[linux-audio-user] Here is my dilemma

[Spencer Russell]

On Thu, Jul 28, 2005 at 06:18:34PM -0400, Chaz Worm wrote:
> 
> Here's my problem.  I'm pretty sure it can be rectified with
> linux but I don't know how. I recorded an small low-budget cd
> in a small local studio a few years ago.  Although I loved the
> end result, the cd itself never had the loudness that a regular
> cd had.  I would be playing it at a reletively loud range and
> then change cd's and always, the other cd would be nearly twice
> as loud.  How can I make these songs louder?  

What you're talking about here is Mastering, and there's a great
program called Jamin that's all about mastering. You'll need to
open up your stereo mixes in a Jack-ified program and run them
through Jamin to do some loudening wizadry. Check out this
tutorial by Ron Parker at:
http://jamin.sourceforge.net/en/tutorial.html


> On my old recordings there were done with a cheesy four-track,
> how can I make there cleaner?  

I've had some pretty decent results with Gnome Wave Cleaner, you
might want to try it.
http://gwc.sourceforge.net/

> Some of my old recordings that have been copied over from old
> tapes are too hot and therefore get a really annoying digital
> distortion.  Can I clean those up too?
> 

Once a wave is clipped, it isn't really possible to regain that
lost information, AFAIK. There might be a tool available that can
reduce the annoyingness of the clips, but if you can, I'd
redub the tapes at a lower volume.

Hope this helps ya out,

spencer