Once again, you'll have to pardon my straying from the pure and simple and into the realm of whatever distracts me for the moment. I ripped another 78 tonight, and this one is a whole horse of a different color from last night's affair. Pinning down a date for this one is a bit tough, though. I found 1908, 1910 and 1911, all of which I'm sure are correct, but I'm not certain exactly which release or take I've got here. This is a massive single-sided 12" record that spins at 78 RPM on the Victrola label. After I'd played with the EQ, I did a bit of compression on it, so it plays at something closer to a uniform volume all the way through. Before I did that, the quiet parts were really too quiet, and the two loud spots were too loud and had what I think was some sort of groove wear in them, too. I think it sounds better now. But I just can't get over the fact that this record is 100 years old and I played it! And to think I almost didn't pay the exorbitant sum of $3 when I found this at the thrift store. That's way too much for an old 78! Please be my guest and download a sample copy of Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Contralto With Orchestra-Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Silent Night, Holy Night) (Christmas Hymn) (Victrola 88138). Again, comments, critiques, suggestions, complaints, concerns, all are welcome.
MediaFire
Big thanks to all of you who gave me some feedback on yesterday's post. I tried using the EQ software from the ClickRepair folks, but I didn't think it sounded as good as the stuff from Audacity. I didn't know enough about it to change the default settings, so I'll have to go back to it at some point once I have a better idea of what I'm doing. I did notice that when I ran this file through ClickRepair, it had to do a lot less work than the one from yesterday, so maybe that crack was adding to the noise. I still need to work on cleaning these things before I record them. I'm still a little afraid of them, so I am treating them like eggshells. I think I have the tracking force set at 2.5 grams. The needle itself on the tonearm looks to my eyes to be cocked a little to one side, but I don't see a way to adjust that. I wonder if the tonearm itself is bent? That's what I get for buying pawn shop record players. And as far as taking pictures of the labels instead of scanning them, I'll have to give it a try. Maybe I can make it work for something that small. Shooting LP covers that way never works out very satisfactorily. I'll try to post a before and after sample soon, too, as soon as I get a better handle on what I'm doing.
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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Since it's below freezing outside, does this mean I get to go ice skating after work? That's plenty of time for the ponds to freeze over. Now if I only had some ice skates. And if I could skate.
