audio restoration


The process of audio restoration takes several forms, depending on your source material. Here are some of the most common types of audio defects that people wish to be removed:

record pops and ticks: When played, many records will have occasional light "ticks" or heavy "pops" in the sound. These can be digitally reduced, or (in most cases) completely eliminated.

general record surface noise: After repeated plays, records develop a low-level noise that can be particularly annoying in quiet passages. This extraneous noise can be reduced digitally, although doing so sometimes adversely affects the desired sound. It is our mission to find a good balance between the amount of noise reduced and the undesired side effects. In most cases, our equipment can do a reasonable job, but in extreme cases we will recommend other alternatives.

record skips and scratches: Does your record "stick" (repeat the same two seconds over and over again) or "skip" (jump from one passage to another a few seconds later)? Our equipment can almost always overcome these problems and produce for you a copy that plays smoothly from beginning to end.

tape hiss: All analog tape has hiss built in. Our method for reducing or eliminating this noise is similar to that for record surface noise. Once again, a reasonable balance must be attained between reduction of undesired noise and introduction of side effects.

tape dropouts: Older tapes tend to develop sections where the sound becomes softer or disappears briefly. In most cases, these sections are short enough that adjacent sounds can be used to interpolate the missing sound. In extreme cases, we may not be able to fix all of your dropouts, but will try our best.

distortion: Distortion on records is often due to having played them with a stylus that is worn out or of the wrong diameter. Tape distortion is often caused by "overloading" the tape during the recording (having the recording level set too high). In either case, we can normally improve small bursts of distortion, but we do not have the equipment necessary to eliminate distortion that is consistent throughout an entire recording. However, we will still be happy to transfer your distorted recording to another medium as is.

In most cases, we can do our best work if we are provided with the absolute original copy of the item. However, we do understand that there are some situations in which you may be unable or unwilling to provide us with the original, especially with rare or one-of-a-kind items. In this case, please send us e-mail so we can work out an alternative.


Cost

Because this process requires a lot of skill and dedication, we charge by the hour. It is impossible to say how long a "standard" restoration will take. In general, the worse the original sound, the longer it will take, but the quality of the final product will be directly proportional to the amount of time spent producing it.

We will be glad to give a free estimate on the cost for a particular job. You may e-mail us and describe it, or for a more accurate estimate, go ahead and send us the materials. If the estimate is more than what you are willing to pay, we will return your materials and charge you nothing. You will only have incurred the cost of shipping.


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