Cleaning up audio on old recordings ?

iMax

As a result of this thread, I now have my hands on a CD of a demo created by the band back in LA fourteen years ago.

The problem is, it's not direct from the master (which was analogue tape to start). The original studio tape was dubbed onto cassettes, which had been re dubbed further down the line & eventually someone stuck it onto a CD because the tapes kept wearing out.

The copy I have is OK to listen to, but it's nowhere near cd quality & has quite a bad hiss on it. Is there anyway to take a rip of the CD & clean it up, maybe boost some levels & make it into a more listen-able (& distributable) product ?

The music is really quite good & this demo was produced by Pat Reagan (KISS & Deep Purple), The intention is to try & get a usable demo out of it.

iquinn

this is a great tool for restoration work:

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

dav nagle

iquinn wrote: »

this is a great tool for restoration work:

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

Post me a copy and I will do what I can, have waves restoration which will at very least clean it up a bit

studiorat

Good man Dav.

I'd like to hear a before and after job on that!

dav nagle

studiorat wrote: »

Good man Dav.

I'd like to hear a before and after job on that!

Thanks, its a nice job, it is always interesting to see what kind of improvements can be made to bad recordings, even if its a small improvement it is still an improvement nonetheless.

danjokill

iMax wrote: »

As a result of this thread, I now have my hands on a CD of a demo created by the band back in LA fourteen years ago.

The problem is, it's not direct from the master (which was analogue tape to start). The original studio tape was dubbed onto cassettes, which had been re dubbed further down the line & eventually someone stuck it onto a CD because the tapes kept wearing out.

The copy I have is OK to listen to, but it's nowhere near cd quality & has quite a bad hiss on it. Is there anyway to take a rip of the CD & clean it up, maybe boost some levels & make it into a more listen-able (& distributable) product ?

The music is really quite good & this demo was produced by Pat Reagan (KISS & Deep Purple), The intention is to try & get a usable demo out of it.

Bad Hiss! depends how bad .... I have used soundsoap to clean up old 4 track demo's that were on cassettes. http://www.bias-inc.com

There is a 14 day trial if you want to try it.

Neurojazz

I can do audio restoration - unfortunately i charge for it - i have isotope rx and a lot of other tools for hum/hiss/pop/crackle and just about any weirdness that needs to be fixed

Take a while to do as if there are pops/spikes during louder passages they have to removed by hand - no plugin does that yet

studiorat

I'd remove any bad language for a start.

Neurojazz

well, depends on market... you might want to add a swear word every other word to add 'value' and some phat hip hop badstylz beatz... etc... maybe

studiorat

Dub a few on during mastering. 'cwntflaps!"

iMax

Thanks for all the replies guys. iquinn did two tracks for us & did an amazing job, really first rate, all credit applied.

Unfortunately, the band just decided they want to put a live track on the cd they're getting pressed & iquinn is gone away until the 13th August, we want to get it done ASAP.

The track in question was recorded live in the House Of Blues in Los Angeles & I have a lossless Wav file of it. The quality isn't too bad, but it would still need to be cleaned up, it also needs a fadeout at the end as they just seque into another track. We would also want the crowd noise improved - no mikes in the audience area, you can hear audience but it doesn't sound great, would love to have something better sounding on there.

Anyone up for a challenge ? There's not a lot of money available (read almost none), but credit on the sleeve will be given & also in the documentary.

Anyone interested please drop me a PM & I'll get back to you ASAP.

garyskeepers

iquinn wrote: »

this is a great tool for restoration work:

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

hey man,, do you still do clean ups?