[78-L] 78s to Computers.

[Stewart, Joseph R]

Chris,

I didn't mean to imply that I go in and butcher my recordings! The
zoom-in range in the version of Sound Forge we're using runs from
something like 1:4,096, which is zoomed all the way out where the entire
.wav file is visible on-screen, to 24:1--not sure how many thousands' of
a second that represents. I'm actually quite sensitive to mucking up the
rhythm & tempo, not to mention causing audible "bumps" and so on.
Basically, if it doesn't work and causes an audible artifact--a smooth
joint, as you said--I simply don't try it. And you're quite right about
trying to remove clicks manually that are embedded in a complex
waveform: there really is no way to do that smoothly, so I don't even
attempt it.  I don't like those "ugly jump-cuts" any better than you do.
But there ARE, occasionally, times when it can be done undetectably,
when the software somehow misses a big pop or click that's out there
exposed, during a soft passage. (The wonder of digital editing: its
non-destructive nature!  You can try anything and always reverse what
you did. . . IF you don't save the file first!) But jeez, if you think
I'm trying to go in there and abolish every click or pop of "HMV
crackle" or whatever... no way!  I have Zenatello's live Covent Garden
"Otello" death scene on the white label VB-series.  Extremely low
recording level at times, some of the worst post-war HMV crackle I've
ever heard (despite mirror-shiny surfaces!), and not much useful I could
do to alleviate either problem.  

 

CoolEdit would be a better option, I admit, but that's not what I have
to work with.  Never tried DCArt either.  Don't see myself (or the radio
station!) buying CEDAR anytime soon either (sorry, Graham!). 

 

Randy Stewart

KSMU

Springfield MO

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ORIGINAL MESSAGE--

Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:13:12 +0200

From: Chris Zwarg <doctordisc at truesoundtransfers.de>

Subject: Re: [78-L] 78s To Computers.

To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>

Message-ID: <0MKwh2-1Ko0wf2KH5-0007kp at mrelayeu.kundenserver.de>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

 

>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.

 

MUCH better option: Use the manual declicking options offered by
CoolEdit / Adobe Audition - the built-in Click/Pop Eliminator (which is
rather useless in its automatic setting) has a "Fill Single Click Now"
setting which FFT-filters the highlighted area to match the surrounding
sound, and the freeware plugin ClickFix for CoolEdit has a "Force Fix"
setting which replaces the highlighted area by repeating a segment left
of it, fitted in automatically in the correct phase, so no new clicks
ensue even with complex waveforms. The latter will also fill in dropouts
in tape or optical-film recordings.

 

I would think that pricier and newer audio editors (not to mention
dedicated 78 restoration software like DCArt, which I have never felt a
need to buy and use myself) would have even more efficient and
comfortable ways of retouching momentary defects, and I am surprised
that anybody is still using stone-age methods like actually CUTTING OUT
a piece from the waveform, which produces an ugly jump-cut that distorts
the musical timing, apart from the fact that the joint is rarely smooth,
and the click turns into a "thud" only slightly less disturbing! Even
with strictly amateur ambitions, disfiguring my recordings like this
would be the last thing I do; audible clicks are far less distracting
than an "off-centre" rhythm and tempo because of bits and pieces snipped
in odd places. Yet, even "highbrow" companies like Marston and Symposium
are doing this occasionally - why???!

 

Manually re-drawing the waveform isn't very practical unless you can
work in the spectral domain (like you can in more recent versions of
Adobe Audition), otherwise what you do will mostly be no better than
guesswork - in the waveform view it is often not clear at all what is
musical sound and what is noise, especially with clicks embedded in
complex sounds like a full orchestra, where the "good" waveform itself
looks like a series of all sorts of irregular spikes and odd shapes.

 

Chris Zwarg