I have a bunch of vinyl that is not available on CDs, so I'd like to transfer those albums to the computer. I have acquired a TEAC TN-300 turntable, which has a USB output. I have hooked it up and am getting the signal into the computer as USB AUDIO CODEC - seeing it but not hearing it.

I assume I need a piece of software to decode the CODEC signal for recording. Does anyone have recommendations based on their experiences?

Take a look at Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack. It can handle virtually any audio signal from any source and has been a Mac standard for generations.

Their motto is "If you can hear it, you can record it" which might preclude me. I can't hear it....I only see the signal, which leads me to think that some kind of decoding is needed to get it into an audible format.

I've sent them an inquiry.

Is that blue part strange, or am I missing something?

I found it strange and I looked at the Audacity site but did the big eschew. The Audacity site had an entire page with cautions about downloading safely, including a 6 point checklist to follow. As a probably over-cautious old dog, I figured....maybe not.

I have since looked at my Amadeus Pro and think it should be able to import CODEC but something is amiss. In its Prefs I can select an input called USB AUDIO CODEC but there is no incoming signal because the faders are locked at zero with a greyed-out padlock. I've sent a note to Martin Hairer.

I continue to be puzzled by my iMac input. In Sound prefs I can select USB AUDIO CODEC, and I can see the incoming signal on the meter....but there's no audible audio.

I hesitate to ask this, but it is the kind of mistake I am prone to make. Have you checked your audio OUTPUT settings in System Preferences > Sound?

Yup....output set to internal speakers, volume set about halfway, and mute unchecked.

Also, on the input side of things, I note that USB AUDIO CODEC only appears in the Prefs if the turntable output is connected to a USB port on the computer. Otherwise there are only the defaults - Internal Microphone (Type, Built-in) and Apowersoft_AudioDevice (No type specified).

And, on the chance that it might be something oddball, I changed the USB input from the Anker Hub to one of the USB ports on the back of the computer. Made no difference.

Well, colour me embarassed. They suggested trying their demo download and, lo and behold, it accepted the CODEC signal from the turntable. Maybe their motto should be "If you can hear it or see it, you can record it”

I am not certain, either from the trial or from scanning their manual, whether I’d be able to insert markers at the start of every cut so that I could select specific cuts in playback. I’ve sent a query and will advise when I hear.

I suspect you will find Audio Hijack capable of doing just about anything you can come up with in terms of capturing Audio Input. 👍

I believe you'll need Rogue Amoeba's editing app -Fission - for that.

I've been using Audio Hijack for years, but never looked into setting markers. I chop the recording into individual tracks with titles, then enclose them in a folder named after the album. Then import it all into iTunes to add info and artwork. Excellent application.

(Edit) Oops! Sorry. I record with Audio Hijack, but use Amadeus Pro to do the editing. Another excellent app.

Actually, you can split an AH recording into multiple separate tracks, but only in real time, i.e. while you're sitting at your Mac listening.

I use Fission (by the same devs as AH [and with an available discount if you buy the set]) for editing, and I've always been happy with it (but I"ll qualify that by saying that I"m a rank amateur in terms of what I use it for).

For me, that’s a key piece. After capturing the vinyl album and recording it on my computer, I will want to burn a CD with the same “cut selection” functions as I have when I purchase a CD.

The folks at Amoeba didn’t understand the question in my first inquiry, so I’ve re-asked with more detail and will report when I hear.


I also have Amadeus Pro and would also use it to prepare the tracks, including the insertion of markers, prior to burning the CD. However, it would be good to skip the interim recording and just record directly to Amadeus Pro.

Therein lies the rub. I can’t get Amadeus to recognize the CODEC signal from the turntable. In the Amadeus Prefs, I select USB AUDIO CODEC; hit record; select playthrough; but the faders are locked at zero input and “Locked” with a faded out padlock.

I’m still waiting to hear from Martin Hairer.

Do you know another way to select the turntable as an input to Amadeus?

I've never used Amadeus Pro for recording, only file conversion. I'll be curious to hear what you hear from Mr Hairer.

I’ve heard and this is what they said:

“Audio Hijack can certainly set metadata for your recordings, in the Recorder block. Your best bet would probably be to set the common metadata like Artist and Album, create a single recording, and then split it up into individual tracks and add more specific metadata for the tracks using Fission. From there, you could import the files to your CD burning application.”


That doesn’t sound promising, if I understand correctly. i.e. I’d have to listen to the albums twice in order to get what I want before processing to CDs. The advantage of Amadeus is that the transfer is done once into a single document and then I could go directly to the cuts to edit spaces or add markers et cetera.

If I can figure out why a CODEC selection in Amadeus preferences results in faders locked at zero input, with a greyed-out padlock, I’ll be home free. I’m going to write to Martin Hairer again.

Meanwhile, I’ve sent this question to Amoeba and will report when I hear.

“Is this a process I could test using the demo versions of both Hijack and Fission? For example, record 3 or 4 cuts, and then add the markers? Transferring the vinyl albums I have is going to be a massive project (i.e all albums are recording in real time) and I absolutely need to know the process won’t make it additionally cumbersome (i.e. time-consuming)”

They certainly get a "A" for email response time. I've already heard and they say:

"The quickest way to do that would probably be to do a single 10 minute test recording session, the length of the Audio Hijack trial per-launch, and then take that recording into Fission to see how you like splitting up the recording into multiple clips."

I no longer have Audio Highjack as I don't do enough audio capture to make it worthwhile, but IIRC from several years ago they used to have automatic tools for dividing an input stream into individual clips. They were not 100% accurate, but close enough for most purposes. Are you sure you aren't missing something buried somewhere in the settings?

I haven't got an extensive collection of vinyl, only around 100 records, but when I got into importing them I threw in the towel after around 25...too much time, effort, and frustration. (I used a Griffin iMic and their software, but the process was similar to using Audio Hijack/Fission.)

There's no need to listen twice, even once, for that matter, with the AH/F package:

1. You can sit and listen to your records as they're playing, and hit command-T to split your AH recording at each song break...sounds easy, but you can't count on how long any particular break will be, you're guaranteed to NOT split them in half as you'd presumably like to do, and you'll probably even intrude on the next cut every once in a while and make your life miserable in the process (and as an extreme example, think "Rosalita").
2. You can import your records as single AH tracks and split them up with F. On the one hand, this enables you to walk away from the recording process, i.e. not have to listen, but the splitting process is cumbersome: you've got to open the track, and, using the record's playlist, locate each break and split it at the ideal point.

Method 2 entails less data entry than method 1, but with copy & paste, the difference isn't onerous.

I know nothing about Amadeus, but I can't imagine its general importing/editing process being much different from that of AH/F.

I think that covers all bases.

Thanks for taking the time to put those thoughts together. You’re right that an inefficient process would make it onerous and frustrating. I gave the time factor some consideration and have decided I’d be very selective about what would be on my “must do it list” to transfer immediately. After that, it’d been whenever I have some time.


For my general audio needs, Amadeus is analogous to Excel - I first got it when it was more basic and now has far more power and features than I’d ever use. However, the functionality I’d require makes the process a piece of cake.

In Amadeus there would be one long recording consisting of: Record side one, flip the disc over, record side two.

Editing out the silence, such as the pause while the disc was flipped, is easy because you have an image of the audio (much like an oscilloscope) and can adjust the height of the audio image to have more than one cut in front of you at once. Moving forward or backward is simple, and you can quickly get from cut to cut without listening through. Inserting markers is just as easy.

But all of this hinges on getting Amadeus to accept the CODEC signal. Sigh. When I hear from Martin Hairer about that part, I’ll advise.

Sounds just like Fission, which shows me this.

The top image is "full strength," but breaks are sometimes obvious anyhow; the bottom image is stretched out, i.e. shows less time in the window, so you can see where the subtle beaks are.

Yeah, it's certainly doable, but it's a labor of love.

Finally, we have an answer to the input question on Amadeus. Martin Hairer got back and suggested some preference choices but, when I checked, I had already set them correctly. Then the lightbulb came on.

The issue was the Apple Firewall. I turned off the firewall and the signal came through, albeit without the ability to adjust input levels via faders. However, that’s not a show-stopper as they come through at a reasonable and safe level.

Any idea why it works that way?

What even possessed you to consider your firewall as an issue?

None at all. And I continue to be mystified that the Firewall appears to block a signal going to Amadeus but not to HiJack.

Neither does the Firewall have any effect on the Apple Sound pref. Whether the Firewall is on or off, the CODEC signal appears on the meters but nothing is audible. Also, the fader can be adjusted but has no effect on the signal level, as seen on the meters.


Not knowledge….just a simple-minded logical guess. I thought: “What prevents stuff from entering the computer?” and Firewall came to mind, so I gave it a try.

Not that Audio Hijack asks for it, but have you taken a look in System Prefs > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility to see if Amadeus wants it?

And if not, I wonder if your unilaterally granting it would help?

Given that Firewall is intended to prevent or manage network traffic entering a system and normally has no effect on signals coming from other sources including USB, check System Preferences > Network and see if your USB port is listed among the network ports and if so, try removing the USB port from the list of possible network ports (select it and click the minus sign (-) at the bottom of the list of ports) and see if that doesn't correct how it functions. It is easy enough to add it back later if you need to.

That works. The default for Amadeus is to request Microphone Access but adding them to Full Disk Access allows recording without turning off the Firewall.

The input is still fixed (i.e. no fader control) but that’s fine….levels all seem to be in the -5 to -2.8 range, even on “loud” recordings. Better to be turning up a clean sound than turning down a distorted one.

I took a peek there and only saw:

• Bluetooth Pan (Not Connected)
• iPad USB (Not Connected)
• Wi-Fi (Off)
• Thunder something or other Bridge (Not Connected)

So, I figured, "not much to do here" and just left it alone.

Did you go for Full Disk Access because Accessibility was insufficient? I'm not clear on that.

No...I was taken aback by the Accessibility caution "Allow the apps to control your computer". However, I have since tried Amadeus using Accessibility and it works fine.

I wasn't too worried about Full Disk Access because some trusted apps need it (e.g. Carbon Copy Cloner, Cookie, Onyx) so Amadeus wasn't a concern as I consider it a trusted app. However, I have since put it into Accessibility.

For my information.....which would you use and why?

My understanding is that Full Disk Access is far more permissive than Accessibility, the functionality of the former being described literally, while the latter merely gives apps access to specific functionality they need to access but can't because of sandboxing, so given an option, Accessibility would be my go-to.

Have you really got CCC and Cookie in Full Disk Access? I'm running both apps, and neither is in either Full Disk Access or Accessibility. As a matter of fact, I've got nothing in Full Disk Access. (Cookie appears to circumvent Accessibility by asking for access permission when you install it.)

Okay, thanks very much.....good to know. I'm changing mine over to the same status. My Accessibility now has only Amadeus and OnyX....and Cookie seems to be working just fine without being in either Full Disk Access or Accessibility.

When you install Catalina there are options for Full Disk Access (which is essential for many (most?) utility apps) or selective File/Folder access which is essential for many sandboxed apps if they are going be able to do anything. In fact, virtually all third party apps will have to be granted some level of access even if it just to the Documents folder.

One of my CCC backups ran last night but a dialogue box warned that it was not done properly because it did not have Full Disk Access. I manually ran the other backup this morning and got the same caution when I hit "Clone".

Interestingly, opening Full Disk Access and checking the CCC box did not get rid of the caution. I actually had to follow the CCC process of dragging their fish icon into the Full Disk Access window....then everything worked as usual.

I've got no idea what to make of that; if, as it sounds, it's a brand new situation, maybe you ought to "Report a Problem" from CCC's Help menu.

Did CCC insert itself into your FDA pane, or did you select it?

As I said, I haven't got CCC in either FDA or Accessibility, and I clone to both internal and external drives.

Update: I took a look in CCC's documentation (and saw the fish for the first time), and it turns out that it does need full disk access, and a chance look at CCC's menu bar disclosed that my installation has got it, despite the fact that it doesn't appear in my FDA pane.