Audio Restoration: The Big Project

[indolikaa]

Greetings!


I am going to ask for opinions on how to do this one. Although I have transferred my fair share of LPs and 45s over the years, I intend to be a little bit more critical in my quest for sonic perfection.

I have the family collection of LPs and 45s being brought out of storage and shipped to my house. We have everything from 77 RPMs to some of the last 45s and LPs mass-produced for the US market. By my last estimate, we have something like 1,700 LPs and 800 45s. They were stored in well-protected, climate-controlled conditions. There are also an untold number of analog cassettes and 8-track tapes, as well as about 200 open-reel tapes.

There is a desire to maximize the quality of the resulting transfer from these sources. Most are out of print, have not been reissued on CD, and I doubt they ever will. Others are worth their weight in gold: as an example, I know the 45s collection has a first-print copy of 'Rock Around the Clock' in good condition. These are things I would have inherited upon my parents passing, but the decision has been made to transfer them now, while we still can.

We have, at our immediate disposal...
A Technics SL-L2 direct-drive linear-tracking turntable,
A Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck,
A Teac T-1000 open-reel deck.

A friend is providing the 8-track deck and a turntable that will handle 77 RPM records. He's an audiophile, so whatever he has will be top-notch; the source should get the best handling possible.

I was going to use a SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS to capture the audio streams. Normally, I would just do the capture with SoundForge, but I will also need something powerful enough to clean-up recordings that date back (I think) as far as the 1940s. Since a majority of the music is on vinyl, I'd like some prosumer/professional software for the task of cleaning up those captures.

The transfers will be burned to, you guessed it, Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs.

Thanks for any comments you can offer.

[ZAPPER]

http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm

I think that I may have found this link here and it may still be here but I dug it out of my favorites file. I have not reviewed it for some time but I think that it might be a good start. I don't remember why I saved it, but it must have had something interesting at the time.

[VideoTechMan]

This is a very interesting topic indolikka, because I have plans to do the same things. I also have an open reel tape studio deck, 2 good working 8-Track players as well as my personal 45 and LP collection.

Btw, the 77RPM records are actually 78's I know my mom had a whole collection of those fragile 78 records, which were made from clay and broke easily.

I would recommend using Adobe Audition if you have it, it has a filter that can clean up the "pops and crackles" of the records, and plenty of filters for cleaning up the tapes as well such as hiss and noise reduction. You can also use Audition to record as well and have a wide variety of formats to save to. You can also burn your CD's from it too (i admit I havent tested that yet, just started using this program). I also love the interface Audition has, alot better than Sound Forge in my opinion, and I used to use Forge quite alot (mainly to do pitch changes to some of the music I have). I plan to back up my record collection as well, due to the fact that half of the songs are like you said, out of print and very hard, if not impossible to find. If i find any other tips I will add...hope this helps

VTM

[ZAPPER]

indolikaa

I admire your ambition. While I have no true experience in what you are about to undertake I would like to offer you my best wishes and of course some opinions(who would have guessed).

Being a belt and suspender type of guy I would like to suggest that if there is any way possible to try and record/copy/save/back-up/transfer (or what ever it is going to be called) to two PCs at the same time. Why you ask? I am not sure, But I heard or read or imagined that it is a good idea. Maybe it was just in case one or the other failed or maybe it was so you could get two differnt files at the same time from what might be the last time that LP can be played with out any further deterioration. I don't know if you plan on any cleaning of the signal before the PC or not, but I would like to suggest that if you do use two captures that one of them be what I would call a pure capture or a master copy with all the pops and cracks and squeeks still in. My thoughts on this go like this: Nostalgia; That is, you are making copies of something very old and may not have ever been all that high quality to start with and it is expected to sound that way. Some people would consider this to be the finale and best or most pure form for enjoyment(kind of an artsy thing) The second reason for having a master copy is the old "you can play it or edit it or whatever you want to do with on the PC" Any ways good luck and keep us posted.

[indolikaa]

That's what I get for not proofreading my post.

I don't think these 78's are made of clay, but they are thick. I would say at least 4mm, maybe more. The labels are long since gone, but luckily my relatives have very good memories.

I'll check that website, ZAPPER. And I'll look into Adobe Audition, too. I think I checked it out before but the need didn't justify the price at the time. It might now.

[fmctm1sw]

Welcome back. Hopefully you can avoid arguments with Mr. Jack Valenti this time around.....

[indolikaa]

Welcome back. Hopefully you can avoid arguments with Mr. Jack Valenti this time around.....

Ouch!

I thought I had a good setup for doing this when I started experimenting. But I figured before I plunked down money, I should start over and see if anybody came up with anything different. My collection didn't need much help, but some of the others in the family didn't have the benefit of modern technology to play their media with. And if you've ever had the pleasure of watching a 25 year-old turntable dig into a record groove...

hutter:


@ZAPPER,

You are speaking to Mr. Nostalgia himself!

I'm going to do the same thing for audio that I did for video. Make a direct, unprocessed copy and immediately burn it to disc. All future editing, noise cleanup, post-production and other frivolities will be done from that copy, as you stated. I used a ton of DVD-Rs during the video transfer doing the same thing. So I was left with an 'Archive' copy, and the specific instructions/settings on how I did the final authoring on the backside of the case.

I've done some analog tapes from the early 1980s already, and those were captured twice: once with Dolby-B and once without it. I've found that restoring clarity to those kinds of tapes can often be better accomplished without Dolby-B being implemented. It just depends on the individual recording.

[piano632]

For anyone with a sizeable record collection, I would recommend getting a "pro" record cleaning machine like those made by Nitty Gritty or VPI. They are rather costly, but they can remove lots of surface noise from records. I have one of these machines and I'll never give it up. It uses cleaning fluid, a soft bristle brush and vacuum suction to clean every speck of dirt and dust out of record grooves and makes them sound better than new - believe it or not (assuming of course, there are no scratches or noticeable wear). I've heard some records after cleaning that sound as quiet as a CD and have razor-sharp clarity. Of course, this is dependent upon the original quality of the vinyl.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/categorylisting.asp?hdnCat=Record+Cleaning+Machines&...&CategoryID=49

Also, a direct-drive turntable is not the best choice for sound quality. The motor being attached directly to the platter causes the stylus to pick up motor vibrations. A good belt-drive turntable would sound better. Of course, the phono cartridge and the amp matter too. Consult heavily with your audiophile friend.

[VideoTechMan]

Welcome back. Hopefully you can avoid arguments with Mr. Jack Valenti this time around.....

Ouch!

.....And if you've ever had the pleasure of watching a 25 year-old turntable dig into a record groove...

hutter:

Trust me, I know this one too well....ive dealt with records for a long time; ive had one 45 once that when I played it, the needle literally cut into the record, making that section of the record very scratchy and unplayable.

You might also know that Audition used to be Cool Edit Pro, before Adobe showed them the green and took possession of the company that originally produced the software.

Ive always been told that the 78's were made of clay, from what my mom said (course she was around when those were still in high use back then) and they are quite heavy when you have a stack of them Moving a box of those would be a pain.

I have never thought of the idea of making an original copy of the records and cassettes before performing the cleanup processes to them, as a way to archive your material. I will definitely have to look into that. Archiving would be perfect in the case where you can safely keep them put away until you may need them again.

VTM

[VideoTechMan]

For anyone with a sizeable record collection, I would Also, a direct-drive turntable is not the best choice for sound quality. The motor being attached directly to the platter causes the stylus to pick up motor vibrations. A good belt-drive turntable would sound better. Of course, the phono cartridge and the amp matter too. Consult heavily with your audiophile friend.

I used to have a direct-drive turntable (still have it but in the closet now) but the sound, while it played fine, I tended to notice the distortion from the sound before even recording it on anything. Not to mention those ground wires were annoying too in avoiding that hum. I used to use my dad's 22-year old linear turntable and while it performed well when I had it, recently now the arm wont move itself to the record anymore (had to close the cover for the arm to move into position), mostly because of the cord that moved the arm was too loose. So I quietly returned it back to my dad's house in his closet

My old 78 turntable which I also still have uses that old idler wheel...lol, but the cartridge on that one was a ceramic one though.

A few months ago I recently bought a new turntable from Circuit City, and Audio-Technica model that was $99, and belt driven. The thing I liked most about this turntable when I opened the box and read the manual was the fact that it had its own built-in amp which meant that you dont have to have a seperate amp to boost the phono-cartridge, and no more ground wires. In testing some of the LP's I had recorded to my PC with Audition, the quality turned out very well, and didnt have that distortion like my older turntable had.

I wish you the best in your restoration project Indo...as much video and audio I have to work on, it should keep me busy for quite sometime!

VTM

[AvalonMan]

Hi

I also had the need to capture some music from old tapes and records when I couldn't find the music on CDs.

I stumbled across "PristineSounds 2000" a few years ago. It has numerous sound processing options, but I make heavy use of:
- Vinyl Restoration Tool (VRT)
- Image Noise Suppression (IMS)

and the following are very helpful
- Volume Normalise (RMS or peak)
- either the 12 band graphic equaliser or the user tailored frequency response curve
- a facility to split a continuous audio track into separate wav files whihc when burnt to a CD will play without any gaps between the split files (eg handy for breaking a live concert into tracks)

One aspect that is neat is the ability to preview the processing in real time whilst adjusting the settings.

I basically use VRT for records and if there is some residual noise of a somewhat fixed nature left, I then use the IMS by specifying a 1 or 2 second sample of the noise and let the IMS tool attempt to delete that from the file. Whilst the program has some other hiss noise reduction tools, I often find that the IMS tool works better for tapes since I can get a specific sample of noise from the wav file of a tape.

The version of Pristine sounds I have is available as shareware from
www.freedownloadscenter.com
with most sound processing features fully available. Some additional features like batch file processing are available for a fee.

I'll see if I kept some examples of pre and post processing.

Cheers

[indolikaa]

Also, a direct-drive turntable is not the best choice for sound quality. The motor being attached directly to the platter causes the stylus to pick up motor vibrations. A good belt-drive turntable would sound better. Of course, the phono cartridge and the amp matter too. Consult heavily with your audiophile friend.

I'll ask him about that very issue.

He approved of this turntable, so I never thought twice about it. But just to make sure I cover all bases, I will ask him. I also have a Technics SL-1200MKII that I never took out of the box, so I don't even know what that one is capable of doing. I know it's not the original model that the DJs rave about, but I think it's direct-drive as well.


@VTM,

They could very well be clay, then. They're heavy enough!

[lordsmurf]

Get that laser-read LP player. It's only $10K or so.

[indolikaa]

Get that laser-read LP player. It's only $10K or so.

The FF1, I believe?

I wish. Talk about a wet dream...

[piano632]

A turntable designed for DJ use is not the best for sound fidelity. DJ turntables are direct-drive because they can start/stop on a dime (whereas a belt would slip and slide and maybe even pop off during the quick starts/stops that DJ's need).

Of course, one could easily spend thousands of $$$ on vinyl playback equipment, so it really comes down to how much it's worth to you. You can buy a pretty good turntable like a Rega Planar 3 for a few hundred. Of course, then you'd need a good phono amp and cartridge to go with it, and that's another few hundred. If the records are something valuable to you, it might be worth it. You'd be surprised how clean and clear a good quality turntable setup can sound. It many cases it would blow away CDs.

The new Rega P3 turntable comes in cool colors:
http://www.rega.co.uk/html/p3.htm

I've heard of a couple turntables with price tags of $35,000, but for *normal* people who don't have access to Donald Trump's bank account, the Rega 'tables are probably the best value for the money. I doubt you could get a true "audiophile" turntable for under $500 new. There are no great phono cartridges under $100 and no great phono amps under $200.

You might also want to consider making DVD-Audio discs instead of CD's since the sound quality on DVD-Audio is considerably better than CD's are capable of.

Here is an audiophile discussion forum and marketplace which may be of some help:
http://www.audiogon.com
Just beware, many of the people here have $20,000 audio systems.

[housepig]

if you're going to sink money into the process, I would also suggest a better audio card, preferebly something with RCA inputs instead of 1/8".

If you go on audio & recording engineer boards, you will see reams of testimony & evidence about Soundblaster cards, overwhelmingly negative. I personally swore them off years ago.

Echo makes some great cards for the prosumer market, and I've heard very good things about RME Hammerfall cards as well.

you can spend all the time and money into making the signal chain going into your computer the best ever, but if the analog-to-digital converters on the soundcard are a piece of crap, it's all for naught.

[SaSi]

Indolikaa,

I have done in the past exactly what you venture to do, only in a scale of 1:10. Only 150 LPs or so and 100 cassettes.

This is my experience.

Firstly, avoid going through the process for LPs that have been re-issued in CD. Too much effort and time is required to achieve worthwhile results. In most cases, if the CD is available, it's probably in a "Nice Price" label so you could get it for $5 or less.

The SL1200MkII is a great turntable. Of course the Rega is a masterpiece, but both will be "junk" unless you have a high quality phono cartridge.

I used what I had, which was a cheapish belt drive turntable. It had hum from AC and I put on my Stanton 881s cartridge (anyone remember Shibata? ) Use a high quality phono cartridge (can anyone still find any around?) and a brand new stylus. Worn out needles not only ruin disks but also generate audible distortion.

Hum noise is something you really don't need to worry about. Adobe Audition / CoolEdit Pro can remove hum without destroying the signal perfectly and quite fast.

By the way, Adobe Audition should be your swiss knife in this project. It can record, clean, normalize, filterout, do anything for your audio. For the project you want, don't settle for anything less.

Get yourself a high quality set of earphones. The detail you can get from desktop speakers (even HiFi speakers) is nowhere close to a hi-end set of earphones.

I used to have a set of Sennheisers and recently bought a new one, HD-350. They cost around $300 and they are worth every cent. Clear, crisp and loud sound with no clipping and no distortion.

Get a high end sound card (don't use the on-board audio chips - they are low quality and introduce too much noise). The audigy is good enough.

Record at 44100Hz and 32-bit samples (rather than the CD quality 16-bit). The CoolEdit/Audition filters work much better on 32 bit samples. Once you are finished with the process you can downsample them to 16bit and generate MP3 files and normal WAV files for CD-Audio.

MP3 may be lossless and people may hate it, but do generate MP3 audio. Catalogue it on disk and you will enjoy your audio collection much better.

On filtering, what I do is the following:

Audition has a noise removal filter that works on a sample you select as noise. The perfect sample for an LP recording is the start of the lead-in groove. It will contain any hum introduced by the circuitries, as well as the surface noise of the LP.

Audition allows you to save the sample and the filter settings you generate for future use - very handy.

However, different LP material produces different kinds of noise. Not only the scratch and hiss noise but also the other characteristics. Like different compositions of vinyl produce different qualities in the noise.

Before going into processing batches, experiment heavily. It took me more than 3-4 days to really understand the parameters of the noise removal filter and be able to use it effectivelly. (PM me if you need more info on the filter usage and samples to work with).

After the surface noise/hum is removed, it is time for scratch removal. This is the most tedious part and the reason I dumped many LPs and got myself the CDs!

The only kind of music where Audition pop removal fails is the brass horns (saxophones, trombones, english hornes, etc). The reason is that their waveform is extremely similar to a pop/scratch, in high frequency (amazing, isnt' it?)

Again, this is a filter that requires heavy experimentation (and heavy processing).

BTW, get yourself a fast PC (P4/3GHz class) RAM is irrelevant for audition and the only thing you need is ample disk space.

The first 5-10 LPs will perhaps generate frustration and dissapointment, but this is learning. After that you will realize how easy this process is and probably be able to load two instances of Audition, one recording and the other one fixing - Recording requires 3-5% CPU so can be done in background and the Audigy card is so designed that it will record from Line-In and ignore anything played back on the PC.

With tapes, one thing to take care of is head cleaning and azimuth correction. Old tapes tend to cause drop-outs so clean the heads after every recording. I have also found that my collection of tapes (originally recorded on various cassette decks) did not have the same azimuth alignment for recording. For optimum results you will need to fine-tune the head alignment for every tape - but as I recall, the Dragon has an easy way of doing this.

You may wish to compensate the tape frequency response curve using a parametric equalizer filter in audition. High frequency needs to be beefed up a bit. Background noise is quite easily removed after that - just sample a portion of the tape between tracks with no music on.

Well, this is all for now - and best of luck.

[ZAPPER]

SaSi:
That looks like some of the best advice I have seen from anyone on any subject in a long time. Looks like you may have done this once before.

As always I have some points that I would to add.
1) Not recording anything that you can buy for under $5 on a CD is a good idea. The time, effort and quality issues make this practical advice. The down side is that Indolikaa is saying that he has about 3000 sources. If 10% of them were in the bargin bin, 300 CDs @ $5 is $1500. I would guess that 50% at least could be found at some price somewhere. Being that this is going to be a hobby, time and effort don't get a cash value so the only cost is materials. Maybe start with the most obscure and decide later if any of the commercial CDs are a better option.

2) Ear phones are a great idea too, but they can take some getting used to. I agree that for in depth listening they are the way to go. But sound can be subjective like anything else. Be sure to compare the sound from your stereo to what you think you are recording, speakers and head phones are two differnt animals. (at least 20 years ago for me they were) Presence and audio ping are what come to mind when I think about head phones.

3) Sampling the run in groove for background filtering. CLEVER! Great tip! I am kicking myself for not knowing this. I am going to try this soon.

I have alot of cassett tapes that I have thought about putting on my PC and a few albums. Most are no older than late 60s and can be found on CD. Reading this topic is stirring me to do something about it.

[NamPla]

SaSi's the man!

Yep, Cool Edit Pro has it all you need. It has done wonders for some of my old scratched-up punk rarities.

The learning curve really isn't that much of a challenge. Just read the help files for each filter's dialog box, and experiment, you'll be laughing.

I'm sure there's plenty of people here with good tips to offer, with regard to this software...

Cheers.

[Cornucopia]

I would agree with much of what has just been stated, and then add a few of my own suggestions (I do this kind of stuff as a living).

Here is the "Transfer Chain":

1. Analog Medium (in this case 78/LP(33)/45's)
2. Stylus
3. Cartridge
4. Tonearm
5. Turntable
6. PreAmp (with RIAA EQ correction), and PrePreAmp if MC cartrides
7. Wires/Cables
8. Analog-to-Digital Converter
9. Digital Cables
10. Digital Storage
11. Digital Filtering & Processing & more storage
12. More Digital Cables
13. Digital-to-Analog Converter
14. More Analog Wires/Cables
15. Mixer / Amplifier
16. Headphones / Speakers
17. Room / Environment
18. Ears & Brain

Rule #1--Always keep all links in the chain as high a quality as possible (though doing this will entail higher costs)
Rule #2--Links at the beginning and end (in Analog Land) are the most critical and variable
Rule #3--Minimize the # of cables, level adjustments & processing (along with that would be to start with the best sources and change it very little)
Rule #4--Think about future-proofing for better technology (digitize at highest workable sample rate and deepest bit depth, store & process that way, then downconvert for consumption)
Rule #5--Keep, as a safety backup, the straight digitized transcription so it can be reprocessed with better equipment at a later date if desired
Rule #6--If you combine some of the links in the chain for convenience, you risk compromising the quality of the links ("use the right/best tool for the job" not just Swiss Army knife)

With those rules in mind, some suggestions are:
Wet clean your discs (if you can't afford the fancy Vac mentioned above, try DisCleaner which is probably still available for sale). Compressed air can help too, though it's better to suck than to blow
Flatten your discs--between heavy books or on rare occasion bake them (kids, don't try this at home--find out clearly how to do it right first)
Brand new stylii (keep a couple around as backup-check w/ magnifying glass)
Moving Coil vs Moving Magnet cartridge--get the one with widest & smoothest freq response and best transient response
Get both lateral/vertical mono cartridge/stylus and std stereo (45/45) cartridge stylus--digitize both and compare. 45/45 is good for doing Sum/Difference noise reduction.
Tonarm--get lightest but most rigid, but best damping--linear tracking better than pivoting
Turntable--there ARE some good direct drives, but HEAVY belt drive would be best--less vibration
Also, Ground your wires! You could reduce some of the hum after, but you'll be doing other processing and you don't want to compound the change (remember rule #3)
Good TT PreAmps are getting harder to find--nice to get one that has both switchable RIAA vs. NAB vs. DIN eq curves
Adjust gain to highest level possible, but still leave some transient peak headroom (~8-22 dB depending on medium and type of program)
Therefore, don't digitize less than 24bit, do 32 if it's actually possible with your hardware
Hint/Tip--Play disc at lower speed, and then change the sample rate header back up after (non-rerendering) if you don't have 16rpm or 78rpm capability and you need it--just be careful w/ change in Eq curve, it's been shifted
Balanced Pro level connections are somewhat cleaner sounding than Unbalanced consumer level (if you're set up for that sort of thing)
Keep all cables as short as possible
A/D's--the best ones are standalone like Alesis that connect to computer via SPDIF etc, NOT combo sound cards. This is the last Analog component and there is a difference between brands. External keeps the signal away from computer bus RF interference. Audigy is probably the best of the pure Consumer variety, but there are plenty of Musician/ProjectStudio cards that are better
NR processing--the Cedar line does great things to your signal. They have hardware as well as software plugins for DAW's like ProTools, etc. Use them if you can. The features in CoolEdit/Audition are also indispensible here. I often use ProTools w/ NR plugins, but there are a number of general and special purpose apps and plugins here--do a Google search.
Be conservative when removing the noise, you lose clarity and definition (and sometimes intelligibility) if you apply too much. Try to audition the sound of what's actually getting taken out (not just what will remain).
You can only hear what you're doing clearly if you have a good reproduction system and can do this without distraction. Here, I would prefer those good previously mentioned headphones for real critical listening.

Well, that's more than I was expecting to say--more than just a few things.

HTH,
Scott