Sometimes I get a call that goes like this… “Hi, I have this recording that is great, except…” Then they proceed to tell me how a cell phone went off and got interference all over their recorded interview, or how a bird flew into the building where a live recording was happening, and they want to know if I can fix it. Sometimes it’s a vinyl collector who wants his prized, out-of-print copy of ________ to be digitized and cleaned up for enjoyment on his iPod. You name it. I’ve probably been asked.
The answer I usually give is, if it CAN be fixed, I can probably do it. I have a large suite of analog and digital tools at my disposal that can deal with many of the common and not so common noises that can ruin an otherwise good recording. Sometimes all that’s possible is a few degrees of improvement. Sometimes I can completely get rid of undesired noises all together. It just depends on the material. It’s not my bread and butter to do this sort of thing, but I have a knack for it, and once in a while I need a good challenge. So if you have an important or nostalgic recording you need cleaned up for whatever reason, it won’t hurt to give me a call and see what I could do with it. We both just might be surprised with how it ends up.
I have removed your typical hiss, crackles, clicks & pops from old tape & vinyl recordings. I have removed chair squeaks, coughs and page-turns from live recorded performances. I have removed sniffs, coughs, sneezes, moving furniture, clanking utensils, squeaking and slamming doors, and yes, bird chirps from a field recording of Buddhist nuns chanting in Tibet. That one took some time and left me thoroughly dazed.