Re: [ARSCLIST] Sound card recommendations

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jon Noring wrote:

> The issue we face is that indeed what seems like "overkill" may not
> necessarily be overkill when it comes to the digital preservation of
> older sound recordings.
>
> For example, preserving the two channels in a stereo pickup playing a
> mono recording gives the opportunity for improved sound restoration,
> such as when one groove is more noisy than the other. Even a mono
> phonograph record has *two* sides to the groove.
>
> It also appears potentially beneficial to digitize the "noise" (both
> hiss and impulse which have quite high frequency components) at a
> very high sampling rate so the noise is accurately represented. This
> aids in noise removal/reduction/masking algorithms. A quite high
> sampling rate may also be beneficial for better preserving the wanted
> audio signal.
>
> And who knows? In a few recordings there just might be some strange
> higher frequency stuff introduced during mastering which could have
> some forensics-type value. We'd like to preserve that as well, just in
> case it is there. (I wonder, has anyone looked for oddball stuff in
> older electrically-recorded 78's in the 15kHz to 25kHz region which
> may be buried in the high frequency noise? There might be some really
> interesting stuff awaiting to be discovered. Maybe sounds from the
> beyond: EVP <laugh/>)
>
> Just my $0.02 worth.
>
> Jon Noring

Actually, the RCA "quad" lps had a ton of high frequency information, didn't
they?

dl