Minor Indulgence

So, couple of weeks ago, I finally found a nice, modern turntable that spun at 78 RPM.  It was at a pawn shop and the price was pretty good, even without a headshell or needle.  Of course no place local had a needle that would work on the old records, although the guy at Sam Ash tried to tell me I didn't need a special needle.  (He also told me there was a cartridge in the package I bought, but it was just a needle...  Moron.)  So I ordered a cartridge and it arrived today.  I've been playing all evening, figuring out how to remove the old RIAA curve and put a correct curve in place, how to strip out the low frequency sounds, how to remove some of the surface noise without stripping out any of the sound.  All things I do with my usual album recordings, sorta, but all completely different on these records.  So the first recording I got into a pretty decent shape was a square dance version of Jingle Bells that I grabbed the other day from the Goodwill Bargain Barn just before it was thrown in the dumpster.  It's even cracked, but I couldn't hear it in the recording.  I think I did a pretty good job of it, but I'd love to hear some critiques from those of you who have more experience in such things.  I recorded in Audacity in stereo, removed the clicks in ClickRepair, which mixed it down to mono, then back to Audacity for removing the RIAA curve, then some re-EQing.  I don't remember exactly what I did or didn't do to get this final version, since I went back and forth so many times.  I also didn't scan the record 'cause I think it's not gonna do that crack any good to sit on a scanner bed.  Anyhow, please give a listen to Carson Robison And His Pleasant Valley Boys, Calls By Lawrence V. Loy-Jingle Bells (RCA-Victor 10" 78 RPM 20-1832, 1946).  Lemme know what you think.  good, bad, indifferent, whatever.  I want to learn to do this right.  :)

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