Well, I use CoolEdit 2000 (now replaced by Adobe Audition), however Audacity is supposed to be pretty good - instructions here.

Oh, btw, Fine Line is on CD... :)

Shug, quite a lot of remixes etc previously only available on vinyl before now have been released as an extra disk on the remasters editions of the Factory era releases.

You should check them out - I hear they're brilliant

have you got any graphs? :)

RichShan wrote: have you got any graphs? :)

Waveforms Shug,waveforms

ride the peak of those waveforms

turn on tune in drop outs at , -.1, 0.00, 0.01...

Don't let Shug anywhere near a needle!

ShugZV wrote: What's the best programme to use?

I put a few records onto me computer last night. Hurt, Cries & Whispers, Mesh, Shellshock Extended, Fine Line, Don't Do It, Run2, MTO etc....and I intend to add a few more today.

I have Soundforge and Audacity, which is the best to remove the noise from the records?

Unfortunately my copies are not minty mint a la Rocket, cos I actually liked listening to the records

WARNING : Don't get too technical. Basic instructions will do.

:D

which version of soundforge are you using? i've got 6.0, and 9.0

both have extra noise reduction addins: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/noisereduction

The Noise Reduction™ 2.0 plug-in collection is a series of four professional-level, DirectX®, sound restoration plug-ins: Vinyl Restoration™, Noise Reduction, Clipped Peak Restoration™, and Click and Crackle Removal™ plug-ins. Save valuable time and money by applying the Noise Reduction processing power to salvage vintage vinyl recordings, and rescue problem tracks. For basic restoration solutions, use the Noise Reduction plug-in preset parameters, or develop and save your own custom settings for complete control and unlimited flexibility. Whether you're in radio, multimedia, or music production, the Noise Reduction plug-in collection will prove an invaluable addition to your audio editing suite.

Now granted, you will have to play around with the parameters, and there's A LOT of tweaking to get it right, but even the basic defaults work pretty well.

If you want to fine tune it, you will have to go in, and magnify the trouble sections, and fix them manually to sound good (ie. pops, clicks, etc)..

There's a lot of tutorials on the web:

http://digitalprosound.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=166554

with plenty of graphs.. don't worry, you can follow it...

also, make plenty of backups of the original, never use the main copy to work on, and test on speakers, and headphones to make sure it sounds good...

good luck..

later -1

for audacity, which i use on some occasions, but not as often..

there's options also..

http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Other_Specific_Tasks

some are shareware, and some aren't.

it looks like:

there are built in functions as pointed out by nick above..

http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Click_Removal

However, it looks like it will also be a lot of manual work..

here is an article on using cooledit 2000, with step by step instructions:

http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm

and of course some useful graphs:

later -1

Of course, if you have two copies of the said vinyl, then record each one seperately and cut and paste the dodgy bits to make a less dodgy recording! :)

click removal is not for the faint of heart..

it's a tedious and painful effort..

hopefully if your vinyl is new or cleaned well, you won't have too many...

make sure you have a good needle also, that helps a lot...

a good brush, and cleaning solution helps too..

there are crackle removers, but you need to find a silent part, with that noise to try and remove it..

later -1

I like Click Repair...

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/ClickRepair.shtml

It does it automagically.

Tons of good info and links here: http://wwwmaths.anu.edu.au/~briand/sound/

Nick King wrote: Of course, if you have two copies of the said vinyl, then record each one seperately and cut and paste the dodgy bits to make a less dodgy recording! :)

how about get about 20-30 vinyl rips from different people, then get somebody to make an average of all the samples. make a perfect graph.

surfjim wrote: I like Click Repair...

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/ClickRepair.shtml

It does it automagically.

automatic click removal will never be able to get a precise enough method, compared to doing it manually.

it depends on how good you want it to sound..

it might get rid of the major ones, but you still have to fix the minor parts...

it's better to do it the slow way to make sure it sounds right...

later -1

surfjim wrote: Tons of good info and links here: http://wwwmaths.anu.edu.au/~briand/sound/

you can embed links, using the [ url ] and [ /url ] commands..

http://wwwmaths.anu.edu.au/~briand/sound/

thanks, its a good read, and the software is shareware..

later -1

0_o wrote:

Nick King wrote: Of course, if you have two copies of the said vinyl, then record each one seperately and cut and paste the dodgy bits to make a less dodgy recording! :)

how about get about 20-30 vinyl rips from different people, then get somebody to make an average of all the samples. make a perfect graph.

Indeed (although only a couple are probably needed) - which, if master tapes were no longer available, the best way to transfer records to CD... :)

Nick King wrote:

0_o wrote:

Nick King wrote: Of course, if you have two copies of the said vinyl, then record each one seperately and cut and paste the dodgy bits to make a less dodgy recording! :)

how about get about 20-30 vinyl rips from different people, then get somebody to make an average of all the samples. make a perfect graph.

Indeed (although only a couple are probably needed) - which, if master tapes were no longer available, the best way to transfer records to CD... :)

and here i was thinking that was a joke posting..

no, you wouldn't need that many, its overkill, and wouldn't add to it..

you just need a few good ones, and that's enough..

when we redid 'ceremony' in 2003, my version had a few skips at the beginning, but another person had a better recording, and we were able to fix it that way...

later -1

-1 wrote: and here i was thinking that was a joke posting..

I think it probably was! :)

Although the concept of using more than one copy is better than using the software above (less time consuming)...

If you require a professional-level audio engineering tool, Spectrafoo is well worth the $800. It's Mac only at the moment.

Too lazy

almansoglasnost wrote: now that we're talking about this. any useful app for noise reduction on cassettes? i'm digitalizing some old stuff of mine but the noise is pretty loud (even with Dolby C on my cassette player), although i wouldn't want to erase all high levels. any ideas?

the same principles apply to clearing up noise from cassettes...

first make sure you're using a good deck to record from... then make sure you have good connectors to the sound card on the computer.. you don't want to introduce any noise at this point..

then tape the sound into an audio program.. you'll have to find parts of the tape that have the 'hiss' on them, and a good noise reduction program can reduce this, without removing too much of the original signal..

after that, you'll have to play around with the equilization levels, and try to maintain the bass/treble without allowing the hiss to come back into the sound, and without making it sound to 'flat'...

i used to record the cassette/vinyl to minidisc, and then used optical digital cables to go straight to my soundcard, and that way i would only be introducing a slight amount of noise..

what type of equipment do you have? that makes a big difference..

later -1

Tips:

-Use the best turntable you have access to. Use a decent cartridge for it...you don't want to have to do it again, right?

-The Hagermann Bugle is a decent phono preamp...you can buy a kit for a couple of hundred bucks, and it sounds great. You can find comparable products...

-Depending on your rig/tastes, you might want to use some noise filters. If you want it to sound like a record being played, then don't worry about it. If you want to make an amateur digital master, then filter it up.

-A/D converters are everywhere. Behringer makes one for about 60 bucks...24bit, 96K, RCA in/out. You could also get an Apogee Rosetta. Or you could get one of those ART all-in-one units for under $200 that incorporates a phono preamp and an A/D converter out to USB. Probably sounds Behringer-esque. There are many products along these lines.

You get sorted SHUG.And when are you gonna remastered these bloody tapes?Messing up my flat mate!