| Archiving
Audio
When we say Archiving Audio, we mean the act of recording cherished audio to a newer format so that it can be more easily played and also preserved in a more pristine condition.
The goal of archival is to capture the exact essence of a recording
without really changing it. In audio archival, most filtering
is frowned upon, but only you know if you prefer to remove noise
that may be obscuring the sound itself and only you can judge the
best course of action. Luckily, our tools are designed in a
sophisticated manner that you have numerous options available and
you can let your ears be the judge. If your preservation is dictated to go from its original recording medium directly to digital tape or another digital device, the Enhanced Audio products (DC
SIX and DC LIVE/Forensics) even allow the engineer to use the computer as a
go-between. With this method, you just run your audio through
the computer en route to the storage facility and remove noise
without ever recording to the hard drive. For large projects,
this can save an engineer hours of recording and playback
time.
Why would you want to archive your
audio with all the noise and imperfections intact?
The reason that serious archivists
don't do any type of processing is simple - it's likely that in the
future, our restoration and enhancement tools will be even better
than they are today. Therefore, it makes sense to make a very
high quality copy of a unique recording and save that for those
future audio engineers. This way, they can use state of the
art tools to restore the audio in the year 2525. Most
archivists today use high quality sound cards and record at
24bit/96khz. Don't forget, you can always restore your audio
today from your master archived copy.
Why would I want to archive my audio
at all?
Most end users probably won't need to
do traditional archiving. But everyone who has records or
tapes will find that they have a clock built into them which is
counting down every day to it's ultimate destruction. They will not last forever and
will, sooner or later, deteriorate and be unplayable. This is
already happening to 1960s tapes and older acetate recordings.
Many of what we consider "master recordings" today, will
no longer exist in their original form in the future. A superb
copy will have to suffice.
General Record
Archival Techniques
The
process of archiving your records can be just about as complicated
as you'd like it to be. There are numerous steps suggested by
the true audiophiles...most of us choose the ones we find most
important and throw the rest out with the bathwater. We'll
list all of these here as mini-topics...feel free to launch as many
as you care about.
Tape Archival Techniques
Like record restoration, there are countless
articles and opinions on how to best preserve and archive your
precious and slowly dying audio tape collection. The following
hints are mostly agreed upon and safe to try.
Choosing The Tools
Audio Mentor $29 |
DC Millennium $59 |
DC SEVEN $99 |
DC SIX- $99 |
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New! |
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Handy Wizard Interface
Makes The Whole Process Of Going From Vinyl or Tape to CD
Easy. |
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Realtime changing of
filters...listen to the noise disappear while the file
plays! |
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Make Your Own CDs |
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Includes MP3, WMA
Support |
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Realtime Restoration and
Enhancement |
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Free Technical Support |
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More
Info? |
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Remove Clicks, pops,
hiss, surface noise |
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Realtime changing of
filters...listen to the noise disappear while the file
plays! |
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Run Multiple Filters
Simultaneously |
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Record in 8, 16 or 24
bit |
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Perfect For the Serious
Hobbyist |
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Batch File Processing
(work on multiple songs simultaneously) |
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Full Enhancement
capabilities- Make any audio file sound better |
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4-band Dynamic
Compressor and Expander |
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Free Technical Support |
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More
Info? |
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Our Newest Edition!
Everything In SIX,
Millennium and Mentor PLUS:
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New Tune Library
Database |
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Artifact
Suppression: Push filters harder with less
artifacting and aliasing |
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Virtual Phono Preamp |
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Narrow Crackle Filter:
for small clicks and pops that live close to the good
sound |
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Innovative new click and
pop removal system |
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Better RIAA EQ Curve |
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Time Compression and
Expansion enhancements. |
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More
Info? |
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Everything in Millennium
Plus: |
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Automatic EZ Clean
(removes clicks, pops, hiss, surface noise and hum
automatically) |
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CD Ripping |
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AVI Audio editing |
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Lightning Fast Editor
(the fastest in the business) |
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Up to 24 bit 192kHz
Support |
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Realtime Feedthrough
(dirty audio in, clean audio out...no processing time) |
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Digital DeClipper
(compensate for overdriven inputs on recording) |
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Sample Rate Conversion |
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Time
Compression/Expansion |
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MP3 Import and Export
Support |
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Timer Recording (set
your computer like a VCR) |
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Free Technical Support |
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More
Info? |
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Screen Shot
LIVE mode can be a wonderful tool for
audio archivists who are using digital tape or another digital
source as their storage facility. This allows you to pass the
audio through DC SIX or LIVE/Forensics' filters without having to
record the audio first. For large projects and short
deadlines, this simple process can save countless hours. This
screen shows you the Multi-Filter in LIVE mode.
An Educated Taste Test
How much of a difference can the Enhanced Audio
products make in your audio life? Why don't you try them for
yourself? We have demos and Getting started tutorial guides
for both products listed below. Download both the demo and the
Getting Started Tutorial guide...the tutorials don't take a great
deal of time, but they give you a fantastic idea just how powerful
our products are.
| DC
SEVEN (NEW) | 10 day free
trial of our latest and greatest. You won't need 10 days
to decide that this is simply the most powerful audio editing
audio restoration and audio enhancement product you've ever
seen. Only $99 |
| Audio
Mentor | This cool new wizard
takes you by the hand and leads you through the complete
restoration process...from hooking up your turntable or tape
deck, to spitting out a completely enhanced CD, MP3 or WMA
file. Only $29 |
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DC Millennium Try and Buy
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$59 never bought so much power. See for yourself...with the new DC Millennium Try and Buy demo, you get 10 days to put this powerful product through its paces before a credit card is needed to unlock it. This is a fully working demo so you'll get a pretty good idea just how
helpful a product like this will be in your audio restoration/enhancement projects. When you decide that you're ready to buy, just simply go to Help/Register...punch in your credit card and you receive an unlock code in minutes. That means that you can purchase DC Millennium
24 hours a day 7 days a week. We've also included a very cool Getting Started Guide so your 10 days won't be spent learning...you'll be getting results 30 minutes after you start. Just go to the Diamond Cut directory and look for the PDF.
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| DC
Millennium Getting Started Guide | You'll
need this to guide you through your first sessions with
Millennium! It's a PDF that makes things easy. |
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DC
SIX | This demo will allow you to sample the world's best audio
restoration/enhancement and editing product. It will
only record 1 minute of material and save has been disabled,
but if you want a taste test of excellence...you'll get it
here.
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DC
SIX Getting Started Guide
| Easily navigate this product with a quick step by step tutorial that's completely "hands-on" and easy to read.
If you don't want the PDF to load into your explorer window, just
right click on the link to the left and select Save Target As... |
We've provided Record Restoration Quick Start guides for both DC
SIX and DC Millennium.
The Getting Started Guides are in PDF form and only depend on you using the demo versions of both products. These tutorials do not take a great deal of time, but they are jam-packed with info and perfect for
quickly learning both products. By now, you've probably decided on either a $59 or $199 investment...depending on the feature set you liked the best. Just download either of the Getting Started Guides along with the demos and you'll be ready to start real 45 Record Restoration.
These are PDF files and best viewed with Adobe Acrobat. This is a free software product that you can download at www.download.com
Example Files
This is a typical old recording of a 78 RPM record. We used a variety of filters to remove the clicks, pops, hiss and other disturbances. With
78 Record Restoration, the goals are similar to any other record restoration...to make your file sound authentic, yet noise free and clean.
78 RPM With Noise Cleaned
78 RPM
Note: On some machines, you may notice a hesitation at the beginning of your MP3 files when you click on them. If you just let it play and then listen to it again, the hesitation will go
away. If you're using a dial-up...it's probably best to download this files and listen once you've downloaded.
Will I Need Anything Else?
Each and every system is different. You've also got to know what it will take to make your ears happy. For example...Sound Blasters are very popular sound cards...unfortunately, popularity doesn't make them good...just popular. There are potentially many
products that could help you...depending on the scale of the restoration project you want to undertake. We've created a page that outlines many of these product categories, plus the individual products that we recommend. Just click here to go
there.
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| Popular
Products |
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DC
SEVEN
New
Price $99!
The
fleet has a new flagship! This latest version helps you Push
IT! Not only have all of the filters been enhanced, they've
been designed to help remove more noise with less consequence!
You're gonna love this one. |
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Everyone's
Guide To Better Audio Using DC 7!
This
detailed introduction to the Zen of Audio Restoration features a
beginner's guide to DC SEVEN, an overview of the more advanced
features and suggestions on how to achieve your best results! Only
$39 |
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DC
LIVE/Forensics
There
is simply no better Audio Forensics product on the market. You
can pay thousands more, but if you're clarifying noisy recordings or
even running live audio surveillance, DC LIVE/Forensics is the best
in the business. $1499
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Advanced
Forensics Concepts Using DC LIVE/Forensics DVD
The in depth
walkthrough covers all of the great new features of
DC/LIVE/Forensics 7.5. $59
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Audio
Mentor
New
Price $29!
This
intelligent wizard helps any user instantly achieve
spectacular results. Mentor takes you by the hand and
gets you from the Record or Tape to CD in several painless
steps.
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Learning
The CNF DVD
Go
"under the hood" of the continuous noise filter.
This in depth training course will help any level user achieve
better results with this powerful filter.
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Diamond
Cut
Millennium
Powerful
Audio Restoration and enhancement product. Only $59
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Computer
Transfer Preamps
New
thinking for your vinyl restoration. These preamps give you
the most accurate reproduction off of your record that is
available...at a price you won't believe |
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Automatic
Forensics Adaptive Filter VST Plug-In
Now
you can get one of DC LIVE/Forensics most powerful automatic
adaptive filters and plug it into the software of your choice.
This cool new VST plug automatically removes noise so that you can
find a voice buried beneath the muck. Only $399 |
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Virtual
Valve Tube Simulation VST Plug-In
Add
real tube sound to any music file an instantly add the warmth and
depth that only real tubes can provide. This new VST Plug In
is useful in so many ways that you'll instantly find it your
favorite plug-in. Only $99
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