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AUDIO
Why at least 16/44.1? Anything less than a 16 bit, 44.1 Khz wav file sounds poor. Whether it be an mp3 file, a 12 bit wav or an 8 bit midi file,
such audio recordings would not be highly sought by music enthusiasts. So, at the very least, the project will distribute 16 bit, 44.1 khz wav files.
Why 24/96 instead of 16/44.1? Because 24 bit / 96 Khz wav files have 2.18 times more sampling data and 1.5 times more accurate bit rates than 16 bit / 44.1 Khz wav files. If you would like to see the set 24 bit / 96 Khz recording standards, click here. If you submit a recording and prefer a CD, I will accommodate you (I will make a master 24/96 for the project).
Why 24/192 instead of 24/96? Because 24 bit / 192 Khz wav files have 2 times more sampling data than 24 bit / 96 Khz wav files. When comparing 192 Khz to 44.1 Khz, 192 Khz provides 4.35 times the data in a 44.1 Khz sample. The goal is to reach a digital file quality equal to analog. Lastly, as we travel from 44.1 Khz to DSD, one notices the standard deviations get smaller. This in turn means we have achieved greater accuracy in analog-to-digital sound reproduction.
What would I do? I transfer analog sources (magnetic tape or vinyl) to the highest possible rates (24/96 or 24/192). When I transfer digital sources, I will keep them at their highest possible bitrate and sampling rate. Minidiscs would be recorded at 16/44.1 and DAT tapes would be recorded at 16/48. Obviously, analog recordings must be transferred via RCA cables, so I use acoustic research, gold-platted interconnects. For minidisc and DAT transfers, I use acoustic research fiber optic (toslink) cables. All transfers are made at the standard line levels.
Analog = Vinyl Record, Magnetic Tape
32 Khz = DAT recorded at 32khz
44.1 Khz = Digital Audio CD, Minidiscs*, DAT tape recorded at 44.1
48 khz = DAT (Digital Audio Tape)
96 Khz = DVD-Audio. *Some DVD-A discs use 88 Khz as their peak
192 Khz = It is not found on any commercial format.
DSD = Slightly over 2 million Khz; It is found a Super Audio CD...of course the drawback is the 16 bit rate.
*Minidiscs use atrac compression which is slightly poorer than CD sound. Some MDs can also use lower resolution modes for extended recording time, thereby using poorer recording methods like LP2 and LP4.
Can I even hear it? There in lies personal taste. I have met many people (young and old) that say they can't hear the difference between a mp3 and a wav (CD). Our hearing is best when we are young, after the age of 18 it begins to degrade. Our ability to hear (and feel) low-range, mid-range and most of high-range frequencies remain intact. So pursuing the limits of bit and sampling rates is not pointless. The most recent argument is whether one can tell the difference between 96 and 192 Khz... We can definitely tell the difference between CD and DVD-A. If you buy "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" DVD-A/CD Set, sit down and compare the songs. Listen for increased bass, drum, vocal and guitar clarity. You shouldn't need headphones or expensive speakers to hear the difference. To really enjoy DVD Audio, I would suggest better playback equipment.
What format? We want to keep the audio "lossless." Which means saving the analog audio data as wav, shn or flac. We want to create Digital Audio CD-Rs and DVD-Audio (Recordables) of the highest quality possible. FLAC allows for 24/96 and 16/44.1 compression, while shn is limited to 16/44.1. The shn lossless compression format can take a 700,000 KB file and reduce it's size by 1/7th. Both lossless compression formats can generate "checksum files," which are files that validate that each file in a group to be the correct file size. It's a nice feature used to prevent file corruption and other data problems. I like shn more because it gives you an end status report, while flac doesn't not (and not to mention operates in DOS mode).
Purity: I hope to "weed out" inferior audio files from circulation. Currently the average trader burns his or her own CD-Rs (at 16 bit / 44.1 Khz). In the past many people traded cassette tapes, that were Generations copied from other copies. Too often people don't know the generation number of the cassette tape which they made their CD-R from. But if we can get a CD or DVD-Audio made from the Master recording, it would quash a lot of confusion as well as generate many other positives.
Hopefully this project will find master copies and share better audio files (than those
CD-Rs made from the cassette tapes). I know there are many flaming lips DAT recordings out there
as well as many other Master cassette tapes, Minidiscs, etc. I want to make sure we preserve all
recordings at their highest potential sampling and bit rate. I hope you will all join in and collaborate shows. There are several ways you can get involved: You can join the "Flaming
Lips Hub" or e-mail me directly (which is probably the better way to go). Just get
in contact with me, Ryan Mulberger, and well evaluate & compare what we have.
Data: I also hope this will result in more text files on each bootleg's setlist, date, location, venue name, band line-up, the opening bands, source info, transfer
info and recording equipment. I will try to keep a personal list of who
taped the show or provided a recording, so that if there are future changes in
technology or new-found tapes, I can get in contact with you. When sharing
lossless audio files online, the user will make a folder (label the show) for
which the songs are in. They will often make an accompanying text file for
various info.
It is extremely important to put your name & e-mail in the text file. That way we know who the files came from and can contact them about show related info, recording equipment or sound quality.
Preservation: I plan on making master back-up data DVD-Rs of all the shows.
I think it is important to make
a physical DVD-R back-up of all the shows so that other fans will have continued access to free shared live music files. The DVD-Rs will be used to distribute large amounts of files to those
without hi-bandwidth modems or for trading tree ("Pyramid") schemes.
One day, I plan to setup a hard drive tree (or a multi-disc DVD-R tree) to distribute the amassed Flaming Lips live audio.
Also, programs needed for recording DVD-Audio discs are very expensive.
For example, Surcode MLP (to process the encoding) is in the thousands of
dollars....also Disc Welder Chrome (needed to actaully burn the DVD) is in the
thousands of dollars range...so as you can see this won't be happening anytime
soon. In the mean time all 24/96 wavs will be made available as data DVDs
rather than DVD-Audio discs. In doing some research about DVD Audio,
the experts have said MLP (so called "lossless" technology) is
actually a lossy scheme. It discards some of the original signals hi-end
recording in order to fit it on a DVD. So, the 24/96 wav files are truely
best preserved as so and not as DVD-A discs.
Why go digital? I would urge you to go digital because cassette tapes (and even DAT tapes) age every day and will one day finally jam, tear, flake apart, gum up, become highly oxidized, or disintegrate! This has happened to me and it just may happen to you! Below are 2 wav file examples of tapes in my own collection that still degraded (even though I took great care of and properly stored them away from light, heat and cold). The recordings were made on new Maxell brand (XL II Position High) cassette tapes. Cassette recording # 1 was made in 1996 and cassette recording # 2 was made in July 2001. I have even owned a studio-produced cassette tape go bad. So you really can't go by age or even how well you care for the cassette tape.
Cassette Tape # 1 has Static Distortion and Cassette Tape # 2 has Lost a Channel
Of course, more things can go wrong with cassette tapes. They can have sudden drops in volume or accumulate static/fuzz noise over the years.
It was over the summer when I first saw on television "Save Our History: Save Our Sounds." I can't really compare the caliber of what the Smithsonian Institution saved to the bootleg archive projects....The documentary's "main characters" were fidgeting with CS tapes that when played in a deck, the magnetic medium rubbed off onto the head (thereby destroying the cassette) or they were dealing with mediums that pre-dated the phonographic record like the wax spindle and the magnetized wire. They had to find working players for these to get the music recorded to a computer as a 16 bit / 44.1 Khz wav file (I still wonder why they didn't make 24/96?). There were so many priceless American historical recordings sitting in the Library of Congress, that were not taken care of, improperly handled, and became technologically obsolete formats. Many of the recordings were lost, many saved, and even many new recordings were discovered! That is the urgency that which we must preserve our recordings.
If anyone has master analog bootlegs they made on cassette tapes, I would be glad to do the conversions for you. I urge you to digitally preserve them, otherwise it will eventually become too late to save them!
In addition, it is crucial to have a new (unworn or undamaged) head. Bad heads result in:
Learn more about head wear here and about tape heads in general, here. You can buy new tape heads here.
Speaking of noise, here is a superb article about "noise reduction" technologies: here. It is also a great site to learn about the various recording/playback technologies over the last several decades. Here is comprehensive article about tape recording in general.
These are the decks I will use to transfer your recordings:
-For Cassette Tape Transfers: Marantz SD3000 *
-Independent channel volume adjustments, mute button, variable speed playback (3 3/4 IPS or 1 7/8 IPS) Super Hard Permalloy Head. MPX Filter -on/off button. Dolby NR on/off button. EQ normal/special button. Bias low/hi button. Compuskip on/off.
* Currently not in use due to playback speed problems. I have replaced it with a later model seen below.
For Cassette Tape Transfers: Marantz SD6000
Very similar to my SD3000 deck except for some better features. For example, I can now direct select the tape type (Normal, Special Cro2, FeCr, or Metal). Before I could only select high or low bias, now I can fine tune the bias to each type of cassette tape. It also features the dbx noise reduction system. I doubt I will see any tapes come my way that were recorded using this because it was a rare hi-end feature to have on a consumer cassette deck. This deck uses a sendust alloy head, where the 3000 used a "permalloy head." I was quite happy with the 3000's head, and I'm sure the 6000 head will be just as great.
DAT Conversions: SONY DAT DTC-ZE700
This deck features toslink in/out, so that I can digitally transfer the audio. Can play back all sample rates. Any recordings that are made in 16/48, I will be transferring them to a 16/48 wav file so they are an exact copy of the original. Includes "super bit mapping," so if you are interested in a 20bit resolution copy. Also has 1 bit, high density linear D/A converter system and advanced pulse D/A converter.
For Minidisc Transfers: Sony MDS-JE520
It has fiber optic (toslink) outputs so the signal can be digitally transferred to the toslink input of my soundcard. No more analog transfers of minidiscs! I am not able to convert minidiscs that were recorded in LP2 or LP4. Previous MD transfers were done with a SONY MZ-R37, which would only output the signal via RCA cable. The JE520 also uses Atrac version 4.5, hybrid pulse DAC, 20 bit delta-sigma ADC. JE520 Specifications: Freq. Response: 5-20kHz +/-3dB, S/N >96dB, Line in impedance: > 47k Ohm, Line out level: 2Vrms/50k Ohm, Headphone: 100mW/320 Ohm max.
LP, 10 inch, 45rpm or 7 inch Conversions: Pioneer PL-518
(Can adjust speed to play domestic or foreign LPs.) I have this connected to a Audiosource Preamp/Tuner Two (see photo below). The Record Player is grounded to the pre-amplifier. Signals are sent via acoustic research audio cables. The pre-amp has a 110db S/N ratio.
When doing conversions of analog sources, I directly connect the playback deck to the soundcard to prevent any unwanted noise from being picked up (whether its from the Pre-amp, the AC outlet, or an equalizer). Which reminds me, All my audio equipment and PC runs off its own AC line within the house. I also use a APC Back-ups XS 1000, which allows me to monitor my power. For the several months it has been plugged in, it reports absolutely zero noise in the line.
(no photo yet)
8-Track Conversions: General Electric 8-Track Stereo Recorder
(stereo only, no quadraphonic. Independent channel volume adjustments.)
Soundcard: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum Ex (External)
One of the crucial elements in the chain is the sound card. For this I have chosen an external card to nullify any noise that would be picked up if it were inside the PC. Next it has 3 pairs of line level stereo RCA inputs/outputs. It also has fiber optic (toslink) input and output. It also has some other things like a MIDI interface, that I will surely never use. The specifications on the card are very impressive, see below. Creative seems to keep cranking out better and better soundcards.
Analysis: http://www.techspot.com/reviews/hardware/audigy2/index.shtml
(currently one of the best soundcards available. I can record in bitrates up to 24 and sampling rates up to 192 Khz. The benefits of an external soundcard is reduced noise due to internal soundcards being near a computers cooling fan.)
· Signal-to-Noise Ratio (AES17, A-Weighted) Rated Output 2V:1V.
· Stereo Output = 106dB: 102dB.
· Front & Rear Channels = 106dB: 102dB.
· Center, Subwoofer & Rear Center =~90dB ~86dB.
· Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (AES17) = 0.004% (1V, 2V Rated Output).
· Frequency Response = <10Hz to 46kHz (1V, 2V Rated Output).
(+/-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input)
Recording Software: Sound Forge 4.5e (16/44.1) and Creative MediaSource (24/96)
Editing Software: WaveLab Lite (24/96 or 24/192) and Sound Forge 4.5e (16/44.1)
Speed Editing/Correction: Sound Forge 4.5e is used to correct the tape speed if it was recorded improperly thereby allowing us to make the "playing speed" to be the correct rate. This problem occurs once in a great while.
That summarizes just about everything (minus some more technical mumbo-jumbo). If you have some analog or digital recordings that you would like to have transferred to CD or DVD, please contact me. If I am interested in the material, I'll do the conversions for free. If it is by a band that I am not interested in, you can hire me to do the conversions for a small fee. Basically, this is all about saving bootlegs from disintegration as well as sharing the resulting wav files with anyone who seeks them. I hope you will consider loaning me your tapes for the good of everyone.
Who Runs It? Ryan Mulberger
View the current DVD-Audio & CD Recordings Library.
P.S. If you looking for a 24/96 soundcard take a look at this website.
Original Website
Concept: Scott Bakal. Updated on September 13th, 2004 by Ryan Mulberger.