Transferring LPs

[Tim Curtis]

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.

Skip

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!

The modern, as in for at least a decade, Adobe Audition has nothing to do with cool edit. Its noise reduction, spectral healing, rumble reduction, click/pop/abrasion removal etc algorithms are professional level quality. I used to to transform excellent quality vinyl rips and some really bad CD's into perfection. But that was my goal and so the cost for a tool like Audition was just part of the budget.