DC6 and Mentor up-sampling

[Stephen Langley]

Greetings,

I recently purchased Audio Mentor so to do some urgent LP restorations, and marvel at the convenience of the software and the easy Xover to DC6, when required.

My query is in regards to the 'clean' feature in Mentor, which has been on the whole fine. My only problem is that I cannot move the hiss level beyond about 10 before some breathing artifacts manifest, particularly with classical music. I am aware of the possibility of losing 'air' and 'atmosphere', and just wonder if it may in some instances be worth recording at 24/96 in DC6, and thereafter adopt 'clean' in Mentor. This of course defeats the expedience of the whole matter, but I wonder if it would indeed provide wider thresholds with the 'clean' sliders?

Thanks for any thoughts,

Stephen

[Geebster]

Hi

I have been using Mentor quite frequently even though I do have DC6 as well.
First, you can record at 24/96 using Mentor. If you right-click on the Mentor desktop, then click on set-up, you get more options. Click on "preferences" and at the bottom you will see a box with "other settings". If you check "Recording: use pro quality (24 bit 96khz)" your recordings will be in the higher resolution, providing your sound card has that capability.

I find that I have more room to use all of the sound enhancement tools a bit more agressively if the original recording is in high resolution. You may have to experiment a bit, because sometimes I have found by using a "light touch" on the filters initially, but maybe running them multiple times can yield better results, sometimes not.

I guess what I am trying to say, that at least with my experience, you have a greater control of the noise removal process if you use a high resolution recording to begin with.

GB

[Craig Maier]

I have found that using Hiss levels around 5 with classical music provides a reasonable level of hiss reduction without introducing artifacts. It will never produce a "no - noise" situation, however, without artifacting.

On the other hand, I have found some non-classical music in which I can use hiss settings around 30 and still be ok. So, it really depends on the type of music, in my experience.

Keep in mind that the Mentor De-hisser is adaptive. It is always adjusting itself with a new noise fingerprint on the fly. Classical music, with its wider dynamic range, makes it tougher to run that filter too agressively.

And Geebster is right about Mentors 24/96 capability. That should improve Mentors ability to discriminate impulses (Scratch and Crackle). I am not sure what it does for Hiss, however. That would be an interesting experiment.

[Geebster]

Hi Craig:

I've found that the high resolution recording does help a bit with hiss, but it isn't nearly as dramatic as with impulses. I've tried it both ways (16/44) and (24/96) and if I was dealing with hiss alone, I probably wouldn't bother with recording in high resolution; but almost all of my recordings I restore have impulses and hiss, so I always record at 24/96 for that reason.

GB

[Stephen Langley]

up/down sampling

Thanks guys,

I appreciate your thoughts and shall experiment with the higher sampling rate. I presume that it automatically dithers down again for CD burning, in stage 3?

Cheers,

Stephen

[Craig Maier]

Yes, it converts it to Red Book Audio CD Format or MP3's - - - your choice.

[Stephen Langley]

Soundcard config probs

Thanks Craig,

Just been experimenting, and I don't think my M-Audio USB Audiophile card is going to work, as it can record in 2496, but plays back at a different sampling freq. I tried doing a whole track at 2496 without previewing or listening back , just or the sake of it, but got a tiny signal despite a healthy 'dancing' on the VU meters...? I recall getting around this prob in DC6 in the past by stopping and starting and resetting the soundcard config, but this is very cumbersome. In the current context, I only get the weedy signal no matter what, despite healthy VU readings. Anyone know this external USB card? I did download a new driver, but the same probs prevailed..?

Thanks for any thoughts,

Regards,

Stephen

[Craig Maier]

Someone else is having some problems with an M Audio soundcard, although I think that it may be a different model. Also, he is having the problem with DC6, not Mentor. Here is the link:

http://www.diamondcut.com/vforum/showthread.php?t=2667

[Geebster]

Stephen:

I had signal issues as well with my PCI version of your soundcard. I updated the driver, then all was well. If I can recall, I had to un-install my old drivers completely before the new drivers would work. My problem persisted in all applications, so I knew it was a sound card issue. If the above procedure doesn't work, I would suggest contacting M-Audio.

GB