UPDATE...To badly EQ'd CD's...

naturallight

My buddy did take the one cd we both have. The Kiss "asylum" cd. Took one song, "King of the Mountain"

Ran it thru his Sony sound forge program. He did not try to fix individual stuff. There is some kind of auto master setup.....the program just goes in and dose everything by itself. This is all he ran on the song.



He sent me both, the original version from the CD and the "remastered" version from the Sony program .Now even on my PC speakers which are old Boston acoustic stuff. (2 small satellites and a sub) The difference between the 2 is VERY noticeable.....



The Stock song off the CD...as soon as you start it....it's VERY harsh, treblely and in your face...you pretty much know this is going to be a real annoying song.



The "remastered" Sony version..Not like that at all. It's much tamer and layed back..it's not beating you in the face as soon as it starts. The whole song is more ..Mellow, for lack of better terms. It's not ripping your head off.

Now what this program did...i don't have a clue. You can't "Uncompress" a song file...at least that i know of.



I'm going to try and burn this song...but my PC is real old, running Vista, not sure my disk drive still even works (pretty much this PC needs to used as a boat anchor).....but i'll give it a try, then see what it sounds like on my System.



But bottom line, if i can hear the difference, just on my PC speakers (the difference is not subtle), then I pretty much have to "assume"...these bad cd's CAN be fixed....at least to the point of there being listenable.

The problem would be..if you have to do this for every song, individually...then the amount of time needed, may make it not worth while. But i will have to talk to my buddy..see if he can load up the whole CD..and see how long it takes to do a the complete CD.

Msabot1

If the source was mastered lousy,ie hiss,poor low to high spectrum,then I don't think any kind of doctoring will make it better. Everything starts with source material. GIGO law.....garbage in,garbage out!

decal

What's the old adage.... oh yeah, You can't polish a ****.smiley_rotflmao.gif

Msabot1

Yea,another one is put lipstick on a pig,it's still a pig!

mhardy6647

Doesn't the next item in this list involve hockey moms and grizzly bears?

naturallight

OK..new UPDATE...I did manage to burn the CD. Took it downstairs..played it on the SDA's.......



Now ...I'll be dammed.....but the song is now PLAYABLE.....Stanleys vocals are NOT making your ears bleed. The guitar lead is still close to the edge.(always was)...but again..NOT to the point you need to jump up and turn it down. This was played at volume......



I don't know what the Sony program did to this CD.....It did seem to lower the overall volume, as you have to turn it up more then the stock original CD....but is NOT harsh, or over the top of treble as the original cd.



The dynamics's of the song are still there....the "accuracy" of the song..for lack of better terms..seems to be all intact. It "seems" to have somehow uncompressed the song and kicked back the bleeding edge treble...which i don't really think can be done. I have no good words for it.

Maybe something is missing in the playback...but i was so amazed at the overall sound of it....I might not have heard it.



I didn't think this could really be done....but it can. You CAN make these bad CD's Listenable.

Could you do what the Sony program did with just an EQ...my guess would be probably not. Thats a shot in the dark. What the program did to the CD..I don't have a clue.



But bottom line..YES..you can fix these junk CD's that you have put on the NO play list...at least with this Sony program.....that's all i can tell you.

Msabot1

Obviously,you found a solution! I'm not familiar with this method or program,being from the old school,but I do know that persistence usually pays off! Glad fer ya!

cfrizz

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/soundforgesoftware

rromeo923

I used to use Soundforge to track out my live bootleg recordings I made. Pretty strong program. I didnt use hardly any of the things itcould do.

gdb

People will always mock that which they fear or don't understand................If it's better......it's better. I've heard from several people that they thought that just burning a copy to disc can improve on the SQ over that of the "store bought" disc. My PC and ears do not bear that theory out though.

naturallight

Now the problem with this is......My friend is running a Core i3 PC with at least 8 gig's. The program will NOT run on my Vista machine...but thats not news..the dam thing will run nothing.



He said it took him about 20 minutes..pretty much to figure everything out to do this. What it took to convert it...30 seconds...LOL He used the presets in the program. Now what it really did to the original nasty song...i don't know and neither dose he. Now to me it seemed to "un compress" the song...but i don't think thats poss able...but he said the same thing.....



He said once you get used to the program......you can probably run thru a CD in about 20 min's or so, to convert the whole CD..BUT...you have to do it song by song.



Now i'm not going to sit here and tell you..this is 100% perfect and is all completely correct. What i will tell you, is you CAN make nasty CD's .....Listeanable.....pretty much that is all i will say...LOL

gdb

"Sounds" good to me ! Now how's about a new Lenovo on your list to Santa ?!?

naturallight

LMAO...well Santa....dose not care about my PC or Stereo..... MY wife say's..all money..goes to the house..Period. When i could spend money on this stuff..will be well into next year.



How the Sony program made this song "playable"...i don't know. Could it fix all the other bad CD's.....well..i think so....if it can fix one...should be able to fix the others.....



FIX is a bad word..I'm not sure it really corrects all the faults of the crap CD's..or how it does it. BUT it did make the one song playable. If you have 30 or so CD's that fit that, over compressed, nasty crap...stuff you don't want to listen to anymore.......maybe, the program will fix it ..to the point that you can listen to it again.



I'm not sure what to tell you. I do know...I have played music since i've been 16 in bands..I have EQ'd stuff for my own bands, and others, on stage and in the studio.



I pretty much know how to EQ a song...The difference between what my buddy sent me(sony eq'ed) and the stock CD..unless your deaf...you can hear it.



Does that make it worth while for anybody to go that far...don't know. Again this is only MY opinion.....

Msabot1

Vista? Try xp pro! Old op system but works!

naturallight

If you have this Sony Sound forge program...and you have CD's that you just don't like to listen to because there just nasty. I would say try this ..... My buddy has an older version of the program....he did not update to newer stuff, as i'm sure it would have cost him money to do it. Again..it took him about an hour to do the one song..just because he was not used to doing this. There are a number of presets, that you can select..then preview them...so he did play with it for a while. Now how or what the program did...I just can't say for sure.



I was pretty much under the impression, that once you compress something..you can't UN compress it. BUT..this is digital..maybe you can? The stock rule of thumb seems to be they take the original analog recording....push the volume to the max..(just under the digital clip)..maybe boost the treble and compress the dam thing....BUT...there not messing with the individual tracks.....they just compress the end result which is the two stereo tracks.....



What the Sony program did ..for sure..was pull back the overall volume..a good deal. It "seems" to have pulled back on the treble some.....It also "seems" to have UN compressed it some how.....at least thats the way it seems to me, and my buddy also seems to think so.



Now the original CD would play at volume...at the 10:30-11 oclock range..Stanleys vocals will make your ears bleed. The Sony version..now to match the volume..you have to go to 12 oclock..maybe a little past.

More of were the original vinyl would have played..... BUT Stanleys vocals will NOT make your ears bleed....there not great, but never were..they were at the bleeding edge even on Vinyl. When that chorus comes in..it was not that great on vinyl.



If you have the program...I'd say give it a try..not going to say run out and buy it. He did 1 song...and it pretty much worked on the 1 song. I don't have the program, can't run it. So it will take me a while to get the NEW PC to run this.

cnh

Not that I doubt the difference, but taking a CD and playing it with different combos of cables, CDPs and speakers that tend to be more forgiving, as well as throwing tubes into that mix can often accomplish wonders in "listenablity" even on what usually is very bright and impossible to tolerate on a "very" resolving SS system, and let's say a pair of B&Ws which, to me are usually shrill up top most of the time.

Most of my CDs are quite passable on the Joldia Music Van and the accompanying JD 303. Stuff that sounds like finger nails on a chalk board is almost OK or pretty close?

In any case, it seems like you have another, albeit, a bit more labor intensive solution!

cnh

naturallight

Well..I'm playing this on a jolida tube cd player..but yes it's going thru an Adcom pre to a Onkyo M504 amp to a set of SDA 1C's.



Now i will tell you the difference just on my Boston Acoustic PC speakers...was big.



Now maybe if you throw enough tubes at these crappy CD's...MAYBE..there listenable.



What i will tell you is the Sony Program.."SEEMS" to have corrected alot of the problems in the CD.

How or why it did..can't tell you. But the end result is it's at least a somewhat playable song..thats NOT making your ears bleed..with the SAME equipment.



Is this a good thing...well i would think so..if you have the PC with enough power to run the program.



Your trying to correct these CD's with tubes, cables..whatever. Yes thats great..I wish i had the money for that. The Sony program "seems" to pull back on all the nasty crap these record clowns put in there to sell it to MP3 people, for 99cents.



From what i've heard...it's NOT going to make it like vinyl..at least that i know of. But it's a dam sight better then the stock CD..that they lambasted...