Audio restoration
and transfer of LP's, Cassette Tapes, Reel to Reel tapes, 45's, 78's and wire recordings to
CD and cassette repairs for both standard
and microcassette tapes.
Audio restoration and sound
restoration services... we specialize in the restoration
and transfer of old records and tapes to
CD. Those old tapes deteriorate with age,
so don't let them get to the point that they are no longer playable. Let us
restore those keepsakes and transfer it
to a CD before it's too late.
How
can we help? Do
you have a collection of old
78's or LP's that you hesitate to play on
your old turntable?. Would you like to hear
them on your car stereo as well as have
those pops, clicks and scratches removed?
We can do just that with our sound restoration
services. Do you have on old
tape of a family member you would like to
pass on to your children? Let us transfer
it to CD and make copies for your entire
family. There's no job to small or to large!
Free
Estimates, Free Samples...
Let us restore
and transfer your treasured records to
CD. Why
CD's? CD's do not wear with repeated play, do not warp or crack, and have a shelf life of decades.
LP
to CD
information and pricing.
We
can restore
and transfer your treasured recordings to
CD, including wire recordings. Why
CD's? CD's do not wear with repeated play, do not warp or crack, and have a shelf life of decades.
Audio
Tapes
information and pricing.
If
your cassette or microcassette tape needs repair,
splicing, re-attaching the
leader tape to the spindle or replacing
the shell, Audio Restorations
can make the repair for you at a
reasonable price. Cassette
Repair information and pricing.
A lot of tape
manufactured in the mid-to-late 1970's is starting to come out of storage now
for re-mixing and re-issue, and engineers are finding that it won't play. The
surface of the tape has become gummy and it sticks to the heads and fixed guides
of the tape transport, squealing, jerking, and, in extreme cases, slowing down
or stopping the tape transport. This problem has cropped up on all brands of
tape, but is nearly always fixable, at least temporarily by baking the tape. Tape baking
info and pricing.
Send us a sample and we will be happy to
provide a short clip of our sound restoration service. This can even be done by email.
There's no charge for this service.
We also provide free estimates based on
the description of your project. It takes just a few minutes to fill out our
Estimate
Form and there is no obligation.
Hello Mark!
Package arrived this morning and I
listened to the CD on my favorite reference boom box and it sounded incredible.
You did an exquisite job of removing surface/tape noise. It's not every day that
one listens to a recording for the first time that one made in 1968 - so I kept
my mind open to the experience.
Listening to the recording
through my studio monitors only intensified my awareness and appreciation of
what a beautiful job you did cleaning up the recording. It's mind blowing in a
way - in that it is as if someone took a time machine and traveled back 37 years
and recorded the event with a professional DAT machine.
I will be printing records to sell to my LP-obsessed fan base in Japan. I will definitely be
mentioning Audio Restorations along with your web site in the liner
notes.
John Parker Compton
(Columbia Recording Artist, VMC Records)
Audio restoration is a generalized term for the process of removing
imperfections (such as hiss,
crackle, noise, and buzz) from sound recordings. Audio
restoration can be performed directly on the recording medium (for example,
washing a record with a cleansing solution), or on a digital representation of the recording using a computer (such as a AIFF or WAV file). Record restoration is a particular form of
audio restoration that seeks to repair the sound of damaged records.
Modern audio restoration techniques are usually performed by digitizing an audio source from analog media, such as
lacquer recordings, optical
sources and magnetic tape. Once in the digital realm, recordings can be
restored and cleaned up using digital audio workstations (DAWs).
DAWs can perform various automated techniques to remove anomalies using
algorithms to accomplish broadband de-noising, de-crackle and de-hiss tasks.
Often audio
engineers and sound
editors use DAWs to manually remove "pops and ticks" from recordings. DAWs
are capable of removing the smallest of anomalies without leaving artifacts and
other evidence of their removal. Audio restoration is often a time consuming
process that requires skilled audio engineers with specific experience in music
and film recording techniques.
Overview
The majority of audio restoration done today is done for music sound
recordings and soundtracks for
motion picture and television
programs. The demand for restored audio has been fueled by new media
consumer technologies such as CD and DVD. Modern audio
reproduction systems require that sound sources be in the best condition
possible to enhance the listening experience. Media content owners have come to
recognize the importance of having clean sound on their products to enhance the
commercial value of their media assets.
The byproduct of these restoration efforts is that many audio sources are
brought into the digital world and preserved for future use. An unfortunate fact
is that most of the sound recordings and motion picture soundtracks created over
the past century have been lost due to improper storage and neglect.
Enhancements are often done to motion picture soundtracks. For example taking
a mono or stereo soundtrack
and re-mixing it to a
modern 5.1 surround
soundtrack. When sources from original discrete audio "stems" containing
dialog, music and sound effects are used and properly restored, the enhancements
can be significant and highly effective.
Recent developments
Two researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, Drs. Vitaliy
Fadeyev and Carl
Haber have been experimenting with an audio restoration method which
involves taking a very high definition digital photographic image of the vintage
recording medium. They use a precision
optical metrology system (designed to scan silicon
detectors) to form an image of the groove on a 78 rpm record. After processing the
digital file, they have an audio stream that represents the variations in the
groove walls, allowing them to 'play' the record virtually without using a phonograph stylus. 2D images can
be made more quickly and have proved worthy of further investigation on 78 rpm
discs cut laterally. A 3D method is possible, though it takes much longer for
the photographic survey of the recording and it requires much more storage space
for the larger digital file. 3D methods are required for non-flat media such as
"hill-and-dale" recordings (an early vertical cutting method by Pathé), Edison
cylinders and Dictabelt rolls.
3D imaging is required for stereo phonograph records in order to capture the
full detail of both inner and outer groove walls.[1][2][3][4]
In the summer of 2007, the U.S. Library of Congress moved their audio,
video and film restoration group to Culpeper, Virginia where the newly completed
National Audio-Visual
Conservation Center Packard Campus is sited.
Gene
DeAnna heads the Recorded Sound Section. With 3 million sound recordings and
many more film and video works that include synchronized sound in the archive,
the mission of the Sound Section is twofold: preserve the treasure of vintage
sound recordings and increase public accessibility to the collection.
One of the ways that
access can be increased is through the diligent digitization of analog media.
The Library has expressed interest in the Fadeyev/Haber 2D imaging method for
quick digital archival of their vast collection of vinyl and shellac phonograph
records. Audio restoration tasks will take place in parallel with the
digitization effort. A massive multipetabyte storage array is nearing
completion; it will hold the large digital audio and moving image files.
Subjective issues
Audio restoration is a subjective process, and there are many strategies
or perspectives that the audio engineer or sound editor can employ. The archival perspective says that audio
restoration should restore the recording to its original condition, while the
commercial perspective says that the recording should be both restored and
enhanced to appeal most immediately with modern audiences.
Audio-Restorations.com
- Audio restoration and sound
restoration services...
Since
May 17, 2000 
