Page 1 of 1

Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 1:33 pm
by madstadik
I figured some members might have some better experience than I with removing tape hiss/hum. Ive been messing with audacity and i cant seem to get things right without distorting the good sound. Anyone have any recommendations or use any other software to get the job done better? The main problem is the hiss is showing up then disappearing between silence and good sound so basically its cutting in and out throughout the whole track which is more annoying than the hiss altogether

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 1:46 pm
by step one
I adjust levels on my mixer and the app/tape deck while I ripping it. I know others that are more knowledgeable that get busy with Sony Acid and those kind of things that can fix up problems

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 2:33 pm
by madstadik
Unfortunately I don't own the physical tape. I got a wav copy from the original owner. It's a long story. Maybe someone on here with mixing/eq skills would be willing to do it

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 8:16 pm
by Architek
Pm me a link and I'll give it a go. Can't promise anything until I listen to the material in question but Audition has a couple of nice tools I've used in the past with good results.

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:07 am
by madstadik
So basically here is whats up. I have a wav rip of this promo tape https://www.discogs.com/Pudgee-King-Of- ... se/7723820" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. The original seller on ebay sold me the audio after I lost the auction. I heard back2dasource records was putting out the pudgee album so i got in touch bc I had material they didnt. I hooked Bee the guy who runs B2DS up with the wav file and asked if they could master it for me in return for my help with their release. They did and gave me free copies of all the releases. When they dropped the cd release i was hoping it was an exact copy of the tape but it wasnt. Some stuff was missing and the sequencing was wrong. (Im kinda anal about that stuff) their cd release mastering sounds really good, considering what my source audio sounds like. When they mastered the tape for me it seems like they just rushed it as the sound was nowhere near the cd they released. I was hoping someone had the skillset to not only clean the audio up, but master it as well. Id even be willing to pay if there were a service out there that did this specializing in hip hop

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:42 am
by Architek
Since you're that serious about it maybe ask B2DS for their mastering associate details or better yet contact directly Debonair P who's also a pro (and a member of this forum) and does a really good job as far as I can tell.

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 12:09 pm
by madstadik
Yea ill hit up debonair P and see whats good

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 12:09 pm
by madstadik
Good looking out man!

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 2:54 pm
by Mad Human
Once the wav rip format is ready Audacity does amazing job. I do play around and the final sound is much better...

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 9:20 pm
by madstadik
Yea ive been messing around with audacity. Finally studying what all the sliders and filters do. Im seeing some improvements with the file already

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 3:24 pm
by fatboybrandon
I've been wanting to try out restoring tapes, hopefully I find some time when I get a new deck. I've got Pro Tools and Logic Pro X on my Macs.

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:15 pm
by madstadik
fatboybrandon wrote:I've been wanting to try out restoring tapes, hopefully I find some time when I get a new deck. I've got Pro Tools and Logic Pro X on my Macs.
Once u get some practice in, maybe ill send u the wav file i need cleaned up!

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2017 11:32 am
by bad-cop
I'd recommend Adobe Audition to hiss restoration. It got lots of other great features and you can play around with low / mid / high levels, which is really helpful when you have rips that sounds a bit "thin"

Happy to have bash if you'd like but not sure I'd do a better job than a professional engineer

BC

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2017 12:22 pm
by madstadik
Peace bad cop. Just downloaded audition. Gonna give it a shot in the next few days. If im unsuccessful i will shoot the file your way

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 6:06 am
by step one
bad-cop wrote:I'd recommend Adobe Audition to hiss restoration. It got lots of other great features and you can play around with low / mid / high levels, which is really helpful when you have rips that sounds a bit "thin"

Happy to have bash if you'd like but not sure I'd do a better job than a professional engineer

BC
I use audition but never got into that side of things. What section is it under?

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 1:36 pm
by ZiekeFons
If the track has a few seconds of hiss in front and/or after. You could use those parts to put it out of phase with the hiss in the track. This way it will cancel each other out. If you don't hear anything from Debonair P I'd love to put my hands on it and give it a try... :)

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 6:54 pm
by madstadik
Yea ill hit u up soon

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 6:55 pm
by madstadik
I can get the hiss out but its killing the good sounds

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 12:36 pm
by Philaflava
:cheers:

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:05 am
by bad-cop
madstadik wrote:I can get the hiss out but its killing the good sounds
Yes, it's a trade off. I never fully remove the hiss as it takes out a lot of the high frequency.

I'd recommend running the file through the EQ / multi track feature once you've done your clean-up. That way you can go back and adjust low / mid / high sounds.

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 4:28 pm
by madstadik
Haha i wish i were that good. Gonna get the wav file up on a hosting site tomorrow if anyone wants to take a crack at it

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 12:53 pm
by ZiekeFons
! :gyeah:

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 11:06 pm
by madstadik
Sorry guys. I will have the wav rip uploaded by the end of the week. See of anyone can work their magic. Life kinda got in the way the last few weeks. Peace

Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 9:22 pm
by saverio
Hope you are alright esse