Wave Corrector Users

ROSEBUD77 · Joined: 02 Feb 2005 Posts: 1

I AM HAVING A PROBLEM FIXING A PERSONAL CASSETTE TAPE OF A JAM SESSION I RECORDED YEARS AGO. SOUNDS LIKE THEY ARE PLAYING IN A BOX....ANY STEP BY STEP DIRECTIONS WOULD HELP. I HAVE TRIED ALMOST EVERYTHING. AND I AM JUST A BEGINNER AT THIS. Confused

citguy · Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:06 pm Post subject:

I just did a similar tape (recorded years agoin a gymnasium). I defined my tracks (eliminating applause etc), normalized, found a "new profile" for hiss and hum, tested extensively (4 second) decided on minimum hum filter with minimum hiss. The problem with room resonance (which can resemble hum) is you always risk removing musical material (especially at lower frequencies). I have wanted to try the "graphic equalizer" for some of these difficult tapes but haven't been successful just "toying" with it. My advice would be test various combinations of filters to get as close as you can to an improved sound.
Stan

Derek · Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:54 am Post subject:

Yes, I would just add the following two points to what Stan has said:

1. It is important to understand that the tape noise filters in Wave Corrector are only good for removing hiss, hum or other constant noise. The program works by finding a 'noise profile', ie a short sections where the noise is present but no music. The program measures the noise during this interval and generates a mask that is subtracted from the rest of the file. You will see that this is only effective if the noise is constant throughout the file.

2. The program assumes that the file will have a lead-in or lead-out period where it can measure the noise profile. If there is no lead-in or lead-out (ie the music is present from the beginning of the tape to the end) then you will need to manually find a quiet section where you can take a noise profile. This is explained in the help file.

If you don't do this, then it can happen that the program mis-identifies a section of music as noise. This will cause it to grossly over-filter the file which can result in the 'boxy sound that you report.
_________________
Derek Higgins
Wave Corrector Developer
http://www.wavecor.co.uk

adaywayne · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Posts: 43 Location: New Jersey, USA

citguy · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:39 pm Post subject:

I just processed a tape yesterday that was recorded in a large open area with constant crowd noise coming from a different part of the room (a large college union building) and a boxy sound. I resigned myself to the fact that there was no way to filter anything descretely so I just normalized, did really close fade-ins and fade-outs, some "cut and splice" during spoken introductions (actually removed some stammering from the person speaking) and decided to enjoy the performance with all it's imperfections. I have some old Dave Brubeck vinyl recorded live and the crowd noises don't distract from the music at all. I too would be interested in any "tricks" for improving boxy sound.

Stan