[Sidney Salem]

I use a CD player in my car with cassette adapter for the car's radio. One
feature I discovered and that I have always liked is that if I engage the
Dolby B on the car radio, and adjust CD volume output, I can obtain a noise
reduction/ treatment of the sound that I really like. I know this isn't
supposed to be the way that Dolby works, but I like the effect. However, to
get the right effect I usually have to decrease CD volume to about half and
then I don't really have enough volume left over for the car radio speakers.
My question is this: is there any reasonable way I can make a new CD with
this Dolby effect and without too much loss? My thought was to buy a cheap
home cassette deck with Dolby B and use the CD player/ cassette adapter with
it, and then feed the output of the cassette deck into my sound card but I
don't know if this would be the best way.

Thanks,
Sidney

[Scott Dorsey]

Sidney Salem wrote:
I use a CD player in my car with cassette adapter for the car's radio. One
feature I discovered and that I have always liked is that if I engage the
Dolby B on the car radio, and adjust CD volume output, I can obtain a noise
reduction/ treatment of the sound that I really like. I know this isn't
supposed to be the way that Dolby works, but I like the effect. However, to
get the right effect I usually have to decrease CD volume to about half and
then I don't really have enough volume left over for the car radio speakers.
My question is this: is there any reasonable way I can make a new CD with
this Dolby effect and without too much loss? My thought was to buy a cheap
home cassette deck with Dolby B and use the CD player/ cassette adapter with
it, and then feed the output of the cassette deck into my sound card but I
don't know if this would be the best way.

I hope this is a joke.

But you can always buy an outboard Dolby B decoder... there are plenty of
them out there.

What you're getting is mostly treble expansion.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Sidney Salem]

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...

I hope this is a joke.

Why would it be a joke? The Dolby effect I'm speaking of has been the only
way I found to eliminate the remainder of noise in the recording. Noise
reduction software came close, but left some artifacts and the Dolby
eliminates these. It may not be the ideal way, but it works for me.

But you can always buy an outboard Dolby B decoder... there are plenty of
them out there.

Such as? If cheaper than the cassette deck, I may go for it.

What you're getting is mostly treble expansion.

Yes, that's what I understand. Even better if I could accurately simulate
the effect in software EQ if I knew how to apply the EQ properly.

--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[John Williamson]

Sidney Salem wrote:

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...

I hope this is a joke.

Why would it be a joke? The Dolby effect I'm speaking of has been the
only way I found to eliminate the remainder of noise in the recording.
Noise reduction software came close, but left some artifacts and the
Dolby eliminates these. It may not be the ideal way, but it works for me.

But you can always buy an outboard Dolby B decoder... there are plenty of
them out there.

Such as? If cheaper than the cassette deck, I may go for it.

What you're getting is mostly treble expansion.

Yes, that's what I understand. Even better if I could accurately
simulate the effect in software EQ if I knew how to apply the EQ properly.

For free on a Windows box, plus a bit of time.

Install Winamp. Install the Tape Live plugin:-

http://www.hansvanzutphen.com/tape_restore_live/

Which has a function to emulate Dolby B, with many options.

Use Winamp to play the CD on your computer, using the plugin to get the
sound you want, then use Winamp's convert to .wav function to generate
..wav files for each track on your HD. Use the CD burner of your choice
to burn the .wav files onto CD-R as Audio CD format, which then gives
you a pre-processed CD which you can play directly.

Otherwise, you need to fiddle with a high pass filter and expander in
your favourite DAW, combining the processed track back into the overall
mix. Dolby B works by raising and compressing low HF levels while
recording, then expanding and reducing them when playing back. For a
quick and dirty simulation, we used to just turn the treble down a bit
if the playback deck didn't have Dolby fitted.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Sidney Salem]

"John Williamson" wrote in message
...


For free on a Windows box, plus a bit of time.

Install Winamp. Install the Tape Live plugin:-

http://www.hansvanzutphen.com/tape_restore_live/

Which has a function to emulate Dolby B, with many options.

Use Winamp to play the CD on your computer, using the plugin to get the
sound you want, then use Winamp's convert to .wav function to generate
.wav files for each track on your HD. Use the CD burner of your choice to
burn the .wav files onto CD-R as Audio CD format, which then gives you a
pre-processed CD which you can play directly.

Thanks. Tried it yesterday and it seems somewhat close. However, the lows
seem to be emphasized a little more than when I use my method. I suppose a
possible workaround might be playing around in the DAW, but I had really
hoped to keep it simple.


Otherwise, you need to fiddle with a high pass filter and expander in your
favourite DAW, combining the processed track back into the overall mix.
Dolby B works by raising and compressing low HF levels while recording,
then expanding and reducing them when playing back. For a quick and dirty
simulation, we used to just turn the treble down a bit if the playback
deck didn't have Dolby fitted.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[John Williamson]

Sidney Salem wrote:

"John Williamson" wrote in message
...


For free on a Windows box, plus a bit of time.

Install Winamp. Install the Tape Live plugin:-

http://www.hansvanzutphen.com/tape_restore_live/

Which has a function to emulate Dolby B, with many options.

Use Winamp to play the CD on your computer, using the plugin to get
the sound you want, then use Winamp's convert to .wav function to
generate .wav files for each track on your HD. Use the CD burner of
your choice to burn the .wav files onto CD-R as Audio CD format, which
then gives you a pre-processed CD which you can play directly.

Thanks. Tried it yesterday and it seems somewhat close. However, the
lows seem to be emphasized a little more than when I use my method. I
suppose a possible workaround might be playing around in the DAW, but I
had really hoped to keep it simple.


The plugin is highly configurable, and it doesn't disable the built in
graphic equaliser in Winamp. Try changing the levels in the setup on the
plugin, or just cutting the bass a bit in Winamp.

Also, check the bass response on your home system against the bass
response on your car system.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Scott Dorsey]

Sidney Salem wrote:
"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...

I hope this is a joke.

Why would it be a joke? The Dolby effect I'm speaking of has been the only
way I found to eliminate the remainder of noise in the recording. Noise
reduction software came close, but left some artifacts and the Dolby
eliminates these. It may not be the ideal way, but it works for me.

What it's doing is basically making loud things louder and soft things
softer on the top end. If you like this, there are plenty of expansion
devices that are far more effective.

I don't what "noise reduction software" you're talking about.. there are
as many kinds of single-ended noise reduction systems as there are kinds
of noise.

But you can always buy an outboard Dolby B decoder... there are plenty of
them out there.

Such as? If cheaper than the cassette deck, I may go for it.

Tascam made 'em. Concord made 'em. Fostex made 'em. I even have some
Dolby B cards that go into a standard Dolby rack around here. Look on Ebay.

What you're getting is mostly treble expansion.

Yes, that's what I understand. Even better if I could accurately simulate
the effect in software EQ if I knew how to apply the EQ properly.

It's not EQ, it's dynamic processing. You cannot simulate it with EQ, but
you could simulate it with a multiband dynamics processor.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."