Some sound samples would be very helpful

[James]

Just thought I would put a little bug in your ear. I really think it would be helpful if you could make a CD, describing the various stages of the restoration process, using all types of media in all types of starting conditions. I for one would be very happy to pay for such a thing. I have been using the software since version 0.9 and still am having a rough time with it. I just am not able to find the right settings to work with the crackle. I find something that works, but then it causes distoration on some other part of the music. It often comes down to me going through the whole file with "Paste Interpolate" to make it work. That kind of time spent sort of takes the fun out of the whole process. I am finding that when I go to make a CD, it is just not worth all the effort to do the restoration.... A nice cross section of samples from you all would really seem to help. I hope you give this some thought, this is starting to wear me out.

[JimP]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

I had suggested a similar idea to Kyle at Tracer. My suggestion was using a video for mat. Over the shoulder of the experts in this field. I too have found that the paste interpolate feature for the total sound wave has worked. Very labor intensive. It seems to be the cleanest approach for some problems. The time it takes for a 2 1/2 minute song is just, all day.

A video covers both the audio and visual communucation channels for most people. If you are a visual person and you listen to a audio explanation, it leaves something to be desired.

Thanks.

[Craig Maier]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

I rarely have to use any manual intervention when cleaning up recordings, and I do it for public release for our CD product line. The key is to use the impulse filter lightly and use it several times rather than trying to get all impulses at once. Have you tried using the procedure in the manual to clean up the demo recording included with the program? All of the settings are included to get reasonable results. As for a CD with noise samples, I do have a grouping of "just noise" wavefiles taken from unmodulated records (yes, three and a half minutes of just noise!) Has a nice sound compared to some music that I have heard of late. I wonder if that were available if it would be of any use. You could paste mix it with any recording and then see if you could remove it thereafter. I also have recordings of hum, buzz, lightning static, Multiplex static, etc.

[James]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

Yes, those sound samples may indeed be edcuational. Anything that would give tips on how to do this would be great. I have tried using a more "mild" setting when removing pops and clicks, but none the less, if I use it several times, I notice a developing "fuzz" on the louder sounds on the record, what I gather to be a over use of the filter. But, if I go with much less of a setting, nothing is removed. All very frustrating. I still believe a CD sound sample disk, or the video mentioned, would be a great help. Just a thought.....

[HopHead]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

craig, james has his finger on a problem that also plagues me a lot, especially on old and scratchy vinyl and there were some that i had less than satisfactory results with.

such a cd as you mentioned would be of great help to me [i think] also and i would like very much to get it even if i have to pay - which would be no problem at all.

[weskola]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

Just out of curiosity, how would these samples show you how to get rid of the noise? It seems to me that these samples would be end-results of several processes and not the processes themselves. I myself would rather see some step-by-step process examples of how pops and clicks are removed. I'm just curious.

Craig, you mentioned in this posting and another previous posting that you rarely have to use any manual intervention in removing noise. I'm assuming this includes pops and clicks. I would love to see a detailed, step-by-step description of how you do this. I've literally tried hundreds of combinations and settings (going on 2 1/2 years now)and have yet to approach your level of success. I (and probably many others) would love to know how you do it.

[Craig Maier]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

Probably, one of the problems is that we have been one of the two guys that have developed this software. We know all of the nuances of it and how to best deal with it and get around its nuances. The problem is that there is no universal answer as to how to get a perfect result with DC Art. Each project presents unique challenges. Since we know the software, we can deal with it effectively for commercial releases. We,(Rick and I) do not know an easy way to present this to the general public. If we make the software do all of its stuff automatically, lots of people will not be happy with the results. We, the programmers, will have made all of the tradeoffs for you, not allowing you to do so. That is not a good thing. Therefore, we have made the software flexible. That means that there are lots of ways to get it right, and also lots of ways to get it wrong. Please give us some guidance as to how to overcome this paradox, as we do understand your goal. You would like to just push a button and get perfect sound from any source. We wish it were that easy. Unfortunately, there is a very subjective nature to this business. How do we satisfy everyone? Do you folks want us to implement less user control or more control in the future releases?

[OpAmpMan]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

Craig...I vote for having the control. To me, DCArt is the perfect combination of automation and user control. I'll admit having pulled what little hair I have quite a bit over some pops and clicks, but eventually I have always been able to ge the job done with a minimum of manual removal. I think it's like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get. I'm teaching my 8 year old son how to use the program and he's made more progress in a week than I did in the first several months I had the program (going on 2 years now), so you guys must be doing something right. Also, I believe that good audio is about 50% science and 50% art so I like the controls to practice the art part.

[HopHead]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

OK, here's my take on this - I absolutely want all the control I can get [control freak? haha] BUT actual, real-world noise samples with advice on the "proper" or recommended filtration to deal with them would be something I would just LOVE to pay for!

Tony

[john]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

I agree with having as much control as possible with the program. I am still learning the program and am slowly putting together some clean recordings. Being an EE, I would like to be able to get some more technical information on the filters being used, i.e. what kind of filters are used to make the continuous noise filter and the impulse filter etc. (Unless of course this is all proprietary information).
Thanks for a great and fun product.

[Craig Maier]

Re: Some sound samples would be very helpful

I hope that you can appreciate that the details regarding our algorithms and how they work are what we consider trade secrets. Really makes no sense to share what we do in that regard with our competitors. Let them figure it all out for themselves just like we had to do. There are many man x years of work put into the development of these routines.