Transferring LPs

[michaelagiles]

If the LP rips are going to be post processed for noise reduction, de-clicking and other such repairs and you want a very high quality result then avoid Audacity and instead use a pro-audio tool like Adobe Audition. Its algorithms are light years better than those in Audacity.. This is based on my personal experience digitizing a set of Classical Guitar recordings.

I use a Steinberg UR22 mkII USB sound card, similar to the Focusrite Scarlet or the Motu, maybe a bit cheaper, and it works great. You do not need a powerful computer at all, so the laptop should work well. I use an inexpensive but beautifully designed and executed program named VinylStudio:

https://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/download.aspx

The workflow is logical and efficient with good results. One thing I do that I do believe helps is capture the sides at a high resolution, 192K/24bits. This is overkill for sound quality if your levels are set right, but it lets the pop and tick reduction processes work better as those flaws have a sharper rise time than the music itself letting the software distinguish the bad stuff from the good more effectively. I set the 'cleanup' parameters to the lowest setting and it works effectively without smoothing out the music itself.

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Thanks gentlemen! All assistance appreciated! I have done a little research on usb interfaces and there look to be several good choices here with good software etc.The HFB option looks workable but complex programming wise. 
Re Audacity : I have used it for many years with good results - my needs are very simple. Tim - how do you find Audition superior? It was originally developed from Cool Edit if i remember correctly and that was only slightly easier to use and not noticeably better in other respects.
Thanks again!