Restoring an old recording

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Simon Finnigan <Simon@TheRealm.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>the quick story is that I`ve got a very old recording that`s been
>transferred tape to tape a few times over the years, and I want to try and
>restore it as much as possible. It`s not worth money, it`s a present for a
>friend that would have a lot of sentimental value, but there`s not much
>money to spare to get this done - certainly not enough to have a
>professional look at it.

How close to the original can you get, and what is the original recording?
Do you only have an n-generation dupe, or can you get the master? Is this
tape, acetate, cassette, or what?

>The recording has a lot of hiss, and the actual part I want restored is
>fairly quiet against the hiss - it`s hearable, but it`s not brilliant. The
>treble and bass are out of balance, the treble needs knocking down a bit,
>but that I can do for myself. I`m looking for suggestions for the best
>program to use to remove as much of the hiss as possible while leaving the
>rest of the recording in as good a condition as possible. Freeware would be
>ideal, shareware with a demo would be my second choice, but if I need to pay
>then I`ll have to look at how much money I`ve got spare.

First get the best possible transcription, then start looking at the NR
systems. If you have a hiss problem and too much treble, it's possible
that EQ will fix the hiss as it's fixing the top end.

>Anyone got any suggestions for good programs/programs with plug-ins that
>would be able to help?

A lot of the NR systems are available for a short evaluation period, which
might be find if you only have a short clip to do. Are you using a PC or
a Mac? Would you consider renting hardware?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Simon Finnigan wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> the quick story is that I`ve got a very old recording that`s been
> transferred tape to tape a few times over the years, and I want to try and
> restore it as much as possible.
>
> Anyone got any suggestions for good programs/programs with plug-ins that
> would be able to help?

Goldwave has hiss/noise reduction filters. It is shareware.
http://www.goldwave.com

The usual way of working is to take a section of noise (with no other
sounds), analyse that and use it as a basis for removing noise from
the rest of the recordings. It can work very well, but it can also
introduce artifacts if care isn't taken.

--
JP Morris - aka DOUG the Eagle (Dragon) -=UDIC=- jpm@it-he.org
Fun things to do with the Ultima games http://www.it-he.org
Reign of the Just - An Ultima clone http://rotj.it-he.org
d+++ e+ N+ T++ Om U1234!56!7'!S'!8!9!KAW u++ uC+++ uF+++ uG---- uLB----
uA--- nC+ nR---- nH+++ nP++ nI nPT nS nT wM- wC- y a(YEAR - 1976)

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 23:05:03 +0100, "Simon Finnigan"
<Simon@TheRealm.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>the quick story is that I`ve got a very old recording that`s been
>transferred tape to tape a few times over the years, and I want to try and
>restore it as much as possible. It`s not worth money, it`s a present for a
>friend that would have a lot of sentimental value, but there`s not much
>money to spare to get this done - certainly not enough to have a
>professional look at it.
>
>The recording has a lot of hiss, and the actual part I want restored is
>fairly quiet against the hiss - it`s hearable, but it`s not brilliant. The
>treble and bass are out of balance, the treble needs knocking down a bit,
>but that I can do for myself. I`m looking for suggestions for the best
>program to use to remove as much of the hiss as possible while leaving the
>rest of the recording in as good a condition as possible. Freeware would be
>ideal, shareware with a demo would be my second choice, but if I need to pay
>then I`ll have to look at how much money I`ve got spare.
>
>Anyone got any suggestions for good programs/programs with plug-ins that
>would be able to help?
>
>Thanks in advance for your help.

-- This is a n-generation dub indeed, every copy had the hiss of the
former tape added to. From the description, I could assume this would
be a cassette recording with a noise reduction system -- Dolby
probably -- used, maybe even multiple times. Now this can pose a
problem.

What you need here is an optimally reproduced transfer to the PC, so
you should obtain a decent cassette recorder, with a possibility of an
easy playback head alignment. Most of cassette tape decks have a hole
at the cassette door for that purpose, some allow removal of the door.
You set the reproduction to mono and adjust the playback head so that
the highest frequencies and hiss are heard the best, and the cleanest.
But you should demagnetize the heads with a tape head demagnetizer
firstly and of course, you would clean the heads and capstan with
cotton swabs moistened with isopropyl alcohol. Then see which of Dolby
settings, if any, would reduce the hiss and make the recording more
balanced.

Only that you have optimally transferred the recording into the PC,
you can take care about processing.

You can do this by a copy of (an old, now it's Adobe Audition) copy of
the Cool Edit program which had a decent noise reduction tools built
in. But the most important thing is to judge very well to what extent
you would go and see if you can get a reasonable sounding recording
without using the NR tool at all; by equalizing the recording or so.
The broadband noise reduction is the most dangerous thing to old
recordings and one should hear closely the result. I'm not kidding --
recently I've got some transfers from valuable 78 RPM recodrings --
mostly speech -- on a couple of CDs.
Unfortunately, the recordings were ruined by an noise reduction
system. There's no noise but the then-famous actors sound like the
Aliens.

Edi Zubovic, Crikvenica, Croatia