[bobD]

Over on the DiyAudio forums there is currently some interesting discussion on a real-time De-clicker using ffmpeg.

Early days yet .... I've given it a 'whirl' or two and it's not too bad ootb.
As it is Open source software there is plenty of scope for tuning.

The amazing $0 realtek phono preamp? - diyAudio

[Class A]

Digital got a bad rep back in those days, but the issue with over-brightness was with the engineering, not the medium.

It didn't help that the first players only processed 14bits out of the 16bits available, but more importantly, even some modern CD players don't correctly play back CDs which use the "de-emphasis" process. That means CD recorded in this format are played too brightly sounding. No wonder many people were put off by the result.

I understand that it should be rare to find such CDs released nowadays but in the early days it was not uncommon.

Regarding vinyl I think it is fair to say that it produces a euphonic sound but in terms of accuracy it is a hopelessly inferior medium. If one looks in detail at how the signal is pre-equalised so that a groove can handle it and to improve sound quality and that even better consumer systems will inevitably fail to apply the correct inverse (few use a preamp which can tune its phono pre-amp to the specific characteristics of the cartridge), it is a small wonder that it sounds that good at all.

For those who believe in the magic of analogue signals: It's been quite a while since masters for vinyl pressings became digital, so unless one plays an old record, one hears a digital signal smoothed out in some pleasant way.

[Class A]

Listening to Jean-Michel Jarre's Rendezvous on headphones (no speakers or amp yet) late at night in my room was pure magic.

I can imagine.

I once rigged up a DIY quadrophonic playback system (two-channel signal but the speakers were sufficiently different to imply some sound differentiation), turned off the lights and played "The Fall of the House of Usher". It was so scary, I had to turn the lights back on.

[Class A]

The 78's never disappoint with lots of clicks and pops!

Unless that's what you are going for, you could try wet playing.

A certain mixture of distilled water and isopropyl alcohol is applied to the groove by a second arm mounted to the turntable. If the flow is set correctly, the fluid will mostly have evaporated by the time you have listened to the record. This technique pretty much gets rid off any dust implied clicks and pops and helps with stylus wear as well. One has to adjust the anti-skating setting and records played this way will require a good clean before one can play them dry again, but as long as one keeps wet playing all is good.

[MarkJerling]

Unless that's what you are going for, you could try wet playing.

A certain mixture of distilled water and isopropyl alcohol is applied to the groove by a second arm mounted to the turntable. If the flow is set correctly, the fluid will mostly have evaporated by the time you have listened to the record. This technique pretty much gets rid off any dust implied clicks and pops and helps with stylus wear as well. One has to adjust the anti-skating setting and records played this way will require a good clean before one can play them dry again, but as long as one keeps wet playing all is good.

Indeed. I had one friend who tried that. But, even wet playing won't cure some of my real old 78's. Old age and poor handling by previous owners have not been kind to some of them, not to mention steel spikes from old gramophones.

[Class A]

steel spikes from old gramophones.

Brutal!

[zkarj]

Over on the DiyAudio forums there is currently some interesting discussion on a real-time De-clicker using ffmpeg.

Ummm, wouldn't the reverse approach be a bit more practical? I.e. work out some real time processing to process digital sound so that it sounds like vinyl, without the pops and clicks? Surely this has long since been done?

I once rigged up a DIY quadrophonic playback system (two-channel signal but the speakers were sufficiently different to imply some sound differentiation), turned off the lights and played "The Fall of the House of Usher". It was so scary, I had to turn the lights back on.

Oh, my. Oh, my, my! While Jean-Michel Jarre is my favourite artist (I have every reasonably obtainable album), The Alan Parsons Project is a very close second and I also have all of the albums, including the later Alan Parsons Band ones. One of my favourite tracks to blast is La Sagrada Familia off the Gaudi album. My love of Parsons came from my aforementioned sister and, if I recall correctly, my very first cassette was Turn of a Friendly Card. I am also 99% certain the first time I ever heard "Tales" was, in fact, a playing of my sister's vinyl. Now there's a memory. Mum still has the teak wall unit that housed all the audio gear (and I think some of the gear, too).

[Class A]

I indeed meant the first track on the second side of the Alan Parsons Project "Tales Of Mystery & Imagination". Still love it. At some point I acquired the MFSL mastered CD because the sound is great and it features the original mix. Parsons overdubbed the drums, some guitars and added narration by Orson Welles for the first digital release. Not nearly as egregious as what Lucas did to the original episodes IV-VI, but I like the original mix better.

[NZ_Ross]

This is all very informative stuff gentlemen. Come to the Kiwi Thread, get an education

[microlight]

Vinyl wet-cleaning is a little steam punk, Oamaru-style, don't you think?

[Transit]

This is all very informative stuff gentlemen. Come to the Kiwi Thread, get an education

Not going back
(past ESL 22/11 RD11 owner)

...did splash out on new earpads for the portapros yesterday tho

[zkarj]

At some point I acquired the MFSL mastered CD because the sound is great and it features the original mix. Parsons overdubbed the drums, some guitars and added narration by Orson Welles for the first digital release.

Interesting. I shall seek that out. There's a remastered version of Turn of a Friendly Card (one of my favourite overall of the albums) that has extras including a few 'bits" of Nothing Left to Lose. The Chris Rainbow vocals without the music behind are simply magical.

At work today I had the last hour to myself and listened to the entire "Tales" for the first time in a long while. Still magic. Also impressive how much punch you can get from Apple's AirPods Pro.

Oh, and I just remembered I wrote a review of ToaFC a few years ago for a friend's blog.

[Transit]

....
At work today I had the last hour to myself and listened to the entire "Tales" for the first time in a long while. Still magic. Also impressive how much punch you can get from Apple's AirPods Pro.

...

and I'm going...hangon, Tales is 81 min

[zkarj]

and I'm going...hangon, Tales is 81 min

Maybe it's 66 minutes and I was listening to it pre-release.

[zkarj]

I had some spare time on Friday morning during which I made it out to the airport — nothing unusual about that — but rather than snap away as usual, I tried my hand at video using the KP. I had some level of success.

I've yet to see what a decent post-processing can do, but I did sort out the sound rather well. I recently purchased a Zoom H1n portable recorder and was able to mount this on the hotshoe and cable it to the microphone port and it gave awesome audio.

For the lens I decided it was simplest to go with the Tamron 90mm and indeed this did fit the aircraft in at their closest to me, though of course a little way away and they were shrinking. I set manual focus and pulled it just back from infinity (the next nearest mark on the lens is 3m!) but this was very easy to knock out whenever I put the camera down. Speaking of putting it down, I tried handheld with much shaking, and gorillapod mounted with much mis-tracking. Next time I will take my full sized tripod and give that a go, as hopefully it should be easier to get it at a good height and with smoother pan and tilt. I know I've said before I think tripods are a pain for video tracking, but I surprised myself with how close I got with the gorillapod.

Attached is a sample of the audio the H1n was capturing. I set it running for a while by itself while I was shooting stills. Best with stereo speakers or headphones. (Annoyingly PF doesn't allow a simple MP3 or WAV upload, so it's MP4 and had to be named with mpeg extension. My Mac knows how to play it so hopefully it plays for others too.)