[78-L] Jack Towers, truncating the high frequencies

[Graham Newton]

Michael Biel wrote:

>> On 12/26/2010 1:08 PM, Steve Shapiro wrote:
>> In recent years Jack had a high-frequency hearing loss.
>> When I would bring 78s to Jack to transfer, he was ever ready to cut out
>> the frequencies above a certain point, declaring that there was nothing 
>> recorded up there.  

> Very surprising and disappointing.  A transfer engineer is supposed to 
> transfer what is there.  Modification is done only in restoration.  An 
> engineer is supposed to know the quality of his hearing and not 
> compensate for it by modifying the recording.  Sometimes I will bring up 
> highs in LISTENING to compensate for high frequency loss in my hearing, 
> but not in a restoration.  Too bad he would reduce the highs instead.   
> His experience should have told him that there would be sound up there 
> that others can hear.

It is a well documented medical phenomenon, that as we get older our high 
frequency hearing ability declines, such that at 65 years of age the upper 
limit is about 1/2 of what an 18 year old person could hear.

I make more and more reference to the frequency displays in my equipment to 
confirm what is there and what I am hearing (or not hearing).
The DK Audio Spectrum display or CEDAR Cambridge's Spectrum Analyzer (which is 
a lab quality device) are invaluable to make sure I am not making errors based 
on what I know that I can't hear any more.

Often, taking a known-to-be-excellent recording and displaying it's 
characteristics gives a good reference for what decisions you could or should 
be making when working on recordings.  Without these tools, older audio people 
can easily make errors that would be blatantly obvious to younger ears.




... Graham Newton

-- 
Audio Restoration by Graham Newton, http://www.audio-restoration.com
World class professional services applied to tape or phonograph records for
consumers and re-releases, featuring CEDAR's CAMBRIDGE processes.