digitization & audio restoration: audacity vs. for-pay software
(OOPS, wrong sub. I wanted this is music production.)
So I wanna digitize and restore a bunch of vinyls and a few tapes. It’s old stuff not available on CD or as a download. Quality of the analog material varies: many records are near mint, but a few are barely acceptable.
I want good results and recently upgraded my cartridge and invested in a phono preamp. In the past, I digitized records used audacity as my software.
Going forward, do you think I should stick to audacity or should I invest in a for-pay software?
If you think that audacity isn’t good enough, please advise which software I should buy. Currently, I’m confused by all the options: Sound Forge, Wavelab, Audio Audition, izotope, … It’s okay if the software you recommend has a bit of a learning curve. It doesn’t have to be two mouse clicks and done. But it shouldn’t be rocket science, either. And I’d prefer purchasing a single product, I don’t wanna have to buy a gazillion plug-ins.
I know this issue has been discussed many times elsewhere but I’m thinking I’ll get better responses here on DJTT than on a vinyl forum where people believe in audiophile voodoo.
Audacity works for that as long as you have a decent preamp and sound card and can set levels.
As for quality…
As much as countless DJs love spinning with it, vinyl kind of is a crap medium…very limited dynamic range, limited frequency response, lots of noise…Most digital systems blow it completely out of the water, so it doesn’t take much to do a good job.
It really depends on what kind of restoration you’re wanting to do, and that’s not something I’m particularly good at. If I were to do that, I’d probably use Pro Tools or Logic with an EQ and a dynamic expander of some kind…but I wouldn’t buy either of them just for that.
I recommend trying a few records with audacity (at least one good one and one beat-up one) and seeing if it works out or if it falls short. If it falls short, figure out what fails and come back asking for specific solutions and I’ll be glad to try and help, just as I’m sure a lot of other people would.
agreed. i’m not one of those people that digitize vinyl so i can play out with “vinyl-quality sound” (lol). i’m doing this as i still own large amount of music which i love and that happens to be vinyl-only.
[quote]
I recommend trying a few records with audacity (at least one good one and one beat-up one) and seeing if it works out or if it falls short. If it falls short, figure out what fails and come back asking for specific solutions and I’ll be glad to try and help, just as I’m sure a lot of other people would.[/quote]
i already digitized a lot of records with audacity. that was on my old setup with DJ cartridge and without proper preamp (I just used the one in my NI interface).
those recordings have several shortcomings, with high-frequency distortion perhaps being the most severe one. i think some of these shortcomings will be addressed by working with my new hi-fi cart and external phono preamp. but the software question remains.
i was unhappy with the options i had to denoise and declick in audacity. to me, it seems denoising in audacity is pretty destructive so i don’t use it. i did manual declicking in audacity using “repair.” that’s all right if the record is in good shape and only a few single short clicks and pops have to be removed. but the manual de-clicking of beat-up records proved to be practically infeasible. if you have a region on the recording which contains dozens of clicks, it is too cumbersome to use “repair.” but then, the available option in audacity is to run “click removal” over a region. and automatic click removal in audacity does not sound good to me. it seems it attenuates the volume a lot.
i have no experience with other audio editors which is why i threw out the question here if i should buy something along the line of soundforge, wavelab, adobe audition, or izotope.
tl;dr i am not fully satisfied with the options audacity gives me to declick and denoise. is it worth purchasing another software? it’s not the case that i have too much money floating around so i’m only willing to shell out if i can expect significantly better sound (i.e., a difference i can actually identify in an ABX).
Are you on a mac, rgtb? If so, Audiofile Engineering Wave Editor is supposedly not bad and only costs 79$ (opposed to the rather outrageous prices of the other competitors). Oh and there is a 15 day trial version without limitations…
As far as I’m aware, those operations are just not that good. Once you damage vinyl, the restoration you can do tends to wind up very much a matter of deciding which crap sound is less crap, the damage or the fix.
But I could be wrong. There might be better tools available. And I’m very much out of my league, considering that you’ve tried everything I’d recommend.
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If so, Audiofile Engineering Wave Editor is supposedly not bad and only costs 79$ (opposed to the rather outrageous prices of the other competitors).[/quote]
thanks, i’ll check it out just to get an idea how it compares to audacity. and you’re right that some competitors charge outrageous prices.
makes sense. i mean, while i am asking a somewhat naive question (i haven’t used anything but audacity in years), i don’t expect that the available software tools can turn straw into gold an analogy from the digital domain might be the loss of information through clipping or lossy compression, where it is difficult or impossible to recover the information lost.
still, these expensive audio restoration packages exist. maybe i should just download the demos (except for the wavelab demo which seems to require a dongle to run). of course, if anyone else reading along has some insights, please consider sharing them
one thing to add: it appears some of the professional software not only provides more functionality when it comes to restoration, but also when it comes to leveling/metering and mastering. is that something that would help me improve my results?
so i’m only willing to shell out if i can expect significantly better sound (i.e., a difference i can actually identify in an ABX).