Vapor Trails - III.  Initial reaction






fanfrom80

New Arrival
Posted: 7/11/02 5:10 pm
Re: RE: Vapor Trails Remastering Info
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Hello again:

I see some really significant developments have been made with new tools. I'll have to give it a go. Thanks for continuing to post your findings everyone. I played around with CE clip restoration and found that you indeed have to reduce the average level to allow it room to restore the peaks. However, I was not happy with the sound. Wish I had more machine to work on (PII 350 with 384MB RAM). It swaps like crazy. Just today I received word from CDnow that the vinyl I ordered is on the way at long last.

Mike: What are you going to do with all your "spare" time now that you have finished this project? :-)

-Norm



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Xanadar Nuitari

Rush Fan
Posted: 7/11/02 5:21 pm
Re: RE: Vapor Trails Remastering Info
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I'll probably spend the first couple of days learning my children's names again... I know my wife is glad this is done.


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GeddyRulz

New Arrival
Posted: 7/11/02 9:18 pm
Re: RE: Vapor Trails Remastering Info
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Quote:
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Good grief!!! This thread's had 300+ views since just this time yesterday!
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Most of those hits came from me! I've come to this thread dozens of times in the last 24 hours,
trying to read and re-read and understand the remastering process.
I was VERY taken with Michael's 2 minute samples, and want my very own remastered copy now!


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limbo1001001

New Arrival
Posted: 7/12/02 12:58 pm
Re: RE: Vapor Trails Remastering Info
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Xan & MitA -

I applied your mods to the entire album last night, and I cannot thank you 2 enough. It literally is like hearing the album for the first time. Absolutely AMAZING. I have a P4 1.7Ghz with 256 RAM, and the entire process from burn to burn was about 2 hours. The longest process was finding and downloading the 3 pieces of software I needed.

Again,...you two RULE, and if you are ever in the SoCal area for one of the shows, let me know.......I think a round on me is in order !

Jim


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Xanadar Nuitari

Rush Fan
Posted: 7/12/02 2:06 pm
Re: RE: Vapor Trails Remastering Info
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Limbo1001001,

Welcome aboard! I'm glad to hear that it worked so well for you and that you are pleased with the results. I hope you continue to enjoy VT as much as I have... and that's saying a lot.

Later!


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SignofEth

New Arrival
Posted: 7/12/02 3:53 pm
Re: RE: Vapor Trails Remastering Info
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Xan & Mit,

After readin' through all the satisfied customer testimonials on here with the remaster process, I'm convinced that I'm going to spend the evening, with a cold, refreshing alcoholic beverage in hand, cleaning up my copy.

Thank you guys for taking the time to take us through the steps. I'll let ya know how it turns out. I'm sure I'll be amazed at the refinements, and especially cranked on my Bose 901's.

Edited by: SignofEth at: 7/12/02 4:54:40 pm




 
 
 



musicintheabstract


New Arrival
Posted: 7/12/02 9:51 pm
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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. . . Hello all, I wanted to post for you a selection from the song Vapor Trail. This particular part of the song originally contained the most clipping/distortion and the most saturation of sound. You will now hear much more detail/clarity and stereo imaging without the digital distortion.

The excerpt is from approximately 3:10 into the song. Enjoy and let us know what you think. - MitA

http://home.earthlink.net/~cmilmerstadt/audio/vaportrail-excerpt.mp3

. . .

"...minimal expressionist post-modern neo-symbolist"

- - -

:Neil Peart question and answer session:
Q- Why isn't "he" at home in the song "Anagram"?
A- "I agree that "he" could be at home -- I guess he had to go out... "



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Xanadar Nuitari

Rush Fan
Posted: 7/12/02 10:52 pm
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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A .wav toward the clearer sound...

That sounds great, MitA. Vast improvement, I say.

If you don't mind, what are the settings that you prefer for .mp3 encoding, and what encoder do you use?


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musicintheabstract


New Arrival
Posted: 7/12/02 11:11 pm
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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Hi Mike, as far as mp3 for that one I used Cool Edit Pro. I chose 256 bitrate at 44,100 CBR.

- MitA

"...minimal expressionist post-modern neo-symbolist"

- - -

:Neil Peart question and answer session:
Q- Why isn't "he" at home in the song "Anagram"?
A- "I agree that "he" could be at home -- I guess he had to go out... "



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SignofEth

New Arrival
Posted: 7/13/02 7:17 pm
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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Xan,

thanks for the step by step instructions on the remaster process. I spent about 4 hours and a couple of alcoholic beverages last night trying to figure out this software, etc. I'm about as dumb as a bag of rocks when it comes to software, etc. And I sell the stuff, go figure. Your instructions were easy, even for a chump like myself. Now I'm on the warpath with all my Rush bootlegs. Unfotunately they aren't coming out as clean or even somewhat cleansed like the VP project. Thanks again, Xan. You da man!!

"Sign of eth, is rising in the air...."


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Mister Bubba


New Arrival
Posted: 7/13/02 9:04 pm
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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Mr. Yount,

I just finished re-re-mastering(LMAO!) the tunes.

All I can say is WOW!....It was well worth spending 1hour & 10mins tonight going through the final process. I'm am so pleased to hear VT without ANY clipping or crackle.

BTW, it was amazing how much clipping was on the album!

In any case, I want to say thank you again!

I don't know how to repay you for this information. *bowing*

Bubs


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Xanadar Nuitari

Rush Fan
Posted: 7/13/02 11:32 pm
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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Well guys, I'm certainly glad that you seemed to get through the process unscathed. I'm terribly sorry that I did not have a more elegant version of the finalized instructions available in time for everyone's weekend. My landlord (of all people) was mowing the grass around where we live, and a rock from the driveway completely shattered the back window of my S-10. Needless to say, the time I would have spent finishing up the instructions was spent cleaning glass out of my truck (and my arms).

He seemed to have this "Damn, oh well... shit happens" attitude about the whole thing, and insists that my insurance should cover it with no problem. (?!) This is going to be fun... and to top it all off, this would have to be the time when Huntsville sees thunderstorms two days in a row. *sigh*

I personally think it's a sign from Howie Weinberg... he's getting back at me somehow for all of this.

Anyway, great job! I'm glad you're enjoying it much more now. That was the goal, after all... and that's more payment than I ever wanted or expected.


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svslerxst

New Arrival
Posted: 7/16/02 3:55 pm
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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Xanadar & MitA,

I, too, would like to offer you my thanks! After the awesome show Friday night in Mansfield, I spent Saturday recovering and decided to try out your remastering idea. I'm pretty pleased with the result, but I slightly modified your procedure as the demo version of Sonic Forge would not allow me to save any data. I must be missing something there.

As such, I used CEP to do the conversion to 32-bit, processed with clip restoration/L2 Ultramaxizer, then converted back to 16-bit with dithering and triangular filtering(?) but no noise shaping.

Like I said, I'm pretty pleased with the results, but I can't help wondering if I'm not missing further improvement by not using SF to do the 16/32/16-bit conversions and DC-bias removal.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this.

Thanks again,

Dan W.



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Xanadar Nuitari

Rush Fan
Posted: 7/16/02 6:47 pm
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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Well, what I've found with Cool Edit Pro is that the bit-depth conversion is not as much of an issue as I originally thought. Upward converting to 32-bit through CEP is simple enough, but when converting back down to 16-bit, use the 'Shaped Triangular' dithering method, with '44.1KHz' noise shaping. That method is extremely similar (if not the same) as the one I prefer with Sound Forge. However, correcting DC Offset is a little different, whereas Sound Forge and WaveLab have a simple click-here-to-fix approach, CEP's DC Offset correction is located within 'Amplitude' > 'Amplify' > 'Center Wave' preset. 'DC Bias Adjust' should already be checked, with 'Absolute' pre-selected. Make sure the values read '0' for the left and right channels, and click 'OK'. That really eliminates the need for Sound Forge to perform those steps, so that's a relief.

Remember, DC Offset correction needs to be performed as the first step, before any other editing takes place. It will most likely be very necessary after initial ripping of the digital audio from the CD. Then, perform the bit-depth conversion, and process away!

I'm sorry, but personal issues and family obligations are forcing me to spend far less time as I would like to spend working on this any further, so I'm going to be rather unavailable for quite some time. Still, good luck to anyone else who wishes to try this for themselves. Again, your appreciation and words of encouragement have been truly wonderful, and has made this all worthwhile. Cheers!

Mike


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svslerxst

New Arrival
Posted: 7/17/02 11:02 am
Re: Vapor Trails Remastering Info (Please Read)
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Mike,

Thanks for the response, I do greatly appreciate it. I'll go back and redo my processing and correctly fix the DC-bias this time and apply noise shaping on the 32 to 16 bit downconversion.

I understand completely about the need to spend time away from online forums. Actually, I was suprised you even replied this quickly to my post!

Thanks again,

Dan W.