Date:         Tue, 22 Nov 2005 10:06:03 -0500
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         "Richard L. Hess" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: 78rpm EQ and postprocessing
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At 08:48 AM 11/22/2005, Charles Lawson wrote:

>The fellows at DiamondCut are solid engineers/programmers.  The product is an
>outstanding value and occasionally leaves much higher-priced competitors in
>the dust.  It is rarely my *only* tool on a particular project, though.

You cannot judge any piece of NR software by sound samples. You're 
judging the operator much more than the software. I've heard 
excellent examples from Cedar and stuff (of mine, GRRRR) with life 
sucked out of it by Cedar. It's not Cedar's fault. Settings that 
might suck the life out of my boy choir recordings from the 1970s (it 
was room and organ noise, not tape hiss!) would be fully appropriate 
for certain other applications.

DC is usually not my first tool nor my only tool, but it is a tool 
that has capabilities that are very different from the other main 
tool that I use, Algorithmix NoiseFree Pro. They are complementary.

If I want to remove broadband background noise, NFP is my first 
choice. However, once I get into very nasty noises like hums with 
harmonics, DC6 does a MUCH better job than any general-purpose tool. 
The harmonic filter is fantastic (but you need to run both odd and 
even ones in the multifilter to be effective most of the time).

DC6 is a cross between an "audio" tool and a "forensics" tool. It is 
good at both. You have to be careful turning up the controls past 11 
'cause that's where you switch from an audio tool to a forensics tool 
-- and these knobs go way past 11, too. You can shoot yourself in the 
foot, or you just might make intelligible that horridly recorded 
piece of evidence that is critical to a case.

There was an album that took 20 years to make its way into a 
commercial CD. Several people cleaned up the album. One of them was 
very proud what he paid for, and sent me a copy. OY! All the life had 
been sucked out of it and it was almost synthesizer-voiced compared 
to the one I had done for my collection.

A light touch is critical, and knowing how much noise to leave is 
critical. I have a client who wants me to take out more than I would 
normally, but I still do it where I think it sounds good and he's 
happy. He keeps wanting me to do more projects for him.

Cheers,

Richard


Richard L. Hess                   [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       http://www.richardhess.com/
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm