Now before I start getting technical about this and other 78 restorations let me tell you a bit about why I'd even attempt to do this.
Im a big fan of the Big Bands to the point I've spent more than 10 years presenting "Swing Type" Radio shows showcasing top swing bands of the day (and today!) playing
arrangements that are SOLID! not the same old same old "In the mood" "Sing Sing Sing" stuff oh no sir, in over 1000+ shows
I've not trotted out the old "standards" but played top
arrangements that you may have never heard. In doing this I would pull out old
LP's and Buy loads of
CD's, Now i used to get VERY VERY annoyed when
I'd hear a 78 that had A LOT of "Work" on it. to the point that all the "Top End" was gone.
OK it takes most of the "
scratchyness" away yes i agree, but it also kills the music FULL STOP. Now when i was a lad and played 78's quite a bit, If some mad scientist
offered me a device that would take away 10 say 20 percent of the surface noise I'd have
paid the earth!!.. so now 20 years later
why do people think that if its not "clinical clean" Its not a good job?!?!? Well let me tell you as a Audio
engineer AND a
Muso that almost 70% of my 1000's of
CD's are pretty much Junk to my ears. OK
Ok you might think I'm mad at this point but when i hear a Sax section sound like it's underwater you
might know what i mean. so i spent a few good years
recerching how would be the best way to play and
clean these 78's for my radio shows. after reading 40 years (1939-1980) of back issues of "Radio and Hobbies" I had a far idea on the
technical aspects of the era that made the discs then i spend a few years perfecting the true
Pre-Amp that would play me back ALL the sounds on disc. then i got myself a set of Truncated
Elliptical Needles ( yes how quaint I call em Needles) But now i could Transfer the discs fine i needed the software to Master them. Well having a good play with the software over 10 or so years I have used it all. and it's all
pretty Dire if you need to clean Properly. so I wrote some software myself, made me a few plug-ins and used a few existing ones and
voila the Full Frequency range on the 78's to YOU without the
Great treble Cut type of restoration
usually heard.
But
that's not all.. Ive made 3 Versions of each track
Version One - What I'd
consider a good clean up job for my ears without the Noise Reduction effecting any
instrumentsVersion Two - Which I call
TMNR which stands for Too Much Noise Reduction, The kind of clean up job that I hate. but I also understand people will only listen to "CLEAN" 78's so its for them
Version 3 - A fake stereo Effect, Listen to this with your Can's on. Ive found a plug-in which can
separate Certain frequency's for
example in some swing type tracks the
Trom section can
APPEAR to be in the left hand side etc etc.. Again i don't like this kind of thing but hey, someone might!
Ok and on with the Track. Its Tex
beneke's 1946 band with an old standard that the Army
Airforce Band would play (and having Jerry Grey's
Arrangements under contract with the Miller Estate) Tex would knock out loads of these tracks, as most people had never really heard Millers
AAF outfit.
It's never
appeared on CD and the disc i
transferred this from is standard (sound wise) from 46, Ive got 3 pressing of this and they all have the
Distorted sax part an the start!!
and how long does it take me to knock out these 78's Restorations? About 10 seconds of computer work each. The only time it takes is to Play each Disc Down the line!!
Rapidshare
Tex Beneke - Swing Low MP3Tex Beneke - Swing Low FLAC
