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gmc
 
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Default Any hope of recovering anything from this recording?

Hi,

A friend of mine has given me a recording of an interview he did with
Chet Atkins some years ago on cassette tape.

It's a very bad quality recording - there is an aircon/fan hum & the
voices are unintelligable:

http://www.intlog.demon.co.uk/audio/Chetclip1.mp3

That's the quality of the original recording - I've tried chucking it
into cool edit pro & done a noise reduction thang by sampling the fan
noise & removing that but not had much joy..

- any tools/techniques that could at least get the voices intelligable
enough to be transcribed?

Thx
  #2   Report Post  
Kendall
 
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"gmc" wrote in message
...
Hi,

A friend of mine has given me a recording of an interview he did with
Chet Atkins some years ago on cassette tape.

It's a very bad quality recording - there is an aircon/fan hum & the
voices are unintelligable:

http://www.intlog.demon.co.uk/audio/Chetclip1.mp3



I would say the first step would be to align the cassette deck to the tape
to get the best possible sound at the source. You might be able to get an
appreciably better sound, especially in the high end by doing this. As it
is, I don't think there is any way (IMO) of really salvaging it other than
that. If it were only a matter of getting rid of other noise, your previous
efforts might have had some effect, but that isn't your main problem here.
Try aligning the head's azimuth adjustment while listening to the tape. I'd
bet that at some point you'll be able to pull more high end out, which
should make it intelligible enough for transcription. Good luck!

Kendall




That's the quality of the original recording - I've tried chucking it
into cool edit pro & done a noise reduction thang by sampling the fan
noise & removing that but not had much joy..

- any tools/techniques that could at least get the voices intelligable
enough to be transcribed?

Thx



  #3   Report Post  
Scott Dorsey
 
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gmc wrote:
A friend of mine has given me a recording of an interview he did with
Chet Atkins some years ago on cassette tape.

It's a very bad quality recording - there is an aircon/fan hum & the
voices are unintelligable:

http://www.intlog.demon.co.uk/audio/Chetclip1.mp3

That's the quality of the original recording - I've tried chucking it
into cool edit pro & done a noise reduction thang by sampling the fan
noise & removing that but not had much joy..

- any tools/techniques that could at least get the voices intelligable
enough to be transcribed?


Do you have the original tape? The mp3 you have is so far off correct
azimuth that it's hard to tell what the other problems are. If you can
get a dub with the alignment in the right ballpark, you might have a
start.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
  #4   Report Post  
Arny Krueger
 
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"gmc" wrote in message

Hi,

A friend of mine has given me a recording of an interview he did with
Chet Atkins some years ago on cassette tape.

It's a very bad quality recording - there is an aircon/fan hum & the
voices are unintelligable:

http://www.intlog.demon.co.uk/audio/Chetclip1.mp3

That's the quality of the original recording - I've tried chucking it
into cool edit pro & done a noise reduction thang by sampling the fan
noise & removing that but not had much joy..

- any tools/techniques that could at least get the voices intelligable
enough to be transcribed?


I improved the intelligibility quite a bit with CE's FFT equalizer. Flat
from 300 to 800 Hz, sloping to 30 dB down at 100 Hz, sloping to 40 dB up at
2 KHz, and then sloping down to -30 at 20 KHz. Then, the clipping during
transcription was more of an irritation than the booming and fan noise.


  #7   Report Post  
Edi Zubovic
 
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On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:06:00 -0400, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:

"gmc" wrote in message

Hi,

A friend of mine has given me a recording of an interview he did with
Chet Atkins some years ago on cassette tape.

It's a very bad quality recording - there is an aircon/fan hum & the
voices are unintelligable:

http://www.intlog.demon.co.uk/audio/Chetclip1.mp3

That's the quality of the original recording - I've tried chucking it
into cool edit pro & done a noise reduction thang by sampling the fan
noise & removing that but not had much joy..

- any tools/techniques that could at least get the voices intelligable
enough to be transcribed?


I improved the intelligibility quite a bit with CE's FFT equalizer. Flat
from 300 to 800 Hz, sloping to 30 dB down at 100 Hz, sloping to 40 dB up at
2 KHz, and then sloping down to -30 at 20 KHz. Then, the clipping during
transcription was more of an irritation than the booming and fan noise.

--- I've got similar results too... however, it seems to me as if the
(TV?) recording has been made by a cassette recorder with a built-in
electret microphone and picking up a helluva lot of its own motor and
transmission noise... and the mic seems to have been heavy off-axis.

As Scott and the others pointed out, try to get the original cassette,
demagnetize and clean the heads and then try to align the azimuth the
best you can by putting the reproducer to mono and then set the head
screw for best highs you can get. Then you might get some higher
frequencies which are essential for intelligibility. Then, apply a 60
Hz notch. Try to see the prominent hum frequencies in a FFT analyser,
write them down and try to notch 'em out. You won't get an useful
recording but you might be able to transcribe the interwiew.

Good luck,

Edi Zubovic, Crikvenica, Croatia
  #9   Report Post  
Peter Larsen
 
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Scott Dorsey wrote:

It's a particular kind of wooliness caused by comb filtering.


Or like a recorder that was hidden under a pillow.

--scott



Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************
  #11   Report Post  
Ruth
 
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Default

Try contacting www.ulytel.com as they have a phone with a chip in it that
can separate the human voice from background noises. Their website doesn't
seem to show it, so perhaps give them a call.
RuthWest

"gmc" wrote in message
...
Hi,

A friend of mine has given me a recording of an interview he did with
Chet Atkins some years ago on cassette tape.

It's a very bad quality recording - there is an aircon/fan hum & the
voices are unintelligable:

http://www.intlog.demon.co.uk/audio/Chetclip1.mp3

That's the quality of the original recording - I've tried chucking it
into cool edit pro & done a noise reduction thang by sampling the fan
noise & removing that but not had much joy..

- any tools/techniques that could at least get the voices intelligable
enough to be transcribed?

Thx



  #18   Report Post  
Peter Larsen
 
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Scott Dorsey wrote:

So what FFT parameters are you using when you look at the file, Scott?


I'm not, but I'd crank the window size up as high as possible since you
are looking at fairly low frequencies.


I always use max resolution possilbe in Coolition, I agree with Arny,
there is no evidence of comb filtering, there is simply a major roll-off
above some 400 Hz and a little relative boost in the low treble, one
that matches what a crappy tape-deck internal mic is likely to have. I
still think the recording was made with the recorder under a pillow. I
also think that there is no likelyhood of getting comprehensible audio
from it.

--scott



Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************
  #19   Report Post  
Peter Larsen
 
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Scott Dorsey wrote:

So what FFT parameters are you using when you look at the file, Scott?


I'm not, but I'd crank the window size up as high as possible since you
are looking at fairly low frequencies.


I always use max resolution possilbe in Coolition, I agree with Arny,
there is no evidence of comb filtering, there is simply a major roll-off
above some 400 Hz and a little relative boost in the low treble, one
that matches what a crappy tape-deck internal mic is likely to have. I
still think the recording was made with the recorder under a pillow. I
also think that there is no likelyhood of getting comprehensible audio
from it.

--scott



Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************
  #20   Report Post  
Arny Krueger
 
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"Peter Larsen" wrote in message

Scott Dorsey wrote:

So what FFT parameters are you using when you look at the file,
Scott?


I'm not, but I'd crank the window size up as high as possible since
you are looking at fairly low frequencies.


I always use max resolution possilbe in Coolition,


I like that nickname - Coolition! ;-)

I agree with Arny,
there is no evidence of comb filtering, there is simply a major
roll-off above some 400 Hz and a little relative boost in the low
treble, one that matches what a crappy tape-deck internal mic is
likely to have.


Dirty heads and misbiased tape also come to mind.

I still think the recording was made with the
recorder under a pillow. I also think that there is no likelyhood of
getting comprehensible audio from it.


I've actually made out about 3 words... But I may have got them wrong!




  #21   Report Post  
Arny Krueger
 
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"Peter Larsen" wrote in message

Scott Dorsey wrote:

So what FFT parameters are you using when you look at the file,
Scott?


I'm not, but I'd crank the window size up as high as possible since
you are looking at fairly low frequencies.


I always use max resolution possilbe in Coolition,


I like that nickname - Coolition! ;-)

I agree with Arny,
there is no evidence of comb filtering, there is simply a major
roll-off above some 400 Hz and a little relative boost in the low
treble, one that matches what a crappy tape-deck internal mic is
likely to have.


Dirty heads and misbiased tape also come to mind.

I still think the recording was made with the
recorder under a pillow. I also think that there is no likelyhood of
getting comprehensible audio from it.


I've actually made out about 3 words... But I may have got them wrong!


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