A bunch of 78 rpm records, played with a stereo setup,
digitised, and then cleaned with...
Mono-a-Mono
(The Wonder Audio-Scrubber)
This is my personal web site featuring a mixed bag of old 78 rpm records, dating from the 1920s up to the 1950s. The records were played (in stereo, using standard RIAA / CCIR equalisation) on a Goldring-Lenco GL-78 deck fitted with a Shure M55E cartridge. They were digitised with a Creative Sound Blaster Connect audio interface, and cleaned up with a program I wrote, Mono-a-Mono, version 2.10. The equalisation errors caused by the RIAA equlisation were corrected with Mono-a-Mono's bass and treble lift controls. The correction was based on the label and approximate date of each recording. The exact parameters are in the ID3v2 tags of the respective MP3 files, below.
The program, Mono-a-Mono, was written to clean up stereo recordings of mono sources (such as old 45 and 78 rpm records, and tapes), producing a mono signal as close as possible to the original. It's cool. It doesn't make any birdy sounds. It makes old records listenable again, even if they are extremely noisy and crackly. It's processing can be controlled to get the best out of an individual recording, but pretty good performance is generally achieved just using the default settings.
One or two of the examples below don't sound all that good because they are from badly worn discs (probably due to being played repeatedly on old wind-up gramophones when I was a kid), but the others give a good idea of what can be achieved with this software.
Poor Little Angeline / Think of Something Else to Do - Ben Hammond and his Orchestra
Nightmare / The Beat - Billy May and his Orchestra
Conchita Marquita Lopez / The Singing Sands of Alamosa - Bing Crosby
Bread and Butter Woman / Civilisation - Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters
All About You / Knock On Wood - Danny Kaye
Change of Heart / Memories are Made of This - Dean Martin
Get Out Those Old Records / Mockin' Bird Hill - Donald Peers
Tell Her You Love Her / Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra
Little White Lies / Pick Yourself Up - The George Shearing Quintet
East of the Sun (West of the Moon) / The Continental - The George Shearing Quintet
In the Middle of a Dark, Dark Night / Sweet Stuff - Guy Mitchell with Jimmy Carroll
Nobody Loves a Fairy When She's Forty / On Ilkla Moor - Jack Jackson and his Orchestra
Sing Holly! Go Whistle! Hey! Hey! - Jan Ralfini and his Band
Drink, Brothers, Drink - Nat Star and his Dance Orchestra
Slide, Hamp, Slide / Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra
Central Avenue Breakdown / When Lights Are Low - Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra
Helpless / Samson's Boogie - Lionel Hampton and his Hamp-Tones
That Monte Carlo Song / More Than Anybody - Miss Cecil Cunningham
Never Took a Lesson in My Life / The Man Who Comes Around - Nat Gonella and his New Georgians
I Had to Go and Draw Another Pound Out / The Isle of Hootcha Kootcha - Norman Long
Plymouth Rock / Calypso Dance - Ray Anthony and his Orchestra
Thunderbird / Randle's Island - Ray Anthony and his Orchestra
Something's Gotta Give / Love Me or Leave Me - Sammy Davis Jr
St James' Infirmary / The Mouchi - Spike Hughes and his Dance Orchestra
Life Gits Tee-Jus, Don't It? / Never Trust a Woman - Tex Williams
Cross Over the Bridge / Somebody Bad Stole de Wedding Bell - The Beverley Sisters
Whispering Grass / Maybe - The Ink Spots
Delilah Jones / Picnic - The McGuire Sisters
Across the Alley from the Alamo / Dream, Dream, Dream - The Mills Brothers
Ogo-Pogo - The Savoy Havana Band
Marie - The Savoy Orpheans
Jambalaya / Make It Soon - The Tanner Sisters
Symphony in Riffs / Hawaiian War Chant - Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra
Rebel Rock / Singing the Blues - Tommy Steele and The Steelmen
Cappriccio in F Minor (Dohnanyi) / Valse Oubliee (Forgotten Waltz, Liszt) - Vladimir Horowitz
Let's Go! Side 1 / Side 2 - Winifred Attwell
Basie's Basement / Who Dat Up Dere? - Woody Herman and his Orchestra