needle.

Recording should then start. If it does not, see setting the needle down level below.

Notes:
l If you want VinylStudio to record all album sides as one file (which makes for somehwat easier audio cleanup),
check the box. VinylStudio will then pause recording at the end of the album side so that you can turn the record
over and resume recording.
l If you are recording a single (or other material with no trackbreaks) check the This is a Single box.
l If you want VinylStudio to save tracks for this album in mono, check Mix down to mono. The actual recording
will still be made in stereo because the declicker works better.
l The recording level indicator can operate either in % (the default) or in dB. Click on the 'peak level' indicator
above the recording level indicators to toggle between the two.
l If VinylStudio reports an error when you try to record, visit the Check Level dialog and check 'Limit playback to
16 bit'. Certain USB devices, notably the Furutech ADL GT40 and the Creative Sound Blaster Surround 5.1 USB,
cannot simultaneously play back and record at higher sample rates and bit depths and therefore need this option
set. On Windows Vista and later you should set the Default Format to 2 channel, 16 bit, 44100 Hz (CD Quality)
in Control Panel -> Sound -> Playback -> Properties -> Advanced if you have one of these devices and 'Use
WASAPI for playback' in the Change Playback Device dialog is not in effect for some reason.
l The information you enter here can be changed later in the via the Edit Album Details button in the Split Tracks
window.

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While you are Recording

To listen to what you are recording, check the Monitor Recording box. The sound might be slightly choppy on low-
end machines or if you run other applications while recording, but your recording is not affected. Uncheck this box if

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you hear an echo (again, your recording is not affected). Use the Monitor Volume button to change the monitor
playback level - again this does not affect the recording in any way - and use the Change Playback Device button to
select a different playback device if no sound is coming from your speakers.

If your record deck lifts the needle or stops the turntable at the end of the record, recording will stop automatically.
Alternatively, you can select a maximum recording time from the dropdown list.

If the 'clipped' counter starts to mount up while your are recording, consider reducing the recording level and re-
recording as loud passages of your recording may sound distorted.

You can edit the track listing for the album you are recording it (or you can do this later - it's up to you). To do this,
click on the Edit Track Listing button which will take you to the Split Tracks window. To return to the Record window
at any time, click on the Record tab at the top of the window.

You can also insert a trackbreak while recording by pressing B, or a marker by pressing M. These will become visible
when recording is complete. You can do this from both the Record and Split Tracks windows. Note that the B key
works best if you delete any existing trackbreaks before you start recording.

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Recording Side 2

To record side 2 (or 3 or 4) of an album:

l Ensure that 'Work with an album added previously' is selected.
l Select the appropriate side from the drop-down box (i.e. side 2, usually).
l Click on Record.

You can first select the album you wish to record from the drop-down list if needs be and you might like to use Check
Level to set the recording level (although two sides of the same LP don't usually vary that much).

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Recording from Tape

To record from tape, the procedure is the same as described above but if the music fades in gradually, VinylStudio
might miss the start of it when the Wait for Needle Down box is checked. If this happens to you, uncheck this box.
VinylStudio will then start recording as soon as you click on the Record button, but it also prevents VinylStudio from
stopping automatically at the end of the tape (so set a maximum recording time instead).

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Setting the Needle Down Level

If you check the Wait for Needle Down box, VinylStudio will wait for you to lower the needle before it starts recording
and, as long as your record deck has an automatic tone arm, it will stop recording automatically at the end of the record.

The default Needle down level setting of 5% works in the majority of cases, but you might need to adjust it if:
a. VinylStudio does nothing when the needle hits the record surface, or:

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b. VinylStudio reports that 'the needle appears to be already down' when you click on the Record button

For case (a), start the record playing and use the Check Level button to ensure that the recording level indicators are
moving in time with the music. If they are not, you need to sort the problem out before you can record anything.

For case (b), you can increase the Needle Down Level setting and try again, but the real problem might be that there is a
high level of background noise (typically mains hum) and you might look into this first. Also, it is essential that you do
not lower the needle until VinylStudio asks you to.

If VinylStudio stops recording between tracks, rather than at the end of the record or tape, try increasing the Needle up
timeout setting.

As mentioned above, when recording tapes you may get better results if you uncheck the Wait for Needle Down box
and set a maximum recording time instead.

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Speed Conversion

If you wish to record 78's on a turntable with no 78 RPM speed setting, check the Speed Conversion box and set the
record and turntable speeds appropriately. We recommend recording 78's at 45 RPM (rather than 33), as this preserves
more of the bass notes. You can also record 33's at 45 RPM to save time, but you will lose a little treble by doing so.

If you are using speed conversion when recording records, we recommend enabling recording equalisation in the Check
Level dialog. This enables VinylStudio to compensate for the change in turntable speed (which affects the RIAA
equalisation built into your phono preamp). See below for more details.

For tapes, type numbers in the boxes as shown in the following table:

Normal playing speed of tape Running speed of tape deck Set 'Tape' box to: Set 'Deck' box to:
1 7/8 ips 3 3/4 ips 10 20
1 7/8 ips 7 1/2 ips 10 40
1 7/8 ips 15 ips 10 80
3 3/4 ips 1 7/8 ips 20 10
3 3/4 ips 7 1/2 ips 10 20
3 3/4 ips 15 ips 10 40
7 1/2 ips 1 7/8 ips 40 10
7 1/2 ips 3 3/4 ips 20 10
7 1/2 ips 15 ips 10 20
15 ips 1 7/8 ips 80 10
15 ips 3 3/4 ips 40 10
15 ips 7 1/2 ips 20 10

For best results, set the deck speed as close as possible to the tape speed. Faster deck speeds will save you time but cost
you treble which the graphic equaliser can only partially correct.

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Using Software Recording Equalisation

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As of V8.5, VinylStudio has a software recording equalisation feature, which can either be applied at record time or
after recording is complete. When you apply recording equalisation at record time, VinylStudio maximises the dynamic
range of your recording by running your recording device at the highest possible bit depth, regardless of the recording
format you are using. You can therefore use software equalisation effectively even when recording at 16 bits per sample
(which you might want to do to conserve disk space). It also has the advantage that you see the equalised signal in the
waveform display.

Recording equalisation is enabled in the Check Level dialog. When you change this setting, the recording level will also
change, so make sure this is correct before you start recording. For discs cut from 1954 onwards, the RIAA preset
should generally be used. For earlier discs, VinylStudio comes with a large number of preset curves but selecting the
right one can be a challenge. Try consulting the sleeve notes or plug in a decent set of headphones and adjust the
parameters by ear. Increasing the bass turnover frequency will boost bass notes. Increasing the 10kHz rolloff value will
cut treble. You can save your settings as a preset, and you can also enter time constant values if that is the information
you have.

When using recording equalisation, use the 'flat' switch on your phono preamp if it has one. If it doesn't, check the
'Apply inverse RIAA first' box. You should use VinylStudio's recording equalisation if speed conversion is enabled,
even if your preamp has no flat switch. The change in turntable speed will fool your preamp into applying the wrong
curve and VinylStudio corrects this. For older 'acoustic' recordings which require no equalistion at all, just select
'Inverse RIAA' from the dropdown box if your phono preamp has no 'flat' switch.

The equalisation curves built into VinylStudio were taken from the Audacity wiki,
[Link] and references therein, with much thanks. Other sources,
from which you can enter the parameters yourself:
Vinyl Engine
Elliott Sound Projects

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Using ASIO

If you wish to use an ASIO driver, open the Check Level dialog and select ASIO from the first dropdown list. You can
then select your ASIO driver (there is normally only one) and mappings for the left and right channels (again, the
defaults will normally do).

If you experience 'dropouts', try increasing the buffer size in the ASIO control panel. You may also find level controls in
here. The appearance of the ASIO control panel varies from device to device.

You can also use ASIO as your playback device if desired. To do this, select 'Change Playback Device' from the Check
Level dialog and select ASIO in the first dropdown list. Please note that if you are using ASIO4ALL, you will probably
need to set it as both the recording and playback device.

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Loopback Recording

From Windows Vista onwards, VinylStudio supports loopback recording - i.e. it can record whatever is playing through
your computer's speakers. To enable this, just select 'Loopback' in the Input Device dropdown in VinylStudio's Check
Level dialog.

Please note the following quirks when using loopback:

l The recording level is actually set by the playback volume slider in the app (e.g. Windows Media Player) that is
playing the audio you want to record. The recording level slider in VinylStudio is therefore disabled.
l You cannot monitor your recording while using loopback, so keep your speakers turned on.
l VinylStudio can only record from the default playback device.

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l VinylStudio will record any bings and bongs that your computer makes, so you might like to shut down (e.g.)
your email program while you are recording.
l Loopback recording won't work if you are playing your audio via ASIO.

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Recording in DSD Format

(VinylStudio Pro only).

If you have an ADC which supports DSD over PCM, VinylStudio can now record DSD files. To configure VinylStudio
and your ADC to record DSD, proceed as follows:
1. Select DSD on the front panel of your ADC.
2. Open VinylStudio's Check Level dialog.
3. Select your device in the Input Device or ASIO Device dropdown. On Windows, ASIO is often the best choice.
4. Select your desired DSD sample rate in the 'DSD Input' dropdown (standard rate strongly recommended).
5. You may also need to set the recording level slider to maximum. Do this before selecting ASIO.

Ensure also that 'Enable DoP Detection is enabled in the Recording Options dialog (it is, by default).

On Windows Vista and later, if you are unable to use WASAPI for recording for some reason you can get away without
it, but you must then set Windows' shared recording format in the Sound section of the Control panel as follows:
l DSD single rate: 176.4 kHz, 24 bits per sample, stereo
l DSD double rate: 352.8 kHz, 24 bits per sample, stereo

WASAPI is usually available (and functional) however.

Please note that DSD can only be recorded to lossless audio files (so not MP3, for example), and that you will need a
fast computer (2-3GHz+) to work with them. Also, VinylStudio's editing features do not work with them, including:
l RIAA equalisation when recording
l declicking and patching
l filters (hiss, hum, rumble, graphic equaliser, normalisation and equalisation curves / FFT filter)
l fading tracks in and out
l mix down to mono

You can however use these features (except for the first and last) if you save your tracks as PCM or when burning audio
or data CDs or DVDs. However, VinylStudio also supports saving DSD recordings as DSD, which is a bit-transparent
operation and ignores any edits you might have made. Sorry about that, but DSD is not an editable format, simple as
that.

DFF, DSF, CAF, FLAC and Apple Lossless files have no practical limitations, and recording to DFF or DSF files is to
be preferred as the files are 2/3 the size of the corresponding WAV or AIFF files. Note that you can still save your
tracks as DoP (DSD over PCM) in WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Apple Lossless or CAF files if that's what your player needs.

Notes for Users of the PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter When Recording DSD

There are currently some issues with this device which you need to be aware of to make successful DSD recordings. As
a result, you must:
1. Select the PS Audio 'native' (not ASIO) driver in the 'Input Device' dropdown.
2. Set the recording level slider to maximum (important!).
3. Under Windows, then choose ASIO in the Input Device dropdown of the Check Level dialog and select the PS
Audio ASIO driver in the 'ASIO Driver' dropdown if necessary.

There are severe issues with the PS Audio recording DSD on Windows XP which cause VinylStudio to misbehave or
crash so please don't try it; this situation is unlikely to change.

Set the recording level slider to maximum when recording DSD from this device.

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Notes

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If you wish to import an existing sound file (e.g. a recording made in another program), you will find details here.

If you are short of disk space, you might want to record to a compressed file format (such as MP3). More information
can be found here.

VinylStudio automatically sets the album status to 'Recorded' when recording is complete (even if you have recorded
only side 1).

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Recording Singles and 78s

The easiest way to record singles or 78s is to add each side of each single or 78 to your collection as a separate album
and check the This is a single box in the Record window. VinylStudio will then:
l automatically add a track with the same name as the album title (which is generally what you want)
l save this track (by default) in a folder called singles when you save your tracks (i.e. all such tracks go in the same
folder)

Thus, for example, if you wanted to record Elvis Costello's Watching the Detectives, you would:
1. Check the This is a single box in the Record window
2. Add an 'album' to your collection with artist Elvis Costello and title Watching the Detectives; bear in mind that
this album will consist of just the one track
3. Record the single (just the one side)
4. Tidy up the start and end markers for the track in the Split Tracks window window (to trim off the needle drop,
lead in, lead out and needle lift)

This process is then repeated for the B side, and so on for your other singles until you have enough tracks recorded to
burn a CD or save your tracks.

For EP's (remember those?), you can do the same thing and add the second track on each side manually in the Split
Tracks window.

Recording Other Material with no Trackbreaks

If you had, say, a tape of an interview with The Dalai Lama, the procedure is much the same as recording one side of a
single or 78. Thus you would:
1. Check the This is a single box in the Record window
2. Add an album to your collection with artist Joe Bloggs (that's you) and title Interview with the Dalai Lama
3. Record the tape
4. Tidy up the recording in the Split Tracks window window if you so wish; truncating the recording to remove any
silence at the end will save you some disk space.
5. Burn the 'album' to CD (or save as an MP3 file)

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For more information on how singles tracks are named when they are saved, please refer to where are my files located?

What file format should I use?

The recording format VinylStudio uses is set in the Recording Options dialog under the Options menu. We generally
recommend recording to an uncompressed format (WAV on Windows, WAV, AIFF or CAF on the Mac) as this
provides the best audio fidelity and makes VinylStudio run faster. You can also record to a lossless compressed format
(FLAC or Apple Lossless) and cut your disk space requirements by about 40% with no significant downside, especially
on a fast machine.

If you are short of disk space however, you might like to record to a lossy compressed format, i.e. MP3, OGG or AAC.
This uses much less disk space - about 75MB per album rather than 500 - but there is a slight loss of sound quality. All
VinylStudio functions are available on all types of file, and there are also facilities to convert from one format to the
other. To help you decide, you might like to make a couple of test recordings and compare them on headphones.

If you plan to cleanup your recordings, the audio cleanup tools work slightly less well when recording to a lossy
compressed format. Also, if you edit such a file outside VinylStudio, you will need to transcode it which will cost you
some quality.

Please note that the format you save your tracks in need not be (and usually isn't) the same as the format used to make
your recordings.

Splitting Tracks

In the Split Tracks window, you can:

l Enter track listings
l Split up your recordings into individual tracks

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l Getting around in the waveform display

l Use the toolbar to perform various functions
l Edit the album title, artist, release year and genre etc., and import Album art
l Save your split-up tracks, one audio file per track

You can also edit an album title and/or artist, by selecting the album from the drop-down box, right-clicking on it and
selecting Edit Album Details.

Entering, Editing or Importing a Track Listing

Please note: There is now a video tutorial about this on YouTube, see: [Link]
v=CJ5poE8eAac. Enjoy

It is worth doing this first as it makes splitting the recording into tracks much easier subsequently. You can do this while
recording is in progress.

The first thing to try is VinylStudio's Lookup Track Listing feature. With luck, this will find a track listing which
matches, or closely matches, your album. Most of the online databases (but not Amazon) also include track times, in
which case VinylStudio will create trackbreaks for you in more or less the right places. If not, or if the retrieved listing
is inaccurate, read on.

There are a number of tools in the Split Tracks window to edit an incorrect or incomplete listing, or to enter one from
scratch:
l To enter new tracks, click on the last entry in the list. This opens a new window where you can enter the track
title, the duration (if you have it) and the track artist (do this for compilation albums only). To enter further tracks,
click Add Another.
l To edit the details for an existing track, double-click on it (or click on it and press F2). Again, this opens a new
window and if you make a mistake in this window, close it and use Undo ( ).
l To move a track in the list, click on it and drag it to the desired position. To preserve your existing trackbreaks
when moving or deleting a track, hold down the while you are moving it.
l To delete a track, click on it and press .
l For more options, right-click on an item in the list.

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New tracks are always added at the end of the list; you can drag them to the correct position in the list subsequently, if
necessary. If you have the track times to hand (on the LP sleeve, say, or on the disc itself), it is worth typing them in,
especially for classical music, as VinylStudio will then create trackbreaks for you in more or less the right places. You
should avoid using the same name (e.g. Allegro) for different tracks in the same album as this can cause problems with
Windows Media Player, iTunes and other music players.

To import a track listing from a file, select Import Track Listing from the Track menu. Each line of the file should
contain a track name followed by an optional track time in brackets, e.g.:

Yellow Submarine (2:47)

For compilation albums, follow the track artist by a hyphen with a space on either side, e.g.:

Beatles - Yellow Submarine (2:47)

If a track name contains a hyphen, you can either omit the spaces round the hyphen or type it as two hyphens, e.g:

When I'm Sixty--Four

[Top]

Splitting Your Recordings into Tracks

If you have entered (or been able to lookup) reasonably accurate track times as described above, you are already most of
the way there as VinylStudio will have inserted trackbreak markers for you and you will just need to position them
accurately in the gaps between the tracks as described below. If not, you can try your luck with VinylStudio's Scan for
Trackbreaks feature. You will need to wait for recording to complete first, of course, and results can vary depending on
the nature of the music.

Whatever stage you are at in the track-splitting process, you can insert and / or adjust trackbreaks manually in the
waveform display using the controls in the toolbar beneath it. Here is an example, with a few trackbreaks already
defined:

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To insert a trackbreak, drag the cursor (click on the ) to the gap between the tracks and click on the Insert
Trackbreak button ; you can also add a trackbreak by double-clicking anywhere in the waveform display. To split
the current track when inserting a trackbreak, press and hold the .

To adjust the position of a trackbreak, click on and drag the trackbreak marker in question. To position it precisely,
zoom in using the zoom buttons in the toolbar (see below), the scroll wheel on your mouse or the + and - keys. Move
the cursor to the area of interest first - VinylStudio centres this in the display when you zoom in.

To delete a trackbreak, click on the relevant marker and then click on the Delete Trackbreak button . To merge
the two tracks either side of the trackbreak you are deleting, press and hold the .

To eliminate the gap between tracks, position the trackbreak at the end of the first track (zooming in as necessary)
then click on and drag the green start marker while holding down the shift key. VinylStudio (usually) automatically
eliminates the dead air at the end of the LP side (and marks it with a grey cross-hatch). If you wish to add a fixed period
of silence between each track, see the dialog.

To move trackbreaks as a group, hold down the while dragging. This is useful when you have retrieved a track listing
from one of the online databases and the tracks on side 2 are all a little out of kilter.

To move quickly from track to track while zoomed in, click on a track in the track listing.

To fade a track in or out, use the Adjust Faders dialog or hold down the and drag the little square boxes that then
appear.

[Top]

Getting around in the Waveform Display

It is well worth learning how the waveform display works (and the toolbar beneath it) to get the best out of VinylStudio.

To position the cursor (the vertical black line in the waveform display), click anywhere in the waveform display or click
on the and drag it to where you want it to be. VinylStudio uses the cursor to center the dislay when you zoom in, and
moves the cursor along the display when the track is playing. While playing in anchor mode, clicking in the waveform
display positions the anchor point (displayed as a greyed-out cursor) rather than the cursor itself. To position the cursor,
shift-click.

To zoom in an out, use the various zoom buttons in the toolbar listed above, the scroll wheel on your mouse or the + and
- keys. Move the cursor to the area of interest first - VinylStudio centres this in the display when you zoom in.

A number of functions are also available by right-clicking inclicking on the button above the waveform display.

[Top]

Using the Toolbar

The toolbar beneath the waveform display provides a number of tools to help you split your recordings into tracks
quickly and efficiently. Shortcut keys are shown in backets:

(space Starts playing from the current cursor position. Click in the waveform display first to position the

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bar) cursor if necessary.

Stops playing. In anchor mode, the cursor will return to the anchor point (which is displayed as a
greyed-out cursor while playing) unless you hold down the shift key. To switch between anchor mode
and classic mode, use the 'cursor options' button .
(/) Pauses / resumes playback. This button is only displayed in anchor mode.
Jump to the beginning of the selection (if there is one) or the recording. This is a shortcut key rather
< than a button. Press it twice if necessary. While playing in anchor mode, hold down the shift key to
move the anchor point rather than the cursor.
> Jump to the end of the selection (if there is one) or the recording.
Move backwards by one disc rotation period. Use this when manually repairing scratches that run
( across the disc. You can change the rotation period for the current album in the Edit Album Details
dialog.
) Move forwards by one disc rotation period.
Plays the current selection (shown highlighted in yellow in the waveform display). Shift-click to play
(S) in a continuous loop. To define a selection, click and drag in the waveform display. To clear the
current selection, press Esc.
(1) Plays a brief snatch of music spanning 1 second either side of the current cursor position.
Play track breaks - plays the first and last 5 seconds of each track, starting from the current cursor
(5)
position. The amount of audio playes can be changed in the Settings [Link] window.
Displays a dropdown offering a choice of various cursor options, including whether the display pans to
follow the cursor when it moves off the right-hand edge of the screen while playing. Use the
dropdown to switch between anchor mode and classic mode.
Stop playing at the next end-of-track marker.
Zoom in, centering the display at the current cursor position. Click in the waveform display first to
(+) position the cursor to the area of interest if necessary. You can also zoom in and out with the scroll
wheel.
(-) Zoom out. You can also zoom in and out with the scroll wheel.
(Z) Zoom in (or out) so that the current selection exactly fills the window.
(A) Zoom all the way out (so that the entire recording is visible).
Insert a marker at the current cursor position. This lets you mark a particular spot that you might to
(M)
come back to later. To delete a marker, click on it and press D.
Insert a trackbreak at the current cursor position. You can do this while the recording is playing if you
(B or wish, which can be handy for live albums. You can also insert a trackbreak by double-clicking
double click) anywhere in the waveform display. To split the current track when inserting a trackbreak, press and
hold the .
Delete the trackbreak under the cursor. Click on the trackbreak you want to delete first. To merge the
()
two tracks either side of the trackbreak you are deleting, press and hold the .
Displays instructions on how to eliminate the gap between tracks.
Zoom in (or out) such that the current track exactly fills the window. This also opens the track details
(T)
dialog, which allows you (amongst other things) to fade the track in or out.
Adjust the faders for the trackbreak under the cursor. This lets you set up a 'cross-fade' between one
(F) track and the next. Click on a trackbreak first. You can also adjust faders by holding down the and
dragging the little square boxes that then appear.
Scan for the end of the current track.
Opens the scan settings dialog. Scanning for trackbreaks is not an exact science, so some adjustment of
these settings may be needed to get the best results.
Determines whether you hear corrected or uncorrected (i.e. the original, as recorded) audio when you
(C) click Play. Corrections, such as scanning for clicks and removing tape hiss, are applied in the Cleanup
Audio window.

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Turns off audio in the left or right-hand channel (so that you can listen to just one).
Opens the Windows mixer applet, which allows you to adjust the playback volume. You can also
change the current playback device by clicking on thew down-arrow.
Allows you to change the current playback device (but most Macs have only one anyway).
N Jump to the start of the next track.
P Jump to the start of the previous track.
` (back quote) Switch to the Cleanup Audio window (toggle).
5 Remember the current zoom level and cursor position.
6 Return to the zoom level and cursor position saved above.
Go forwards or backwards one rotation of the record, spproxinmately. Usefui for repairing long
9 or ( / 0 or )
scratches manually.

TIP: it's worth learning the shortcut keys for the functions you use most; it can save a lot of time if you have a lot of
albums to process. The shortcut key for a particular toolbar button is also displayed when you hover over it with the
mouse.

[Top]

Editing album details and importing album art

You can edit the various bits of information that VinylStudio stores for an current album by clicking on the Edit
Album Details button (or by selecting Edit Album Details from the Album menu):

You can enter whatever information you have to hand in this dialog. Any information you enter will be stored (as tags)
in the files you generate when you save your tracks. For more information on recording singles, click here.

Information on what the This is a single checkbox does, can be found here.

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Mix down to mono specifies that the tracks for this album will be saved in mono rather than stereo. Some people prefer
this for mono material and it can save some disk space, especially when saving in uncompressed formats.

Album art can be imported from files on your hard disk or looked up over the internet. You can also drag and drop
images from most web browsers or from Explorerthe Finder, or you can use Copy and Paste.

To import from an existing file, click Browse and navigate to the file on your hard disk. VinylStudio will embed the
image in any files it generates for this album when saving tracks and it will scale it down if necessary to keep the
resulting files down to a reasonable size. You can control VinylStudio's exact behaviour in this regard in the .

Not all web browsers support drag and drop for images. We have tested the following:
Firefox Supported.
Google Chrome Supported.
Internet Supported for certain images only (specifically, those that do not link to another page
Explorer or image).
Opera Not supported, but some images can be dragged to your desktop and then from there
into VinylStudio.
Safari Supported.

Where a browser does not support drag and drop, right-click on the image to save it as a file and then navigate to that
file via the 'Browse' button in VinylStudio's Edit Album dialog, or use Copy and Paste.

All the browsers we have tested on the Mac (Safari, Firefox and Chrome) support drag and drop of images.

Where a browser does not support drag and drop, save the image as a file and then navigate to that file via the 'Browse'
button in VinylStudio's Edit Album dialog, or use Copy and Paste.

[Top]

Saving your Tracks

Once you have positioned all your track breaks and entered all the track details (a lot of which is automated if you can

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find your album in one of the online databases that VinylStudio supports) then you can save your tracks.

To do this, click on the Save Tracks button, select the file type you want to save to and any relevant options (such as
the level of compression for MP3 files, for example) and then kick the process off. VinylStudio will then save your
tracks and log the results. If all is well then the resulting files whould be ready for use. If not, the log will tell you what
went wrong and you can correct it and try again.

VinylStudio Pro can also save tracks for several albums at a time. You do this in the Batch window.

[Top]

Lookup Track Listings and Album Art

VinylStudio can look up track listings for many LPs over the Internet. To do this, click on the Split Tracks tab, select
the album from the dropdown list if necessary and then click Lookup Track Listing. This will popup the following
window:

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With luck, you will be able to retrieve a full track listing from one or other of the available databases by clicking
Lookup. If so, select the best match and then click Use Selected Listing.

If you can't find a match, try simplifying the artist or album title - just a few keywords will often do. Alternatively, you
can try a different database. Music Brainz seems to have the best balance between coverage and 'noise', but the other
databases are worth a try for more obscure material. Only the Amazon, Discogs and Music Brainz databases contain
pictures of album covers.

For Discogs, you can also enter the catalog number (without spaces or punctuation) in the Album Artist field, preceded
by a #, e.g. #74321589412. Leave the album title blank. You can broaden your search by starting the album artist with a
+ sign, e.g. +Billy Joel. This can be useful if a search returns no hits. You can also search by Discogs release ID this
way, or by enclosing it in square brackets, e.g. [r499497].

For TrackType, you can search by disc id by typing it in the artist field and leaving the album title blank, e.g. blues
840a3e0a.

Because some entries are for CDs rather than vinyl albums, track listings are sometimes in the wrong order or may
contain extra tracks. You can edit an incorrect or incomplete listing as follows:
l to edit a track name, click on it and press F2; you can also edit the track time in this way
l to move a track in the list, click on it and drag it to the correct position in the list
l to delete a track, click on it and press
l to add tracks, type them in at the end of the list; you can then drag them to the correct position in the list if
necessary
l for more options, right-click in the list

You can also edit the track listing subsequently in the Split Tracks window. Doing it there has the advantage that you
can Undo ( ) and Redo ( ) any changes you make. If the retrieved listing does not contain track times (or if they
are inaccurate), it is worth typing them in if you have them to hand, especially for classical music. VinylStudio will then
position trackbreak markers for you in roughly the right places.

Listings in the Amazon databases that contain track times are flagged with an asterisk (*). To search only for these, start
the album artist with *, e.g. *Beatles. Please note that for these databases to work properly your computer clock and

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time zone must be set correctly, else you will get HTTP error 403 - Forbidden or HTTP error 401 - Authorization
required.

Lookup Album Art

VinylStudio can download album art from the Amazon and Discogs websites. This is then embedded in the files
generated when VinylStudio saves your tracks (but not for WAV files).

To retrieve album art from one of the online databases, lookup the album in the same way as described above. Then
click Fetch Album Art to see the cover as a thumbnail, at which point the button changes to Import Album Art. Click
this in turn to download the album cover and store it as a file in your recordings folder. Note that you can download
album art from one looked-up album and use the track listing from another, even if they come from a different
databases. The Track Type database does not contain album art and coverage in Music Brainz is currently rather patchy.

You can also import album art from a file on your hard disk. To do this, select Edit Album Details from the Album
menu and click on the 'Album Art' tab. You can also drag album art from most browsers to this tab, or use Copy and
Paste.

Some other sites you might try for downloading album art are:
l [Link]
l [Link]

If you use these sites, you will have to save the image to your hard disk and then import it into VinylStudio in the Edit
Album Details dialog (or drag the image across from your browser).

Scan for Trackbreaks

Once you have recorded an album (both sides!), you can scan it for trackbreaks. This can be useful when Lookup Track
Listing has failed to find a match or when no track times are available. It is not, however, a precise science and results
can vary. You can always, of course, add trackbreaks manually, and it is well worth learning how to do so.

Scanning for Gaps Between Tracks Automatically

To scan for trackbreaks automatically, go to the Split Tracks window (if necessary) and click on Scan for
Trackbreaks. This attempts to find all of the trackbreaks in your recording in one go:

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Results can vary, depending on the material being scanned, and you can adjust the trackbreaks detected by Scan in the
Split Tracks window. If you don't like what Scan did, use Undo ( ) and try adjusting the scan settings, or try the
semi-manual procedure described in the following section.

Scanning for Gaps Between Tracks Manually

To scan for trackbreaks manually, click to the right of the rightmost trackbreak (if any) and then click on the Scan
button in the toolbar beneath the waveform display. Scan will then insert a red end-of-track marker at the next gap in
the music (so keep your eyes on the waveform display as you do this).

If Scan does not go far enough, just click on the Scan button again. If it goes too far, you can use Undo ( ) and then
adjust the Scan Settings as shown above, or just drag the trackbreak to where you think it should be.

Once the trackbreak is where you want it, click in in the right-hand part of the waveform display. Then click on the
Scan button again to insert the next trackbreak, and so on until all trackbreaks have been inserted.

Zoom Track Dialog

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This dialog is displayed when you click on the Zoom Track button, and it allows you to focus on the current track. You
can continue to work in the waveform display while this dialog is open but the trackbreak markers for the other tracks
are disabled. You can fade the track in and out by clicking the appropriate checkbox, and you can adjust the start and
end time of the track precisely in the dialog itself.

Use the >> and << buttons to jump to the next or previous track respectively.

To start playing from one of the markers, click on (but do not drag) the marker. To jump to any position in the track
(even when the track is playing), click anywhere in the waveform display.

Adjust Faders Dialog

This dialog is displayed when you click on the Adjust Faders button (you will need to click on a trackbreak first) and
allows you to focus on a single trackbreak to fade the tracks in and out (or, rather, out and in). You can continue to work
in the waveform display while this dialog is open, but all other trackbreak markers are disabled.

The currently selected track is shown highlighted in blue, and parts of the waveform which have been faded out (which
will include all preceding and subsequent tracks) are shown greyed-outand will not play until you select them (which
you can do by clicking on them after closing this dialog).

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Once you have turned on fade-in or fade-out for a particular track, you can adjust the fade-in or fade-out points by
dragging the markers in the waveform display; the Adjust Faders dialog does not need to be open to do this. To start
playing from a marker, click on (but do not drag) the marker. To jump to any position in the track (even when the track
is playing), click anywhere in the waveform display.

The >> and << buttons provide a convenient way to jump to the next or previous trackbreak respectively. This will
only work if you have first defined trackbreaks in the Split Tracksb> window.

If you hear faint clicks with the faders enabled, enable the rumble filter in the Filter Settings dialog.

Cleanup Audio

The Cleanup Audio window lets you remove clicks, scratches, tape hiss from your recordings and more. You don't need
to save working copies of your files as you edit them - VinylStudio keeps track of your changes and applies them as and
when needed (to any CD's you burn or tracks you save) whilst keeping your original recordings intact. This can save a
lot of disk space, and, coupled with extensive Undo and Redo facilities, makes VinylStudio a productive and
forgiving working environment. VinylStudio's audio cleanup features are not just a toy; used correctly, they can achieve
excellent results, even on badly damaged recordings.

In the Cleanup Audio window, you can:

l Remove clicks, pops and scratches from your recordings.
l Filter out hiss, hum and rumble.
l Equalise your recordings.
l Remove unwanted sections of audio ('cut and splice').
l Patch bad scratches and dropouts.
l Repair severe clicks and scratches manually (VinylStudio Pro only).
l Hear the results as you work.
l Switch to Spectral View (VinylStudio Pro only).
l Display a Frequency Analysis of your recording (VinylStudio Pro only).
l Use the toolbar to get around in the waveform display.

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Follow any of the links above for more information.

The Cleanup Audio window also offers a number of 'housekeeping' tools, which let you:
l Convert your recordings between MP3 and WAV formats.
l Save working copies of your cleaned up files for editing outside VinylStudio.
l Import files recorded or edited outside VinylStudio.
l Delete unwanted files.

Again, follow any of these links for details.

Please note that if you have VinylStudio Lite, the audio cleanup features can only be used on a trial basis. Specifically,
you cannot burn cleaned up audio to CD or to saved tracks. To upgrade, select 'Upgrade to Full Version' from the Help
menu.

For New Users

There are a lot of things you can do in the Cleanup Audio window and it's easy to get lost at first, so for new users, we
recommend that you proceed as follows:
l first split your recording into tracks, if you have not done so already; this helps you find your way around your
recording later on
l then, if it is a vinyl (or shellac) recording, or a tape made from one, scan it for clicks
l if it is a tape recording, or a noisy 78, apply the hiss filter; if not, you probably don't need to bother
l finally, use the graphic equaliser if you feel you need to adjust the tone, especially for recordings made from
cassette tape
l repeat for side 2, if recorded separately

It is also worth spending a few minutes familiarising yourself with the operation of the waveform display and associated
toolbar as described in the sections below.

As you become more proficient, it is worth exploring the available filter settings in more depth as there is a lot you can
do with them. In particular, the rumble filter should be applied to all vinyl recordings and the hum filter can make a big
difference in certain cases.

[Top]

Waveform Display

Unlike the Split Tracks window, which works on the album as a whole, the Cleanup Audio window works on one album
side at a time. The display shows the audio signal both before and after any click repairs have been applied (one signal
is superimposed on the other). The original signal is shown in green and repaired clicks are shown in grey:

Most of VinylStudio's functions work with the current selection. To define a selection (which is shown shown in
yellow), click and drag in the waveform display. You can subsequently adjust the either edge of the selection by
clicking on it and dragging. To clear the selection, press Esc.

Positioning the cursor and zooming in and out work in the same way as in the Split Tracks window but it is worth
repeating that, when you zoom in, VinylStudio uses the uses the current cursor position to centre the display (so you

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should position the cursor near the area of interest before you zoom in). The waveform display is more fine-grained than
the one in the Split Tracks window, and you can zoom right in to see the individual samples if you wish.

A number of functions are also available by right-clicking inclicking on the button above the waveform display.

[Top]

Spectral View

(VinylStudio Pro only).

Spectral View shows the way that the frequencies are distributed in the audio stream. It can be useful for locating hard-
to-find clicks which tend to show up as spikes in the display when zoomed in enough. To best see such clicks, adjust the
viewing window to span about 5 seconds of audio. Note that corrected clicks are hidden in the spectral view when
corrected audio is being displayed (press C to toggle).

The colours in the display represent signal power at the frequency given by the Y coordinate. The colours are:

Grey Minimum
Blue Low
Red Medium
White High

You can adjust spectral view options (FFT size and maximum frequency displayed) via the Options menu. To switch
between Spectral View and the regular waveform display, press V or use the Cleanup Audio or right-click menumenu or
click on the button above the waveform display.

You need a reasonably fast PC to use spectral view effectively. The display speeds up as you zoom in. Switch back to
the normal waveform display (V) when zooming out for better performance.

[Top]

Frequency Analysis

(VinylStudio Pro only).

VinylStudio can display a frequency analysis of part or all of your recording which can help you decide how to build an
FFT filter to filter out unwanted noise:

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Select 'Perform Frequency Analysis' from the Cleanup Audio window to display the Frequency Analysis window.
selecting the section of audio you are interested in first. Read off unwanted peaks in the display by moving the cursor
over them and use this information to construct an FFT filter in the Equalisation curves window.

[Top]

Using the Toolbar

The buttons in the toolbar have the following functions (shortcut keys are shown in backets):

Starts playing from the current cursor position. Click in the waveform display first to position the
(space bar)
cursor if necessary.
Stops playing. In anchor mode, the cursor will return to the anchor point (which is displayed as a
greyed-out cursor while playing) unless you hold down the shift key. To switch between anchor
mode and classic mode, use the 'cursor options' button .
(/) Pauses / resumes playback. This button is only displayed in anchor mode.
Jump to the beginning of the selection (if there is one) or the recording. This is a shortcut key rather
< than a button. Press it twice if necessary. While playing in anchor mode, hold down the shift key to
move the anchor point rather than the cursor.
> Jump to the end of the selection (if there is one) or the recording.
) Move forwards by one disc rotation period.
Move backwards by one disc rotation period. Use this when manually repairing scratches that run
( across the disc. You can change the rotation period for the current album in the Edit Album Details
dialog.
] Move the cursor to the next yellow marker.
[ Move the cursor to the previous yellow marker.
} Move the cursor to the next click.
{ Move the cursor to the previous click.
Plays the current selection (shown highlighted in yellow in the waveform display). Shift-click to play
(S)
in a continuous loop. To define a selection, click and drag in the waveform display.
(1) Plays a brief snatch of music spanning 1 second either side of the current cursor position.

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Displays a dropdown offering a choice of various cursor options, including whether the display pans
to follow the cursor when it moves off the right-hand edge of the screen while playing. Use the
dropdown to switch between anchor mode and classic mode.
Stop playing at the next end-of-track marker.
Zoom in, centering the display at the current cursor position. Click in the waveform display first to
(+) position the cursor to the area of interest if necessary. You can also zoom in and out with the scroll
wheel.
(-) Zoom out. You can also zoom in and out with the scroll wheel.
(Z) Zoom in (or out) so that the current selection exactly fills the window.
(A) Zoom all the way out (so that the entire recording is visible).
Insert a marker at the current cursor position. This lets you mark a particular spot that you might to
(M) come back to later. To delete a marker, click on it and press D. Markers also appear in the corrections
list, and you can select a marker by clicking on it in the list.
Show / hide trackbreaks (toggle).
Scan the recording (or current selection, if any) for clicks. To define a selection (highlighted in
(N)
yellow), click and drag in the waveform display.
Insert a click repair at the cursor position manually. Use this if VinylStudio has failed to find the
(R) click by scanning. To adjust the width of a repair, zoom in on it and drag either edge. To select a
click repair, click on it in the corrections list list.
Patch the current selection. Use this to repair damaged areas, such as scratches or dropouts, which are
(P) too wide for VinylStudio's click repair capabilities. To select a patch, click on it in the corrections list
list.
Cut out the current selection, and cross fade the edges of the cut with the surrounding audio. To select
(X)
a cut, click on it in the corrections list list.
Opens the filter settings dialog, which allows you to filter out tape hiss, hum and rumble, and
(F)
includes a graphic equaliser.
Opens the Equalisation curves (FFT filters) dialog, which allows you to apply precise equalisation or
(E)
filtering, including RIAA and other recording equalisation curves.
Determines whether you hear corrected or uncorrected (i.e. the original, as recorded) audio when you
(C) click Play. Corrections, such as scanning for clicks and removing tape hiss, are applied in the
Cleanup Audio window.
Turns off audio in the left or right-hand channel (so that you can listen to just one).
Opens the Windows mixer applet, which allows you to adjust the playback volume.
Allows you to change the current playback device (but most Macs have only one anyway).
` (back quote) Switch to the Split Tracks window (toggle).
V Switch to and from Spectral View (toggle).
5 Remember the current zoom level and cursor position.
6 Return to the zoom level and cursor position saved above.
Go forwards or backwards one rotation of the record, spproxinmately. Usefui for repairing long
9 or ( / 0 or )
scratches manually.

Cleanup Audio - Scan for Clicks

VinylStudio is capable of finding and fixing most of the clicks and scratches in your vinyl recordings automatically.
That said, click repair is not an exact science, and some form of manual intervention is sometimes needed to get the best
results, especially if your recordings have a lot of heavy clicks or, in particular, scratches. It is important to listen to the
results, and using headphones helps a lot.

To scan your recording for clicks, click on the Cleanup Audio tab if necessary and then click on the Scan for Clicks

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button in the lower toolbar. This displays the following dialog:

You can either scan the entire file, or make a selection first (by clicking and dragging in the waveform display) and then
scan (or re-scan) just that.

There are four main settings which affect the operation of the click detector (you will be prompted for these each time
you initiate a scan):
l Sensitivity (levels 1-5 + 'turbo', default=3)
l Percussion protection (PP, levels 1-5, default=2)
l Brass protection (BP, on or off, default=on)
l Number of passes (1-4, default=1); one pass is usually adequate

The "Default settings" preset is recommended for first-time users or for material which you have not scanned before,
and represents a good compromise between finding as many clicks as possible and preserving the quality of the original
audio. Use the 'turbo' settings (6 and 7) with care as these can cause distortion and take longer to complete the scan.
They are intended for use on difficult material with a large high-frequency content, such as modern jazz.

For more information on how and when to adjust VinylStudio's click repair settings, refer to the Tips for Removing
Clicks page.

Depending on its condition, scanning an LP side takes around 1 minute on a reasonably fast computer; less on modern
hardware. Once the scan is complete, you can listen to the results and compare them with the original, uncorrected
version by clicking on the button in the toolbar. All changes are non-destructive - they are stored in a separate file
and your original recording is not changed - and you can undo the scan ( ) if you don't like the results.

When scanning fails to find a click or impairs the quality of the music, you can rescan the offending area with different
settings, or, if necessary, repair the click manually. For more information on how to get the best out of your vinyl, refer
to the Tips for Removing Clicks page.

Note: if (and only if) you recorded with a 'flat' phono preamp, or if you applied only inverse RIAA equalisation at
record time, you should check the 'Recording needs equalisation' box. This will greatly improve the accuracy of
VinylStudio's click scanner. Do not check this box if you are recording an old 'acoustic' disc (i.e. one which requires no
equalisation in the first place). In that case, just apply inverse RIAA at record time if you cannot defeat the RIAA
equalisation built into your phono preamp and scan for clicks using the default settings.

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Cleanup Audio - Filters

VinylStudio has a complete set of filters to help you cleanup your recordings and to adjust the tonal balance. You can
filter out hum, hiss (and other forms of noise) and rumble, and there is also a graphic equaliser with a normalisation
facility. Filtering can be applied to an entire LP side, to individual tracks or even specific sections of music within a
track.

You will hear the effects of your filters immediately while working in VinylStudio, but no changes are made to your
original recordings. Instead, VinylStudio applies filtering 'on the fly' as and when needed - i.e. when you save your
tracks, when you burn a CD or DVD, or when you save a copy of your original recording with corrections enabled.

Please note that the effect of any filters being applied is not shown in the waveform display. If you want to see what
your audio looks like after filtering, you can save a copy of your recording from the File History List.

To apply or adjust the filters for the currently selected album side, click on the Filters button in the lower toolbar.
This displays the Filter Settings dialog shown below. All of the controls in the main window remain active while this
dialog is open.

Hum Filter

Filtering is normally applied to an entire album side at a time, so we will cover that first. To adjust the Hum filter, click
on the Hum Filter tab:

For the hum filter, the only thing you need to specify, other than whether to turn it on or not, is the mains frequency in
your houeshold (or, to be precise, the mains frequency in the household where the recording was made); this is 50Hz in
the UK, Europe, Australia and China, and 60Hz in the Americas (in Japan it varies by region). Recordings made from
vinyl often contain a certain amount of hum, so if yours are affected in this way try turning this on while listening to a
quiet passage on headphones. If hum filtering seems to inefeective, try changing the mains frequency.

Hiss Filter

The hiss filter is useful both for tapes and for other recordings with a high level of background noise such as 78's or
badly worn vinyl recordings. We do not recommend applying it to vinyl recordings in good condition however as it is a
subtractive process and can introduce a certain amount of distortion. But feel free to experiment - you can always turn it
off again.

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For the hiss filter to function properly, VinylStudio needs you to define a Noise sample - a short section of the
recording (1 second or so) containing background noise (NOT complete silence) and nothing else. You will be
prompted to do this the first time you turn the hiss filter on, and you do so by selecting a suitable section (by clicking
and dragging in the waveform display). If you get this wrong, the results can either (a) sound very strange or (b) not be
filtered at all so if you think this has happened to you, click on Redefine Noise Sample and try again.

You can also load a noise sample from a previously saved file. This is useful if you have a recording where there is no
place to define a noise sample in the normal way. Use this feature with care - inaccurate noise samples give poor results.
You can also view a spectral analysis of the currently defined noise sample via Show Noise Sample.

The two sliders determine how much filtering is applied; we suggest you experiment with these while listening to a
quiet passage on headphones. Don't be tempted to remove every last trace of hiss as this can make things sound rather
artifical.

Hiss filtering works best after you have declicked your recording.

Rumble Filter

The rumble filter is a simple on / off affair. Turn it on to filter out potentially damaging low frequency noise often
present on vinyl recordings (especially in the leadin) or introduced by turntable bearings. High levels of rumble can
sometimes cause a faint click at the beginning and end of tracks and can also cause the hiss filter to introduce faint
clicking sounds into the music. Turning the rumble filter on will eliminate this. The rumble filter also performs DC-
offset correction.

Graphic Equaliser and Normalisation

Use the graphic equaliser to, for example, boost the treble on recordings made from cassette tapes which can often
sound rather dull. Changes are applied in real time so you can adjust the sound until you get the results you want. The
preamp setting can be used to boost quiet signals, but be careful not to set this too high - if the VU meters turn
completely red while playing a loud section you need to turn this down.

To normalise a recording, click Normalise. This displays a dialog to let you choose the desired volume level:

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-3dB is the most common choice as it obviates any risk of clipping, although many commercial CDs are normalised to
0dB. Like all the audio cleanup tools, VinylStudio's normalisation procedure is non-destructive - i.e. no changes are
made to the recorded file. Instead, the results are applied when you burn CDs or save your tracks. You can also
normalise albums in 'batch' mode in the Save Tracks window.

If you wish to normalise all recorded sides for the album in a single operation, check Normalise all album sides before
normalising. VinylStudio can then either normalise each side separately (the default), or adjust all sides by the same
amount (which will be governed by the loudest album side).

By default, VinylStudio tries to ignore transients when normalising. This generally improves accuracy at the risk of
some slight clipping. If you prefer, you can turn this feature off.

Presets

You can save frequently used filter settings as a preset. To do this, adjust the filter settings as desired and then click
Save. Presets are named and a few predefined ones (marked with an asterisk) are provided for the more common
situations you might encounter. The '78 recorded at 45RPM' preset attempts to correct inaccuracies in equalisation
caused by recording at the wrong speed, but vintage records use varying equalisation schemes anyway so trust your ears
and be prepared to experiment.

To apply the same settings as you used previously, select Last settings used.

Filtering Individual Tracks (or any other section of music)

VinylStudio can apply any set of filters to any section of music within an LP side. You might want to boost the bass on
a particular track, for example. To do something like this, click on Advanced options and then on the Add Filter
button to add a new set of filters. This displays the following dialog:

While this dialog is open, you can either define a selection by clicking and dragging in the waveform display or you can
select a track from the list and click Select Track. Either way, the new set of filters will be applied to the range you

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specify.

After you close the Add Filter dialog, the Filter Settings dialog should look something like this:

You will notice that a second entry has appeared in the list (#2) showing the section of music to which this set of filters
is to be applied. Adding a new set of filters in this way allows any filter (hum, hiss, rumble and equaliser) to be adjusted
in whatever way you choose for the section of music specified.

You can add as many sets of filters as you like in this way and for each type of filter you can say whether you want to
turn it on, turn it off, or keep the existing settings (i.e. 'unchanged from the above'). This provides a lot of flexibility -
more than you need probably - but it does let you say things like 'boost the treble on the entire recording except for
tracks X, Y and Z'.

Note that filters don't 'add up' - that is to say, for example, adding a second hiss filter does not perform double the
amount of filtering. Where the ranges of two or more filters overlap, the last one in the list takes precedence.

Cleanup Audio - Equalisation Curves (FFT Filters)

(VinylStudio Pro only).

Starting with version 8.5, VinylStudio can apply FFT (Fourier transform)-based equalisation curves / filters to your
recordings. All filters are applied in real time - What you Hear is What you Get - and no changes are made to your
original recordings. Instead, VinylStudio applies filtering 'on the fly' as and when needed (when burning a CD, for
example). Filtering can be applied to an entire LP side, to individual tracks or even specific sections of music within a
track. You can also apply more than one Equalisation Curve / Filter at a time.

An implementation detail that might be of interest is that FFT-based filtering and hiss filtering are carried out by the
same piece of code, thus halving CPU-time requirements (and FFT-induced artefacts) when both features are enabled at
the same time. It also doesn't matter how many curves you define. VinylStudio does them all together, just once.

To apply or adjust equalisation curves / filters for the currently selected album side, click on the Equalisation curves
button in the lower toolbar. This displays the dialog shown below (note that all of the controls in the main window
remain active while this dialog is open).

Please note that the effect of any filters being applied is not shown in the waveform display. If you want to see what
your audio looks like after filtering, you can save a copy of your recording from the File History List.

Applying a Single Filter

To apply just one filter, click on the 'On' button or select a preset: from the dropdown list:

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To edit the curve, click and drag any 'node' (circle), click outside any node to insert a new one, or drag a node out of the
window to delete it. If you make a mistake, use Undo ( ) or Redo ). See also under the 'More' button for additional
options.

You can save your work as a preset at any time by clicking 'Save Preset', but VinylStudio will apply your changes to the
current recording (and remember what they are) whether you do that or not.

Applying More than One Filter at a Time

VinylStudio can apply several filters to the same recording, the result being the cumulative effect of all the filters
specified. To do this, click on Advanced options and then on the Add Filter button to add a new filter. This displays
the following dialog:

Unless you only want to apply filtering to (say) a particular track, click 'Apply to Entire Recording'. The result should
look something like this:

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You will notice that a second entry has appeared in the list (#2), representing the newly added filter. You can then edit
the curve or select a preset as above and the result will be added to the first filter you defined (unless you turn it off in
which case it has no effect at all). There is no limit to the number of filters you can add in this way, although it is
uncommon to define more than a couple.

Filtering Individual Tracks (or any other section of music)

VinylStudio can apply a filter to any section of music within an LP side. You might want to boost the bass on a
particular track, for example. To do something like this, click on Advanced options and then on the Add Filter button
to add a new set of filters. This displays the same dialog as previously, but you use it differently:

While this dialog is open, you can either define a selection by clicking and dragging in the waveform display or you can
select a track from the list and click Select Track. Either way, the new filter will be applied to the range you specify.

After you close the Add Filter dialog, the screen should look something like this:

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This time, the newly added entry (#3) only applies to the section of music you selected and there are more radio buttons
to choose from. These buttons allow precise control over how the filter is applied as follows:
l Override: the newly added filter replaces any filters above it in the list for the section of music in question (i.e.
preceding filters are ignored).
l Off: all filtering is turned off for the section of music in question.
l No change: the newly added filter has no effect at all.
l Append: the newly added filter is added to any previous filters defined (i.e. their effect is cumulative).

You can add as many filters as you like in this way and for each one you can say whether you want to turn it on, turn
everything off, keep the existing settings (i.e. 'unchanged from the above') or add to the existing filters. This provides a
lot of flexibility - more than you need probably - but it does let you say things like 'boost the treble on the entire
recording except for tracks X, Y and Z'.

Applying Recording Equalisation

If your phono preamp has a 'flat' switch, if you are recording discs cut before 1954, or if you recorded with speed
conversion enabled, you can apply recording equalisation to correct the tonal balance of your recording. If you simply
want to apply RIAA equalisation, use the RIAA preset. For anything more complex, select 'Apply Recording
Equalisation' under the 'More' button, which will display the following dialog:

For discs cut from 1954 onwards, the RIAA preset should generally be used. For earlier discs, VinylStudio comes with a
large number of preset curves but selecting the right one can be a challenge. Try consulting the sleeve notes or plug in a
decent set of headphones and adjust the parameters by ear. Increasing the bass turnover frequency will boost bass notes.

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Increasing the 10kHz rolloff value will cut treble. You can save your settings as a preset, and you can also enter time
constant values if that is the information you have. Either way VinylStudio will remember your settings and apply the
correct curve to the recording.

When using recording equalisation, use the 'flat' switch on your phono preamp if it has one. If it doesn't, check the
'Apply inverse RIAA first' box. If you recorded with speed conversion enabled, it is important to tell VinylStudio so that
it calculates the correct inverse curve. VinylStudio will generally remember this for you but older versions of
VinylStudio didn't so you will need to set it here.

Once you quit this dialog, VinylStudio will add one (forward) or two (inverse and forward) equalisation filters to your
recording, and it is these filters that do the actual work:

Please note that you can also apply recording equalisation at record time, which can improve the dynamic range of your
recordings if recording at 16 bits per sample and also has the advantage that the waveform display shows the correctly
equalised signal. This is our recommendation.

The equalisation curves built into VinylStudio were taken from the Audacity wiki,
[Link] and references therein, with much thanks. Other sources,
from which you can enter the parameters yourself:
Vinyl Engine
Elliott Sound Projects

Importing and Exporting Audacity Equalisation Curves

You can import and export curves from / to a file that Audacity 2.x can understand by selecting Import / Export
Audacity Curves from the menu under the More button. This can also be used to move equalisation curves / filters
between machines (including Macs and PCs).

Cleanup Audio - Cut and Splice

To cut out an unwanted section of audio, select it (by clicking and dragging) and then click on the Cut and Splice

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button in the toolbar beneath the waveform display in the Cleanup Audio window. If you don't like what you hear,
select Undo ( ), adjust the edges of the selection and try again.

VinylStudio cross-fades the sound on either side of the cut to make the cut less obvious. Select your desired splice
length before you make your cut. Use 'splice length short' if, as is common, you are cutting out very short sections such
as bad scratches.

Cuts are shown in the waveform display as a vertical blue dotted line which, as you zoom in, becomes a cross-hatch
showing the cross-faded area:

To delete a cut, right-click on it in the corrections list and then click on the button top-right of the list and select
Delete Cut. You can also delete a cut by selecting it in the list and pressing . If you zoom in sufficiently, you can also
select a cut by clicking on it in the waveform display.

Please note that you don't need to use cut-and-splice to eliminate gaps between tracks. And nor should you - just shift-
click on the green start-of-track marker in the Split Tracks window and drag it to the right. But if you do want to cut out
a section of audio while you are in the Split Tracks window, proceed as follows:
1. Select the section of audio you want to cut out.
2. Click on the Cleanup Audio tab.
3. Click on the cut-and-splice button in the toolbar beneath the waveform display.
4. Listen to your results.
5. Return to the Split Tracks window.

The key to this is that VinylStudio preserves your selection and cursor position when switching between windows.

Truncating Overly Long Recordings

If your recording has a long period of silence at the end, as many do, you can save some disk space by truncating it. To
do this, right-click on the waveform display at the appropriate point and then click on the button above the
waveform display and select Truncate Recording at Cursor. Please note that this operation cannot be undone.

Cleanup Audio - The Corrections List

The Corrections List lists all the clicks, and potential clicks, found by scanning the album
side. It also lists any cuts you may have made, any markers you have inserted, any click
repairs inserted or adjusted manually and any patches you may have made.

Each entry in the list has a time stamp and then, for clicks or would-be clicks, the click width
(in samples at 44100 samples per second) and the channel (Left or Right). In addition:
l Click repairs are coloured cyan.
l Potential clicks which have been identified as probable percussion bursts (and hence
ignored) are marked PP, and coloured purple.
l Potential clicks which have been identified as probable horn blasts and the like are

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marked BP, and coloured blue (not shown in this example).

l Clicks inserted or adjusted manually are marked Manual, and shown in light cyan.
l Patches are shown in green (not shown in this example)
l Click repairs wider than 50 samples can be a cause for concern and are coloured red.
l Cuts are also coloured blue.
l Markers inserted by the user are coloured dark yellow.
l Corrections falling within the current selection are shown with a pale yellow background.
l The current cursor position in the waveform display is shown by this symbol:

The checkboxes below the list control what is displayed. Note that, to select a click repair in the waveform display,
Show Clicks must be checked.

To select a correction from the list, click on it and then zoom in using the mouse wheel, the + and - keys or the zoom
buttons in the toolbar. You can also use the corrections list to delete a correction - right-click in the list for more
information.

TIP: to select a range of corrections, click on the first in the list and then shift-click on the last.

Cleanup Audio - Tips for Removing Clicks

To get the best out of VinylStudio's click repair tools, especially on badly damaged recordings, you have to be prepared
to put a bit of time in. On the plus side, VinylStudio provides powerful tools which, when correctly applied, can give
excellent results. Also, because your original recordings are not changed by the repair process, you can always come
back later, have another go at the affected area(s) and then burn a new CD.

Automated click repair is always a compromise between false negatives and false positives. False negatives are, of
course, undetected clicks and scratches, while false positives cause unnecessary and potentially harmful changes to the
original waveform. VinylStudio's default settings aim primarily to do no damage to the sound quality of your original
recordings. While this catches the majority of clicks, it inevitably means that some slip through undetected; with a bit of
manual intervention, these can be removed too.

VinylStudio provides a number of presets designed to work with differing types of source material but it is worth
learning more about how to use the settings themselves if you want to get the best out of your vinyl (or shellac).

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VinylStudio's primary setting is sensitivity. We recommend that you perform your initial scan with the default settings
and then focus in on any problem areas. It is unlikely, but not impossible, that sound quality will be adversely affected
at these settings. If it is, you can rescan the affected section at reduced sensitivity or, if appropriate, increase the
percussion protection setting; ensure also that brass protection is enabled. It is more likely however that a few clicks will
remain. Rescanning an affected region with a higher sensitivity setting usually gets rid of any residual clicks, bit with an
increased risk of introducing distortion or other artifacts into the sound.

Be particularly careful when using the 'turbo' settings as these can cause distortion and take longer to complete the scan.
They are intended for use on difficult material with a large high-frequency content, such as modern jazz, but as
VinylStudio has an undo facility we encourage you to experiment. The turbo settings are often best used just to scan
particularly badly affected areas ('Scan selection').

VinylStudio has three other settings which affect the click repair process:

l Percussion protection (PP)

l Brass protection (BP)
l Number of passes

Percussion protection helps prevent the 'dulling' of percussion sounds that declicking can cause, especially at higher
sensitivity settings. The problem is that percussion bursts, especially the initial 'thwack', look a lot like clicks and
therefore VinylStudio wants to fix them. The downside of having Percussion Protection enabled is that, on occasion, it
prevents a legitimate click (or, more likely, a 'scrunch' comprised of several clicks close together) from being repaired.
If you think this might be happening to you, you can either re-scan the affected area with percussion protection turned
down or you can refer to the corrections list to see if percussion protection is operating in the region in question (if you
select the region first, it will be highlighted in the corrections list with a yellow background). For an example of
percussion protection in action, click here.

Brass protection prevents distortion of brass and horn instruments by the declicking process, again principally at higher
sensitivity settings. In severe cases, this can be quite unpleasant, and mainly affects sounds with a buzzing or rasping
quality like trombones, saxophones, trumpets and some synth sounds (and even, occasionally, gravelly vocals). Low
frequencies are generally affected most. Brass protection usually detects sounds such as these and temporarily reduces
the sensitivity of the click detector to protect them. However, like percussion protection, this can let the odd click
through and the same recommendations apply. We do not advise turning off either setting routinely, however.

The number of passes controls the number of times VinylStudio scans the source material. One pass is usually enough,
but if a recording is in very bad condition (particularly if it is badly scuffed) you might find that a second pass helps.
You can achieve the same effect by scanning again with the 'Keep existing scanned repairs' box checked.

You can also repair or adjust clicks manually. While this might sound like a tedious procedure, it is sometimes the only
way of eliminating a particularly severe click. Like other declicking software, VinylStudio sometimes fails to detect
something which is (a) annoyingly loud and (b) usually obvious (fortunately) in the waveform display as a large spike.
Finding and repairing such a click manually is quick and easy. Please refer to the manual click repair help page for more
details.

Cleanup Audio - Percussion Protection

Percussion protection helps prevent the 'dulling' of percussion sounds that declicking can cause, especially at higher
sensitivity settings. This happens when VinylStudio concludes (wrongly) that the sharp 'attack' sound of a piece of
percussion is a click. This problem is not unique to VinylStudio - other click repair programs are affected in the same
way.

Percussion which has been affected in this way usually shows up in the corrections list as a large number of wide clicks
(coloured red), especially in loud passages of music. And not only percussion is affected: here is a section of bass guitar,
scanned with percussion protection turned off:

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As you can see, the corrected (green) trace is missing a lot of the detail present in the original (gray) trace. The result is
a dulling of the sound, often unnoticeable but not always. Here's what it sounds like (to hear the difference clearly, you
may need to use headphones):

Although we have had to compress these sound samples to reduce the filesize, you can still hear that the 'attack' sound
of the bass player's fingers plucking the strings has been lost, which is a shame. If you encounter this kind of problem,
you can re-scan the affected area with a higher percussion protection setting, reduce the sensitivity or, if the music is
click-free in that area, just use the Remove Corrections option to remove all repairs made by VinylStudio. If you have
the patience, you can even delete individual repairs.

In many cases however, percussion protection does its job. Here is a screenshot of the above example with percussion
protection enabled:

When to turn Percussion Protection Up

The default Percussion Protection setting is set fairly low to avoid clicks from slipping through. If your recording is in
reasonable condition, you can probably benefit by using a higher setting than the default. If you are prepared to put
some time in, first try the maximum setting as this gives the best sound quality, but be prepared for the odd click to slip
through. When this happens, rescan just the affected area at a lower setting. And you can always use 'undo', of course.
Preserving the quality of the music while putting up with the occasional click is sometimes the best compromise.

The corrections list can help you identify sections of music where percussion protection is active (or not).

When to turn Percussion Protection Off

Percussion protection works less well on recordings with a lot of 'scrunches' (i.e. short bursts of clicks in rapid
sequence) or scuffs as these look a lot like percussion and can therefore escape detection, so if you are attempting to
restore a scratchy old 78 you will probably get better results with percussion protection turned down or turned off. Here
is an example where percussion protection has got it wrong (we deliberately used a higher than normal setting to
provoke this):

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Although the waveform looks like a piece of percussion, it is in fact a scuff on the record surface. In this case, the
problem can be resolved by scanning with percussion protection turned to a lower setting:

Cleanup Audio - Brass Protection

Brass protection prevents distortion of brass and horn instruments that can be introduced by the declicking process,
principally at higher sensitivity settings. This problem (which is not unique to VinylStudio) can, in severe cases, be
quite noticeable as the following example shows. Notice the grey areas in the waveform display, which indicate a large
number of click repairs in the regions affected (it's not normally this bad - we scanned this sample at maximum
sensitivity with brass protection turned off to highlight the effect):

The result sounds like this (the difference is clearer on headphones):

If we zoom in, we can see what is going on (just to remind you, the green trace is the corrected waveform and the grey

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trace is the original):

As you can see, the 'spikey' nature of the waveform has fooled the click detector which has therefore made undesirable
changes to the music - it doesn't look like much, but then it doesn't take much to be audible. VinylStudio's unique brass
protection feature is designed to combat this problem by reducing the sensitivity of the click detector in passages of
music such as this. Here is the same file scanned with brass protection enabled:

And in closeup, you can see that the original waveform has been restored (or, rather, left unchanged):

Brass protection becomes somewhat less effective as the sensitivity is increased, so if a section of your music does
sound distorted, or if there are a lot of solid grey areas on the waveform display, try scanning the affected section at
reduced sensitivity (although, it should be noted, some forms of distortion present in the original recording can actually
be eliminated by scanning at higher sensitivity, so don't be afraid to experiment).

When to turn Brass Protection Off

Actually, almost never. It rarely causes problems and frequently protects your music from damage, especially at higher

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sensitivity settings. The most likely problem you are liable to encounter is an unrepaired severe click in a passage of,
say, saxophone music, and it is often quicker and easier to repair such a click manually. However, if you have a
recording in very bad condition which consists largely or entirely of 'mellow tones', you might get better results with
brass protection turned off.

Cleanup Audio - Patching Bad Scratches and Dropouts

(VinylStudio Pro only).

If your recordings contain scratches or dropouts which are too wide for VinylStudio's click repair capabilities, you can
use the Patch command instead. This can patch upto 1/4 second (250ms) of audio by reconstructing the damaged
section from the music on either side of it.

To patch a section of music in this way, first select it (by clicking and dragging in the waveform display) and then click
on the Patch selection button in the toolbar beneath the waveform display in the Cleanup Audio window. This
displays the Patch dialog:

Click on Preview to hear how the patched section will sound, or on Play Original to hear the original, unpatched
version. You can try the various patch methods in turn to see what sounds best, although APA is usually a good bet.
You can also adjust the selection by dragging either edge to select the damaged area precisely, then click OK to apply
the patch permanently or Cancel to discard it.

Note that all of the controls in the toolbar are active while the Patch dialog is open, and that you can undo a patch after
you close this dialog if you decide you don't like it.

To delete a patch, right-click on it in the corrections list and then click on the button top-right of the list and select
Delete Patch. You can also delete a patch by selecting it in the list and pressing

You cannot adjust the width of a patch directly, but if you first delete it you can then adjust the selection and repatch it.
Alternatively, just place another patch over the top.

Cleanup Audio - Repairing Clicks Manually

(VinylStudio Pro only).

If VinylStudio fails to find a particularly irritating click, first try selecting the offending section of music (by clicking
and dragging in the waveform display) and then scan it with more aggressive settings. This usually does the trick, but if
it doesn't, you can repair the click manually. Manual repairs can be fairly wide - up to 400 samples - but if you need a
wider repair (for a bad scratch or scuff mark, say), try using patch instead.

The hardest part of the job is locating the click (although this gets easier with practise). Really bad clicks and scratches
(which can be hard for the software to detect, surprisingly) are usually visible in the waveform display as a large spike.
To find them, define a selection encompassing the offending section of music as closely as possible, then zoom in on it

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and play the selection , watching the cursor and listening carefully (wearing headphones helps a lot). Zoom in
again, if need be, and repeat the procedure. When you are zoomed in close enough, most big clicks usually become
clearly visible, like this:

Once the click is located repairing it is easy. Click on the click (so to speak), zoom in until the background of the
display lights up (refining the cursor position as necessary along the way) and then click on the Insert Manual Repair
button . You will then see something like this:

Notice how different (and massive) the click looks in closeup - its unusually broad shape is why it was not detected by
scanning. Note also you repair each channel separately. To finish up, drag the edges of the repair to completely cover
the damaged area, making sure that the repair is wide enough:

Et voila! The resulting repair is usually completely inaudible, but if not there may be another one close by so zoom out a
little and have a more careful look. Ensure also that you have repaired both channels if, as is common, the click affects
both.

You can adjust the width of an automatic repair in the same way. This can be useful if, as occasionally happens,
VinylStudio has not removed the click entirely. To select a repair, you can click (or double-click) on it in the corrections

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list or zoom in close and click on it in the waveform display. In either case, make sure that the Show Clicks box is
checked, and again you do this for each channel serparately.

Here is an example of a click that has been located automatically but only partially repaired:

Close, but no cigar. Although the situation is considerably improved, you can still hear it:

To remedy matters, drag the edges of the repair to completely remove the bump in the waveform. You don't need to be
shy about this - make sure the repair is wide enough to completely remove the click:

Importing, Exporting and Converting Files - The File History List

The File History List in the Cleanup Audio window shows all working versions of the currently selected album side, in
date order (most recent last). It is intended mainly for users who wish to import existing files or edit their recordings
outside VinylStudio. Otherwise, it is not normally necessary to save copies of your files as you work because
VinylStudio applies all changes 'on the fly' as and when needed. But if you want to work on a file in another program,
and you want that program to use any changes made inside VinylStudio, then you will need to save or export a copy
first.

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To import an existing sound file, right-click inclick on the button top-right of the File History List and select
Import Sound File. You can elect to leave the file where it is, or to copy or move it into VinylStudio's recordings
folder. Note that this only works if you have created an album in the Record window. See Importing Existing
Recordings for some additional information.

To save a copy of a recorded album side, right-click in the File History Listclick on the button and select Save a
Copy. You can either save a copy in VinylStudio's recording folder or to another folder of your choice. If you want to
save a copy VinylStudio's recording folder you have to stick to VinylStudio's file naming conventions as described
below.

You can also convert recordings from one file format to another, rename or delete saved copies, and, if desired, use the
Set as Default menu option to specify that CDs should be burned from something other than the most recently saved
version (as indicated by a '>' symbol in the list). All of these options are available by right-clicking in the listclick on the
button.

Editing Files Outside VinylStudio

To export a file for editing in another program, we recommend saving a copy in WAV format, as this is the format that
most such editors are designed to use. Then, when you subsequently edit the file in (say) Audacity, you can simply
overwrite it. You may need to shut down VinylStudio (or select another album from the dropdown list) before you can
save the file.

If you save a copy to another folder, you can use whatever filename you like. This is probably the easiest (or at least the
most familiar) option for most users.

Alternatively, you can save working copies in VinylStudio's recordings folder. When you do this, VinylStudio requires
you to use its own naming conventions; you will be prompted for a suffix which is appended to the name of the original
file, so that the saved copy might be called, for example:
Elton_John~Greatest_Hits~side1_copy.wav

Please note the squiggles and underscores used in the actual filename.

If you want to make a second copy of such a file outside VinylStudio (or, indeed, a copy of the original recording), you
can do so by saving the file with a new suffix, e.g.
Elton_John~Greatest_Hits~[Link]

Then, provided that you stick to the naming convention that VinylStudio understands, VinylStudio will pick up the
latest file when you select Check for Changes from the Album menu.

For reference, the naming convention that VinylStudio uses for recorded album sides is:
Artist~Album_title~side1<optional suffix>.wav (or .mp3)
Artist~Album_title~side2<optional suffix>.wav
etc.

If you use an external encoder to generate MP3 files, we recommend using Variable Bit Rate (VBR) encoding as this
gives the best quality for the minimum file size. Most MP3 encoders include such an option, and will do so by default if
you specify different minimum and maximum bitrates for the encoded files.

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Burn CDs / DVDs

In the Burn CDs window, you can burn both Audio and MP3 or other data CDs from your recorded albums. To do this:
1. Select Audio CD, Data CD or Data DVD as desired.
2. Drag albums or individual tracks from the left-hand pane to the right-hand pane (the 'burn list').
3. Click Burn.

VinylStudio can burn data CDs and DVDs containing a variety of file formats. To select the file format and
compression / encoding options, click on the Options button.

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Audio CDs will play on any CD player and can accomodate about an hour's worth of music. MP3 CDs can store roughly
7 hours of music but will work only on players specifically designed to play them. Data CDs burned using other file
formats usually needs to be played on specialist players; the amount of music you can fit on depends on the file format
and compression options used.

To locate an album quickly, click anywhere in the left-hand pane and then type in the first few characters of the artist's
name. You can also select more than one item at a time (albums and/ or tracks) by clicking while holding down the , and
you can select a range of items by clicking on the first, then hold down the shift key and click on the last.

To delete tracks from the burn list, select one or more tracks and then right-click on any one of them click on the '-'
button above the track list (top-right). You can also move tracks within the list (providing the selection is a single block)
by clicking and dragging. Again, to select more than one track hold down the , and to select a range of tracks, click on
the first and then shift-click on the last.

VinylStudio displays the total size of the tracks in the burn list and the amount of free space on the CD or DVD in
the drive (if any). If the total size of the tracks in the burn list exceeds the free space on the CD, the display will turn
yellow; you will only be able to burn the disc if you erase it or insert a new, blank disk. If the tracks exceed the capacity
of the CD, the display turns red; you will not be able to burn a disc until you remove some tracks from the burn list or
insert higher capacity media. If no media is inserted, or if VinylStudio cannot determine its capacity, the available space
is shown in black (best guess).

If you wish to change or eliminate the usual 2 second gap between tracks on Audio CDs, you can do so in the CD
Burning Options dialog, but be aware that not all CD players can play such discs properly. You can also tell
VinylStudio which size of media you are using in this dialog.

If you wish to print a CD cover or label, you can export a track listing to a file in a format that most CD cover editors
can read. Please note that this feature is available in VinylStudio Pro only. For more information, click here.

If you encounter problems burning CDs, ensure that there are no other CPU-intensive applications (such as games)

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running. You may also find it helpful to reduce the Write Speed in the CD Burning Options dialog. If this does not
rectify matters, please contact AlpineSoft technical support for advice.

VinylStudio will automatically update the album status for each album burned to CD (even if you just burn a single
track).

Please note that if you are using VinylStudio Lite you may be unable to burn data CDs or DVDs. To upgrade, select
Upgrade to Full Version from the Help menu.

You can do other things, such as recording another album, while the CD is being written.

Burning 'Multi-Session' CDs

VinylStudio now has improved support for burning multi-session data CDs. This allows you to add tracks to a CD you
burned previously, provided that the CD is not already full. This only works for data CDs, not audio CDs. Once you
have burned an audio CD, that's it.

When you are adding tracks to a disc you have burned previously, VinylStudio might report that there is not enough
space on the CD to fit on all the new tracks. You can avoid this problem by putting the CD in the drive before you start
dragging tracks across to the burn list. It takes a few seconds for VinylStudio to notice that you have inserted a disc but
it will then display an updated 'percentage full' figure (possibly now greater than 100%) which allows for the space
already used on the CD. Make sure that this figure is below 100% (by deleting tracks from the burn list if necessary)
before trying to burn the CD.

Please note that if you burn the same track to a CD twice it will appear on the CD twice (with different sequence
numbers). Note also that multi-session discs burned on the Macintosh cannot be read by Windows, or by most domestic
CD or DVD players.

Why do my CDs not Play in my Player?

One reason is that you might have burned an MP3 or other data CD. Most older CD players will only play audio CDs.

Another reason might be your choice of media. Try using 74 minute / 650MB blanks rather than the more common 80
minute / 700MB variety. The smaller capacity discs are more compatible with older CD players because they have a
wider 'groove'. You will probably have to get them by mail order.

Please note also that rewriteable CDs (CD-RW's) will not play in some players.

Why is There no Track Listing Displayed in Windows Media Player?

VinylStudio can now write track listings to Audio CDs (so-called 'CD-Text') but in order to see them in Windows
Media Player you need to download a free plugin called WMPCDText from [Link]. If you are
installing this on Vista, don't worry about the 'unable to find Windows Media Player' message: just carry on and
everything will work out fine. Please note that for reading CD-Text on Windows XP (but not on Vista), administrator
rights are required.

Please note also that track names on audio CDs are truncated at 31 characters. This is a limitation of the burning engine
we use (StarBurn) and cannot be changed, sorry.

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Export CD Track Listing

(VinylStudio Pro only).

If you would like to print a CD cover or label for CDs burned in VinylStudio, you will need to purchase a third-party
editing program such as CD-Cover Editor or Easy Cover Design Pro or the CD Cover designer included in the Nero
Burning Rom suite. All of these programs (and most others of a similar nature) can import a track listing from a suitably
formatted file, and VinylStudio can create such a file from the tracks present in the burn list (i.e. the tracks you have
most recently burnt, are burning, or are about to burn to CD).

To do this, click on the Export Track Listing button in the burn CDs window and follow the on-screen instructions. If
in doubt, export an M3U file as most programs can read these. Then import the file VinylStudio creates into your CD
cover editing program as follows:

CD-cover Editor (which imports M3U files):

l right-click anywhere on your design
l select 'Insert Object', and then 'Tracklist'
l click on the 'Import from Playlist' button
l select the file you exported from VinylStudio

Easy Cover Design Pro (which also imports M3U files):

l click on 'Edit Tracks' in the toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen
l click on the 'Import Playlist' button
l select the file you exported from VinylStudio

Nero Cover Designer (which imports CDC files):

l click 'Data' in the menu bar and select 'Document Data' from the dropdown menu
l click on 'Disk 1'
l click on the 'Import Data' button
l select the file you exported from VinylStudio
l click OK

The only mainstream CD cover editor we know of that cannot import a track listing in this way is AudioLabel. Future
versions of VinylStudio will include track information on audio CDs, which should resolve this problem. Track
information is already included on MP3 CDs and again, most CD cover editors (including AudioLabel) can read this
information from the CD.

Please note that you cannot export track listings in VinylStudio Lite. To upgrade, select 'Upgrade to Full Version' from
the Help menu.

CD / DVD Burning Options

To access the burn settings dialog, select CD / DVD Burning Options from the Options menu, or click on the Options
button in the Burn CDs window:

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CD / DVD Drive selects your CD burner. There will normally be only one.

Burning Engine can be used to select IMAPI if StarBurn fails for any reason. Such a failure is rare, and StarBurn is
more functional and reliable.

Media Size can be used to specify the size of media you are using (CD or DVD). Alternatively, insert blank media into
your drive before you start dragging tracks across to the burn list. VinylStudio will then calculate the available space
automatically.

Write Speed allows you to reduce the write speed. This is normally unnecessary but with some burners, discs written at
lower speeds can be played on a wider variety of players.

Write Mode allows you to force VinylStudio to use a particular write mode when burning audio CDs. VinylStudio
normally selects the best method for your particular drive automatically but it can be useful to be able to override this
setting for certain drives. The Disk-at-once methods produce the most compatible discs, and you must select Disk-at-
once Raw PW (or Automatic) to write track listings to CD.

Gap between tracks on audio CDs: this is normally 2 seconds but you might like to experimant with 'gapless' CD's if
you are recording live albums. Please note however that not all players can play such CDs reliably.

File Format for Data Discs: select the file format (e.g. MP3) for files written to data discs. To change compression and
encoding options, click on the File Options button.

Include album and track information on audio CDs ('CD Text'): writing this information to audio CDs is normally
safe enough but many CD players do not display it. For details on how to display these listings in Windows Media
Player, click here.

Enable buffer underrun protection and Perform OPC check should normally be enabled. These option is provided
in case using these features causes problems with your particular CD drive.

Finalize Data CDs should not normally be enabled, but a few players will only play finalized discs. You cannot add
any more tracks to a finalized disc, even if it is not full.

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Include in Filenames on Data Discs:

l Track number: ensures that the tracks on the CD or DVD remain in the order they appear in the burn list; if you
uncheck this box, they will appear in alphabetical order.
l Artist: names tracks on the CD in the form Artist - Track Title
l Album Title names tracks on the CD in the form [Artist -] Album Title - Track Title

Batch Operations (VinylStudio Pro only)

Clicking on the Batch tab will take you to the Batch window. In this window, you can:

Save tracks for several albums at a time

Copy these files to your MP3 Player or iPod
Import these files into your Windows Media Player library
Import saved tracks into iTunes
Declick some or all of your albums in 'batch' mode
Normalise some or all of your albums in 'batch' mode
Convert existing recordings to other file formats
Delete multiple albums or album components from your collection
Change the status of multiple albums
Move or copy albums between collections
Print part or all of your collection

Saving Tracks

Please note that Batch operations are available only in VinylStudio Pro. To save your tracks in VinylStudio Standard
(and VinylStudio Lite), click on the Save Tracks button in the Split Tracks window.

VinylStudio can generate files in many formats, one per track, for any or all of the albums in your collection. These can
then be played in Windows Media Player or iTunes, or copied out to your MP3 player or memory stick. Formats
supported are MP3, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, OGG and, on Windows only, WMA. On the Macintosh, VinylStudio can also

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save tracks in AAC (MP4) and Apple Lossless (ALAC) format. These are the file formats favoured by iTunes (although
iTunes can also play MP3 files perfectly well). Note that you can save your tracks in any format (or multiple formats),
regardless of the format you recorded to.

Select the albums you want to save and then click on the Save Tracks button. The process may take a while, although
VinylStudio will skip any tracks that have been saved before (unless they have changed). To force VinylStudio to save
all tracks regardless, check the 'Always save tracks, even if saved before' box. You can also save individual tracks by
selecting Save Track As from the Track menu in the Split Tracks window.

By default, saved tracks are saved in the following folder:

<Name of your collection>

You can change this in the Settings dialog under the Options menu. You can also browse the folder from this dialog
and you can change settings used for file encoding (e.g. the level of compreesion to be used) when saving tracks.

VinylStudio will automatically update the album status for each album saved to help you keep track of your work.

Please note that if you are running VinylStudio Lite this feature may be unavailable. To upgrade, select 'Upgrade to Full
Version' from the Help menu.

Tip: to select several albums in a block, click on the first (make sure it is ticked) and then shift-click on the last.

[ Top ]

Saving Tracks in DSD Format

Starting in VinylStudio 8.6, you can save your tracks as DSD files provided you recorded to DSD format in the first
place. To do save as DSD, tick the 'Save DSD recordings as DoP' checkbox in the confirmation dialog displayed when
you save your tracks or choose a 'native' DSD format (.dff or .dsf). Files saved as DoP are stored in standard WAV,
AIFF, FLAC, CAF or Apple Lossless files and can be played back directly by a compatible DAC.

[ Top ]

Copying Files to your MP3 Player or iPod

To copy tracks to an iPod, iPad or iPhone, use iTunes. You will need to save your tracks first as described above.

To copy tracks to an MP3 player, first save them as MP3 files as described above. Then plug your MP3 player (or
memory stick) into a USB port and click on the Copy to Player button. VinylStudio then displays the following dialog:

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VinylStudio displays a list of drive letters which it thinks might be MP3 players or memory sticks. Select the one you
want from the list and VinylStudio will then open two side-by-side, with your saved tracks on the left and your MP3
player on the right. You can then drag and drop files from one to the other in the usual way:

When dragging files across, be careful not to create too many folders on your MP3 player. Many players have a fairly
low limit (10 or so) on the number of folders they can handle.

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If you want to know how much space is left on your MP3 player, right-click in an empty part of the right-hand pane and
select Properties.

Please note that the Copy to Player function is not available in the App Store version of VinylStudio.

[ Top ]

Playing Files in Windows Media Player

There are two approaches to this: you can either have VinylStudio generate playlists, one per album, or you can import
the MP3 files you have generated into Media Player's library directly.

To create playlists, select the Create Playlists for Windows Media Player option from the File menu. VinylStudio
will then generate a playlist for each album in your collection and store them in the following folder:

<Name of your collection>

Playlists

(You can change this folder from the Settings dialog under the Options menu).

You can then open or import these playlists into Media Player in the usual way. They have the advantage of maintaining
the identity of the albums in your collection.

To import your MP3 files directly into Media Player's library (which is the more common approach), click on
Media Player's Library tab, and then on Add to Library. Alternatively, you can tell Media Player to monitor your My
Music folder. Then, all MP3 files that VinylStudio (or any other program) generates in that folder - or any folder below
it - will be added to the library automatically. This is the default for Media Player 12 and later. To see what folders
Media Player 12 is monitoring, click on Organise, and then Manage Libraries - Music.

[ Top ]

Importing Saved Tracks into your iTunes Music Library

VinylStudio does this by default on the Mac. If you prefer it not to, uncheck 'Add saved tracks to iTunes library' in the
confirmation dialog which is displayed just before the tracks are saved. And if the process stalls, check whether iTunes
is displaying some kind of message box.

You might consider configuring iTunes to not copy tracks into its media folder when they are added to the library. This
can save a lot of disk space. You can set this option in the 'Advanced' section of iTunes' Preferences window.
Alternatively, use VinylStudio's new 'Delete tracks saved by VinylStudio after adding to iTunes' option. Don't use both
together!

[ Top ]

'Batch' Declick

To declick some or all of your albums in a single operation, select the ones of interest in the list and then select Scan
Selected Albums for Clicks from the menu under the More button. You will be prompted for the scan settings to be
used and then VinylStudio will perform the scan. For more information on what the various scan settings do, please
refer to the Scan for Clicks help topic. Each album side takes about 1 minute on a modern computer.

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[ Top ]

'Batch' Normalisation

To normalise some or all of your albums in a single operation, select the ones of interest in the list and then select
Normalise Selected Albums from the menu under the More button. You will be prompted for the volume level to be
used and then VinylStudio will set to work with no further manual intervention required. Processing time varies
depending on what filters you have selected for the albums in question. The Hiss filter is particularly CPU-intensive.

[ Top ]

'Batch' File Conversion

VinylStudio can convert existing recordings from one file format to another. You might, for example, have recorded or
imported your recordings in WAV format but now wish to convert them to FLAC format to save disk space. You can do
such conversions in this window - just select the albums you want to convert in the list and then select Convert
Recording Format of Selected Albums from the menu under the More button.

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[ Top ]

Deleting Multiple Albums or Album Components

To delete multiple albums at a time from your collection, select them in the list and then select Delete Selected Albums
or Album Components from the menu under the More button.

In addition to deleting the albums themselves, you can elect to just delete certain components, such as your 'raw'
recordings, while retaining the albums themselves in your collection as a reminder of what you have done. If you are
exporting tracks to iTUnes, there is some mileage in deleting the tracks saved by VinylStudio, as these are duplicates of
the copies stored in the iTunes library.

If you have plenty of disk space, consider keeping your albums around. That way, you can always save your tracks
again if you need them in another format, for example.

[ Top ]

Changing the Status of Multiple Albums

You can use the album status to keep track of the stage you have reached working on a particular album or albums. To
change the status of multiple albums at a time from your collection, select them in the list and then select Set Status of
Selected Albums from the menu under the More button.

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VinylStudio supports upto 5 'custom' status settings which you can use for whatever purpose you choose. You can give
these names of your own by selecting 'Set Custom Album Status Names' from the Options menu.

[ Top ]

Moving or Copying Albums Between Collections

This option can be used to merge two or more collections. To move albums from collection A to collection B, proceed
as follows:
1. Open collection A (Menu -> File -> Open Collection, or Menu -> File -> Recent Collections).
2. Go to the 'Save Tracks' window.
3. Select the desired albums in the list (or use 'Select All').
4. Under the More button, select 'Move or Copy Selected Albums to Another Collection'.
5. Navigate to collection B and select your desired options.
6. Confirm that you want to proceed.

VinylStudio will then take care of the rest.

Options available at step 5 are:

l Copy albums, rather than moving them.
l Link to existing recordings, rather then copying them (if the copy option is selected). This, in effect, shares the
recordings between the two collections.
l Delete saved tracks for albums moved or copied. You can then save them again (to a new location, potentially)
from the destination collection.

Generally, moving albums is what you want.

[ Top ]

Printing Part or All of your Collection

To print part or all of your collection, select the desired albums in the list (or use 'Select All') and then select Print
Selected Albums from the menu under the More button. You can control exactly what is printed in the 'Printing
Options' tabsection.

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[ Top ]

Importing Existing Recordings

You can import recordings that you have made outside VinylStudio into your collection. To do so, proceed as follows:
l Click on the Record tab.
l Click on 'Record or import a new album'.

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l Click on 'Import Sound File(s)'.

Then:
l A list of sound files is displayed and you can select one or more to be imported.
l You will then be prompted for the album artist and title (required), after which you can import the file or files you
selected from the list.

If you wish to import additional sound files for an existing album, click on Work with an existing album, then select
the album from the dropdown list and click on Import Sound File(s). You can also import files via the File History List
in the Cleanup Audio window, where you can see which files have been imported or recorded previously for a particular
album side.

The files you select will, at your option, either be left where they are or copied or moved into VinylStudio's recordings
folder. VinylStudio can import a variety of recording formats.

If you wish to re-import a file that you have edited outside VinyStudio, please refer to the File History List help topic.
You can also use the File History List to convert between recording formats.

Importing Multiple Files

As of VinylStudio V8.7, you can import several files at once for any particular album. This can be useful where the files
are individual tracks, rather than whole album sides. VinylStudio can insert trackbreaks between the files for you and
automatically name the tracks from the file names.

To import multile files, ctrl+click (or, on the Mac, command+click) or shift+click on the files when they are displayed
in the list. VinylStudio will then take care of the rest. If the files are not in the right order, you can drag them around
after you open them (but before you complete the import).

Please note to import more than one file at a time, you need VinylStudio Pro.

Importing Cue Sheets

VinylStudio can now import albums from cue sheets. Just click Import Cue Sheet and select the file or files you wish
to import. The rest is automatic.

Please note to import Cue Sheets, you need VinylStudio Pro.

Importing Collections from Discogs

(VinylStudio Pro only)

You can import collections from Discogs saved in XML format. This will create the albums in the file, with a complete
track listing for each, in VinylStudio. To do this, first export your collection from Discogs in XML format to a file
somwehere on your hard disk. Then:
1. Select 'Import Discogs Collection' from VinylStudio's File menu.
2. Navigate to the file you wish to import and click Open.

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3. Select the albums you wish to import.

4. Click Import.

If the Discogs collection contains track durations, VinylStudio will insert trackbreaks in roughly the right place. It will
also import album notes and cover art, if present.

Where are my Files Located?

This help page covers the following topics

l Where are my Split-Up Tracks Stored?
l Controlling How Split-Up Tracks are Stored Using Custom Strings
l How Singles Tracks are Named
l Where are my Recordings Located?
l What Files does VinylStudio Actually Create?
l Archiving your Recordings

Where are my Split-Up Tracks Stored?

When you save your tracks, they are normally stored in the following folder:

<Name of your collection>

You can change this folder in VinylStudio's (which you will find under the Options menu) and you can browse the
folder from within this dialog.

VinylStudio now offers more flexibility in how tracks are stored within this folder. By default, VinylStudio normally
creates a separate sub-folder for each album, like this:

<Name of your collection>

Beatles - The White Album
01 - Back in the USSR.mp3
02 - Dear Prudence.mp3
...

In more recent versions of VinylStudio however, albums are grouped in folders by album artist, like this:

<Name of your collection>

Beatles
The White Album
01 - Back in the USSR.mp3
02 - Dear Prudence.mp3
...

You can select (or change) this behaviour using the dropdown in VinylStudio's . There are separate settings for albums
and singles.

[Top]

Controlling How Split-Up Tracks are Stored Using Custom Strings

Advanced users, or those who would just to understand a little more about what is going on, might like to peruse or
enter custom strings into the to determine exactly where your split-up tracks are stored. These gives you a high degree
of control over where the saved tracks end up. That said, the preset values in the dropdown lists normally suffice, and
option 2 (group tracks by album artist) is recommended for both albums and singles.

To do this, you use keywords to tell VinylStudio how you want your tracks to be named and grouped into folders.
When saving each track, VinylStudio replaces these with the album title, track title or whatever, as appropriate. The
following keywords are available:

[Album Artist] The album artist, e.g. Beatles. For compilations, we recommend you add the
album to your collection under 'Various Artists' and enter the artist separately
for each track. For singles, add the album to your collection under the name

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of the performing artist, or perhaps (for a sampler EP) again 'Various Artists'.
[Album Side] The album side on which the track appears, starting from 1.
[Album Title] The album title, e.g. The White album. For singles, this is not normally used
when saving tracks but you will need to enter something when you add the
album to your collection, perhaps the name of the 'A' side, that you will
recognise later.
[Track Number] This is the track number on the album, starting from 1. This is useful for
preserving the order that the tracks appear in on the original album. We
recommend omitting this keyword for singles.
[Track Title] The title of the track, e.g. Back in the USSR. All tracks must have a title and
this keyword is mandatory.
[Track Artist] The track artist, if there is one. If not, this keyword is ignored. For this
keyword to work properly, you should only enter track artist information for
compilation albums / EPs.
[Performing Artist] This is the track artist, if it has one, or the album artist if not. Useful for
singles or for grouping all your tracks by performing artist (if you don't care
which album they came from).
[Genre] The genre you have assigned to the album, if any.
[Composer] The composer you have assigned to the album or track, if any.
[Conductor] The conductor you have assigned to the album or track, if any.
[Artist Alias] The artist alias you have assigned to the album or track, if any. You can use
this to enter the album or track artist in an alternative form, e.g. 'John, Elton',
which you can then use in the filename of your saved tracks. For files that use
ID3 tags (WAV, AIFF, DSF) this is placed in TSOP ('performer sort order')
tag. For other file formats, there is no tag for this.
[Comment] The comment you have assigned to the album or track, if any. Use this for
anything you like.
[Year] The release year of this album, if any.
[File Type] The file type (e.g. MP3, OGG).

Inserting a backslash (\)slash (/) specifies a folder rather than a file name. Thus for example:

[Album Artist] - [Track Title]

might result in a file called, Beatles - Back in the USSR.mp3, whereas:

[Album Artist] \/ [Track Title]

might generate a folder called Beatles containing a file called Back in the USSR.mp3, like this:

Beatles
Back in the USSR.mp3

[Top]

How Singles Tracks are Named

By default, all singles tracks (i.e. those for albums where you have told VinylStudio 'This is a single') are saved in a
folder called Singles, like this:

<Name of your collection>

Singles
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elvis Costello - Watching the Detectives
Joe Bloggs - Interview with the Dalai Lama
Joe Bloggs - Interview with the Pope
...

In more recent versions of VinylStudio, singles and spoken word material are grouped in folders by album artist, like
this:

<Name of your collection>

Elton John
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

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...
Elvis Costello
Watching the Detectives
...
Joe Bloggs
Interview with the Dalai Lama
Interview with the Pope
...
...

Again, you can select (or change) this behaviour in VinylStudio's by clicking on the 'For singles' radio button. Note that,
by default, the album title entered is not used when naming the files. It is however included in the files as an ID3 tag.

See also: Recording Singles and 78s.

[Top]

Where are my Recordings Located?

It is useful to know where your 'raw' recordings are located if you want to back them up or if you would like to move
them elsewhere (typically to an external hard drive). By default, VinylStudio stores your recordings in the following
folder structure:

<Name of your collection>.mcf -- a file

<Name of your collection> -- a folder
Elton_John~Best_of~[Link]
Elton_John~Best_of~[Link]
...

or, if you have upgraded from VinylStudio 3:

My Documents
My Music
Recordings
<Name of your collection>.mcf -- a file
<Name of your collection> -- a folder
Elton_John~Best_of~[Link]
Elton_John~Best_of~[Link]
...

Any album art you have downloaded in VinylStudio is also stored in your collection folder (in a sub-folder called
artwork).

You can tell VinylStudio where to store your collection when you initially create it and you can open to display the
contents of your recordings folder from within the under the Options menu.

Your collection (.MCF) file stores information about your collection (such as album and track titles), rather than the
recordings themselves. MCF files are precious and we recommend you back them up regularly. They are not very large.

If you want to move a collection from one place to another, it is important to maintain the relationship between the MCF
file (e.g. My [Link]) and the folder containing your recordings (e.g. My Collection). The golden rule is that
both of these must reside in the same parent folder and must both have the same name.

[Top]

What Files does VinylStudio Actually Create?

In addition to your split-up tracks (which are generated on demand), VinylStudio creates, for example, the following
files when you record an album (these are the 'raw' recordings of the album):
Elton_John~Best_Of~[Link] (or .aiff, etc)
Elton_John~Best_Of~[Link] (or .aiff, etc)
...

When you scan an album for clicks, the following files are created in addition (these files contain your click repairs;
take care not to lose them!):
Elton_John~Best_Of~[Link] (or .[Link], etc)

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Elton_John~Best_Of~[Link] (or .[Link], etc)

...

Any album art you have downloaded in VinylStudio will be stored in a folder called artwork located in your recordings
folder, e.g.:
artwork
Elton_John~Best_Of.jpg

Artwork from other sources is left in whatever folder you saved it in when you acquired it. VinylStudio does not alter or
delete these files.

Finally, some files used internally are created in folder vsfiles. VinylStudio can regenerate these automatically so you
don't need to back them up (although regenerating the waveform display is rather slow for DSD recordings, so you
might like to keep them in that instance):
Elton_John~Best_Of~[Link] (or .[Link], etc)
Elton_John~Best_Of~[Link] (or .[Link], etc)
Elton_John~Best_Of~[Link] (or .[Link], etc)
Elton_John~Best_Of~[Link] (or .[Link], etc)
...

Archiving your Recordings

You may want to archive some of your recordings to save disk space. You can achieve this by making copies of the
recorded WAV (or AIFF, etc) files and the CRD files containing your click repairs as described above. You can then
use the 'Remove Recordings' option in the Album menu to delete the original files from your hard disk. It is worth
retaining the album itself in your collection as this will allow you to restore the recordings and CRD files at a later date
should you wish to work on that album again. If you delete the album from your collection completely, track names and
trackbreak information (and any filter settings used) will be lost. Trackbreak information and the like is stored in your
MCF (collection) file.

Note that deleting your recordings will also delete the CRD files containing your click repairs, so you should archive
those first too. It will also delete the 'waveform' files but VinylStudio can regenerate these automatically so there is no
need to back them up (and we recommend that you don't bother).

Configuring VinylStudio SettingsPreferences

VinylStudio's gives you a lot of control over where your split-up tracks are stored and how they are named, as well as
one or two other things. You can access this dialog via the Options menu. You will also find additional, more
specialised options under the Options menu.

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Checking the Autosave box tells VinylStudio to save your work every few minutes automatically (recommended).
When it does this, VinylStudio saves your album and track listings and suchlike in something called an MCF file. We
refer to this as your collection file, although your collection also includes your recordings, album art and any split-up
tracks.

Draw waveforms with thicker lines applies to the Cleanup Audio window and can make the waveform display easier
to read on some monitors, especially in dark mode.

When playing track breaks, play each one for: applies to the Split Tracks window, and sets the amount of audio that
VinylStudio plays either side of each track break when you click the 'Play Track Breaks' button in the toolbar beneath
the waveform display.

The folder in which your split up tracks are stored defaults to your My Music folder but you can change this here if
you wish. By default, VinylStudio creates a folder beneath here with the same name as your collection but you can
override this if you wish by unchecking the box.

The way in which your split up tracks are named can also be configured in a very flexible way. Choose an entry
from the dropdown list (recommended) or if you want more control over where the files are stored you can type in a
custom string. Note that albums and singles each have their own separate setting; use the radio buttons to select the item
of interest. Changing the setting for albums will make a corresponding change to the setting for singles, as that is
generally what is wanted. If not, change the setting for singles subsequently.

File Options for the various file types that VinylStudio supports are listed below in alphabetical order. You can select
the file type to configure from the dropdown list which is displayed when you click on the button.

Check Save album art in [Link] if you want VinylStudio to copy album art to file [Link] when saving tracks.
Many media players recognise this file and will display it when the track is played and Explorer will show it as a folder
icon. Note that this option only makes sense if each album is saved to a separate folder.

Add Silence: use these fields to add silence at the start and / or end of saved tracks. If you set these fields, you should
eliminate the existing gaps between tracks in the Split Tracks window, possibly fading the tracks in and out if there is a
lot of background noise.

Detect gapless tracks: if you check this box, VinylStudio will not insert silence across a trackbreak which has no gap

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between the tracks.

AAC (MP4) File Options

These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in AAC format. When saving
tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo.

Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.

Bitrate: 128 kbps is generally regarded as 'perceptually transparent', and will almost certainly suffice to use with your
iPod. Higher bitrates result in larger files.

Use Variable Bitrate Encoding (VBR): This generally results in smaller file sizes for the same sound quality.
Recommended.

VBR Quality: Move the slider to the right for better sound quality (and larger files) when using VBR encoding.

Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.

AIFF File Options

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These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in AIFF format. When saving
tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo.

Sample Rate: as described for WAV files. To record DSD, select DSD standard rate (strongly recommended) or DSD
double rate, although VinylStudio will normally set this automatically.

Bit depth: as described for WAV files.

Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.

Write ID3 Tags as Unicode: Use Unicode when writing out the ID3 tags. This gives better results for languages other
than English but may be incompatible with some players.

ALAC (Apple Lossless) File Options

These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in Apple Lossless format.
When saving tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo.

Sample Rate: as described for WAV files. To record DSD, select standard rate (strongly recommended) or DSD double
rate, although VinylStudio will normally set this automatically.

Bit depth: as described for WAV files.

Compression: Higher values give slightly smaller files at the expense of longer processing times. Because ALAC is
lossless, this setting does not affect sound quality.

Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.

CAF (Apple Core Audio) File Options

Sample Rate: as described for WAV files. To record DSD, select DSD standard rate (strongly recommended) or DSD
double rate, although VinylStudio will normally set this automatically.

These are the options you can specify when recording to or converting to Apple Core Audio format. You cannot save

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tracks in CAF format.

Bit depth: as described for WAV files.

Byte order: Use native normally, for best performance, but some older applications might only be able to read big-
endian files.

DFF File Options

These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in DFF format.

DSD Rate: select standard rate or double rate as required, although standard rate is strongly recommended for file size
and performance reasons. VinylStudio will usually set this automatically. When saving tracks, the only option is 'As
recorded'.

DSF File Options

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These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in DSF format.

DSD Rate: select standard rate or double rate as required, although standard rate is strongly recommended for file size
and performance reasons. VinylStudio will usually set this automatically. When saving tracks, the only option is 'As
recorded'.

Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.

Write ID3 Tags as Unicode: Use Unicode when writing out the ID3 tags. This gives better results for languages other
than English but may be incompatible with some players.

FLAC File Options

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These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in FLAC format. When saving
tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo.

Sample Rate: as described for WAV files. To record DSD, select DSD standard rate (strongly recommended) or DSD
double rate, although VinylStudio will normally set this automatically.

Bit depth: as described for WAV files.

Compression: Higher values give slightly smaller files at the expense of longer processing times. Because FLAC is
lossless, this setting does not affect sound quality.

Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.

MP3 File Options

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These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in MP3 format. When saving
tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo. The options for saving tracks are
also used when burning MP3 CDs and DVDs.

Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.

MP3 Quality: This allows you to trade off file size against sound quality. Variable Bit Rate (VBR) format files offer
significant advantages over the Constant Bit Rate (CBR) format more commonly used, but a (very) few players have
problems playing these. VBR High is recommended when recording as you want, ideally, perfect fidelity and this
setting comes close. VBR Low is generally a good compromise when saving tracks or burning CDs.

Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): If you have looked up or imported album art for the album you are working
on, VinylStudio can embed this in the files it generates when saving tracks. Most players are fine with this but a few
may object so you can disable it by unchecking the box. VinylStudio can also resize the image it stores in the file and it
is generally wise to tell VinylStudio to limit the resolution to around 400 x 400 pixels. This does not change the original
artwork file in any way.

Write ID3 Tags as Unicode: Use Unicode when writing out the ID3 tags. This gives better results for languages other
than English but may be incompatible with some players.

Advanced MP3 File Options

Minimum Bitrate: Set the minimum bitrate to use when encoding VBR or ABR files. This is not normally necessary
but a (very) few players have problems playing files containing low bitrate frames.

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Maximum Bitrate: Set the maximum bitrate to use when encoding VBR or ABR files. This is not normally necessary
or useful but can reduce file sizes with some types of music (e.g. heavy metal).

Bit reservoir: Enabling the bit reservoir improves recording quality somewhat, especially when generating CBR files.
Recommended.

CRC: Include a checksum in every MP3 frame. This reduces encoding quality slightly and is not normally necessary (or
useful).

Copyright: Set the 'copyright' flag in every MP3 frame. This has no other effect.

Original: Set the 'original' flag in every MP3 frame. This has no other effect.

Private: Set the 'private' flag in every MP3 frame. This has no other effect.

OGG Vorbis File Options

These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in OGG format. When saving
tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo. The options for saving tracks are
also used when burning MP3 CDs

Sample Rate: as described for WAV files.

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MP3 Quality: This allows you to trade off file size against sound quality. Variable Bit Rate (VBR) format files offer
significant advantages over the Constant Bit Rate (CBR) format more commonly used, but a (very) few players have
problems playing these. VBR High is recommended when recording as you want, ideally, perfect fidelity and this
setting comes close. VBR Low is generally a good compromise when saving tracks or burning CDs.

Embed Album Art (when saving tracks): as described for MP3 files.

Advanced OGG File Options

Minimum Bitrate: Set the minimum bitrate to use when encoding ABR files. This is not normally necessary or useful.

Maximum Bitrate: Set the maximum bitrate to use when encoding ABR files.

WAV File Options

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These are the options you can specify when recording to, converting to, or saving tracks in WAV format. When saving
tracks you can specify a separate set of options for tracks saved in mono and stereo. Not all players can read the tagging
information or album art that VinylStudio puts in WAV files, and not all players can play RF64 files.

Sample Rate: When recording, 44kHz is recommended as this provides the best results when burning CDs and is
generally more than adequate for digitising records and tapes. When saving tracks, sample rate 'as recorded' is normally
what you want but VinylStudio can convert your saved tracks to a different sample rate if desired. Lower sample rates
give smaller file sizes but you will lose some treble. Converting to higher sample rates generally serves no useful
purpose.

To record DSD, select DSD standard rate (strongly recommended) or DSD 2x double rate, although VinylStudio will
normally set this automatically.

If you have an ADC capable of supporting DSD over PCM and you wish to record in DSD format, select DSD in this
dropdown.

Bit Depth: The number of bits per sample in the output file. 16 bits per sample is normal. Higher bit depths generate
larger files and take longer to process but give a wider dynamic range if you have a 20 or 24 bit sound card or other
audio device.

Embed INFO tag: Embed tagging information as an INFO tag. Not many players read this tag and it cannot include
album art.

Embed ID3 tags: Embed tagging information as ID3 tags. This can include album art.

Embed Album Art : as described for MP3 files.

Write ID3 Tags as Unicode : as described for MP3 files.

Write RF64 files (if larger than 4GB): If you check this box, VinylStudio can write WAV files larger than 4GB (so-
called RF64 files). Not all players can read these files, but if none of your saved tracks are larger than 4GB in size then
this shouldn't be a problem. Please note this requires VinylStudio Pro.

WMA File Options

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These are the options you can specify when saving tracks in WMA format. You can specify a separate set of options for
tracks saved in mono and stereo. WMA cannot be used as a recording format.

Profile: A dropdown list of what the available codecs installed on your machine can do. Note that most hardware
players do not support WMA Professional or WMA Lossless.

VBR Quality: Move the slider to the right for better sound quality (and larger files) when using VBR encoding.

Embed Album Art : as described for MP3 files.

Limitations in VinylStudio Lite

VinylStudio Lite is intended to record, split tracks and burn audio CDs. The audio cleanup tools are functional but you
will not be able to burn corrected (i.e. cleaned up) audio to CD.

The following other features are also unavailable:

l saving tracks as audio files
l burning MP3 CDs
l burning DVDs
l exporting track listings (for creating CD covers)
l recording to FLAC, CAF or Apple Lossless format
l 'batch' format conversions

To do these things you must upgrade to the full version, which you can do from VinylStudio's Help menu.

The version of VinylStudio Lite supplied with the NAD PP-3 or PP-4 can only record from those devices via the USB
port. If this causes you a problem, please get in touch. It can, however, export track listings for creating CD covers.

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Purchasing and Registering VinylStudio

VinylStudio is shareware, and you can download a trial copy from [Link]/VinylStudio. The trial copy
will record a maximum of 5 albums. You can obtain a license key which unlocks the software for a modest fee by
selecting Register from the Help menu within [Link] will find the Help menu in the menu bar at the top of
the screen when VinylStudio is active. You may need to clear the search box first.

Upgrading from VinylStudio 3

If you are upgrading from VinylStudio 3, we have changed the way you add albums to your collection. This is now
done in the Record window, rather than the Add Albums window, which has been abolished, and looking up track
listings is now done via a button in the Split Tracks window.

Doing things this way allows you to lookup or enter track names while you are recording the album. It also makes it
easier for new users to get to grips with the program.

We have also changed the way VinylStudio behaves when you move or delete tracks in the track listing. In VinylStudio
3, the positions of any existing trackbreaks are preserved when you do this. In VinylStudio 4, track durations are
preserved instead (which means that some of the trackbreaks will move). To preserve your existing trackbreaks when
moving or deleting a track, hold down the shift key.

Finally, VinylStudio now requires that the MCF file containing your collection live in the parent folder of the folder
containing the recordings themselves. VinylStudio will offer to move your MCF file if necessary.

Further reading:
l Recording an LP Side
l Entering a Track Listing
l Looking up Track Listings

Support and Feedback

If you encounter a problem with VinylStudio, or if you have any comments or suggestions, you can get in touch with us
by selecting Support and Feedback from the Help menu within VinylStudio, or you can contact us through our
website.

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