[ARSCLIST] Getting Noise Processing right

["Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was just checking out my Dolby 422s that I finally installed. One 
complete unit for four channels of B/C/S repro and one that was 
missing the "S" board, so it only has B/C repro. Got half my money 
back from seller. Feel good overall.

Anyway, I played a tape that had a tone on it and aligned the tone 
properly on the 422 and it sounds a bit muffled, I increased the 
level going into the processor about 2 dB and it sounds much more 
natural, the way I remembered it. It was a tape from 1975 that I had 
done of the Met Opera Ring broadcasts - done by remote control since 
I was there in the audience during the broadcast.

So, any thoughts/tricks/methods anyone would care to share for 
adjusting processors for better sound?

This is a topic I don't think has been covered recently. I know the 
way one tape sounded the best was when I turned off the Dolby A 
DESPITE a bright yellow Dolby A sticker on the reel--along with the 
proper name for the album!

Also it took three dbx I processors before I got one I liked. The 
older 411s that I now have (rack mount cards) sound as good as the 
best of the compact units (the 150, not the 150X that I had).

Don't bother saying, "I don't like NR" as that doesn't matter now. It 
did when we used it, but the fact is we have tapes encoded for this 
and it's like a marriage vow: for better or for worse.

As a refresher, we have:

Dbx I and II
Dolby A, B, C, S, and SR (the first and last being professional)
Telcom C4(d) and its consumer derivative Nakamichi HighCom II

I have processors for all of the above. There was at least one, 
possibly two, Burwen companders. The one I'm aware of had a 3:1 
linear decibel compression/expansion.

I've also come to the conclusion that for rarely used formats, you 
can ingest into the computer, then go back out and in to the computer 
through the processor, doing as many channels as you can in each 
pass. Not fast, but better than maintaining 16 channels of rarely used NR.

I did this successfully when supplied with a WAV file of encoded 
Telcom C4 and sent back a WAV file after decoding.

Cheers,

Richard

P.S. for those who care, here are the quantities of channels I 
currently have available:

Dbx I (16 channels in 411 cards plus 11 spares)
Dbx II (4 channels installed, 4 backup)
Dolby A (16 channels installed plus about 40 spare Cat22 cards)
Dolby B (8 channels in Dolby 422s, 4 channels in Teac AN180s, built 
into Dragons)
Dolby C (8 channels in Dolby 422s, built into Dragons)
Dolby S (4 channels in Dolby 422s)
Dolby SR (I think I have about 8 cards)
Telcom C4(d) (4 cards)
Nakamichi HighCom II (2 channels)


Tape Restoration Seminar:    MAY 9-12, 2006; details at Web site.
Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm