Aesthetics of Record Archiving

[AndyMorris]

If we archive old records, how do we approach the removal of excessive noise - hiss, crackles and scratches?

For myself, I get it as clean as I can, or at least as clean as needed to make any residual noise stop being a distraction.

Some people, perhaps not many here, might feel that the noise is a patina, its part of the experience.

An Example:

A friends mother recently passed away, they had an old shellac 78 that she had recorded as a young girl, sometime in the 50s, in a booth in a record shop, of her singing Ave Maria. They wanted to be able to play it at her funeral. Unfortunately, the sound quality was terrible, making the record unlistenable.

After I cleaned it up it was devoid of distracting noise and the emotional impact of her tenderly beautiful voice was able to shine thru. It was played at her funeral and was much appreciated.

I’m not sure if I didn’t erase something of the age of the record. I think if I was doing it again, I would keep some of the noise in the run in and then fade it out in the opening few second of quiet vocals, so that the age of the recording was made subtly clear, but the distractions were gone and her voice was able to give the song its emotional impact.

Any thoughts?

 

[Joe Smith]

I agree, that would have been cool. For me, vinyl is vinyl, I don’t spend a ton of time trying to make it sound like digital. Back in the day, you just played them, and then eventually there was a new thing called a “Diskwasher!”

 

[krabapple]

If we archive old records, how do we approach the removal of excessive noise - hiss, crackles and scratches?

For myself, I get it as clean as I can, or at least as clean as needed to make any residual noise stop being a distraction.

Easy: keep a copy of both before and after.