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[CAScreaminDude]

EDIT: I've just figured out how to remove some tape hiss in Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio 9, but it comes at the expense of a small bit of treble data (but a very impressively small bit). Working on getting the hiss out here without killing the glockenspiel-type sound too much ..

I have SF... what's your tip?  Does it involve Graphic EQ, because I've been trying to play around with that (when I come up with something, I'll let you all know.

pixielated:Thank you SO MUCH for your great track! AWESOME to have the REAL loop. I hear (certainly quite noticeable LOL!) what you mean about the bassish sound you have, which is great, you just need some treble, which shouldn't be hard to put it post production. I'm sure the data is already there within the mp3 file, I'll just do some playing around with it, and see what I come up with, let you know any sound quality edits I make.

[PL-7764]

I have SF... what's your tip?  Does it involve Graphic EQ, because I've been trying to play around with that (when I come up with something, I'll let you all know.

Tape hiss removal involves the "Audio restoration" tool under "Tools." The bottom slider will have the biggest effect on hiss, but the upper ones affect what kind of effect it will have. I've discovered that what it does the most (under my parameters I've set for it anyway) is remove the higher, sharper parts of the hiss, making it more of a mid-range-focused sound and thus much less noticeable. It'll still be there, most obviously during silences, but it'll be much less noticeable when music is going.

Unfortunately whatever song-used frequencies are above the one specified by the "Affect frequencies above ..." box will be compromised. If you wanna try for yourself though, I find that setting said box to ~4,000 Hz has the most desirable hiss-removal-to-sound-destruction ratio. Gets rid of the sharpest parts of the hiss, but destroys the glockenspiel as a compromise.

I also have a Graphic EQ setting I found works just right for restoring the whole recording if you want to use it for yourself:

[CAScreaminDude]

Very nice suggestions, thanks. I decided to go with two separate Graphic EQ applications, the first identical to yours, and a second which keeps all else at 0.0, but drops 15k to -Inf. It cuts on the hissing without affecting the glock much at all, seeing as ~4k is being cut in any case with the audio/vinyl restoration. If you go into the Graphic EQ envelope (as opposed to the 10 band view on your display), you can manually affect the frequencies between 4 kHz - 15 kHz (and inf) however you wish, and create a nice slope downward as opposed to a rough drop off at the 4K level. I added a similar audio/vinyl restoration at the end, but I moved the noise floor to 70dB to try and get more of a reduction. The glock loss isn't all that great to begin with, not when you compare it to the Triton mp3s anyway. Actually, I really feel embarrassed to say, but I feel like playing around with the in-house Windows Media Player (10) effects, namely WMP's Graphic EQ, "Quiet Mode," and SRS WOW effects, produces results that are even on par with Sound Forge.

pixielated, forgive me if you've already answered this, but, how did you ever manage to record this loop?

[pixelated]

pixielated, forgive me if you've already answered this, but, how did you ever manage to record this loop?

On the bridge/walkway between Ariel's Grotto restaurant and the circular hub in front of the former Golden Dreams theater (i.e., where they put the DCA Christmas tree), there are speakers that play the loop which are very, very accessible.  They are set into the concrete pillars under each lampost at roughly shin-level, behind a coarse square grill.  The hard part is having to stand around for over an hour .

[eyore]

I'm a little more than excited over this loop.
Apart from Disney, one of my interests has, for many years, been mechanical music.
This loop sounds very much like the music of the European barrel organ. Now these are not the ones played by a man with a monkey on his shoulder but HUGE things with drums, glockenspiels etc built into them (and they actually play) - a much more advanced machine than those found on a carousel and very sophisticated although still using the sheets with holes cut in them.
see the pic under the organ pipes here
http://www.chycor.co.uk/tourism/paul-corin-music/
I'm pretty sure that this music has been recorded from something very similar.
I'm sure there's an interesting history here.
Thank you for this

[CAScreaminDude]

I'm a little more than excited over this loop.
Apart from Disney, one of my interests has, for many years, been mechanical music.
This loop sounds very much like the music of the European barrel organ. Now these are not the ones played by a man with a monkey on his shoulder but HUGE things with drums, glockenspiels etc built into them (and they actually play) - a much more advanced machine than those found on a carousel and very sophisticated although still using the sheets with holes cut in them.
see the pic under the organ pipes here
http://www.chycor.co.uk/tourism/paul-corin-music/
I'm pretty sure that this music has been recorded from something very similar.
I'm sure there's an interesting history here.
Thank you for this

Now to find just which one (PS: It uses the same samples that they made the NEW Fantasyland "Dumbo" loop with)... I want to say it's a later model in the Wurlitzer family, or possibly a Gavioli, even Mortier. I've pretty much ruled out Welte (manufacturer in the Penny Arcade) and Verbeeck (which have a lovely sound, think the 118 key "Victory")... Now Disney houses a Gavioli behind the Dumbo attraction, but that isn't what is played throughout Fantasyland, since the Fantasyland Dumbo/Casey/Carousel BGM is the digitally sampled Pier-organ. Disney also houses a reproduced Wurlitzer 157 on King Arthur Carousel, but that is not operational as well.

Thanks for your patience, pixelated. It's very well worth it and appreciated. It's just unfortunate there is no 'ground' speaker to speak of in Zephyr/Jelly/Stinger 'lands.' And the Carousel isn't all that easy to access.

[eyore]

I'd have guessed the Mortier by the effects (that little "bubbly" sound is typical) but no piano accordion but it has been a few years since I stood by one playing 
I actually have a vinyl LP of mechanical organs like this (sad, or what).
If I can find it I'll try a comparison.
Wurlitzer, I think, tend to use a lot more brass  than wooden pipes.
Gavioli is more fairground and there's afew instruments in the loop I wouldn't expect to find on one but, then again, I have only a small sample to compare with.
For those of you who are not familiar with these things there's a real beauty here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hans_vk/3149634817/
There's a sound file (try the second one) here http://www.swissmusicbox.com/showroom/10/100/Th.Mortier-Antwerpe.html
Not a good comparison but, if you listen carefully, you can hear the "bubbly" pipes in the background although drowned out a little by the metal ones.

[pixelated]

I ran the recording through Izotope RX Denoiser on the high-quality preset (simple processing: algorithm C, noise reduction 12 dB, smooth 5) and it did reduce the hiss by a good amount.  You can still hear a faint hiss but it's much better than before the processing.  The treble tones seem to be all still there; the glockenspiel sounds intact to my ears.

The link to this second version:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/1latbx
DCA - Paradise Pier Boardwalk loop (induction recording, less hiss).mp3

PL-7764 and CAScreaminDude, can you compare this version against what you've been able to do with Sound Forge as far as reducing the hiss?  I'm curious about the pros and cons of the different approaches we've been taking.  Thanks!

[CAScreaminDude]

I like your new edit, to tell you the truth, after a while, all the recordings with all the different hiss-edits start sounding the same, which means none are all that far off from each other anymore. Thanks, pxltd (PS: I sent you a PM).

[PL-7764]

Wow, it sounds a lot better than what I was able to do. Great work there!

Can I come to you when I need something de-hissed? (In all seriousness, I do have one track in particular I'd like to hear this done to ... I'll PM it to you if you want to try.)

[pixelated]

A belated "You're welcome!" to everyone.
No requests so far to make a torrent of the recording so I guess that answers eyore's question about why CAScreaminDude's reconstructed loop did not reappear after the original torrent was removed.  Vox populi .

[eyore]

Ok, I have asked if this is commercially available and, as far as I can find out from various lists, it isn't and the previous torrent was removed because it included a different area which WAS, - so I'm uploading it.
I've done as much as I can to ensure that I'm not doing anything naughty.
Of course, if there's a problem, I'll remove it at once.
Give me a while to get the gray cells to remember how to do this

Edit:
OK, it's uploaded.
Please download it ASAP as I have limited time to seed at the moment.

[pixelated]

A very BIG thank you to eyore for making the torrent and seeding it!  As I write this, it's been downloaded 40 times.  I guess if you seed it, they will come .  Thanks again!

[CAScreaminDude]

Eyore, I just received an e-mail from DLR, it is a Mortier 97 key.

[eyore]

Thought so
Thanks for the confirmation.