what am i doing wrong here

browj2 wrote on 4/14/2014, 10:15 AM

Hi Lenny,

What you are doing is accepting the analysis for cleaning that ACL does, probably depending on what you indicated that you wanted to do when you opened the program. And this cleaning could be very minor and almost undiscernable. When you listen to the output mp3, are you comparing it to the recording in ACL before using the Cleaning Agent, or after? If you are comparing it to after using the Cleaning Agent, then they should be the same. Click on the Bypass FX button (betweem the Import button near the bottom of the screen and the Project button) and listen to the original recording without effects.

Below are some further tips.

I presume that you chose "Restore vinyl sound" on the startup screen. Correct? See the image below.

If so, then the presets should be for minor vinyl cleaning. If you did not select vinyl, then you may have different presets and you will have to change them in the program by clicking on "Choose preset" at the bottom left, just below "Cleaning Agent." Change the preset to one of the vinyl presets. Note that there are several. You will have to judge the quality of each recording and then select the most appropriate preset. Even if you did choose vinyl upon startup, it is only a very basic set of presets and may or may not be satisfactory to you. The default cleaning effects may be so minor that you cannot tell the difference between the output mp3 and the recorded wav file. Once you change the presets, do not use "Cleaning agent" again as it still only tries to use what it calculates as the cleaning required. You probably don't want this.

You should listen to the recording, determine what you want to clean up or what you don't like, then take a look at the list of possible presets to do what you want and select one. When you have selected one, look at the results in the tools at the bottom of the screen. Open up the ones that were turned on by clicking on the gear button. Look at the settings and try changing them and listen to the results. Read up on what each tool does by clicking on ? in the tool dialog. Also, without going into the toolbox, click on a tool and a help screen will appear at the right of the screen. If it does not, click on the arrow at the right of the screen just above the tools. Read the help.

You should not expect Cleaning agent to always properly clean up your recordings to your satisfaction. It is only a starting point. Although it says that the program analyzes the recording, it is not as good as your ears.

Note that you have both Cleaning and Mastering to do. If there are different types of cleaning for each song, then you have to do a cut at each song and do Object cleaning, not Project cleaning.

There is a lot that you can do with this program, but you have to listen to the recordings, try out the various tools, learn what they do, and apply them to give the output that satisfies you.

Finally, in order to demonstrate that the tools actually work, record only one test song. Apply one or more of the tools that greatly changes the sound. Export it, and then listen to it. It should sound like it did in ACL before export. Use this song to play with the tools, both cleaning and mastering. Make notes on what works.

coonsanders wrote on 4/14/2014, 12:10 PM

im not using vinyl im using 78s..i tried thoes presets and i didnt hear a change for the better..

lenny

johnebaker wrote on 4/14/2014, 12:28 PM

Hi

With 78's it is quite possible that the cleaning is not giving an audible improvement.

This can be due to the noise levels being too high or the cleaning options you are selecting - you do not say which ones you are using - to work effectively.

This is particularly the case if you are using a stndard stylus needle for vinyl singles and LP's which is not designed for 78's.

A standard stylus can bottom out in the 78 groove because it is too narrow, this means there is a great deal of noise especially if the 78's have been played with a thorn or steel needle.

More information is need!

John

coonsanders wrote on 4/14/2014, 12:40 PM

hi

i use 2 different styli..both by sure and both new..for 78s its m78s 2.5 mil sherical tip and the lp is shure n44-7 and the tip is 9.5 mv..for 78s i use the 78s needle and for lps i use the lp needle..and remenber both are new..

lenny

Former user wrote on 4/14/2014, 6:33 PM

Try this....record just one 78....apply just one "cleaning fix", such as dehiss...after doing one, try your playback download proceedure. Did it work ? then mov on to the 2nd clean up fix, do the same file you just did..and repeat , repeat, repeat until you are either sucessful, or you find where the screw up is. Of corse if it doesn't work for you the first time, then you'll know your initial steps are incorrect

coonsanders wrote on 4/14/2014, 8:25 PM

gnarly..

are you talking about the using the cleaning agent or the place where u choose presents?im buying a new stylus with the hope that it will help alot..thanks

lenny

browj2 wrote on 4/14/2014, 10:28 PM

Lenny,

Vinyl means records, 33, 45 and 78 rpm. What you describe in your initial post is that after doing cleaning in ACL and burning a CD, the cleaning does not come through on the CD. My understanding is that the CD songs sound like what you recorded into ACL before you applied the cleaning. Correct?

There are 2 things here:

If you do the cleaning, listen to the sound, burn a CD and then compare it to what you hear in ACL, then they should both sound the same. What you are hearing in ACL is after cleaning, not before, unless you click on the bypass button. If click on the bypass button in ACL and listen to the recording, you can hear the sound without any effects applied. Do this and tell us if you are comparing cleaned sound with cleaned sound, or if the CD sound is identical to the recording before applying the cleaning.
Using the Cleaning Agent without doing anything else, like listening to the music and making more adjustments, will only correct minor problems. You may not even notice the difference. Since you are concerned that the cleaning does not come through at all to the CD, you should make a test, as I suggested, with one song recorded from your record, put some exaggerated effect on it, and then export it to mp3. Listen to the resulting mp3 file. If the exaggerated effect cannot be heard, then you are doing something wrong and we will try to find out what. Let us know.

By all means, try out a new needle. Try to get the best sound that you can from the old vinyl records. Then do the cleaning.

coonsanders wrote on 4/15/2014, 1:35 PM

i have to repeat vinyl are lps and 45s..shallack refers to anything before 1940 id say ..so records arent always vinyl.im a newbie to this whole situation so it tends to be very overwhelming.. when i do use that cleaning and i try to use it as they say or reccommend ill hit the before and then compare it to the after there is a differance in the sound..i have another newer pc that i get a error message while im using the software..it goes "cannot wave out error #6 devices number o...please increase the buffer size and or reduse the dsp load"..have you ever seen this before?what does it mean?

lenny

Former user wrote on 4/15/2014, 6:57 PM

Mr.Coonsanders, Do us all a favor, and this includes you.....pick one computer and one flat black round music storage faacility (record) try to do one operation only and report back to us and tell us what you were expecting, and what did you actually get. Do this as briefly as possible.

coonsanders wrote on 4/15/2014, 7:29 PM

Hi

Thanks but I should be ok...about time I do this by myself..

Lenny