What is sound restoration?
Sound Restoration is the process of taking an old voice or music recording
that may be deteriorating or recorded on a format no longer in use and reviving
it using state of the art technology. The newly restored recording is then
transferred to CD.
Who
uses the service?
Radio stations, historians, lecturers, professors, school districts,
musicians, record collectors... Just about anyone who wishes to have a valuable
recording restored.
What
can be restored?
- Radio broadcasts, band demo tapes, old and rare records and cassettes.
- Speeches and lectures can be restored, edited and duplicated for distribution.
This is particularly useful for professors and professional speakers who would
like to make their intellectual properties available to their audiences.
- Many schools have record and tape based educational materials that can not
be used because of lack of playback resources.
- Recordings of family members young and old (grandma and grandpa describing
the "good old days", your child's first piano recital...)
Why
and when should I use this service?
If you would like to preserves or extend the
life of your recordings, you are a good candidate for sound restoration. The
best time to use sound restoration is right now. The longer you wait, the
more degraded the original source becomes. Worse yet, the source of the audio
could degrade beyond recovery. The difference of just one season of age could
be the difference between recovery and death. Also, every year the technology
used to playback the original recording becomes increasingly rare and at some
point may become virtually unavailable.
What
types of problems can be fixed?
The results we are able to achieve are difficult to predict and are
largely dependent on the quality and format of the audio source (i.e. tape
type, vinyl...). In general, we can remove hiss, pops, crackles, background
noise, and hum. We can also enhance the sound once we have restored it. We
can elevate the sound levels, enhance the tonal quality of the recording,
and can improve the clarity of the recording. Since we transfer your original
recording to CD, you will be able to use and enjoy the recording for years
to come.