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or sound restoration
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contact us for a CD restoration quote
Mastering and Restoration
Although most recording artists have heard of mastering, very few have a clear idea of what it entails or how it can be achieved! Some recording studios claim to have mastered the tracks they produce; some even charge for this service, and yet when the master arrives for duplication, it is often not properly prepared for the duplication process, and so the finished product suffers. Although restoration is much less of a black art, it is still important to realise the difference that can be made to a damaged or noisy original by some relatively simple processes.
How is mastering
achieved?
A mastering expert
knows and uses a variety of methods to achieve his or her end product. It
might be a question of using vintage tube processors or computer settings.
The stages are as follows:
1.
Assembly editing: recording DAT tapes are transferred to a digital editor.
Tracks are ordered to reflect the acoustics of the area in which it was recorded,
or the tracks may be crossfaded. If there are any pops, clicks or hissing
noises, these can also be taken out at this stage.
2. Sweetening:
This
is where compressors, limiters, and equalizers (EQ) are used to enhance the
clarity, smoothness, impact and punch according to the style required. This
is where warmth and emotion can move a track from the realms of good to great!
the end result for the pop market is often a "big sound" suitable
for the radio.
3. Output: Finished albums, demos or EPs are then transferred to CDR for the customer to listen to and add comments. The mastering process may be repeated until the desired effect is achieved. When the Cd is completed it is sent for glass mastering where a glass master disc may be made from the CDR
Why
can't mixes just be transferred to CDR?
This is not impossible, but it takes a skilled mixing/mastering engineer to
satisfactorily combine the two processes. Mixing and mastering are different
procedures, often involving different equipment or computer programs. In addition,
the mastering engineer can listen to the track with fresh ears and can communicate
the relevant changes to the recording artist by a range of terms he or she
will learn to understand, in the mastering process which often resembles a
peeling away of unnecessary information to enhance the overall sound shape.
For further information about this process, please visit www.mantracds.com
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Sound Restoration
Sound Restoration involves both skill and technology to an equal degree. To be successful, the audio restoration company must offer technicians who are both expertly skilled in audio interpretation and who use and exploit highly technical sound processing and data processing technology.
When an original recording is analysed for treatment, the following factors are all important:
* The original medium, be it cassette, CD or LP....
* The amount of damage to the original recording
* The types of foreign or undesirable sounds found on the recording
* Whether there is speech involved or music
* The desired end use of the recording
Each factor affects the time and process through which the recording must
pass.
When it is finally completed, the recording must be checked to ensure that no new problems have occurred as a result of the process it has undergone. If problems have occurred then it must be resubmitted.
What
Can Be Restored?
* Radio broadcasts, band demo tapes, old
and rare records and cassettes.
* Speeches and lectures These can then be edited and duplicated for distribution
and even made available on the Web! This is particularly useful for professors
and professional speakers who would like to make their intellectual properties
available to their audiences.
* Many schools have record and tape-based educational materials that cannot
be used because of lack of playback resources.
* Recordings of family members young
and old (Granny and Grandad describing the "good old days", your
child's first piano recital...)
* Vocal recordings where the speaker is indistinct, e.g. legal evidence, interviews,
study material to be duplicated.
Sound Restoration including:
*
Digital noise printing and reduction
* Subtractive synthesis
* Click removal
* Pop removal
* De-essing in preparation for radio play
* De-hissing
* Vinyl restoration
* Hum removal
* Machine noise removal
* Multi-band dynamics
* Compression/limiting
* Digital enhancement of very poor sources such as audio cassette to produce
high quality CD representation
Who
Uses This Service?
Bands,
Musicians, Performers, Private Individuals, Libraries, Archives, Radio
Stations, Collectors, Universities, Schools, Criminology Departments
(Forensics), Police, Solicitors, Radio Stations, Historians, Lecturers, Schools,
Musicians....Anyone who wishes to have a valuable, unique or important recording
restored.
Mantra
CDs and Recording is a high-spec commercial studio and uses a top-of
the range professional digital technology for transfer and re-mastering work.
LPs and cassettes are recorded, edited, and cleaned-up and "peak limited",
in other words the volume levels on your CD will sound consistent throughout
- you won't have to constantly adjust your volume settings whilst listening.We
use a whole range of hardware and software to ensure that we get the best
results from our restoration service; Yamaha 02R96 digital mixing console
combined with TLAudio 5051 ensure that we get the best condition signal from
your source material into our hard disk editing system. We use a MOTU 2408
A/D converter soundcard (recognized for its industry standard and quality)
to transfer your material into the digital domain and onto our hard disk systems.
Once on hard disk we use a combination of software packages and restoration
plugins from Sonic Foundry, Steinberg, Waves, and so forth to carry out the
processes required to clean, re-eq and re-dynamicise the recording. The results
are then written to CDROM and/or CD Audio for reproduction and backup purposes.
What
We Can Achieve with Badly Damaged Masters
If
your media is extensively damaged or difficult to listen to, please email
us and we will guide you as to costs for further restoration work. Restorations
depend for their success on the quality and format of the audio source (i.e.
tape type, vinyl...). Common repairs include the removal of hiss, pops, crackles,
background noise, and hum. We can also enhance the sound once we have restored
it. We can elevate the sound levels, enhance the tonal quality of the recording,
and improve the clarity of the recording. Since we transfer your original
recording to CD, you will be able to use and enjoy the recording for years
to come.
Please
send all packages by secure mail, and, where possible, do not send unique
or irreplaceable items by mail. We will copy all items this end before returning,
to ensure you retain a copy of the original once posted. Your order should
include a cheque to cover the cost of return post or delivery, and should
specify the form you would like this to take.
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