In the old transitional days, when analog tape was still the
preference, and adaptive-predictive-deconvolution systems first
emerged (digital systems in the early 80s) you could really hear the
artifacts, and the result was unimpressive when compared to the cost.
And I agree, to some extent the artifacts are still present. But when
trying to distinguish detail inherent in language from whatever
source, human or non-human, and where subtleties are important in
decryption - especially with extremes like old wax cylinders - this is
just another tool. The example I showed was where the noise was gone.
Different levels of noise reduction left more of the original context
intact.
For the linguistic anthropologists at the Lowie Museum in Berkeley,
where the Ishi archive is stored, and where the focus is on content
and language recovery rather than audio fidelity, this type of
approach means a great deal. If more than very subtly applied, it
would certainly destroy all of the spatial imaging of an otherwise
well-recorded stereo or MS recording not to mention the inherent
details of the biophony.
Noise deconvolution has a way to go but it's coming along in pretty
amazing ways. Eventually, it may even work for continuously variable
noise like the Doppler shift and audio levels of a jet flying overhead
ruining an otherwise perfect natural audio clip.
Bernie
On Feb 28, 2009, at 11:13 PM, Dan Dugan wrote:
> Bernie, you wrote,
>
> > The audio clip contains a 30 second example of the original
> > wax cylinder recording followed by the same clip cleaned up.
> > Considering the quality of the original very few artifacts remain
> when
> > compared with other options.
>
> But all the naturalness is gone too, replaced by a strange robot-like
> quality. I've done quite a bit of noise reduction work, and I often
> hate myself in the morning. I get tuned into the noise, and it seems
> great to get rid of it, but later I realize that the cost was too
> great.
>
> -Dan Dugan
>
>
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