Audio Restoration
 
 
Yorktown Digital Works
Audio Restoration FAQ:
 
Q: WHAT IS DIGITAL AUDIO RESTORATION?
A: It’s taking your recordings and removing clicks, pops, hiss, surface
noise, hums and eliminating or reducing distortion and crackles. What
remains is the same recording without the imperfections.
 
Q: Have you done much audio restoration?
A: Since 1995, we have restored from vintage sources and remastered for
re-issue record labels (such as Collectables Records, Rhino Records, RKO
Records in the USA and Bear Family Records in Germany), over 550 CD
releases. The see the list of some of these artists, go to the “Vintage
Artists” page.
 
Q: What sources can you work from?
A: Any of the usual methods of audio storage, such as DAT (Digital Audio
Tape), 1/4” analog tape in all speeds and track configurations,
commercially made and home-made disc recordings at 16, 33, 45 and 78
rpm, analog cassette tape, micro-cassette tapes (in the case of legal
and forensic work). We can work from unusual sources if you can furnish
a playback machine, but prefer that you get it transferred to a standard
format to furnish us. If we dothe transfer, the studio time required to
do it will be part of the cost.
 
Q: Do you ever take it beyond just removing problems and enhance the sound?
A: Legitimate restoration dictates that we don’t tamper with the
original creation. However, there are exceptions and all you have to say
is, “Make it sound GOOD!” Sometimes, in order to properly master a
collection of songs that sound different from each other, we deal with
each song individually with some EQ (tone adjustment), compression and
other mastering proccesses.
 
Q: What’s the most important factor in getting a really top-notch
restoration job for a CD re-issue?
A: Any professional working in this field will tell you to find the best
orignal source to work from. Once you have that, it’s a matter of having
the best equipment to work with. Then it’s a matter of the skill and
experience of the operator... in that order. It helps if he is
knowledgeable of how the music is supposed to sound in any given era. It
also helps if he just loves the music and the work. In many cases,
though, there is only one version or one disc in existence to work from,
so that’s what we use.
 
Q: What is the best equipment to use in audio restoration work?
A. In addition to just good audio gear such as speakers and amplifiers,
etc., the best two restoration systems in the world are Sonic Solutions
with No-Noise (an American company) and it’s competitor, CEDAR, which is
an acronym for Computer Enhanced Digital Audio Restoration, (a British
company). Both systems are very, very pricey. CEDAR is a hardware system
and Sonic Solutions is a software system. Both have their advantages and
weaknesses. Yorktown Digital Works is the only company between New York
and Los Angeles which has both systems. The primary functions of
restoration are (1) de-clicking, especially in the case of phonograph
records being the source of the audio, (2) de-crackling, which is
eliminating or reducing distortions and crackles, regardless of their
source, and (3) de-hissing or de-noising, which is getting rid of steady
sounding background noises. After these three problems are addressed,
the next step is merely good mastering of the resultant sound.
 
Q: What is the usual turnaround time for a good restoration job?
A: It depends on the complexity of the work required to get it right,
the size of the project and our work load at the time. Some people in a
hurry pay us a little extra for us to do it RIGHT NOW. We do work for
companies and individuals In America, Canada and Europe.
 
Q: Do you ever do ordinary mastering without restoration?
A: Of course! That’s one of our specialties. We work frequently with the
regional music community of bands, singer and small record labels. We
have the best equipment and high skills for mastering CDs and will
frequently do difficult or specialized jobs for other recording or
mastering studios.
 
Q: What is the gooey tape problem we hear about?
A: Some tapes from the 1970’s and 80’s are already decomposing. They
have become gooey and gum up the tape deck. In mild cases you might get
the tape to play after you’ve run it through and cleaned the recorder
heads and guides a few times. But in worse cases the tapes must be baked
in a special oven for a set number of hours according to a very exact
formula, then allowed to cool for several hours. The tape will then play
okay for a month or two, then start decomposing again. A tape can
usually be baked three times before it no longer responds to the
procedure. It’s best to get a good digital transfer right after the
first baking and then “retire” the tape permanently. The worst offenders
are the Ampex 400 series tapes, meaning 406, 407, 456 and 457. Other
brands are not exempt, though. The companies say they went to a
synthetic backing in order to “help save the whales”. But I believe they
switched to “help save their money”.
 
Audio restoration at Yorktown Digital Works is as good as it gets.
Yorktown Digital Works
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