Cleaning up old tape rips

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madstadik
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Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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

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step one
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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
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madstadik
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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

Architek
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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.

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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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

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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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.

madstadik
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post by madstadik »

Yea ill hit up debonair P and see whats good

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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post by madstadik »

Good looking out man!

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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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...
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madstadik
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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

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fatboybrandon
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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.
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madstadik
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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!

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bad-cop
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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

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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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

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step one
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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
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ZiekeFons
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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... :)

madstadik
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post by madstadik »

Yea ill hit u up soon

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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post by madstadik »

I can get the hiss out but its killing the good sounds

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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post by Philaflava »

:cheers:

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bad-cop
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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.
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madstadik
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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

ZiekeFons
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post by ZiekeFons »

! :gyeah:

madstadik
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post 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

saverio
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Re: Cleaning up old tape rips

Post by saverio »

Hope you are alright esse

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