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Muffled dictaphone recording

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  • 10-11-2012 11:06am
    #1
    lukesmom
    Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭


    Does anyone know how to restore the sound of a dictaphone recording? If someone could point me in the right direction id appreciate it. I recorded a conversation last night of about 30-40 minutes and to my horror it's all muffled :( you can hear our voices but near impossible to work out what was said. It was recorded on a dictaphone with a little cassette.


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    #2
    Tactical
    Registered Users Posts: 1,542 ✭✭✭Tactical


    Dirty heads, damaged or worn tape, damaged dictaphone.

    Have you a fresh unused tape to test with? Failing that, do you have a tape that plays well? If so, test with that.

    Have a look at the head(s), do they look to have a dirty brown deposit on them? The rollers and pinchers should also be fairly clean, a large deposit of brown would indicate that cleaning would be in order.

    I don't know that you'll be able to restore the recording. You might be able to clean it up a little but I wouldn't get too hopeful if it is really badly muffled.

    Does the unit have a built in microphone or was it an external one? Did you do anything different to normal? I'm guessing you didn't undertake a short sound check before recording?


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    #3
    lukesmom
    Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭lukesmom


    Tactical wrote: »
    Dirty heads, damaged or worn tape, damaged dictaphone.

    Have you a fresh unused tape to test with? Failing that, do you have a tape that plays well? If so, test with that.

    Have a look at the head(s), do they look to have a dirty brown deposit on them? The rollers and pinchers should also be fairly clean, a large deposit of brown would indicate that cleaning would be in order.

    I don't know that you'll be able to restore the recording. You might be able to clean it up a little but I wouldn't get too hopeful if it is really badly muffled.

    Does the unit have a built in microphone or was it an external one? Did you do anything different to normal? I'm guessing you didn't undertake a short sound check before recording?

    Hi it was a built in microphone. It's my dads dictaphone I got a loan of. Yes did a test just before and a bit muffled but not as bad. The fact that I had to hide the dictaphone from the person I was recording. I had it in my pocket, an open pocket with dictaphone upright speaker on top.


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    #4
    Tactical
    Registered Users Posts: 1,542 ✭✭✭Tactical


    It may very well be the positioning that may be at fault.

    A Lavalier mic would have been ideal in the situation you have described, discrete and sensitive.


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    #5
    lukesmom
    Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭lukesmom


    Are there people who can try and make it even a bit clearer I know I won't get it great but even an improvement would do


    Edited to say its an olympusS500


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    #6
    Fuzzy Clam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,293 ✭✭✭Fuzzy Clam


    If you can copy it to your PC, use the EQ settings in Winamp. Boost the midrange frequencies, say around 1 Khz and/or 3 Khz to amplify the vocals, and reduce the lower and higher frequencies to cut down on background noise and tape hiss.
    Other than that , there's little that can be done.


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