Python Script for Ripping Vinyl with Audacity

Hi all,
This is my best guess for a location to post about the availability of this script. If it would work better somewhere else, please let me know.

I have written a python script that helps with some of the process of ripping a vinyl album to do “export multiple” in Audacity. The way it works is as follows:

  1. Record an album with Audacity (all sides, one recording).
  2. Find the album’s track list on discogs.com
  3. Run this python script. It scans the track list and generates two files: the labels text file, and the tags XML template file for the album.
  4. Import the labels file into Audacity, and fine tune the label positioning as needed.
  5. Import the tags file to the Audacity metadata editor, and verify that they are correct.

That’s it. Run Audacity’s export multiple process and you’re done.

I wrote this because I inherited a large pile of vinyl records, and wanted to rip several of them to a more portable format. It’s available on GitHub as https://github.com/ScottCh1/vinyl-ripper-helper.

It works pretty well! However, I have noticed that a small percentage of the track list pages on Discogs have errors. I’ve been adding error correction as I go along. If anyone is interested in trying this out and would like to help improve it, please read the CONTRIBUTING document.

Please share this info with other people who use Audacity to rip vinyl or tape, if you’re willing.

Thanks, Scott C.

Looks like a useful script. Thanks for sharing.


As good a place as any :slight_smile:


You could probably automate that step if you wanted. Rather than creating a label text file first, generate the labels directly into the Audacity project.
(See: Scripting - Audacity Manual)

Unfortunately “Export Multiple” is not yet supported by Audacity’s scripting interface, so it’s not (yet) possible to automate the whole thing.

It was difficult to decide whether to make the script automated, or “batch” vs interactive.
In the current incarnation it is half and half. It prompts for user input but provides default values, so the user can hit and accept the default.
The next release will have command line params so that it can run to completion without input.
So it doesn’t require Audacity to be running, and you can prestage several albums for ripping if you like.

It would be cool to give the user the option of auto-loading the labels though. I’ll check it out, thanks!

Scott

Yes, certainly some advantages of doing it that way.

Looks cute - but sadly came far too late for me …

I did all my vinyl rips a dozen or so years ago - my labeling for song exports was all manual hard labour :frowning:

Peter.

Thanks! I ripped a lot of my collection that way too, very time consuming.
What changed for me was that I inherited several more albums, and I retired recently. So now programming feels less like going back to work :wink:

Scott,
I’ve also been working on the same problem but with some differences: my code is in C++ not Python, and I process .json output obtained from the Discogs database (obtained, for example, by curl https://api.discogs.com/releases/1138433 > rabbit.json). I’ve got working code, and have used it for a few albums. One feature I had to add was specific to quite a lot of classical recordings, where works are split into sub-tracks. I note from your post on Mar 23 that you are still working on your code - would you be interested in collaborating on this? I’d be happy to share my code with you, for example - I’ve recently registered with GitHub.

This looks really cool. I’ll have to use this for my large vinyl collection. Thanks for creating this :slight_smile:

I am trying to use the script.
After starting it, a list of HTML files is displayed, but how do I select a file ?
Thanks in advance
Mr.Roombag

I’ve not used the script, but I see there is a manual for it: https://github.com/ScottCh1/vinyl-ripper-helper/blob/main/VinylRipperHelper%20User%20Guide%20v1.1.1.pdf

I’ve not used the script, but I see there is a manual for it: > https://github.com/ScottCh1/vinyl-rippe > … v1.1.1.pdf

Thanks for the reply.
I already used that instructions, but the script stops after listing the HTML-files and an input is requested but I don’t no how exactly.