Music Restoration Handbook

Music Restoration Handbook

9th Edition

Early Disc Records to Today’s LPs

By Marc S. Hildebrant

This handbook was written for the user of Diamond Cut Productions, Inc. software products to aid in the restoration and enhancement of a wide variety of records. The handbook covers recordings from the early acoustic disc period up through the stereo vinyl LP era.

While the user is expected to have some basic knowledge of the Diamond Cut Production’s software, the handbook includes step by step directions enhanced with screen shots of the software options to guide enthusiasts through the restoration and enhancement process of your music.

The earlier Handbook version’s chapter on the enhancement of acoustical recordings has been greatly increased representing some breakthroughs and new methodologies.  The New Method adds musical frequencies back into the record transfer representing the actual sound that would have been present in the recording studio but did not produce a useful signal on the acoustical master.  This process results in a much improved and more pleasing restoration of acoustically mastered material.

This handbook also contains a reference section that contains technical information regarding the history of the recording industry along with in-depth analysis of the analog to digital conversion process.

The ninth version presented here builds on previous versions by improving the filters and increasing their effect by using a sampling rate of (44.1 kHz). Additional stages in the Music restoration process have been added to allow future improvements to your work without the loss of past effort. These new stages add more levels of work and provide the use of batch processing to simplify restoration work.
The chapter that improves the sound of Acoustic Era Music has been updated with an additional new algorithm. In addition, I have improved the text to clarify the concepts that I have described.

The author of this handbook has restored 1000s of songs and has written this book to share his knowledge learned from actual restorations.

Please Note that version 9 is only available as a PDF.  Hardcopy versions are still available, please contact Diamond Cut Productions. 

• 306 Pages
• 200+ Illustrations

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction
Basic Music Restoration Techniques
2.0 Definitions of Restoration & Enhancement
3.0 Motivation for Restoration of Music
4.0 Tools Needed for Audio Restoration
5.0 Music File Organization
6.0 Music Equalization & Removal
7.0 Transcribing Records
8.0 Noise Removal & Level Creations
9.0 Adding EQ for the Restored Music File
10.0 How to Keep Track of Your Work & Batch Processing
11.0 78 RPM Noise Removal and EQ Methods
12.0 Diamond Disc Noise Removal and EQ Methods
13.0 LP/45 Noise Removal Methods
14.0 Tune Library and Creating Your Music Playlists
Advanced Enhancement Methods
15.0 General Concepts for the Enhancement Methods
16.0 Examples of Enhancement Multifilters
17.0 Restoration Overview
Reference Section
18.0 History of Recorded Sound
19.0 Recording Details of Music
20.0 Selection of Cartridge, Stylus Size, & Tracking Force for Transcriptions
21.0 Audio Standards
22.0 Correct Recording Level & Number of Bits for Transcription
23.0 Providing the Needed Preamplifier Gain for Transcription
24.0 Sample Rate Needed for Restoration
25.0 Audio Measurements
26.0 Conclusion and Reader Request