Audio restoration advice?

by **Mick C** » Sun Jun 16, 2019 5:20 pm

Hi All
I’m converting an old C90 cassette tape recording from the 1970’s into a CD and cleaning it up in the process. It’s of a family gathering so it’s for my elderly dad, but recorded on a household cassette recorder with the plug in microphones (remember them?!) and the quality of the recording is quite poor.
I’ve had great success so far in removing the tape hiss, hum and general noise with RX7 standard, but there’s some parts where the recording itself is distorted when someone was too loud and too close to the mic.
Has anyone got any suggestions of if and how the distortion can be improved?

by **James Perrett** » Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:58 pm

If the audio is clipped due to an overloaded input stage then it is worth trying both RX's De-clip and their De-Crackle algorithms but there's not a massive amount that you can do if it is normal tape saturation as this tends to be smoother. I'd probably just play around with the level envelope so that the saturated parts didn't jump out too much.

by **Mick C** » Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:57 pm

Thanks James
I've tried the both De-Clip and De-Crackle and it didn't really help. I think you're right about the level envelope but just wondered if there was another technique that might give better results. In truth I did think I was clutching at straws..! :headbang:

by **Tim Gillett** » Sun Jun 16, 2019 10:01 pm

It's hard to know exactly what to say without hearing what you have there. Any chance of an audio example? Cheers Tim.

by **Mick C** » Sun Jun 16, 2019 10:30 pm

No problem, but how do I post it on here? WeTransfer, or is there a more recognised way that works better with this forum?

by **blinddrew** » Sun Jun 16, 2019 10:35 pm

Most folks just put a private link to SoundCloud

by **Mick C** » Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:22 pm

I don't have a Sound Cloud account but here's a WeTransfer link. https://we.tl/t-TMes7jcvjI

The track is only 45 seconds long but the saturation is best evident in the first 10 secs or so.

by **Tim Gillett** » Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:25 am

Thanks for the example. Yes it sounds like tape saturation including some bad sibilant overload. I doubt much can be done. At least it's reasonably clear and every word is intelligible. I've heard many official Oral History recorded interviews with State dignitaries. By comparison this is far superior. The use of an external mic rather than a built-in one probably had a lot to do with it. Cheers Tim.

by **Mick C** » Mon Jun 17, 2019 7:59 am

Thanks Tim. I appreciate the feedback

SOUND ON SOUND

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Audio restoration advice?