ke4nt1
Group: Members
Posts: 2329
Joined: Oct. 2003 |
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Posted: Dec. 13 2004,22:28 |
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adraker:
Everything I master is done in a 96KHz - 24 bit environment, and "compression" is a dirty word, unless your peak-limiting and normalizing selections for radio or TV broadcast..
Many other styles of music also "favor" or prefer peak-limiting and normaliizing for album releases and demos..
Most of the "archiving/restorations" I work on are as dynamic and unaltered as possible..
Older works, like from 78's, older 10" 33 1/3's, or some type of early tape devices require "treatment" to restore some intelligibility and fidelity..
If I am recording , rather than restoring, it is quite different. Many times the "player" is mechanical, like a "Regina Music Box" , which is simply a large music box. ( think ballerina and wind-up ) About the size of a console radio from the 40's. A large metal disc is rotating from a wound-up spring, under "tines" which vibrate thru a soundboard ( like a piano ) and are heard thruout a room. Using high-quality condensor mikes in an X-Y stereo pattern captures the subtle warmth of the machine.
Once captured and recorded , very little is done in the way of "treatment" to create a finished master recording.
Most of the pieces I am requested to convert into a "web friendly" format are the usual WMA or RA files that are so common with web designers. Ending with very low bitrates, and consequently, very poor quality. Many times this is intentional to protect the material from being copied or distributed.
I also frequently "enhance" recordings for use by law enforcement agencies, law firms, and suspicious husbands/wives. These are usually micro-cassettes, or digital voice recorders, and of the worst quality. Intelligibility is the key here, limiting the bandwidth and noise to extract the most "vocal" elements out of the recording. I have many tools to aid in reducing noise and enhancing speech.
73 ke4nt
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