transfer - restore - re-master
The sample has been created to show the three main processes that we do. Most jobs will involve doing one or more of them.

• The first 20 seconds are the raw transfer from the disc: getting the best we can from the original.
• The next 20 seconds are after restoration: we say farewell to clicks, crackles, rumble, and most of the distortion
• The last 20 seconds has some (probably over-the-top) re-mastering to show modern digital techniques ’improving’ the sound.

The music extract comes from a very rare 45rpm disc. (Single copies now change hands for £150 or more!)

1930 78rpm disc
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea by Jack Payne and his BBC Dance Orchestra with vocal by Jack Payne (Columbia CB 232, p1930). This is a track from the compilation CD that we created from over 20 78rpm discs of the compositions of Douglas Brownsmith. It was played on BBC Radio 2 as the opening item on Malcolm Laycock’s Bank Holiday show, who described the sound as “carefully restored by the disk2disc people”. Fame at last!

1976 self-destructing master tape
Ex-England football player, composer, and singer Dick Edwards asked us to restore and re-master his songs to CD. Some of his master tapes had developed the dreaded “sticky shed” problem and if we had played them as received we would have destroyed his original masters! Treatment, careful transfer, and re-mastering gave the result you can listen to here.
You can buy the Dick Edwards CDs! Contact us for details.

1’04”

Poor Anna - major restoration needed
When this recording of Anna’s graduation clarinet recital was made, all sorts of things went wrong. Could we improve it? Maybe. Listen to this before-and-after comparison and you may agree with Anna’s comment: Was that really me?

0’45”

How good can the restoration be?
When we’re working on an old disc, or a copy of a tape, our aim is to restore it to the ‘original’ sound. But what was that original sound? How close can we get? And without having the original, how can we know? Find out here.

Please listen to the introduction first, or the other two samples won’t mean anything!