[78-L] 78s To Computers.

[Stewart, Joseph R]

I don't actually have digital-editing software on my home computer.  I
dub 78s "raw" (from a modern Rek-O-Kut/Esoteric Sound CVS-14) to a JVC
CD recorder (using CD-RWs so I can erase & re-use the discs) at home,
and then "sneaker-net" the CD-Rs to the radio station, where we have
Sound Forge, for software-based digital clean-up etc. It ain't great (at
least older version we're using, Sound Forge 6 or 7!) when it comes to
crackle removal, and it takes a VERY light touch with the general
noise-reduction function to avoid those nasty telltale digital
artifacts.  Often I'm going in there and, like the legend on those old
Everest LPs used to say, editing the pops 'n' clicks the software
doesn't get (and there are usually several) by hand--either
highlight-and-delete, or in some cases re-drawing the waveform.
Tedious, yes--sometimes takes me two hours to restore one 78 side--but
I'm pleased with the results. (Again, the transfers are mostly for my
own pleasure, but I have played historical material on-air that I've
de-noised in this way.)

Harry/Swamp Daddy inquired about CD recorders and whether they have
selectable sampling rates--don't know about all of them, but my JVC
doesn't. It's strictly CD Red Book (16-bit/44.1 kHz). The reason I
bought it is it offers +/- 12% pitch adjustment... but of course I can
do the same thing at work in software, so it really doesn't get used
much anymore.

On yet another topic:
Someone (Lennick?) mentioned old issues of "High Fidelity" magazine.
Wish I could find more of them--they seem to be pretty hard to come by.

Randy Stewart, Arts Producer
KSMU
Springfield MO