Cool idea if you have a good original.
I wonder how much of the original signal is lost in the digital to analog conversion?
Its probably simpler and better to just reissue as a digital from the analog master.
I think vinyl sounds great when its fresh, but this is probably a goofy idea.
Hear a 3D-Printed Record Play a Surreal Version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Joy Division
One of them has to do with distortion. Digital Distortion and Analog Distortion sound different because of two basic factors. When tubes in amps distort you get harmonics that are more pleasing to the ear, and tubes gradually distort wherein digital signal has whats called a "hard knee" it is clean until that level is reached then it distorts quickly.
The other reason Analog sounds better is because of info captured during the recording process. Analog captures whatever the mic is capable of capturing as long as the analog recorder can lay down that signal to the physical media. Digital captures only part of what the mic gets BUT that is because of the limiting factor of how the digital recorder is constructed. Digital Media is fast becoming capable of holding the same amount of information analog media holds and as we get farther along in digital recorder equipment design that factor of limitation is becoming less of a problem.
The bottom line is digital takes a messy analog signal and makes it sterile and the pleasing part of a recording resides in that messy part that digital cleans up. But as technology advances, digital is becoming more and more capable of recreating that messy part we love to hear.
I think you need to read the entire article. It's about the EXERCISE of restoring one-of-a-kind damaged recordings and how with better resolution in the near future full quality restoration of damaged an unusual recorded samples will be possible.
Silentgypsy ~ Do you have to have a pristine master to do this?
According to the article, the software eliminates the little bumps from grit and smooths over the areas damaged by the stylus from repeated playings.
Since the groove is cut with a "V" shaped tool and played with a "U" shaped stylus, there is virgin vinyl above and below the worn contact points from repeated playings. I'd bet correcting the wear in the physical media based on untouched groove areas gives a more accurate rendition than having a computer guess where the tops of the worn areas are supposed to be.
Yes, once that's done it could be translated directly to a digital format, but only a philistine would skip making a replacement disc... ;^P
For the stuff they’re working with there are no analog masters. They have a single copy, probably damaged, usually in a medium (like wax) that gets even more damaged if you play it. Technically they’re not converting from digital to analog, they’re scanning the lumps of the analog then making it again in a form they can play and not worry about damage, so while there is digital storage what’s stored is pictures not sound.