noise reduction experiment/Glenn Miller

[BradOlson]

I have definitely learned on my own besides here on DCC that noise reduction is the wrong thing to do 99.9% of the time as I pulled out my "Unforgettable Glenn Miller" CD mastered in 1985 which does have many tracks with surface noise intact. I was goofing around with the recording adding noise reduction to clean up the surface noise and hard limiting to make it louder which is as we know what a lot of mastering engineers do these days. On the quiet passages at the near end of the song, there were very audible digital artifacts that I did not like at all so I dumped the MP3 I was fooling around with. Just like tape hiss is your friend, in many cases, so is surface noise. My CD copy of it has much more life than the MP3. If you have this CD of Glenn Miller, "Unforgettable Glenn Miller" RCA PCD1-5459, keep it as I'm not sure later digital masters have as much life as "Unforgettable" does. The mastering of this CD holds up very well and has most of the Glenn Miller songs I like and it's the music that matters in the long run. I was able to pick this CD up for $6 used at a used book store in Duluth, Minnesota and as I said, it does have the "breath of life" we are looking for.

[Kevin Sypolt]

Cool! Thanks for the tip... I shall try to obtain a copy. ;)

[Kevin Sypolt]

Was this same title pressed later? There are a bunch of them under that title at halfbrain.com. Whaddya think??? Is this the right one? :confused:

[lukpac]

Just one thing to keep in mind - while NR is almost always a very bad thing, declickers can be used nicely to remove (or at least reduce) surface noise. Yeah, you have to run it on a digital workstation, but you don't get all the digital artifacts of NR...

[FabFourFan]

Originally posted by Bradley Olson:
...I pulled out my "Unforgettable Glenn Miller" CD [RCA PCD1-5459] mastered in 1985 which does have many tracks with surface noise intact. ... Just like tape hiss is your friend, in many cases, so is surface noise.

Ha, things do turn out funny, sometimes, don't they?

I enjoyed playing my dad's Glenn Miller 45s when I was a child, so I got this CD when it first saw it.
My initial reaction was that it sounded just like playing an old record.
I was disappointed. :-(

Then, I lent it to someone at work so his father ("a big Glenn Miller fan") could hear it.
He brought it back and made a face, reporting that he and his father thought that it sounded just like playing a record.
They were disappointed. :-(

Now, many years later, I play this cd and I'm still disappointed that it doesn't sound better - but thank heavens, it sounds a lot like just playing a record! :-)
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[ December 29, 2001: Message edited by: FabFourFan ]

[ December 29, 2001: Message edited by: FabFourFan ]

[ December 29, 2001: Message edited by: FabFourFan ]

[petzi]

Why does this CD exhibit surface noise ? Was it mastered from disks ?

[BradOlson]

Yes, it was mastered from discs.

[BradOlson]

If it has the old RCA CD logo on the front cover it is the right one. Here is the artwork and track listing info: http://cheap-cds.com/surf/disps/061962

[Kevin Sypolt]

Cool! I'm gonna have to get me one of those. (bad english intentional - well mostly anyways) :)

[Gary]

Wow! Me three! I'm beginning to love that old RCA symbol!

Originally posted by Kevin Sypolt:
[QB](bad english intentional - well mostly anyways)

Don't you mean "well mostlie, anyhoo?". Doncha wish yoze went ta me shcool?

;)

[BradOlson]

Secondspin.com claims to have 4 copies of it at http://www.secondspin.com/buy/track2.cfm?SID=310454420282&mAlbum=2063554 for $5.99 plus S&H. Just willing to save you money although it is still in print.

[ December 29, 2001: Message edited by: Bradley Olson ]

[Grant]

I agree with Luke here. You can do *better* if you try to simply REDUCE the surface noise rather than eleminate it entierly.

When I do my disc dubs, I can get things quite clean with Cool Edit but if you turn up the volume high you can still hear the surface noise. I only normally remove about 30db of 85% NR.

Bradley, sounds like you finally got yourself Cool Edit. Good deal! No?

[BradOlson]

I'll learn more about Cool Edit (the program I downloaded a fully working version for free on the web) when I get a preamp or a cassette player connected to my computer. When I experimented with the Christmas With Phil Spector stereo CD-R I have, I only used Click and Pop removal and the result was great.

[ December 30, 2001: Message edited by: Bradley Olson ]