Hello all, I'm new here, tried to register a few days ago but for some reason the conformation email never arrived to my usual email, so I tried again with my gmail address and instantly got a conformation..
Anyway, I only recently heard of Quiet Please while reading one of Arcane Radio Trivia blog post. ( tenwatts.blogspot.com/2014/...f-radio-theater.html#links ). I downloaded episode 1 and started to listen to it, but then stopped and opened up Audacity to see if I could clean it up some.. which I did. But I did not apply any kind of processing or colorization on the file.
Over a period of a couple days I manually cleaned every pop, scratch, and click I could get to (those which were not entangled with the spoken words) - I didn't just cut them out, but cloned perfectly equal timed portions of the same in place of it.. in other words, if a musical note was playing when a pop occurred, I would duplicate a portion from directly next to the pop or scratch and use it to replace the flaw.. so there is no differentiation in the audio content or runtime, or overall sound quality whatsoever.
It sounds the same, but better!
As I said, I used no form of processing at all.. Well, after listening to it in it's entirety I decided to make an exception.. From about the 15 minute mark until around the 23 minute mark there was just too much of a constant and distracting scratchiness embedded during the dialog that I decided it best to apply some noise reduction to it,, not always a good idea, but in this case it did vastly improve it. I really think in this case it was a good move.
I think this cleaned up mp3 I've done is worthy to submit here, as I think you will agree when you compare it.
I just realized my link to the file above was missing the last letter E.. (I should have posted the easier shortened link)
So let me try again! Here's direct links to two versions of the mp3's:
Version 1. Episode1 -Nothing Behind the Door.mp3 6.9mb Many pops and clicks removed mostly with no colorization or processing. https://db.tt/CNGMycT2
Version 2. Episode1 -Nothing Behind the Door.mp3 6.9mb Additional filtering and audio processing applied. Sounds bolder and also cleaner.. https://db.tt/sW1owR3Y
Thanks, and I agree the first does sound better. It's clearer and truer to the original.. though still scratchy.
I'm glad you agree it's an improvement.
I wasn't originally planning to post the second one.. I was mostly just experimenting trying to remove more noise and see if I could make it sound like it had a little more resonance or fidelity.. but you're right, it's squashy.
Number one, I don't really know what I'm doing! Never really tried this type of thing before., but as far as removing a lot of the pops and scratches, it's really much the same procedure as touching up photos with photoshop.
Number two, There's not enough fidelity in these tiny files to work with even if I did know what I was doing! It's like trying to make a newspaper picture look like a glossy slick.. it ain't going to happen!
The Thing on the Fourble Board is the first of Quiet Please that I ever heard, and it sounded great! The second one was this one and I found the quality disappointing by comparison.. and from a quick sampling I find that many of them are just as bad and worse.
It's such a shame. I find it surprising that others have apparently not made any attempts to even try to touch them up a little - They could all be improved to some degree.
The software is readily available, and free. It's simple to learn and do the basics (though tedious).
One would think that OTR enthusiast would put some effort towards at least trying to improve what's left of this classic show.
I realize it can't be made new, but it can be repaired to an extent.
Just my 2 cents!
Rich
(BY THE WAY, I HATE HOW TINY THE TEXT IS ON THIS FORUM!) It's strenuous.
The forum itself is great though, and I'm glad it's here.
I'm currently working on episode 73.. I'm not finished, but would like you to listen to the following comparison clips and tell me if you think it's a good improvement or not:
The second versions of the clips seem to have a loud background noise, kind of like a cross between a waterfall and a really noisy audio tape player. Personally it bothers me more than pops or clicks.
I'm meaning to find a chance to listen to your versions of Nothing Behind the Door, haven't yet.
--"The second versions of the clips seem to have a loud background noise, kind of like a cross between a waterfall and a really noisy audio tape player.Personally it bothers me more than pops or clicks."--
Thanks for the feedback Paul. I noticed it as well... that is why I posted the comparison - the same sound is in the 1st one too (the source), it's just not as noticeable because the "muffled" audio is covering it up along with the clarity of the voices and everything else..
However, that sound, which I call a kind of "off-center spinning or whirring sound", seems to usually rear it's head only when there is music or other tones paying in the background, but when there is only verbal dialog it pretty much disappears, and everything sounds clearer.
The pops and clicks aren't the issue, they are easily eliminated and the muffled sound can be left as is. I just dislike the sound being muffled.
Current version vs bass & treble adjusted version.. I think they are both losers, but I -kind of lean- towards having the clearer audio..
It's really a lose lose situation. It's a question of which is the winning loser?
I'll try adjusting it again and see if I can find a better middle ground...
Is a better copy of Adam and the darkest day. Not sure where I found it, I downloaded this episode from numerous sites while searching to compare versions, and this one sounded the best - and better than the one you have here:
Comments on Cleaned up episode 1
reMember
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Joined: May 21, 2014
Location: Tybee Island GA
Total Topics: 45
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Hello all, I'm new here, tried to register a few days ago but for some reason the conformation email never arrived to my usual email, so I tried again with my gmail address and instantly got a conformation..
Anyway, I only recently heard of Quiet Please while reading one of Arcane Radio Trivia blog post. ( tenwatts.blogspot.com/2014/...f-radio-theater.html#links ).
I downloaded episode 1 and started to listen to it, but then stopped and opened up Audacity to see if I could clean it up some.. which I did. But I did not apply any kind of processing or colorization on the file.
Over a period of a couple days I manually cleaned every pop, scratch, and click I could get to (those which were not entangled with the spoken words) - I didn't just cut them out, but cloned perfectly equal timed portions of the same in place of it.. in other words, if a musical note was playing when a pop occurred, I would duplicate a portion from directly next to the pop or scratch and use it to replace the flaw.. so there is no differentiation in the audio content or runtime, or overall sound quality whatsoever.
It sounds the same, but better!
As I said, I used no form of processing at all.. Well, after listening to it in it's entirety I decided to make an exception.. From about the 15 minute mark until around the 23 minute mark there was just too much of a constant and distracting scratchiness embedded during the dialog that I decided it best to apply some noise reduction to it,, not always a good idea, but in this case it did vastly improve it. I really think in this case it was a good move.
I think this cleaned up mp3 I've done is worthy to submit here, as I think you will agree when you compare it.
Episode1 -Nothing Behind the Door (cleaned up) mp3 6.9mb
www.dropbox.com/sh/qfql0ax...IyE19xdvdNla/Quiet%20Pleas
Let me know what you think!
Rich
reMember
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Joined: May 21, 2014
Location: Tybee Island GA
Total Topics: 45
Total Comments: 112
I just realized my link to the file above was missing the last letter E.. (I should have posted the easier shortened link)
So let me try again! Here's direct links to two versions of the mp3's:
Version 1.
Episode1 -Nothing Behind the Door.mp3 6.9mb
Many pops and clicks removed mostly with no colorization or processing.
https://db.tt/CNGMycT2
Version 2.
Episode1 -Nothing Behind the Door.mp3 6.9mb
Additional filtering and audio processing applied.
Sounds bolder and also cleaner..
https://db.tt/sW1owR3Y
New
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Joined: May 21, 2014
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Great work! This sounds wonderful, especially the first one. The second may be a little too digitally crushed. Thanks for doing this!
reMember
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Joined: May 21, 2014
Location: Tybee Island GA
Total Topics: 45
Total Comments: 112
Thanks, and I agree the first does sound better. It's clearer and truer to the original.. though still scratchy.
I'm glad you agree it's an improvement.
I wasn't originally planning to post the second one.. I was mostly just experimenting trying to remove more noise and see if I could make it sound like it had a little more resonance or fidelity.. but you're right, it's squashy.
Number one,
I don't really know what I'm doing! Never really tried this type of thing before., but as far as removing a lot of the pops and scratches, it's really much the same procedure as touching up photos with photoshop.
Number two,
There's not enough fidelity in these tiny files to work with even if I did know what I was doing! It's like trying to make a newspaper picture look like a glossy slick.. it ain't going to happen!
The Thing on the Fourble Board is the first of Quiet Please that I ever heard, and it sounded great!
The second one was this one and I found the quality disappointing by comparison.. and from a quick sampling I find that many of them are just as bad and worse.
It's such a shame.
I find it surprising that others have apparently not made any attempts to even try to touch them up a little - They could all be improved to some degree.
The software is readily available, and free. It's simple to learn and do the basics (though tedious).
One would think that OTR enthusiast would put some effort towards at least trying to improve what's left of this classic show.
I realize it can't be made new, but it can be repaired to an extent.
Just my 2 cents!
Rich
(BY THE WAY, I HATE HOW TINY THE TEXT IS ON THIS FORUM!)
It's strenuous.
The forum itself is great though, and I'm glad it's here.
reMember
Usergroup: Member
Joined: May 21, 2014
Location: Tybee Island GA
Total Topics: 45
Total Comments: 112
I'm currently working on episode 73.. I'm not finished, but would like you to listen to the following comparison clips and tell me if you think it's a good improvement or not:
You can download it from my dropbox:
https://db.tt/OtdIDsSY
The only thing I did was adjust basic treble and bass, and then adjusted volume to compensate.
No other form a processing has been applied.
Each clip is only a few seconds long, and taken from different sections of the episode.
First the original followed by the equalized version.
For the past couple nights I've been manually removing pops and clicks. So far only the first 15 minutes are done.
Please listen to the comparison clips and tell me your opinion on if it's worth the effort I'm putting in.
Thanks
Rich
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Joined: Dec 21, 2001
Location: Northern California
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Total Comments: 275
The second versions of the clips seem to have a loud background noise, kind of like a cross between a waterfall and a really noisy audio tape player. Personally it bothers me more than pops or clicks.
I'm meaning to find a chance to listen to your versions of Nothing Behind the Door, haven't yet.
reMember
Usergroup: Member
Joined: May 21, 2014
Location: Tybee Island GA
Total Topics: 45
Total Comments: 112
--"The second versions of the clips seem to have a loud background noise, kind of like a cross between a waterfall and a really noisy audio tape player.Personally it bothers me more than pops or clicks."--
Thanks for the feedback Paul.
I noticed it as well... that is why I posted the comparison - the same sound is in the 1st one too (the source), it's just not as noticeable because the "muffled" audio is covering it up along with the clarity of the voices and everything else..
However, that sound, which I call a kind of "off-center spinning or whirring sound", seems to usually rear it's head only when there is music or other tones paying in the background, but when there is only verbal dialog it pretty much disappears, and everything sounds clearer.
The pops and clicks aren't the issue, they are easily eliminated and the muffled sound can be left as is.
I just dislike the sound being muffled.
Current version vs bass & treble adjusted version.. I think they are both losers, but I -kind of lean- towards having the clearer audio..
It's really a lose lose situation.
It's a question of which is the winning loser?
I'll try adjusting it again and see if I can find a better middle ground...
Thanks for the input.
Rich
reMember
Usergroup: Member
Joined: May 21, 2014
Location: Tybee Island GA
Total Topics: 45
Total Comments: 112
Is a better copy of Adam and the darkest day. Not sure where I found it, I downloaded this episode from numerous sites while searching to compare versions, and this one sounded the best - and better than the one you have here:
I uploaded to my dropbox https://db.tt/hctaJi1R