by Emmet Robinson
King Street Recording Company
Professional Audio Services for Any Purpose You Can Think Of – Video and Photo Too!

                           610-647-4341                                     kingstreetrecord@aol.com                               

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Volume 61, Fall, 2015

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Digital Audio – Fact and Fiction

There are a great number of popular myths and misunderstandings about the capabilities of digital audio. The fact is, most things take longer than we expect them to. There are good reasons for this.

In creating a CD from an old 78-rpm record or analog tape, original recordings will only play in real time. That means that a 60-minute record or tape will actually require a full hour to play and digitize.

In that hour, using a real-time CD burner, the original recording could be transferred directly to a CD. Although that sounds simple enough, there is a downside to that method. There will be no control over either the sound quality or the recording level. Skipped grooves, failed tape splices, unwanted noise or sudden changes in recording level on the original will become part of the CD copy. No corrections are possible.

A better approach is to use that same hour to create a Digital Session File in the computer to provide full control of all of these factors. Once created, the Digital Session File can be manipulated in many different ways.

First, what is the optimum recording level achievable – and how long will it take to establish it? Because this requires repeated listening and measuring, we can’t tell in advance.

Next, a sophisticated software program can be used to correct the ticks, pops, hiss and random static that are part and parcel of most recordings. The software includes several tools for specific types of noise, and literally thousands of possible variations. Each tool must be adjusted for the best sound quality. How long will this take? Because this also can only be done by repeated listening, we can’t predict that either.

For individual track access, converting each song or segment to AIFF format for transfer to CD will also happen in real time. Three minutes of audio will take three minutes to convert. Converting 12 average-length tracks will take 30 to 45 minutes.

Finally, after all this prep work, we can make a quality CD. This happens rather quickly – in most cases 4 to 5 minutes. The bulk of the preceding time – often several hours – is used inpreparation.

An original CD can be copied quickly – because it’s already digitized. Analog sources, however, can require much more time and careful attention. Now you know why!

Copyright © 2015 Emmet Robinson

IN THE STUDIO
Words
Making a Movie

Working with a professional video producer and several actors from Peoples Light and Theatre Company, we produced narrative for an interesting documentary on the history of a manufacturing company founded in the late 1800s. Like most successful businesses, it had started small, then grew and diversified. Over the company’s long history, the rate and extent of growth was extraordinary.
Through trials and tribulations,
good times – and the other kind – it was fascinating to learn how the company managed each step along the way to international prominence. I’ll look forward to seeing the final production.

The crew from Peoples Light was wonderful to work with. Fully professional, they were able to provide distinctly individual voices for the multiple characters they played.

For dialogue that rings true, professional actors are what’s needed to produce an effective result. Whenever I’m asked to provide voices, I don’t use narrators. Actors are far more flexible. Like a sampler? Call 610-647-4341.

Getting Smarter

Over the years, I enjoyed producing educational audio CDs for a client in the financial services field. In collaboration, we’d recorded three different programs and created attractive covers, labels and liners for them. At the start, the programs were popular. Then, over time, re-orders gradually slowed, then stopped. The account remained inactive for several years.

Experience has taught me to retain client materials for unusual lengths of time. Sure enough, the account recently became active again when the client called for more copies. Because all audio files and graphics files had been carefully retained, it was a simple matter to complete the order.

Complex Issues, Complex Names

In producing narration for a video to be used in a courtroom setting, I learned something interesting. When someone is the victim of an industrial accident, and a comprehensive course of treatment is being determined, it’s amazing how many healthcare providers can become involved. Each one has a specialty, most seem to overlap in one form or another, and all seem to be entirely necessary.

In projects of this nature, accuracy in all things is critically important. The script included a veritable host of medical specialists, most with names that could be pronounced in more than one way. Prior to recording, it was necessary to consult with the client to determine correct pronunciation of each. When in doubt, alternate versions were provided. Better safe than sorry!

Music
Fast service

Using his own records and equipment, the client had produced a special audiocassette of his musical favorites for a lady friend’s birthday. Not wanting to risk losing his original work in the mail, he brought it here for conversion to disk. The problem was that it needed to arrive at the lady’s home by the next day. That meant starting immediately.

Because the schedule here was already full, it was necessary to ask other clients to be patient. It was also necessary to add an extra charge to the invoice. The new client didn’t mind, so we did what had to be done.

For your projects, planning ahead will allow you to avoid extra charges.

 Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long do CDs and DVDs last?
A: Although we won’t know the final answer to that for another fifty years, the disks seem durable enough. We started recording on disk about fifteen years ago, and none have been returned. They remind me of the old Volkswagen ad that read something like this:

“At Volkswagen, we don’t know how long our cars will last – the first one we made is still running!”

Q: Why do you use multiple computers when everyone else seems to use just one?
A: With the many specialized combinations of operating systems and applications used here, there is no single computer that will accommodate them all.

FROM THE ATTIC
Music
Dynamic Range

Working with an old audiocassette of Tibetan bells used for meditation provided an interesting challenge. The dynamic range – that is, the difference between the softest and loudest passages – was extreme. The aim was to digitize the recording and transfer it to disk without interfering with the original dynamic range.

Once imported to a digital workstation at a conservative level, the recording was then played repeatedly with minor adjustments to recording level made each time. After several passes, the ideal peak recording level was achieved. Although this was a time-consuming process, each playback could run unattended while other work was being done on separate systems.

Author, Author!

Back in 1985, Margie and Meghan sang duets on the stage of The Old Time Café, a small California folk club. Luckily, someone had the presence of mind to capture the event on audiocassette.

Now, thirty years later, the performance has been carefully digitized, edited and converted to compact disk.

The editing was necessary because much of the spoken commentary would be of little interest to a listener who hadn’t actually been there for the show. Over a couple of hours, it was possible to carefully remove nearly all of the extraneous commentary, leaving just a brief spoken intro to each tune and the music itself. The trick was to do this without affecting the flow of the performance. This is where a good ear and sophisticated software make the difficult possible. The finished product played smoothly to the end without so much as a hint that anything had been cut.

In designing custom labels, covers and tray liners, it was decided to list all song titles and composers on the back of the CD cases. The question was, what were the exact titles of the tunes? More importantly, who wrote ‘em? In creating recorded materials, it’s considered a matter of professional courtesy to list the writers’ names.

Information came from a variety of sources. One, of course, was Meghan’s personal recall. Calling her contacts in California also provided information. Then, having worked in the music business all of my adult life, I was able to fill in a blank or two. One composer’s name was found on an old disk recording here at the studio. The rest came from creative use of the Internet. The most useful approach there was to search from two directions. First, the song was searched for by title. When that proved unproductive, a search was made in the names of other performers who might have recorded the same song. Two hours later we had accurate information to list neatly on the back of the CD case.

The end result was a music CD that was both entertaining and attractive.

Do Over!

Everything seemed to go well. The old 45-RPM records digitized nicely, with minimal adjustment necessary. The open-reel tape from the ‘60s presented more of a challenge in that, over time, the oxide surface had become sticky and difficult to play. A combination of analog techniques allowed digitizing the music, and serious adjustments were made to correct the overall tonality of the recording. CDs were made, labels, tray liners added, and the client was pleased with the sound.

I wasn’t. A few days later, I came to the studio early in the morning with a very different approach in mind. It worked – and worked well. Since the investment in materials was minimal, it was a simple matter to create a new set of disks and mail them to the client at no charge. Why not?

Video
Glacier Girl

Restoring old videos and converting them to disk can often provide fascinating insights to historical events. Having served in the Air Force, I found a recent project to be of special interest.

On July 15, 1942, a squadron of American P-38 aircraft was being delivered to England to bolster the war effort. Unfortunately, severe weather conditions forced them to make an emergency landing on a glacier in Greenland. The crews were rescued in eleven days, but the locations of the aircraft were somehow misplaced.

Forty-seven years later, the lost aircraft were located – under 250 feet of accumulated ice and snow!

Then, in 1992, a dedicated crew of P-38 enthusiasts armed with deep pockets – and 38,000 pounds of high-tech equipment – decided to bring one of the planes to the surface.

In an amazing display of technical proficiency, they first created a vertical tunnel deep enough to reach one of the P-38s. Next, a steam generator allowed melting enough snow and ice at the bottom of the tunnel to create a subterranean work area. Then, one piece at a time, the plane was carefully disassembled and raised to the surface.

When transported back to the states, all of the parts were cleaned, repaired and reassembled to restore the original aircraft – to full working condition! After being rescued from her icy grave, Glacier Girl took to the sky once more!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

King Street Recording Company is now 48 years old. Thank you for helping to keep this small business going for so many enjoyable years!