Hi, Lisa,
I have had to do the same. I don't think you will be able to "restore" the
record to it's former state as an artifact, but it is very possible to
recover the info in the grooves. In short, you take a flat board that is
larger than the record and put two large nails or screws in it a few inches
apart. Then you have a platform on which to put the record pieces to glue
them back together with Crazy Glue (or its equivalent). Put the largest
piece up against the nails or screws and place the other piece(s) where it
goes, being VERY careful to line up the grooves correctly. You are able to
press it against the larger piece which is held in place by resting up
against the nails (screws). And be careful to align the pieces in the
horizontal plane (getting them flat together). I would not put any glue in
the groove area if you can help it, attaching the pieces with dots of glue
on the outer edge and in the inner part past the end of the record or in
the label area. If that isn't possible and you must use glue in the groove
area, use the smallest amount possible on the edges to stick, without
oozing over into the grooves on either side of the record. Let it dry and
move it as carefully as possible to your turntable and make a good digital
dub to a .WAV file. The record may come apart thereafter but all you need
is one good playing, capturing everything that is in the grooves. You will
probably hear lots of clacks as the stylus passes over the edges, and you
will have to remove those on the computer with a .wav editor. That's a
good deal of work, but it is generally possible if you have aligned up the
grooves right. I am good at this myself. Removing the clacks will
generally need to be done manually, carefully matching up the .WAV form to
avoid new noises at the joins (there is definitely an art to this). The
clacks are so short that their removal will usually have no audible effect
on the musical content, but if that is a problem (where a clack is
unusually long), you can always stretch a note just slightly (we are
talking thousandths of a second here) to make it right. I believe that
most computerized click and pop removal programs will not be able to deal
well with loud clacks.
Best,
John Haley
On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 8:55 AM, Mason Vander Lugt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Lisa,
>
> As Lou suggested for cylinders in 'Phonograph Wax Cylinder Repair?'
> earlier this month, optical
> reformatting might be an option for retrieving the sound from your broken
> disc.
>
> The Northeast Document Conservation Center is currently working on making
> this service available to
> the public. We anticipate we'll be ready to begin taking orders summer
> 2014. I can't guarantee we'll
> be able to work with your recording, and the service won't be cheap at
> first, but if your recording is
> very important, there may be ways to fund the transfer.
>
> If you'd like more information about our (anticipated) service, you can
> read our announcement online
> at http://www.nedcc.org/audio-preservation or message me off list.
>
> Mason Vander Lugt
> Audio Preservation Specialist
> Northeast Document Conservation Center
> 978-470-1010
>
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