Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

[Dave_Sours]

I'm evaluating DC Millenium for recording 78s. They are in excellent shape, probably from the 40's. Everything goes fine until I try to use the CNF. I can't seem to find the settings to yield acceptable results.

If I set the attenuation to anything above about 4, I get a slightly oscillating whining noise (kind of like a faint Skil saw). Yet I don't get any appreciable noise reduction until around 7 or so.

I did try recording in stereo, then doing File Conversion from stereo to Mono (L+R). That provided some marginal noise reduction, as well as slightly noticeable loss of the "true" signal.

I realize there are tradeoffs in this process, but I'm hoping for something a bit better than what I've been able to come up with so far.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or would anyone be willing to play with a sample and see if they can work any minor miracles?

Thanks,

Dave

[Dan McDonald]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

with the cnf, I think it is always best to do a sample of the noise by finding a spot where there's no music - just noise. This is usually the lead-in, just after the needle drop; some people also use the lead-out because the noises are a little different. But you should be getting excellent results with it. You don't want to push it too high, but if you sample only the noise, you should be getting good results.

Dan

[Dave_Sours]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

I am doing exactly what you describe. I should also add that I've experimented with adjusting the threshold manually, and with increasing the FFR (or whatever it is - I don't have it in front of me now) to its highest level.

[Craig Maier]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Try cleaning up the demo file that comes with the product. There should be a procedure in the help file for doing that. If that is followed, the results contain no digital artifacts (whining noises). That is the place to start. Once you get that procedure down, then go and try it with your own 78's. Obviously, if you are gettting whining noises, you have something set incorrectly, but I can not tell what it is from here.

[Dan McDonald]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Hi Dave - you can send a sample to me if you want. I think my email address is listed here. I'm always curious as to what people are playing with anyway. I've got a cable modem so it's not too difficult to get decent sized files.

Dan

[Dave_Sours]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Craig, the first thing I tried when using the product was cleaning up the demo file, following the instructions for doing so. I got the same problem, although I didn't spend as much time experimenting with the settings. I just used the ones recommended.

Dan, thanks for your offer. I'll fire off a chunk of the raw file to you probably tonight. I'll give you the initial noise plus some of the music.

[Craig Maier]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Did you use the presets for cleaning up the demo contained within the product?

[Dave_Sours]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

If by "presets" you mean the values for each option that were given in the tutorial, then the answer is yes.

[Craig Maier]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Dave,

Could you please send me 15 seconds of audio including the lead in portion of the 78 groove so that I can try to figure out what is going on? Please send it to me at dctools@aol.com. Please put it in stereo mode, 44.1 KHz sampling rate and lastly, 16 bits. Thanks!

[Dave_Sours]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Craig,

Thanks for your work on that snippet. You've got me on the right track now. I'm placing my order for Millenium tonight!

Dave

[Craig Maier]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Dave,

No problem - - - anytime.

Craig

[ttyner]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

You have my curiosity aroused now. What was the problem & the solution??

Thanks

[Craig Maier]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Dave had sent me a snippet to clean up. I did so and then sent him the settings that I used. He was satisified. I am not sure what he had been doing incorrectly. It sounded to me from the description that he may have been moving the threshold line up to high, but I am not positive. Maybe he will comment on it.

[BigAl]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

Dave, why not buy DC5?

[Dave_Sours]

Re: Whining noise when using CNF for 78s

The whining noise appeared in both the demo file, even though I followed all the instructions with their recommended settings. I experienced the same problem when I tried to clean up a recording from a 78. I still don't know what the problem was. I do know that the settings Craig used worked pretty well for my 78 recording. I did some more tweaking after that, and am confident that I'll be able to get satisfactory results .

As for not buying DC5, it's purely a matter of price. I've got a bunch of 78s that I want to transfer to CD. I don't plan to do this professionally or anything, so I just need the basics. It looks as though Millenium will meet my needs just fine.