sgraham
12-23-2002, 09:19 PM
OK, this is software, rather than hardware, but this seemed like the best place to put it.
Another thread started me down this road. Someone mentioned wishing for a plug in to remove the effects of groove wear.
Here are some things I'd like, how about you? (I know there are expensive versions of at least one of these, but they all have to be "affordable" (OK, I'm cheap!))
1. Affordable wow/flutter remover, which could also track and correct for speed changes over a long file. Great for dubbing those old tapes made with little 3" rim-drive tape recorders! Be handy if it could lock onto a noise signal (hum, maybe) to use for a frequency reference.
2. Affordable phase matching - something that would take two tracks (i.e. two different mixes of the same tune) and match them up phase coherently, so that you'd be able to do things like (a) get real, un-wobbly stereo out of them (I'm thinking of some old RCA recordings, where two completely different equipment chains were used, including the mikes, feeding two cutting lathes on the same performance, or early experimental attempts at stereo with dual disks, etc. - also staggered-head reel tapes or tapes that have deformed so the azimuth wanders); (b) subtract them from each other so that only the differences remained (just think: If you had the multitracks and single master for I am the Walrus you could fiddle about until you could subtract the radio noise, then do a proper full stereo all-the-way-through mix with the radio noise included. Which would then be roundly criticized here, but never mind....) or (c) just compare and contrast, like having Komm, Gib Mir Diene Hand on the left and I Want To Hold Your Hand on the right, without the stuff in the middle wandering around.
3. Affordable plug in to take a print of noise, such as loud lighting buzz, and automatically construct *fixed* filters to notch it out.
4. Affordable plug in to analyze spectrum of one cut then apply *fixed* equalization to a second cut to match. A secondary function might be to scan a problem track, one that someone has applied horrible EQ to, and suggest an EQ curve to fix it -- could be a nice time-saver.
(I've seen plug ins that do 3 & 4, but they do dynamic eq, no good - too much like the dread noise-reduction effects.)
5. Decoding plug ins for taking a Dolby-B or dbx-encoded recording and decoding it in the digital domain. The Dolby function should be able to make an intelligent guess about the correct Dolby level, and compensate for misadjusted encoders, so that, at the very least, the left and right channels decode similarly (no platform motion on sibilance, etc.) The dbx should be able to do both type I and II decoding. (Additional decoders for other Dolby types also welcome.)
Dreaming on....
Another thread started me down this road. Someone mentioned wishing for a plug in to remove the effects of groove wear.
Here are some things I'd like, how about you? (I know there are expensive versions of at least one of these, but they all have to be "affordable" (OK, I'm cheap!))
1. Affordable wow/flutter remover, which could also track and correct for speed changes over a long file. Great for dubbing those old tapes made with little 3" rim-drive tape recorders! Be handy if it could lock onto a noise signal (hum, maybe) to use for a frequency reference.
2. Affordable phase matching - something that would take two tracks (i.e. two different mixes of the same tune) and match them up phase coherently, so that you'd be able to do things like (a) get real, un-wobbly stereo out of them (I'm thinking of some old RCA recordings, where two completely different equipment chains were used, including the mikes, feeding two cutting lathes on the same performance, or early experimental attempts at stereo with dual disks, etc. - also staggered-head reel tapes or tapes that have deformed so the azimuth wanders); (b) subtract them from each other so that only the differences remained (just think: If you had the multitracks and single master for I am the Walrus you could fiddle about until you could subtract the radio noise, then do a proper full stereo all-the-way-through mix with the radio noise included. Which would then be roundly criticized here, but never mind....) or (c) just compare and contrast, like having Komm, Gib Mir Diene Hand on the left and I Want To Hold Your Hand on the right, without the stuff in the middle wandering around.
3. Affordable plug in to take a print of noise, such as loud lighting buzz, and automatically construct *fixed* filters to notch it out.
4. Affordable plug in to analyze spectrum of one cut then apply *fixed* equalization to a second cut to match. A secondary function might be to scan a problem track, one that someone has applied horrible EQ to, and suggest an EQ curve to fix it -- could be a nice time-saver.
(I've seen plug ins that do 3 & 4, but they do dynamic eq, no good - too much like the dread noise-reduction effects.)
5. Decoding plug ins for taking a Dolby-B or dbx-encoded recording and decoding it in the digital domain. The Dolby function should be able to make an intelligent guess about the correct Dolby level, and compensate for misadjusted encoders, so that, at the very least, the left and right channels decode similarly (no platform motion on sibilance, etc.) The dbx should be able to do both type I and II decoding. (Additional decoders for other Dolby types also welcome.)
Dreaming on....