distortion

[kent]

I have not been able to find the right combination of filters to get rid of distortion caused by worn grooves on 45 rpm records. The distortion, which also has a scratchy sound, is especially bad during loud vocals or loud parts of the music. I have read through the posts on this site and the millennium site and did not find any answers on how to deal with this problem. This seems to be a common problem with old 45's and I guess it can be attributed to the fact they were not manufactured on the same quality vinyl as LP's and wore out faster. Is there anything I can do to get rid of the distortion or is is just not possible to "fix" this type of defect. I am using DC-Art 32 version 4.01 and was wondering if the Millenium version has better filtering to deal with this type of distortion.

[Craig Maier]

Re: distortion

At this point in time, I do not think that a De-distortion (de-stortion) algorithm is on the market anywhere. However, we are working on one for the next release of the Millennium / Live product. This issue of distortion removal is a very complex one, since there is more than one mechanism that produces this effect and each one must be managed in a different way. Stay tuned, and you will see something in the not too distant future, however. For now, the only thing that you can do to help with this problem to a small degree is to apply some compression in the upper frequency band using the Punch and Crunch filter. This will probably not be satisfactory, but it is the only thing that has a prayer of helping short of using a heavy dose of the low pass filter, which will kill the top end as well as removing the distortion.

[Beautman]

Re: distortion

If they're older 45s and you're playing them with a standard stereo .07 mil stylus you might try switching to a 1 mil if one's available for your cartridge to see if that helps.

I also found, to my surprise, that some of my lps which had high frequency groove wear distortion sounded significantly better when I upgraded to a turntable with a higher quality arm.

If your records are mono, you should use the file conversion feature to see whether one channel has less distortion that the other, as sometimes is the case if the excessive groove wear was caused by playing the records on a subpar phonograph (e.g., chipped needle, sticky tonearm bearings, misadjusted anti-skating).

You might also try the dynamics processor on the De-Esser settings. I like the choice of presets DC supplies.

[Craig Maier]

Record distortion can now be reduced using the CNF in Artifact Suppression Mode using a fairly high fft count.

Craig