cygweb

Can't wait to hear it! Presto is an awesome album...but sounds sonically weak...
I will wait patiently for the results! (but the suspense is killing me!)

By the way - I just remastered Vapor Trails to remove the crackle...followed the instructions at the following link (page 7 of the thread)

http://pub176.ezboard.com/ftherushchroniclesfrm36.showMessage?topicID=214.topic

Now if someone would just attempt to remaster All The World's a Stage (needs more bass punch) and Roll the Bones....

dj

Let's see, Don and Dave makes two... ;) Thanks for the post, Dave.

I'll probably be ready to publish my recipe sometime this coming weekend. We're getting carpet installed in our basement this Friday, which is requiring me to move lots of stuff out of the way each evening.

Any progress on the remastering of Presto? I can't wait to hear it!!

My second major attempt produced just a little bit of clipping on two tracks. I'm about to start my third attempt. Hopefully it will just require a few more tweaks, and then I'll be able to publish my recipe.

For that matter, Dave, your link for VT requires a login, and I can't remember my EZBoard username. Care to post it here?

Don,

I tried the link for the recipe for remastering vapor trails that I posted a while back and I can't seem to get in either....need a login id to access it now.

But I did save the original posted message in a text file in order to do it myself a while back. Anyways, here are all the final recommended instructions as they were posted on the rush chronicles message board...

Dave

Posted: 8/7/02 8:32 pm
Re: clipped samples
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Actually, the 'Restore Normal' and '0dB' settings for 'Clip Restoration' and 'L2' respectively do not seem to work nearly as well as the original 'Restore Lightly Clipped' and '-4dB' settings... at least not for me. I know that the previous settings were suggested much earlier, and I apologize for the confusion.

I'll post the most recent incarnation of the procedures. Forgive the re-explanation of some of the programs or settings from earlier postings at the beginning of this thread. I am not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, just simply presenting a more defined and "final" version for others who may be just starting this for themselves and do not wish to piece together info from the previous 5 pages.

The following is a recommended list of tools required to perform this task:

- A rather fast PC with plenty of memory, and a CD-R/RW drive will be greatly beneficial as well. (My personal system is an AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz w/ 640 MB RAM, and the process for the entire CD takes me slightly more than 1 hour to complete.) The calculations to be performed by the various audio processing applications are extremely CPU-intensive, and will consume large amounts of memory in the process. A rather powerful PC is not an absolute necessity, but it will more than likely be the ultimate deciding factor whether this project takes 1 hour or 4 hours to complete.

- Exact Audio Copy v0.9 Beta 4 - www.exactaudiocopy.de/eac09b4.exe ‾ 1.2 MB
Even though most digital audio editors now include the ability to extract digital audio from CDs quite well, I still prefer EAC. When configured properly to match your PC and CD/DVD-ROM drive specifications, EAC's speed and accuracy is truly impressive.

- Cool Edit Pro v2.0 - ftp.syntrillium.com/pub/cep/cepsetup.exe ‾ 19.34 MB
This is one of the more intuitive and popular digital audio editors available, and has great online support. It has an extremely elegant user interface, and is quite simple to learn how to use efficiently. Even though the link provided points to a time-limited demo version, it is fully functional, and it will allow plenty of time for you to perform all of the same tasks as the registered version. Do not hesitate to dive into the included help files, as they provide a wealth of information about the settings for the different areas of the program.

- Waves Masters Bundle v3.5 - www.waves.com/download/3.5/WavesMasters3.5NoDocs.exe ‾ 6.53 MB
Again, a link to a fully functional, time-limited trial version (14 days), but worth its weight in gold! Waves Ltd. has what many consider to be the "Rolls Royce" of audio plug-ins, and you will see why soon. The particular plug-in that we will be using from this bundle of gems is the 'L2 UltraMaximizer'. It is a DirectX plug-in that utilizes "intelligent" look-ahead algorithms to detect upcoming peaks in the audio that go out of bounds. It allows for impressive volume maximizing and proper peak limiting without introducing distortion in the process. Here is the L2 User Guide in .pdf format: www.waves.com/download/pdf/L2.pdf

Once all of the necessary software has been downloaded and installed, the first step is to extract the digital audio from the CD. Exact Audio Copy is fairly straightforward in its operation (after initial setup and configuration). Just create a folder somewhere on your hard drive where you want to extract the .wav files to, and let EAC do its job. Use the 'Copy Uncompressed' option (or 'F5') when you're ready to extract.

Here is a summarized outline of the steps that will need to be performed to each .wav file:

- Remove DC offset
- Convert to 32-bit resolution
- Run Cool Edit Pro 'Clip Restoration'
- Run 'Waves L2 UltraMaximizer'
- Convert to 16-bit resolution and Save

1. – First, after all of the audio has been extracted from the CD, some preparation needs to be done to the files before processing. Load each of the .wav files into Cool Edit Pro and begin by removing the DC offset. This can be done by selecting 'Effects' > 'Amplitude' > 'Amplify...' > 'Center Wave' preset. This is done to center the waveform along the baseline (-inf), and to ensure that additional artifacts are not introduced to the audio during processing.

2. – Next, the files must be converted to 32-bit resolution to allow for more precise editing. This can be done by selecting 'Edit' > 'Convert Sample Type...' > Resolution = '32'. This will yield a much improved end result than processing straight through at 16-bit.

3. – Now, run Cool Edit Pro's 'Clip Restoration' feature to rebuild the clipped peaks of the audio. Perform this by selecting 'Effects' > 'Noise Reduction' > 'Clip Restoration…' > 'Restore Lightly Clipped' preset. This will eliminate the flat lines along the top and bottom of the waveform, thus removing the cause of the static.

4. – After the clipped peaks have been restored, use the Waves 'L2 UltraMaximizer' DirectX plug-in to bring the peaks within range, but limiting the peaks properly without introducing harsh clipping in the process. The L2 plug-in "intelligently" redraws the peaks instead of performing a hard "brick wall" limiting approach, which is simply the equivalent of taking scissors to the waveform and cutting off the excess. There are applications and situations where this approach may be desired… not here, though.

Access the L2 plug-in by selecting 'Effects' > 'DirectX' > 'Waves' > 'L2…' If the plug-in does not show on the list, select 'Refresh Effects List' from the 'Effects' menu.

The preferred settings for L2 can be chosen by simply choosing the 'Hi Res CD Master' preset from the drop-down menu, but change the Threshold value to '-4.0' dB. Even though I am suggesting using a built-in preset for quick configuration, it will still be a good idea to ensure these parameters are configured as follows: Threshold = '-4.0' dB; Out Ceiling = '0.2' dB; ARC (Automatic Release Control) = 'Enabled'; Quantize = '16-bit'; Dither = 'Type 1'; Shaping = 'Ultra'

5. – Finally, the files must be converted back to 16-bit resolution in order to be played through audio CD players. Select 'Edit' > 'Convert Sample Type…' Now, ensure that these parameters are configured as follows: Resolution = '16'; Enable Dithering = 'Checked'; Dither Depth = '0.5'; p.d.f. = 'Shaped Triangular'; 'Noise Shaping (44.1KHz)'.

After this has been completed, all that is left to do is to save the file, overwriting the original if desired. From this point, you can either encode the .wav files to .mp3 format, or create a new CD using the newly saved .wav files. Using any particular CD authoring application such as Easy CD Creator or Nero will most likely achieve the same results, since .wav files are uncompressed audio and require no internal processing (encoding or decoding) during the CD writing stage. It boils down to a matter of personal preference and what you are already familiar with.

I hope this helps, and again, sorry for the confusion!
Mike

Thanks for posting that recipe here. I may try it.

I think I have a winner for my Presto remastering. I'll try and post the recipe soon. I may try my recipe with the equivalent Waves plug-ins - it may sound nicer that way.