I've used a cheap and cheerful program for rescuing old tapes and LPs, but mainly tapes, called CD Audio Creator. The main thing I've learned is not to mess around with the result too much - denoising and declicking work to a certain extent, but the other improvements on offer can be prety disastrou.
Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Murphy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Stephen Arndt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 8:34 AM Subject: Re: Old Lute LPs > Heee's baack, out of hospital this morning. > > There are specific programs for restoring old LP's, although I haven't used > them. My solution, given that my record player is remote from my computer, > is to use the audio tape output from the player, then a cassette player with > that tape as input to the computer. The sound quality will suffer, but not > much compared with the sound quality left on that old and often played LP. > At first I used a long jumper cord directly to the computer, but often there > are jumps from scratches on the LP, and running back and forth is a pain. > Also, LP's and tapes don't provide a break for the tracks. So to make the > track breaks one needs to record one track at a time into the computer. All > this prefaced with using standard supplied software, either M$ or from your > CD burner. If you intend to do a lot if it I'd recommend specialized > software. > > But my two step process allows you to monitor the music (and replay a > scratched section to the tape with a bit of weight on the pickup needle - a > taped on penny does well). Then to take the tape to the computer and record > the individual tracks into the machine. You will never be able to improve on > the remaining fidelity on the LP, after all that is the sound you have. But > you may be able to smooth it a bit as you digitalize it on the computer. But > it takes attention to each "track". > > Digital music is wonderful, now that the speeds of recording of the bits are > up. Theoretically the analog carries all the overtones and echoes of the > concert hall, but that is only possible when using your analog ears at a > concert. The frequency limitations of the old digital, using sampling, cut > back the sound. But current digital techniques will carry all the overtones, > and tonality, of the original LP - as that was itself limited. > > So it can be done with standard software, in most cases. > > Best, Jon > > > >
