SH Spotlight How do I fix a damaged analog master tape without digital step? Jethro Tull, Nat King Cole, etc.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Jul 21, 2022.

  1. Unranged

    Unranged Enjoyer of Music

    Location:
    California
    Damn it, now after comparing both the DCC and the 40th flat transfer, I hear a clear artifact of some kind at about 1:25, right after "dog-end". I'm guessing that's an edit point.
     
  2. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    I made sure. Fixed for the Adapted, wrong tape pulled for the previous Blu-ray.
     
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  3. Unranged

    Unranged Enjoyer of Music

    Location:
    California
    Was the same replacement tape Steve prepared used, or did it have to be recreated? I love hearing about this stuff, it's fascinating!
     
  4. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    Brand new fix by Warner. Warner magic. :)
     
  5. jwoverho

    jwoverho Licensed Drug Dealer

    Location:
    Mobile, AL USA
    Always fascinating to hear about what goes on behind the scenes, especially if it’s something that the listener might not even hear with the end result.

    When I went through my music business program decades ago we had to dub a favorite song onto 1/2 inch tape, take the trusty razor blade, cut out a verse and chorus and splice back together. The goal was to make the edits unnoticeable to the listener.

    We were working from dubs and it was still nerve-wracking. I can’t imagine the feeling of cutting the master.
     
  6. KDubATX

    KDubATX A Darby Man Never Says When

    Location:
    Austin
    [​IMG]
     
  7. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    I'm glad you're still doing these little chalk-talk-tips, Steve. I can see all the recent hand-wringing about the digital stage in the MoFi subject, has stuck in your craw. A lot of us are here primarily because you occasionally pull back the curtain with tidbits like these. In addition to helping make us more aware of how seriously the pros take these sort of problems, it has also made a lot of us perhaps a bit to paranoid to just enjoy the music like we used to before we started "keeping an eye out for somebody leaving the boom mic in the shot"*.



    (*metaphor, obviously - young film students start discovering they can't enjoy movies anymore once their eyes are trained for such errors)(from personal experience)
     
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  8. jrice

    jrice Senior Member

    Location:
    Halifax, NS Canada
    I'm not in the industry Steve, but I find this stuff fascinating. Thanks for taking the time to share.
     
  9. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Ya know, somebody should digitally remove the blemishes on that gif...and colorize it while they're at it! :laugh:
     
  10. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    It's great to hear about this again. Brain surgery on tapes.
     
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  11. nick99nack

    nick99nack Forum Resident

    Location:
    Spotswood, NJ
    I looked at this myself a while back, and ripped the hi-res flat transfer from the Adapter Edition to my PC. Opened up Cool Edit Pro and examined it in spectral view. I don't have a screenshot of it on hand, but it looked to me that there was a short section during the part of the song Steve mentioned, where you can see the frequency response and noise floor change from the area around it. If I remember correctly, it may have been from a CD-quality digital master, based on the frequency cutoff. I'd have to check again to be sure of that (and maybe I will after work).
     
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    I once saw a movie on TV that was originally shot for a wider screen projected without the matte and I could see the twitching boom microphone in every shot, lurking over the heads of the actors. Drove me batpoop bonkers watching that; lost the thread of the story line, just made me crazy.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The bottom line for me is, I CAN'T STAND cutting from digital, will do everything possible to avoid it, including using a tape copy or using a fresh 30 ips one inch analog flat transfer of the original if it's all I can get. Keep it in the analog domain for as long as possible even if it's going to end up a CD or SACD, that's been my goal.
     
  13. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    If you wouldn't mind elaborating about "can't stand cutting from digital"...is it the possibility of the digital source being made from less-than-modern conversions, perhaps?
     
  14. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    No, I just don't like it. Why bother cutting a record from a digital file? Pointless, isn't it? Just get the SACD. If the company doesn't offer one, go get an old pressing that's cut analog.

    The colorations of analog are neat, they make stuff sound lifelike. A good analog dub will (usually) enhance that and will sound amazing when cut into a recording lacquer.
     
  15. longdist01

    longdist01 Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    Thank you @Steve Hoffman for sharing all this cool and interesting insider stories 'From Inside The Remastering room' with all of us at Forum!
     
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  16. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yer welcome.
     
  17. jhw59

    jhw59 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rehoboth Beach DE.
    So did you tell Ian Anderson what you had to do? If so, his reaction?
     
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  18. CDlovingKIWI

    CDlovingKIWI Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    Transferring in the digital medium into the analog medium (vinyl) kind of defeats the purpose and comes off as unauthentic to me. Always a better option to cut from the original analog tapes but I know to well record labels are transferring all these tapes to digital now so they don't have to worry about them.
     
  19. Jasonbraswell

    Jasonbraswell Vinylphile

    Location:
    Guntersville
    Just wanted to underline/emphasize this^^

    FWIW I have a original Aqualung incoming that I ordered Sunday.
    Similar situation when you bumped Modern Sounds the other day.
    What's the next spotlight so I can check my order log?
     
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  20. David del Toro

    David del Toro Forum Resident

    I'll say it again Steve, you really gotta write a book. This stuff is super interesting.
     
  21. qtrules

    qtrules Forum Resident

    Location:
    canada
    i wonder if steven wilson had to re-fix the damage when he remixed the song a dozen or so years later?
     
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  22. The Beave

    The Beave My Wife Is My Life! And don’t I forget it!

    And what is this Adapted version.
    BeaVe
     
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  23. nosticker

    nosticker Forum Guy

    Location:
    Ringwood, NJ
    I personally enjoy these stories. I'd have been scared doo-doo-less to make the splices.



    Dan
     
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  24. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada
    Multi-track tapes used.
     
  25. tootull

    tootull Looking through a glass onion

    Location:
    Canada

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