My experience has been that if you apply too much the it can remove some of the music and even introduce distortion - particulalry on instruments like the cornet on loud and high pitched notes. A laminated Columbia from the late 1920s will have an almost silent surface, where as a UK HMV pressing from the same period will have a lot **. As said above "less here really is more" Some 78s suffer much more from crackle than others. Once EQ'ing has been completed then comes the declick / decrackle step. I have a selection of EQ curves somewhere if anyone would like them. It is amazing how good a 78 can sound whe the proper eq curve has been applied. I have always eqed by hand - although some software or amps have different curves built in. I also cut everything over 16khz - which with 78s is hiss and crackle. I cut everything below 16hz ( which is way below the recorded music level) which will get rid of rumble from the disk. 78s played back using the inbuilt RIAA curve will make them sound dull and muddy with too much bass and far too little trebble. The equalisation curves used with 78s is different to the standard used of modern equipment. If your using a mono pick up or sound source then this step isn't necessary. I also convert the sound to mono - which is an option with the software I use - and because I use a stereo pick up its a necessity really and makes the sound that much better. I just find that you can get the cleanest result this way. The reason for this being that the more information you can get the more the software has to work on when declicking. When you are transferring the sound to a pc its best to set the sample rate high. I may sometimes play a disk through with each to see which gives the best results. I get by with a 2.7mil, a 3mil and a 3.2mil. Problem is that custom stluses tend to be expensive. Play the same disk with a 3.2 mil and it will sound entirely different. For example the recording of Bing Crosby singing "Thanks" will play with a 2.7 mil stylus but because the groove cut is relatively big the sound is a bit thin and destortion sets in as the stylus tracks along the bottom of the groove. If your really keen and want to get the very best results then a truncated eliptical stylus of the appropriate size for the disk is the best as it tends to ride the groove in a way that other styluses don't and can give clearer results by reading unworn parts of the groove. If your transferring earlier 78s then you can use a standard 78 stylus but you are likely to get much better sound using something a bit larger - say a 3 or 3.2mil. If your looking at later 78s from the late 1940s onwards then a standard 78rpm stylus should be fine (which is about 2.7 mil). The things I would point out are that the groove sizes of 78s vary A LOT. Transferring a 78 to get the best out of them can be fiddly - but well worth it when you hear the finished result. I have heard very good things about click repair but haven't use it myself as Magix has that type of thing built in. I've found that it does take a little while to get the most out of these programs. I use Audacity and sometimes another program called Magix. It has all the usual editing facilities you'd expect. The software came from PC World about 5 years ago, and I still use it regularly. I got rid of some serious rhythmic clicks with this method, but luckily there were about three clicks against a silent background to use as a sample. It has a useful noise-sampling feature, in which it analyses the noise (you have to give it a short piece of noise without content first) and then subtracts this from the content. I use Music Clean by Xoom Software, and it seems as good as any. If used at too high a level, it can add some very unsettling 'whirling' or phasing effects. I've found that most domestic noise-reduction software has to be used with great care. Sometimes it's best just to do a straight transfer, others a bit of re-equalisation and steep-cut audio filtering. Some of these were made in the good ol' days of the 60's and were often recordings of stuff that was old even then. I often have to 'rescue' old tapes for friends.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |