Cleaning up 78 recordings

[muffinass]

Hi all,

I've begun digitizing my collection but need to start cleaning up the .wav files and remove the excess hiss and tone down the crackles.

My knowledge and capability of using audio filters is almost non-existant.
Also, I think using a Mac also limits my options in terms of software availability.

The search function didn't give me any straight forward answers so I come with a blank slate and ask anyone with information to kindly chip away!

I heard of "clickrepair" and the several other software options it comes with but don't really know how to use them properly.

Thanks in advance!

[WickedMessenger]

I digitized a stack of my dad's old 45s from the 1950s and gave him the CD for his birthday. One tip I found online was to "play them wet" to keep noise down. Just before playing them, take a small paintbrush and wet the record with water. It worked like magic. Not only did it eliminate hiss and most crackle, it also made for a richer sound. That said, I have never tried it on a 78 but if you try it tell me how it works for you.

[Henry]

Never tried this, but I would strongly advise the use of distilled water. This is especially important if you love [or live!]* in an area with hard water, as I do. If your water supply, whether municipal or private, comes from wells in a limestone geology, you have hard water. If your water comes from reservoirs, it will typically be soft (because of the rainwater and surface water sources that feed into the reservoir). Bottom line: you don't want to leave any calcium carbonate gook in those record grooves!

There's a good reason why four international companies have cement plants in my region!

*P.S. Sometimes a typo is revealing---too much?

[alang]

Back in the days of LPs and 45 singles it was common amongst true audiophiles to play their records wet for minimal wear and surface noise. There were specific gadgets that looked like a second tonearm which constantly provided a wet film of a special solution (not simply water) to the record while playing. Disadvantage was, that supposedly once you played the record wet with this special solution you should not play it dry again, because it would have more surface noise afterwards. I knew people who swore by playing wet, but I have never done it myself. How much of all this was true and what was commercial hype I don't know.

Interesting that simple water would provide simiar noise reduction. I'll have to try that with distilled water on a 78 sometime. Does that mean one could play a Diamond Disc wet with alcohol? Or drink the alcohol so one does not mind the surface noise anymore?

Thanks
Andreas

[VintageTechnologies]

Hi all,

I've begun digitizing my collection but need to start cleaning up the .wav files and remove the excess hiss and tone down the crackles.

My knowledge and capability of using audio filters is almost non-existant.
Also, I think using a Mac also limits my options in terms of software availability.

Try Audacity, a free and very capable sound editing package. It has a number of features to clean up old records. There is a steep learning curve, but probably no worse than other serious packages. It is available for Macs, PCs and even Linux. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/mac

The search function didn't give me any straight forward answers so I come with a blank slate and ask anyone with information to kindly chip away!

I heard of "clickrepair" and the several other software options it comes with but don't really know how to use them properly.

You should also look at Diamond Cut Productions software at http://www.diamondcut.com/store/. Their software may only be Windows versions, but perhaps they would run under an emulator on the Mac. Ask them.

Thanks in advance!

[Wolfe]

Back in the days of LPs and 45 singles it was common amongst true audiophiles to play their records wet for minimal wear and surface noise. There were specific gadgets that looked like a second tonearm which constantly provided a wet film of a special solution

I've never seen any of these gadgets, outside of things like the old Keith Monks record cleaning machine that used a tonearm like wand to apply the water solution before sucking it back up.

The mantra I've heard down through the years is to never play a record wet, unless they're real basket cases. Including 78's, especially if they're Edison DD's or laminated records. It's hard to wet play a 78, anyway, because the water rends to bead off the edge of the fast spinning record.

[WickedMessenger]

Sure, use distilled water and I wouldn't try it on your priceless Holy Grail 78 that's the prize of your collection. But for the 45s I used the technique on, they were of no value, common, in terrible shape from being played obsessively by my then-teenaged father, never cleaned, and had sat around without sleeves or any other kind of protection for 40 years. This was their last hurrah. He has strong bonding memories with those songs, as we tend to do when we are that age. I still have them but they have never been played since digitizing them. To make that CD without "playing them wet" would have made for a completely unlistenable, tortuous experience. It was a miracle cure. They went from 50% noise to 10% noise. The rest of the major pops were eliminated with the recording software. I'm just saying somebody should take one of their 78s and give it a shot to see how much better it is, or not. Try it on one that's worth less than 2 bucks. I'm interested in empirical data.

[Wolfe]

To make that CD without "playing them wet" would have made for a completely unlistenable, tortuous experience. It was a miracle cure. They went from 50% noise to 10% noise.

Some of the noise reduction you got could have been the water bath eliminating static accumulation, which can be obtained by washing them and then leaving them out to dry fully. Or using some kind of de-stat device, like a Zerostat gun.

If you do play records wet, don't do it with an expensive cartridge. If any water gets up into the cartridge body or on the delicate rubber suspension of your stylus you're doing harm.

[edisonphonoworks]

http://youtu.be/T_QRZj23WcI

This film was made a few years ago and I used the Western Electric Audiometer seen in the film to play the records, this was fed with a ¼" Y plug that went into the headphone jack of the Audiometer, and it had RCA jacks on the other end fed without interface into an XTEL INPORT. I used Audacity wich has several EQ curves for old records built in, and did some of my own EQ curves. I also http://www.amazon.com/Xitel-INport-Delu ... B000HE7M3M

Is the device, It comes with a good noise reduction program in itself. I also have fed my 4C Audiometer directly into a DVD recorder with exellent results, I can't help it to me it sounds better than any cartridge that is new for 78s, I have tried the GRADO, 78S Shure, and the Stanton with 3mil, and the WE wins them all for the most pleasant sound.

[WickedMessenger]

There's a good bit of info on recording 78s and cleaning up the sound on the internet. I've been reading it. One thing that is emphasized in most of this is never to play a shellac 78 wet. This has to do with the fiber core that is the substrate under the shellac. It will soak up the water and swell. They also say that most record cleaning solutions made for 33s (i.e. modern record cleaning solutions) should never be used on a shellac 78. I didn't see anything that said not to play a vinyl 78 record wet, however.

By far, the best info is contained on this site: http://www.videointerchange.com/vintage_78s.htm#
Do your eyes a favor and change the background color from the default black to one of the lighter colors before you read it. It's an option at the very top of the page under the color spectrum.