Looking for program for cleaning up old analog music recorded to CD

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I bought a Pioneer CD recorder a few years ago so I could make CDs of some old analog material I have.

I’d like to rip the CDR’s to my computer to clean up the clicks and pops etc. and then burn a fresh disc (I have some music CD-RW’s I’ll use and re-use for my “masters”).

So – what’s a good program I can get for this? Here is my wish list of what I’d like for it to be able to do:

• Work with both WAV files and MP3’s.
• Eliminate (or at least substantially reduce) tape hiss, clicks and pops etc. with minimal impact on sound quality.
• Insert track markers.
• Do fade-outs.
• Auto leveling between various tracks (or will that end up acting as compression?).
• Ability to cut and paste different songs together would be nice, but not a high priority.

Any other features I might need that I’m not thinking about?

Regards,
Wayne

[mechman]

Wayne,

Did you ever find software that would accomplish all of this?

[Sonnie]

I use Sound Recorder and Editor by Polderbits that does most everything on that list. I'm not certain about the track markers though.

I use CDEX for converting .mp3's to .wav and vice versa... and copying them off the CD to the hard drive. It also levels track volume.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

mechman wrote:

Wayne,

Did you ever find software that would accomplish all of this?

Actually yes - I found a free program called Audacity that does everything except auto leveling between tracks – but you can do that manually, if you want. (Actually, it may do automatic leveling, but I haven’t had a need for it yet, so I haven’t explored it.) I found it by Googling – “free music editing software” or something like that. It was recommended at a site that evaluates free software as the best of free editing programs.

It’s a bit “clunky” in that it can’t do much in real time (like EQ, level adjusting, fades, noise elimination, etc.). You have to highlight the area you want to adjust, and it takes a second or two to make the change. Longer, if it’s a large section of the song. But the price was right, since I really can’t splurge on things like this until my wife finds a job.

Still, I’ve been pretty happy with it. Haven’t tried converting any records to digital yet, but I did try a few cassettes, recorded directly to the program through my Soundblaster card. Did a nice job of cleaning things up - eliminating hiss and reducing clicks and pots from tapes recorded from records - but the final product just didn’t sound as clean as the original tape, even those that were of less-than-stellar quality. I attribute that more to the sound card’s AD converters, though. I need to try it via the CD-RW method I mentioned in my first post. I expect that will improve things, SQ-wise.

Regards,
Wayne

[daniel]

For cleaning up lps: a good vacuum record cleaner like a nitty gritty.

[muzz]

I used Audacity to create ring tones for my PCS Phone.

Works pretty well, and the price can't be beat!

[mistic]

I use iZotope RX. It does a wonderful job at cleaning tracks.

[superchad]

Clean sweep works good, I think its from Pinacle....there are a handfull of programs to do just this, take out tics and pops but it is a rather time intensive process. BTW a good record cleaning machine is a must, I use a VPI 16.5 ($500) but you can get lower priced models, look for used gear, go DIY and also do them by hand in your sink.....I did it that way for a couple years.