The de-cerealiser was not a processor of any description, but a device
for allowing the position of a click to be accurately marked on the
tape, so that the oxide layer could be partially scraped off at that
exact point. Accuracy was of the essence here, as the effect of scraping
to one side or other of the click merely accentuated it. Hit it
squarely, however, and it sank into the surrounding surface noise most
satisfactorily. The violin bow analogy comes from the technique of
operation, which was to grip the tape in the device and move it in a
series of tiny jerks against the pressure of a finger or thumb. The head
output was fed to a dynamic speaker, and a change in character of the
sound from the head listened for. When, as John put it, the noise
appeared across the face of the speaker as opposed to the interior,
there was the click. A quick blip of the marker and the click was
located. Out of the device, scrape off about half the depth of the oxide
at that point, and away went the click.
If you think I've been at the head cleaning fluid you have my sympathy,
but that is how it worked, and it worked well. I built my own under
John's direction and learned how to use it. It was a good tool for the
time, better than anything else for removing the residual from Packburn
or Mousetrap. It was only clearly bettered when the likes of Cedar
manual declick became available. The process was laborious, and I never
came close to John's speed, but it was certainly effective. I still
have mine somewhere...
On 09/04/2014 22:42, John Haley wrote:
> Way back when I had an analog click and pop remover, I think made by SSE,
> that worked OK for that era. It was never perfect. It worked best on
> isolated clicks on stereo LP's, less well on mono LP's, and worked best on
> sources that needed it the least. Today we would complain about the
> artifacts it left. This is done way better in the digital domain today,
> and to my knowledge all of the various analog click removers are truly
> obsolete. They are pointless today, and I can't think of any reason to use
> one.
>
> Continuous crackle on records is one of the hardest things to attack and
> remove, without damage to the musical signal (as Tom pointed out). But
> many times what seems continuous really isn't, when you open up a .WAV file
> way on down there, and the clicks can be isolated and removed. The longer
> the duration of the click or pop, the harder it is to remove successfully.
> Where a program won't get them or leaves artifacts (in my experience,
> sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't--it's unpredictable), sometimes
> you can do OK with manual removal, but this is very time consuming and
> arduous. It can take an hour to fix several seconds worth this way (and
> make you insane).
>
> Best,
> John Haley
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 4:45 PM, Mickey Clark <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> i had an SAE 5000A and found that it would work best with a mono signal
>> going to only one side of it - mine was melted unfortunately but it did
>> work. Digital software for de-clicking is better as you archive the
>> original sound as accurately as possible and deal with noise afterwards -
>> i.e. if you had the SAE set too high and it was introducing errors into the
>> recording, you have to start over - and re-record from the disc again...
>> Mickey
>> Follow me on Twitter
>> https://twitter.com/MickeyRClark
>> M.C.Productions Vintage Recordings
>> 710 Westminster Ave. West
>> Penticton BC
>> V2A 1K8
>> http://mcproductions.shawbiz.ca
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "[log in to unmask]" <
>> [log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2014 12:52 PM
>>
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] John R T Davies
>>
>>
>> I suspect that "decerealiser" means a device for taking out "snap crackle
>>> pop" surface noise. There were several analog devices made for the consumer
>>> market. I do not know if there was anything for the professional market.
>>> They didn't work very well for 78s. The reference looks back to a TV
>>> commercial for Rice Krispies breakfast cereal. The jingle was "snap crackle
>>> pop Rice Krispies" because that was the sound made when the milk was poured
>>> on.
>>>
>>> I used to love that stuff when I was a kid.
>>>
>>> As far as the bow and string part goes, I am clueless.
>>>
>>> joe salerno
>>>
>>> On 4/9/2014 1:44 PM, Jan Myren wrote:
>>>
>>>> HI!
>>>>
>>>> I have read an interview with the late sound engineer John R.T. Davies
>>>> where
>>>> he describes a gadget he refers to as a 'decerealiser' -- removing snap,
>>>> crackle and pop from 78 rpm records in the analogue domain, using the
>>>> principle of a violin string and bow. My question is, what exactly was
>>>> this
>>>> working in real?
>>>> What did he actually do?
>>>>
>>>> http://www.bluesworld.com/JRTDavies.html
>>>>
>>>> All the best
>>>> jan
>>>>
>>>>
>>> --
>>> Joe Salerno
>>>
>>>
>> ---
>> This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus
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>> http://www.avast.com
>>
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