[78-L] Sound Remaster and Restoration

[Ken Matheson]

     One of the first answers to this thread was very good
however I have some additions.
     I find that Sony Sound Forge is the best. Audio City is
also good. A good sound card is essential. I use an
EMU 0202 external sound card on my laptop for recording,
My desk top has a Sound Blaster. Sound Blasters were made
for gamers and general audio. I also use a 20 DB pad on the
input to keep the level pots mid range. If your preamp has
a volume control you don’t need a pad.
    I use a Stanton 500 v.3, or 500 AL2 for recording from
records. I bought a new Numark turntable but I was not
happy with it so I went to a used one. I also can record
from the TV, or radio.
    I record all recordings in stereo, so I can use the best track
later for restoral. 
    I use a recording peek Level of –6 DB instead of 0. I think
a –10 may be better, but for 30 years I have dealt with 0 so it is
hard to change all the way down to a -10.
    I use 96,000 and 24 bit on important recordings. On not
so important recordings I use 44,100 and 16 bit.
     Don’t worry about equalization, you tweak that later with
your graphic equalizer to suite your taste. Many times I find
putting the graphic equalizer in causes a degradation in sound
quality.
     After I get a .wav file I am happy with. First I manually go
in and redraw all the real bad pops and clicks. You spread the
waveform out and with your pointer make the pop or click area
look the same as the adjacent wave. Sometimes I will take the
other channel and copy it over. Sometimes I will let the auto
correct program correct it. The reason for removing the bad
pops and clicks is the auto programs seem to leave a little of
the pop or click in if you don’t do it. Then I go to the auto click
and crackle removal program. Rarely, if the recording is real
nasty, after I use the click and crackle removal program, I use
the restoral program, then the click and crackle removal again.
Usually it will take one or two hours to restore a 78. However I
have spent 4 hours on an important record. One time I had to
remove a 150 HZ. Hum (3 phase power line) from a recording
with the graphic equalizer. After I clean the recording up I remove
unwanted noise and silence at the beginning and end of the
Song. I then insert one second of silence at each end. Then
I put in fade in, and fade out. I then correct the level back up to
A –2 to –3 DB. Most of the CDs I buy are recorded at this level.
If I were to put them on a CD I would use the wave File to make
the CD. If I put them on my MP3 player I first convert them to
.wma or MP3.
     One note, many if not most songs from the TV the singer
is in mono. The band may be in stereo, but the singer only has
one mike.
     I have converted mono to stereo by inverting one track, and
adding a slight delay in the other track. This give the illusion that
you are not in the center of the stage.
     You can spend as much or as little on record restoration as
you want. But I feel It is important to use the Stanton 500
cartridge, With a D5127, 3 Mil stylus for 78 RPM records. 78s
beat up a stylus and cartridge.
 
Ken