#SOUND FORGE 9.0 TO ELIMINATE BUZZING NOISE PROFESSIONAL#
The following are the standards accepted nationally by all professional organizations involved with voice identification, including the FBI, the Audio Engineering Society, the International Association for Identification, and the American Board of Recorded Evidence: Here are the American Board of Recorded Evidence voice identification requirements as accepted in the scientific community: Today’s digital recordings create much higher quality recordings and have different authentication processes. This process was especially important back in the analogue days. The attorney must petition the court during discovery to help the audio expert learn what equipment was used to record the original evidence. This is where the attorney representing our side in the litigation comes in. In other words, if a piece of audio evidence was a telephone intercept or voice mail recording, the exemplar must be made using a telephone and recording device as similar as possible to the device that was used to create the original recording in question. In that case careful attention must be paid to the variable electronic readings in spectrograph measurement allowing or compensating for the variable. The audio forensic expert often does not have as much control over the technology when making the exemplar as they would like. The exemplar must be made as closely to the original recording as possible. An exemplar is one of the most important tools to a voice identification test. Some of the requests I receive are a stretch because the audio in question does not have enough words spoken in order for me to create an exemplar. The American Board of Recorded Evidence provides voice identification standards that help me determine if I can identify a piece of audio evidence. But, she cautions, “You sacrifice dynamics, so saving a reference copy of your vinyl rip without limiting would be an archivist’s ideal.As an audio forensic expert who conducts voice identification, I receive calls from people around the world asking about voice identification.
Drew recommends using a limiter like Waves’ Ultramaximizer L1 ($50) and L2 ($60) plug-ins, which maximizes overall loudness. Since older records tend to be quieter than contemporary vinyl, DJs might want to take additional steps to beef up the sound of that vintage wax for club play. “Not the actual bassline,” she stresses, “But incidental, low-frequency information captured by the needle-feedback, hum, and surface noise.” Eris Drew turns her attention to the other extreme, adjusting the EQ to cut a little rumble out of the recording. Mixing engineer and Running Back Records label manager Matthew Styles likes to give a boost to specific frequencies in the high end, known as a “high shelf,” to compensate for limitations in the vinyl pressing. To get your digital recording sounding as you like it, you may wish to do a little final tweaking. Sebastian Grätz, a Hamburg record dealer better known as Basso, proprietor of the Growing Bin shop and label, cleans his records on a VPI HW-17 Record Cleaning Machine-but with a retail price of $1,500, it’s likely to appeal only to the most meticulous of neat freaks. The Music Republic blogger recommends his own recipe: one-quarter isopropyl alcohol, three-quarters demineralized water, and a few drops of Kodak Photo-Flo solution ($9), which darkroom buffs might know as the chemical agent that reduces streaking and water spots on negatives.įor really dirty records, give ’em a good wash by diluting a small amount of dish soap in water, and make sure you have a soft cloth on hand to dry them carefully afterwards. Anti-static brushes like AM Clean Sound’s ($9) help keep dust and grit from settling on vinyl.
There are a number of cleaning fluids on the market, like AM Clean Sound’s Record Cleaner ($12) and Discwasher’s D4+ fluid ($10), that can help remove dust and fingerprints they’re typically sold alongside soft cloths or brushes. Along with cleaning your needles, don’t forget to clean your records! Dust, dirt, and oil from your hands can damage wax, cause excessive wear on needles, and degrade the quality of your recording.