any advice greatly appreciated re the following.

ive got a bunch of old songs done on tape, i'm gradually tarting up....i like the mojo of.
ive posted one such oddball called HT Man in user showcase that some rb/bb features helped me with.

just wondering , as i'm no resto expert other budget alternatives...eg vst plug in .
heres my needs for such resto software.
1. achieve more "clarity" from the master.
2. bringing out a vocal better would help.
3. dont muck with existing song mojo.
4. dirt cheap or free..lol.. , cos i'm upgradeing pg bb//rb this month.

thanks.
om

I understand your budget will go toward BIAB. Good decision.

I use the old Adobe Audition for simple noise reduction and EQ. It’s based on the old free Cool Edit Pro, if that’s still available.

JFord from this forum knows the developer of Diamond Cut software that I believe would include what you seek.

If it were my file, I would look at offerings from Izotope. No, they are not free, but they are powerful and effective, and their interface is easy to use.

Cassette Tape or Reel to Reel?

Good question, Steve. If cassette, it could be encoded with Dolby B or (unlikely) Dolby C. Just having the right playback might sound a lot better.

Also, regardless of tape type if you happen to have the same deck you recorded on that will help a little on quality playback.

thanks all.merci.
the tape deks are long gone as are the mtr's.
the songs i digitised to wav awhile back in the hope that in the future i could tart them up with some type of advanced resto software.
i have noise reduction software etc. plus eq plug ins.

all the songs have a common need. maybe some way to bring
more clarity to the songs.
is that where spectral editing might be beneficial ?


best...merry xmas to all.
om
ps all were reel to reel .ampex 406 if i remember or 456.

My local studio borrowed my Teac 4-track 10" deck to do just this for another client. Then they used their own software to enhance the sound. Might be the easiest way for you to proceed.

Izotope would be a great choice.

Seeing this can be non-destructive (you can save your results in separate files), you might be surprised what you could achieve with Audacity also.

I was just about to recommend Audacity. It is free. Be sure to DL all of the effects as they are a separate DL. It contains noise reduction, multi-band EQ, and other effects that may help.

thanks everybody.
tried audacity. didnt really do it for me.
already have nr etc etc.
actually i'm getting somewhere with "carefull" use of features in rb in vinyl plug in. and some reaps js plugs.
gonna check out isotope next.

i wish i could find a plug in with one dial...
"gimme more clarity"...lol.

mario, ht man you listened to in showcase ...i had futzed with rb n bb features.

best
om
ps mario my wife loves your jokes...she was laughing her
head off re the jewellery one. lol

I wish my wife was laughing her head off

PS I need bail money

You can do HEAPS in Reaper...I restored a mono cassette dub done on the day we were recording in a local studio in about 81.
I do also use Wavrepair for LPs etc as it's VERY specific to that - not sure if it's still available.
Recorded LIVE at Warrawilla Studio...direct to 12 track I think...Bass was DI and sounds it.

This link will take you to two .wav files of one of the songs recorded in that session and mono dumped to the cheapest possible type I cassette (Govt issue) available.

https://we.tl/t-UIxJ6qIPGD


I tried four cassette machines to get the best playback and, strangely, a Sony Walkman was THE one.
I recorded INTO WaveRepair (CD standards).
Casio keyboards WITH the built in drum machine would you believe...it was the early 80s.
I did some light EQing in WavRepair to remove a little noise back in 2006 and then left the files for yonks, (The SIMPLE EQ was step one I used when archiving the cassette into a digital format), until a member of the band mentioned, in 2019, that he didn't have a copy.
I pulled up the sessions, did some careful noise reduction with ReaFir and did some very surgical subtractive EQing in Reaper using the native effects, I did some VERY light exciting and increased the level with some parallel compression.
I TRIED artificial stereo widening but it wasn't an enhancement. I haven't attempted Mid Side EQing because I don't have any plugins for, or experience with, it.
The band mate was happy enough as something is better than nothing.
The results, (Andre Done), aren't miraculous...but the MOJO is, relatively, intact.
The point, the tools are available but they take time & patience to get a so so result.

I was looking for something else and found my WalkMan, yesterday.

I am going to give it a try. Thank you!

....Deb

It's use for this was very tape specific...and I did clean/demag before using it. I suspect it is a decent and unfussy/generalist machine. Other, better quality, tapes played back on better machines.

I don't have anything like this so I downloaded to see what it is all about. Unfortuantlely, I am confused by the interface. I have 3 drives that I know of C, G and F. But the interface shows me this??? And the RED is concerning. Is there something I can or should do about the RED?

Dan, that looks like a copy of the view you would get if you went into Disk Management in Windows. That RED drive looks like an .ISO or backup image of some sort. You can usually access Disk Management in Computer Management.

Thanks Steve,
But here is what I see in Win 10 Disk management: No indication of the RED

Dan, red means it is the recovery partition of the disk, see here:

https://www.tenforums.com/backup-restore/132816-macrium-reflect-free-advice-please-ntfs-primary-red.html

Wow, Mario, that "research" is really above and beyond! Thank you for clearing that up. I owe you one for this.

Dan

I've used RX for years, it's great. The newer versions of the most basic "Elements" version includes a basic standalone editor which would probably be effective for you.

I've also had very good results from Acon Digital Restoration Suite (better than RX in some cases), but they're only plugins vs the standalone app with RX.

I picked up Izotope Ozone Elements in the black friday sale and can recommend it. The difference it made to my mix was truly surprising.

the prob i'm finding looking at resto software is lots of settings. i'm a simple soul lol.
all i want is a "clarity button". ie keep the good stuff,
n get rid of the background junk. maybe a button that says bring out the vocs better.
also resto is an area i'm totally dumb at.
SOOOO....
if any kind soul wants to download my retro/oddball
song i posted in the user showcase...please have at it.
the topic is ..duh...retro/oddball. lol.

i'll be only too glad to give humungous props to someone if they improve it. as in "mastered by ...." etc.
i prefer a real life "test" like this...then if i'm blown away i'll get the resto software as long as it dont cost
too much.
i'm just worried , cos of my dumbness in resto, that whatever i use might make the song worse.

merry xmas to all.
om

Don't see any way to download the track to try anything.
Just sayin'
If you want someone to try, make it easy for them.
Soundcloud doesn't have an obvious download button..

Hi Om,
RX9 by izotope is not cheap but I think they have a trial version.
I have izoptope rx 7 and its very good,for instance you can isolate vocals fairly sucessfully.
If you want you can send me a wav or part wav and i will happily run it through RX 7 and tell u what i did and u can see for yourself whether it would be a success.
Rx has a repair assistant that will give you a suggested module chain u can pass ur song through and it has a music rebalance module where u can bring forward or back the vocals or the drums or the base a few db,
Let me know if u need help
Hugh

Rharv.
i'm so sorry. stupid me. i assumed it was easy to download. i'm rather new on soundcloud. didnt realise it was so difficult to dl.
Hugh.
thanks for the info. i'm kind of a ninny at mastering.
ae's in studios normally done it in the past.
i didnt realise isotope had that kind of depth of features. impressive. i'm just scared of makeing things
worse. the big ever present prob is always mastering
a song that sounds great no matter the playback medium.
i DO realise my weaknesses.

if you chaps know where i might upload to a free site
without registering n giving lots of personal info etc,
where you might download from...tell me.
then after youve downloaded i'll just delete.

OR I HAD AN IDEA...for test purposes , just take audio line out from your computers ? not ideal...but would
show me possibilities would it not ?
cos ive got bout 10 song masters i would like to clean up
from tape days of yore.

thank you both for yoiur kindness.

merry xmas.
om

The audio line out converts your file from digital to analog before you create another digital file. It would be better if you could share the file you have on your computer. Perhaps create a Dropbox account, copy your test file to the Public area, and share the link.

sigh..sorry gotta get back to this in a few days.
learnt today gotta have a medical procedure done.
thanks for the help on this topic.

merry xmas
om

Any of the cloud filesharing services should work - Google Drive, Dropbox, WeTransfer, Apple iCloud - whichever one you have you should be able to share a file as a link.



Hope you're doing alright OM!

I copied the MP3 from Soundcloud - it's all that was quickly available.
I put three instances in Reaper...panned one hard right and another hard left. Each of the panned had a high pass reasonable high.
I added a tiny bit of compression on the stereo bus and that's all a simple, dirty way to add some clarity Mid Side style I suppose.
It's not fabulous BUT there is some added clarity.
I could've done more but I set myself 5mins from starting the download to uploading.
https://we.tl/t-XxJ65dwEzr
one rendered as it was and another (b) rendered to 18Luffffzszszs.

Well, that went no where. Here 'tis again.
https://we.tl/t-9zXE2XkFMj

tayc.
i'm going thru some medical stuff right now i wont bore you with etc that needs to be dealt with. so dont trouble yourself further with this.
best/happy new year.
om