By Pauline Andrews, audio correspondent

In conversation, Peter Harrison of disk2disc told me about the human side of audio restoration as well as the technological marvels.

“The shortest recording we’ve worked on,” he said, “lasted just fifty-three seconds - but to our client that minute of recorded sound was literally overwhelming. It was the first time he had ever heard the voice of his father, who died in 1936. It was a very emotional moment.

“Our clients,” Peter recalled, “have come from amazingly wide backgrounds, from a Dutch record company to a ‘little old lady in the Lake District’ (as she described herself) whose taste in music was the hottest of hot jazz! We’ve done jobs for both an ex-England football player and a best-selling author. Really, for anybody and everybody.”

Developments in audio processing using computers are making audio restoration increasingly more practical and, we learned, have brought costs down to a point where individual clients can enjoy results that just a few years ago were achievable only by major recording companies, if they could be achieved at all.

“We have dozens of software tools which help to automate labour-intensive processes such as repairing scratches and removing dust and dirt noises,” Peter explains. “But of course, this still requires human judgement and an experienced ear for preserving the authenticity of the sound. We continually explore new software and develop and refine our techniques designed to recreate the integrity of the original. In some ways we believe we can be better than even the big-name studios because we can evolve faster, and experiment more.”

Peter pays tribute to the association between disk2disc and SARL Pristine Audio, located near to Bergerac in Western France. “Andrew Rose of Pristine Audio and I,” he says, “have an excellent working relationship where we can develop and exchange new ideas and techniques, evaluate new software, and be very frank about each other’s work! We each have our specialities, but for the common areas the result has been a huge serendipity - both firms have benefited greatly from our association over several years.”

Moving to the technical side of the operation, Peter says that during digital restoration disk2disc always works at a far higher quality than that of the standard audio CD. He notes that some off-the-shelf hardware and software works merely at CD quality, which after a few processes effectively degrades the sound. “The problem in working like that is you’re manipulating the low-level sounds as well as the loud stuff,” he says. “Often times we see it being very destructive, such as chopping off reverberation or distorting background sounds. You might not notice something like that if you’re listening on a portable CD player, but it stands out like a sore thumb on high quality playback equipment.” At disk2disc, only after restoration is completed are the digital files saved at CD quality.

disk2disc’s objective is to bring the sound back to the one heard during the original recording sessions. “We see three different parts to the job,” he says.

“First, transcription. This is basically a one-to-one import and conversion to digital format from the original media, which is often in poor condition or deteriorating, such as some old audio tapes. We have to do this with the greatest care and accuracy. That’s why we insist that our transcription equipment is of ‘broadcast standard’ and working fully to specification, and we have our own calibration and measurement equipment to make sure that it is. Everything needs forethought: even such an apparently simple operation as cleaning a disk. If we were to use one widely available record cleaning fluid on some of the disks we get we would, effectively, ruin the client’s recording for ever.

“The next step is restoration, where we try to get back to the original audio quality by removing the defects and blemishes of the recording process, the media, and ageing. A simple example is click removal, but it can be quite subtle such as fixing artefacts caused by the resonance of some early LP cutter heads. Or controlling excess sibilance that some microphones add to the female voice. Or even removing a cough from the middle of a performance. The amount of knowledge and experience needed to do this properly is huge. We never stop learning.

“The third area we look at is re-mastering. For many recordings there’s now the opportunity to deliver a sound that the artist and recordist may have wanted but been unable to achieve - perhaps by using modern software mastering tools and techniques that often didn’t exist when the original recording was made. For example, we can give an ‘ambience’ or ‘warmth’ to old mono recordings - not ghastly ‘pseudo-stereo’ but something much more subtle that is only possible with advanced digital processing and the techniques Andrew and I have developed.”

Peter emphasizes that with all this technology, the human part of the job is still crucial. “What the client is paying for, almost entirely, is the time spent on the project by an expert restoration engineer. We’re aiming for a target that has the software handle 80 percent or so of the task,” he says. “But for our clients, especially those who are bringing their media to us for issue on commercial CD, that’s far from being enough. So we still have to listen intently - over and over again - as we make the final corrections to bring a recording back to its pristine state. There is no push of a magic button to do that. It needs skill, experience, and time - lots and lots of time.” He adds, “Each job that we get receives the same dedication. Each gets individual care, because each job is important to our client whether it is Bach, blues, baby gurgles, or Polish punk. We’ve done all of those,” he adds with a grin.

Peter concludes, “It’s a great pleasure, but also a great responsibility, to be working with the recordings that we are sent. Often we have the only copy in existence. We don’t take that lightly.”