AUDIBILITIES

By Emmet Robinson       King Street Recording Company
Professional Audio Services for Any Purpose You Can Think Of –
Video and Photo Too!
Volume 63, Summer, 2016                                           610-647-4341
www.kingstreetrecording.com               www.kingstreetrecord@aol.com
Blog: www.emmetrobinson.com/wp/

What Are You Waiting For?

If you’re even remotely typical, somewhere inside of you is a singer, songwriter, poet, musician, radio personality, author, trainer or professional speaker yearning to be free. Deep within your soul is a powerful creative urge trying to get out.
So, what are you waiting for?
Yeah, I know. Real life gets in the way, so you put it off. You wait for the ideal time, a better opportunity, the perfect time to start.
You wait until after exams…
or you’re more settled in the new job…
or the kids are older…
or your cold gets better…
or you get a better guitar…
or until the weather gets better – spring, maybe…
or the economy improves…
or your credit card balance is lower…
or until…whatever.

There are so many ways to avoid making the commitment to yourself to start what you really want to do.

Popular excuses include:
• All of your original hand-written notes have been lost.
• Your overweight neighbor sat on your guitar and smashed it.
• The dog ate your original song sheets.
• Your computer crashed and lost everything you’ve ever written.
• The new baby takes all of your time and attention.
• Your company has just transferred you to Finland.

All of these delays seem perfectly logical and reasonable. And then one day you find that you’ve waited too long.
Your skills have faded. You’re no longer able to sing, speak or play as well as you used to, and all of your creative opportunities have been lost. How would that feel?

Seldom – if ever – is there a perfect time to do anything. Okay, what does that mean to you? Simply this:
Millions of creative people never take the bold step of expressing themselves fully – and go to their graves “with their music still in them.”
Don’t let that happen to you! Find out what you’re truly capable of!
Have you written a song? An educational, motivational or training program that needs to be heard? Do you want to be a singer?
A radio voice? Professional speaker? Have you written a poem, a novel or short story?
Well, what are you waiting for? Record it – and do it now!
Call 610-647-4341 or e-mail kingstreetrecord@aol.com for your FREE in-studio consultation. Don’t wait any longer.
Call or email now!

IN THE STUDIO
Words
Value Added

A group of teenagers created a dramatic dance routine to perform to original music. After completing their choreography they decided to add narrative at specific parts of the presentation. Four of the dancers came to the studio with their scripts and, with a little coaching, did a fine job of recording dialogue that will add substantial emotional impact to the live presentation.
The secret of reading a script effectively is to sound as though you’re speaking directly to a live person directly in front of you. To learn how to do that, call 610-647-4341. Who knows? You might have an exciting future as a voice actor!

FROM THE ATTIC
Audio
Long Play Music – Really Long Play!

In restoring an open-reel tape and converting it to disk, it’s sometimes possible to “set and forget” the system until the tape has played all the way through. At other times, for technical reasons, constant attention is required.
Back in the seventies, all manufacturers of recording tape were required to change the composition of their products because the chemicals used could contribute toxins to the environment. In all fairness, it should be said that no one could have predicted the end result: tapes approaching ten years of age would become sticky and either difficult or impossible to play.
Three open-reel tapes from that era, containing more than nine hours of the client’s music, were brought here for transfer to disk. This is where digital technology doesn’t help much because the problem is mechanical – the physical interaction between the tape surface and the playback recorder. After several hours of experimentation, a method was devised to play the tapes in their entirety and convert them to digital files. Then adjustments could be made to make the most of the original recording quality. Twenty-two and a half hours of careful production resulted in more than nine hours of good music. 

Small Voices

 At fairgrounds and amusement parks many years ago were small booths with coin-operated recording systems. These devices, crude as they were, allowed folks to record their voices. The results were small, very fragile disks. One of these – a recording of children’s voices – was brought here for processing and conversion to digital disk. The tricky part was in deciding how to best capture the best sound quality. A variety of stylii (needles) are kept on hand for projects such as this, and one was chosen to make the most contact with the walls of the record groove. Then, with tracking weight and anti-skating set, a successful transfer was made from record to computer. Luckily, the groove played all the way through without mis-tracking and no repairs were necessary.
The digital file of the kids’ voices was then uploaded to a second computer workstation for the reduction of surface noise. This allowed the kids’ voices to rise above the background “hash” and be heard.
If you’re old enough to have one of these old analog disks, now you know where to bring it for professional conversion to audio CD!

Recovered Words

Many years ago – never mind how many – she had given a detailed presentation to a group of professional peers. The tape languished, all but forgotten, until recently.
Deciding to have it converted to digital disk, she brought the open reel in for processing. In playback it was discovered that someone had attempted to use the tape to record brief sections of music from the radio – right over parts of the presentation!
The music was so loud that it over-powered the voice, making the presenter’s voice hard to hear.
Luckily the periods of music were mercifully brief. Once digitized in the computer, it was possible to carefully remove the music without affecting the spoken presentation (editing is accurate to the 1/1000th of a second). With the loud music removed, the quiet voice could then be increased in volume to the proper level.
When completed, all of the remaining presentation was preserved without music, gaps or spaces and a special event in the client’s life was preserved.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Most of us have never taken the time to record our voices for posterity.At the end of our time on earth sometimes the only sounds we leave behind are voice mail messages.
I recently dealt with three – each from a different source. The first was taken directly from the client’s voice mail system. Another was from an answering machine micro-tape. The third was from a standard audiocassette from yet another answering machine.
A mix of analog and digital techniques allowed combining all of these brief messages into a single file, adjusting the recording levels for consistent playback level, and adjusting the tonal quality for greater intelligibility.
Multiple copies on disk will give friends and extended family an unusual keepsake from someone who may be gone – but is definitely not forgotten.

Video

It was fun to convert Ed’s old VHS videotape to digital disk. His educational seminar on career choice had been presented at an area university, and audience response was enthusiastic. He made the point that unusual career choices beyond our borders can often be more rewarding than traditional employment.
Minor adjustments to color and contrast brightened up the picture, and multiple copies can be given to those who may be interested in the road less traveled.

The Early Years

A young couple had documented the birth and birthdays of their two kids with homemade videos. Their tapes included no leaders – blank spaces at the beginning. So, to ensure that absolutely all content was captured in the computer, three seconds of blank space were added at the start of each tape. That became the challenge. I operate on the premise that all software is defective. With the application I was using, following the instructions for adding blank space failed to produce the desired result. Improvising and exploring options under alternate headings did. There are times when it’s necessary to “finesse” the computer. 

A Work in Progress

With the help of the U.S. Postal Service, it’s possible to collaborate with clients in other states. Over the years a client in New Jersey has been providing interesting audio, video and photographic projects. We’re currently working on restoration of old home movies.
Someone else had previously converted the original films to video tape – but assembled them out of sequence. Here, the individual sections could be put in the proper order. Then still photos were scanned and added to the video in such a way that the final DVD played smoothly from beginning to end – just like a real movie!
For sending your projects here, remember to send by Certified Mail with a return receipt. And, rather than the street address, send to P.O. Box 402, Malvern, PA  19355-0402  –  it’s more secure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: So many current studios seem to consist of nothing but a single room with a keyboard and a laptop. Why do you have so much space?
A: I never know what clients might need. When a group of musicians want to record, they’ll need the extra room. Also, they can’t be in the same room as the recording system because the microphones will pick up the sounds of both the recording system and the technician.
Q: On your invoices you often list an extra free copy for ‘archival storage.’What does that mean?”
A: Keeping extra disk copies of distinctive programs comes in handy. A musical video produced here two years ago was available in the archives when the musician needed one more copy
A client recently asked about extra copies of an interview from four years ago. She’d misplaced the original, and the person she gave the copy to lost it. The unusual nature of the recording made me think of keeping one on the shelf. So a new copy was made from that.
A musical duo that had recorded here more than eight years previously called about additional copies. The archival disk made it possible

In the Photo Shop
Show Biz

A musician friend brought in a newspaper review of a club performance in 1974. There were marks and stains, lost characters, pen markings, and notes from the other side of the paper that were visible through the text. Delicate use of assorted digital tools fully restored the review to nearly its original condition.
NOTE: if you work in the performing arts, always save your reviews carefully. They add power and credibility to your promotional materials.