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1) Get good needles.

2) You will lose information.

I've been using the Shure 44G needles with good results. Recording prefader at unity gain is also recommended.

Using Shure White Labels. What do you mean by recording prefader atunity gain?

thanks

Select the recording source as "pre fader", to keep noisy components out of the recording. Unity Gain is a term used to describe setting your levels at the point just before redline, using the gain.

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Here's something I wrote in another post:::

You will hear a difference. Im recording through ortofons before you ask. I left pretty much everything in the middle(unity). I did try to bump up a little bit on the highs. (I didn't push it because I didn't want it to clip, digital distortion sounds really bad) The main difference is it sounds a little "muddy". There isnt anything you can do about that because you are recording from vinyl which has its own artificats. Will most people notice, probably not. But it will sound more "bassy" and more like vinyl. Overall the quality is good. The only way to make it sparkle is to tweak in a program such as pro tools-normalize-compress- etc.... You have to remember beatport gets its track from the label as a digital file. No artificats added, such as the vinyl process. The song has to be or should be re-mixed before pressing vinyl.... mastering for vinyl is way different than mastering for CD. Artifacts related to sounds is whatever"sound" is added by the media, vinyl, tape. What I mean, if your old enough to remember is like trying to record that NWA tape in 5th grade and recording it over your sisters Debbie Gibson tape and then taking that tape and recording another copy for your pal whos parents wont buy him NWA. Everytime it is recorded a little something is added, your artifact...in this case probably hiss.


So to answer your question is it going to sound like beatport...NO..... You can tweak it in a different program to get it to sound more how you want. Like I said I use Pro tools if I want to tweak a track.

Hope this helps.
Sorry for the long answer, I'm a gear freak.....

I will tell you first off, I've never used a TTM 57SL to rip vinyl.

But I will also tell you that if you use a great needle, a great phono preamp, and a great soundcard, that you can absolutely achieve results that sound as good (if not better) than commercially downloaded music (ie Beatport etc).

You need to be meticulous every step of the way, as Treeo730 said, but it's definitely more than possible.

i'm about to get one of the ART usb phono preamps for recording. ranes are pretty quiet, but the less in the signal path the better. i've also just switched to the ortofon arkiv needles and the sound heaps better than anything else i've tried. really clear top end (which i've had trouble getting)

something that surprises me is how many people don't think to clean the records before recording. this'll make a pretty big diference too.

A few tips based on what I am doing...

1) Make sure the phono sensitivity is set to the manufacturer spec of your needles.
2) Set up your tone arm properly.
3) Clean your records and needles well.
4) Use the rubber mats that came with your turntables instead of felt slipmats.
5) I've also begun using a record clamp which has helped.
6) I've am using Platinum Notes which I find does a good job of cleaning files automatically. You can do the same thing in a free application like Audacity but PN is much easier.