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Welcome
To Our Audio/Record Restoration Section
Let's go back in time. We do that whenever we
play one of our "old" vinyl records. Ah yes, those
"old" records which bring all the memories
"flooding" back. Trouble is, those "old"
records sometimes have so many scratches and other undesirable things
that they're tough to even listen to. Besides,
"record players" or "turntables" themselves are becoming rare.
That's where we come in:We do audio restoration also known as
record restoration, in other
words we put music on CD's. Yes, those
round things that can be played anywhere there's a CD
player:-) The music is recorded in a digital format and it
sounds just great. We can even repair those "skips"
in your records.(click here to see how we
do that) For those who don't know, regular old CD
players are all DIGITAL in nature and all CD's are also
DIGITAL therefore any music that's put onto CD is DIGITAL.
Simple, huh?:-) Oh yes, we aren't just talking about
"records" here, oh no! Your music could be on
records OR some other medium, like say, TAPE. We work with
everything. We specialize in removing that "hard to
locate" noise that really interferes with our enjoyment
of the music. Our audio/record restoration service could be
just what you're looking for! Just click
here to contact us or click here to check
our prices.
To keep it simple, we have only TWO levels of
service: 1) BASIC,an economical service, intended for those with LP's
(an LP can be a record, cassette or 8-track) from the sixties onward
that are in good condition, (not too many scratches) and want the entire
LP transferred to CD. and 2) HOURLY, which is intended primarily
for those with older recordings from the fifties back and those with
newer recordings that are in poor condition. Just send your record(s) to
us and we'll send you an estimate by E-MAIL. If you like the
estimate, we'll do the work, if you don't, we'll send the record(s) back
and all you'll owe is the postage.
BASIC service includes STANDARD noise reduction
(mostly DEFAULT software settings) and a label on the CD which has the
album title and all song titles. (all songs get a separate track too)
HOURLY service includes detailed noise reduction, CD
case cover of your scanned album cover (or,if your record is
"home-made", you may want a special picture on there) and a CD label which
is a solid color, has the album title and all song titles.
ALL CD's are the excellent "Mitsui
Silver" or the excellent FUJIFILM and ALL CD's come with a "slimline" case. Case cover scanned
Artwork from your album cover is available for the BASIC service at a reasonable price.
Return shipping is paid by the customer. FREE return shipping on orders
of $1000 or more. (USPS Priority)
TIP: If you are unsure of the condition of your
record(s) (unsure as to whether they might have too many scatches and
dirt for BASIC service) ask for hourly service and include $45 for each
record that you are unsure of. (ONE hour of service) Hey, if it turns
out that the record is in better shape than you thought and STANDARD
noise reduction does the trick, you'll get the difference back. ($45-$17.50)
Tip: Unsure of the contents of an old record? (this
is typical of old records that were recorded in a booth for servicemen
during wartime) then use our PREVIEW service.
We play the record and create a file which we send to you over the
Internet so you can listen. (your computer must have a sound card and
speakers) This costs only $10/record and that amount is subtracted from
your bill if you have the record restored.
A note about "basic service": This service
utilizes some default software settings that yield good results for a
broad range of vinyl records in good condition. This means that,
occasionally, some (not much) noise will remain. The average listener
won't even notice it, BUT, if you're the type of person that puts on
headphones to hear every note, you might, so "hourly" service
may be for you. (detailed noise reduction) Just a "heads up"!
By the way, if you're the
"technical" type, you just might want to read a
truly informative article about recording and records, just
click here . If not, just
continue reading.
So you're thinking that this service is
fine for somebody with records from way back there in the
"thirties", but MY records aren't all THAT old
(maybe from the "sixties") and I can simply buy the
CD version of the album for less money, I don't need any
"audio/record restoration"! Well, assuming you can
FIND the CD you want, go for it! This DOES have advantages:
the cost and of course the fact that the music itself is taken
right off the studio "master tape" and recorded
directly to CD. This makes for a very good recording, no
doubt about it! Unfortunately, we all remember that back there
when we were buying records, we'd buy an album for ONE or TWO
particular songs and were more or less "stuck" with
the others. Well, no more! Services like ours (audio/record
restoration services) have one BIG
advantage, you can actually "pick and choose" which
songs go onto your CD. You could have a CD full of your
favorites (I've done just that)! Now think about all
those 45's: You can put them all on CD too. By the way, not
everything is on the pricelist, just drop us an email for a
reasonable quote. Our audio restoration service just might be
for you.
Here at DVB systems "Audio Restoration Division", we do ONE
thing and we do it right: We do the BEST audio restoration for the money,
period! What exactly is "audio restoration" anyway? If you haven't got time for
"surfing", let me put it simply: We take your old music
recordings, remove the noise and then create a CD, that's audio restoration in a "nutshell"! Let's make one thing perfectly
clear, we're ALWAYS going to work with the customer until a problem
is corrected. If that means working 'till 3 AM, so be it. That's the way
it was when we just sold and serviced computers, and that's still the way
it is.
By the way, (BTW for "nerds") we also do
"audio editing" for $45/ hour, just send an email
and we'll give you an idea what your job will cost.
What's
"Audio Restoration"?
"Audio
Restoration" is commonly called "music
restoration","record restoration"
or something similar. (Or it might be called something REALLY
simple like "putting your favorite music on CD") Most people(the
ones who'v actually KEPT their records) have records with an annoying scratch here and there,
some of us even have records that seem to be nothing but
scratches and noise because of the way we treated our records
back in the "old days"! Our process of audio restoration, takes your old
records, cassette tapes, 8-track tapes or
whatever your music is on, puts that music into a computer so it
can be processed and then we put the
result onto a CD in a digital format (this entire process is
what we call "audio restoration"). The CD now contains the original music,
just as it was on that old noisy record/scratchy
record or whatever but now it sounds GREAT
because the noise is gone. That CD can now be
played on ANY player you have,
("boom-box", PC, etc. ) Audio restoration has
done it again, some GREAT sounding music on a convenient CD. One thing to
make clear here: The ORIGINAL recording, be it
vinyl record, tape or whatever is absolutely
UNCHANGED. Whatever was on that media when you
packed it, will be there when you get it back.
The only thing different is that now you have a
CD with magically clear, noise-free music on it.
How do we do it?
We begin by evaluating the record or tape for obvious
damage and "playability". When and if the record or tape passes our scrutiny, then the process of "audio restoration" can
begin. First, we clean the record by hand if it's an older record. (if it's a tape, we don't do any cleaning).Newer
vinyl records are cleaned on our machine. Then it goes on a professional
turntable or other high-quality machine. The music is then played into the
computer with very high accuracy (we use a "professional" grade
converter for this) and the noise removed by "state-of-the art" software.
The last step is where we actually place the "cleaned up" music
onto a CD. The audio restoration process is now complete. Note that since we don't want any misunderstandings or other
problems, we may send you an email at any point and work will be halted
until the problem is resolved. By the way, our resident
"audiophile", Ken, does all music restoration.
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How we fix "skips"
Well, to begin, "skips" are not what you'd
call "easy" to fix. What we do is first locate the area where
the "skip" is by playing the record. Then, we put the record
under a high powered microscope and actually look for the skip. (this is
really the hard part, finding a "skip" when the record groove
itself may be a thousandth of an inch wide can be "tricky")
Fortunately, our microscope displays on a computer monitor which makes the
process a bit easier. (we have a dedicated computer workstation for our
microscope only) Once the "skip" is found, we usually
"cut" a new path to the correct groove using a very sharp knife.
The resulting "click/pop" is easily removed with software. NOTE:
Providing the skip(s) can be fixed in 30 min., there'll be no extra
charge,but,if the skip(s) take longer to fix,we'll have to charge our
normal rate of $36/hr. (maximum 2 hour charge. We reserve the right to
"send back" to you any record that we determine has "too
many skips",in that case, you'd only have to pay the return
shipping)
Back To Top
Records
and Recording By Ken Bouchard This
article is an abbreviated history of audio recording on records. (and a bit
of technology thrown in for good measure, hope I don't "snow"
too many people!) In the late 1870's, (1877 actually) a man named Thomas
Edison, whom you may have heard of :-), invented what is known as
"the phonograph". (Note that decades earlier others had
experimented with "sound recording" and achieved some success
but Edison was the first one to actually "follow through" and
market something.) Edison knew enough about sound waves to know
that if one yelled into the large end of a "megaphone" (he
invented that too) a membrane or diaphragm stretched across the small end would
vibrate. He reasoned that a "stylus" or needle attached to that membrane
and in contact with something soft (tinfoil in this case) and turning
would "capture" those vibrations. He would turn that cylinder
with the tinfoil wrapped around it, by hand while having somebody yell
into the megaphone What he got was a cylinder with all these wavy lines
scratched into it. Edison then reversed the process by letting that
"stylus" sit in the groove and turned the cylinder again by
hand. By golly, the original sound came out of the megaphone! (But not
nearly as loud.) Edison didn't know it but what was scratched onto that
tinfoil was an EXACT replica of the soundwave produced when that other
person yelled into the megaphone. Things improved in a short time. Someone
named Berliner, started using a flat disc instead of the tinfoil
cylinder and this caught on when that device was marketed in competition
to Edison's cylinder device. Amazingly, little has changed since the
time of Edison and Berliner. Our modern day vinyl records still record
sound as "squiggly" lines on a record which are the EXACT
replica of the soundwave produced when Frankie Valli sang into the
"mike". (Try to picture Frankie yelling "walk like a
man" into the large end of Edison's megaphone, the end result is the
same.) By the way, vinyl has been used for records since the late
"forties" for several reasons, among which is that it's so
much less brittle than what was used for "78's". ( But of course it
scratches easier since it's a lot softer. A "tradeoff"! ) As
time went on, after the initial invention then Berliner's improvement,
things were added, like a hand crank that "wound" a spring and
turned the record and what was called a "3-D hinge" which
attached to the "horn" and contained both the diaphragm and the
stylus. (This made it much easier to put the "stylus" in the
groove and keep it there.) Unfortunately, right up to the "twenties",
music that was recorded on the disc, was still being heard out of that
"megaphone". (RCA's company logo is still that dog listening
intently to "his master's voice" coming out of one of those
megaphones.) That changed when somebody got the idea that if the mechanical
movements of the "stylus" could somehow be converted to an
electrical signal, then a "tube" amplifier could be used
which would drive a speaker and people could adjust how loud the thing
was. A device was invented that would "trace" the groove on a
rotating disc and produce an electrical waveform IDENTICAL to the
"squiggles". Thus was born the "phono cartridge" which
sits at the end of your tonearm and hasn't changed much at all in all
these years. It was a simple thing to run the cartridge output to an
amplifier and of course, someone put in an electric motor to turn the
record. VOILA! You've got your modern phonograph! Just
a small "blurb" about "stereo": That came about
in the "mid-fifties" so that music could be played with the
listener feeling the singing group was right there in front of him.
(Actually didn't catch on until the "mid sixties".) This
would involve recording then playing back TWO separate channels of sound.
This presented a problem in that in order for this system to be
commercially acceptable, a record with a single groove had to be able to
contain both the older "mono" recordings and those newer
"stereo" recordings. This was so the same "cartridge"
could play both. It was felt that the consumer just wouldn't buy a
phonograph if he had to fiddle and change things just to play different
kinds of records. (well, he STILL had to flip this little thing on
the tonearm to get a different stylus for 78's and LP's because of the
difference in groove size but that was hardly a "big
thing") The answer was to record the record with the groove not
only wiggling from SIDE TO SIDE as the older records did but also the
groove would undulate UP AND DOWN. We now could put those two channels
into a single groove. A new type of "lathe" cutting head was
developed for recording and a newer type of cartridge was developed to put
out a signal corresponding to the SIDE TO SIDE movements of the
stylus (The left channel or the "mono" channel.) and a separate
output for the UP AND DOWN movements. (The right channel.) Please
note that the basic design of the cartridge stayed the same with only a
few small changes. By 1980, the vinyl "LP"
(Long Play) was on it's way out. By 1990, most all music was being put on
CD with vinyl records becoming scarce. Today, although you CAN still find
some vinyl in places like "Media Play", those
"dinosaurs" are mostly impossible to find, you're likely to find
only CD's. BUT, you "purists" take heart! There are a number of
websites devoted to you and your love of vinyl. Parts for old turntables
ARE scarce but can still be found. Personally (a little editorializing
here) I think that...well lets not go there, I might say something I'd be
sorry for:-) All I can say is, there's an awful lot of records out there
with good music on them, just waiting to be converted to CD, hence,
"music restoration" services are in demand. Well, there you have it, a real short history
of "phono" recording. Send any and all gripes here.
(Like
for instance, Emil Berliner is your great grandfather and I failed to
mention it or you might have a really HEAVY grievance like "only a
"know-nothing Bozo" would write an article about recording and
not even mention things like frequency, dB's, RPM's, sampling,
channel-separation, A-D conversion ,PCM, signal to noise ratio,
furlongs to fortnight ratio, pizza tossing, bull riding
etc.") Well, all I can humbly say is to send in those e-mail's, I promise to consider each for
what it's worth:-) Seriously, when
time permits, I'll answer the simple ones. Back to Top
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