obsessed with old formats/technology

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I first got into computers, dragged kicking and screaming actually, simply due to the fact that I could not at the time remove clicks/crackle/pops from my record collection [several thousand and counting] without digital technology. I detest impulse noises on phonograph records, they are like firecrackers going on in the middle of the music, it totally ruins the pace, the rhythm, and it keeps me from enjoying the music. so they hadda go, posthaste. I also don't really like rumble and groove roar and hiss, either. I am especially sensitive to surface noises, which most other people don't seem to even hear, or if they can hear them don't seem to be bothered by them.

I can understand that they do interfere with the music and add a quaint sort of ambience many people wouldn't want. Did you do the remastering yourself? What did you use, if you don't mind sharing?

He is quite the authority on the subject of audio clean up software.

Get ready for a lecture from the master on the many programs he has used over the years.

Now that I have finnally bought an up to date computer I should check out some of his recommendations myself. I think Soundforge was the one best that he recommended the last time he and I talked about it. But years ago Blabby gave me a whole list of audio programs.

per NaturalPlastic's concerns i'll try my best to give you the cliffnotes version - I started out in 1993 with a simple program called "wave for windows" which let me use the mouse pencil function to draw-out clicks and pops on the oscilloscope waveform. this was a tedious process, on some especially noisy records I might be able to draw out a few hundred of such in an 8-hour session. that might be as little as 3 bars of music, on a typical 78 rpm record. in the later 90s I found two programs that tried to automate that process, albeit imperfectly- DART and Dcart. an 8-hour session was sufficient to declick [somewhat] a typical LP side, with manual mouse redrawing of waveforms here and there to clean up what they left behind. several other software declickers/denoisers later, I successfully bid on EBAY for a CEDAR declicker/decrackler pair, [rack-mounted micro-computers that specialize in removing impulse disturbances from phono recordings] this is what professional record studios/restoration houses use to declick old recordings, generally as close to perfectly as possible if adjusted correctly. that is what I've used until recently, and now I've augmented that with a program called iZotopeRX5 which has decrackling performance which is the equal to the CEDAR pair, for about 1/30th the price of what I bid on EBAY for those two CEDAR modules.

look out for sales on iZotopeRX5, it cost me $100 last year. its regular price is $350. it is worth it, as it is in my estimation the best declicker/decrackler out there, but it requires substantial computer resources, the more RAM the better, it barely runs on my dual core 2.3 GHz Pentium with 6G of ram, it needs more power than that. that will work for the bulk of your denoising needs.

Hi Auntblabby,

That's really interesting. I had no idea that human beings actually spent entire days drawing out the pops/clicks visually to remove noise from one song! I really might have had trouble staying sane through such a tedious process LOL. I also didn't know about the microcomputers with such a specialized function. I've done some tedious audio editing, but I don't think anything compares to what you've described. Now I feel grateful for all of the automated tools that remove the clicks for us, and the low pass/high pass filters.

At the risk of going slightly off topic, you bought some majorly pricey equipment. Did you also use it to make money as well?

and before computers for audio came along, the process for manually removing clicks from an old disc recording was to make a tape of it, put it on an analog editing console, scroll the tape past the clicks at micro-speed while observing the oscilloscope display, take a grease pencil and mark the tape at the beginning and end of the click at the 0-crossing points, then place the tape on the editing block and razor out that section then splice together. repeat as needed, sometimes for over a thousand edits per 3 minute 78 rpm side. as for the CEDAR units, I bought them for about 1/4 price, compared to new, it was in mint condition so I got a good deal out of it. the person who auctioned it off replaced it with Audiocube, a VERY majorly expensive audio restoration platform, like as expensive as a new car. in any case, CEDAR gets rid of 99% of the impulsive disturbances, but the large pops I have to manually remove using other things such as iZotopeRx. btw, can you tell me what you do in the audio world? I am very curious anyways, to answer your question- no, I was not able to make more than chump change with my advanced avocation. it is more like a very fulfilling hobby for this music lover. but I sure would like to get some restoration work, but where I live nobody is interested.

Oh, I'm not in the audio world really. I actually write copy for websites.

I've edited music recordings though, and some vocal stuff. It's so cool that anyone can do audio/video editing nowadays, though, I'm sure, not with the precision of the pros or the big time audio production enthusiasts. I'm all too happy to stop editing after a couple of hours. Sorry my answer wasn't more exciting.

As for restoration work, I know there is some demand for it. An ad in a specialized magazine might work. I admire your grit to sit through that manual restoration process though.

would be interested in hearing about your music editing work which sounds plenty exciting. I am a fanatic about clicks and pops being absent, that is the reason I had the grit. I sure wish when I was your age, that I could have a job like yours.