[circinus]

I am looking for new software to rip my vinyl collection because I've been having mixed results with Audacity for the Mac. The main issue I have encountered with Audacity is its ability, or my lack of ability to use it, to remove clicks and pops as well as noise reduction. I don't recall having this many issues when I used Adobe Audition for PC. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

[dB Cooper]

A couple apps come to mind.
One is Amadeus Pro a recorder and editor from Hairersoft which includes a 'repair center' which can remove pops and clicks. It also supports Apple Audio Units, filters that let you do things like filter out subsonics, white noise etc. There is a thirty day trial.

Another is Audio Hijack Pro which I consider a must for Mac audio work. It will allow recording directly to apple lossless format (save disk space) and applying the previously mentioned filters (if used) while recording, thereby saving a post-processing step.

Keep your turntable at least 3 or 4 feet away from your computer to avoid RF pickup. I have been told by audio engineers that external sound cards can provide better results than internals as a result of isolating the analog audio sections from the RF generated by the CPU. Hagerman (hagtech.com) has some good hardware designed for this purpose.

Be careful about removing hiss. Apps like SoundSoap remove hiss aggressively but butcher low level sonics in the process, producing a 'hollowed out' quality. Amadeus' white noise filter is easily adjustable for the best balance between noise reduction and sound quality.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your project. What type of a Mac will you be using BTW?

[circinus]

dB Cooper. Thanks for the input. Hiss is not a problem so the only thing that I want to do is remove pops and clicks, normalize, and of course encode. I recently downloaded an application called ClickRepair, it not only removed the pops and clicks but is sucked the life out of the recording. I downloaded Amadeus Pro and Audio Hijack pro and will give them a try. I'll have to look into rearranging my setup because the Macbook is relatively close to the turntable and preamp.

Thanks

[dB Cooper]

Yeah, hiss I would leave alone unless it's really horrendous, in which case there are probably other problems as well. Amadeus' click-n-pop repair seems to be pretty good.
Only thing I don't like about Audio Hijack Pro is their trial; the app degrades quality after 10 minutes of recording. I'd prefer a days-limited or number-of saves-limited trial model. But it is a great app.
There is also a cool VST plugin called "PSP Vintage Meter" which gives you real-looking "backlit" stereo VU meters with lifelike meter ballistics. Works with AHP but don't know about Intel compatibility.