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Topic: Warbling distortion audio file (Read 2654 times) previous topic - next topic
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Warbling distortion audio file

Hi guys,

I'm hoping someone can help - I recently purchased a very rare demo disc - Taylor Swift's Volume 2 (released circa 2003, none of these tracks have been released on her albums).  There are 15 tracks on the disc, 2 of them appear to be damaged (tracks 12 and 15 - American Boy and In the pouring rain respectively).  Theres a strong warbling sound on the CD when these 2 tracks are played, with the song actually present, but at a lower volume and overshadowed by the warbling distortion. 

I have done an accurate rip using EAC but the rip has the same issues present.  Interestingly, EAC shows no read/sync/CRC errors when ripping these tracks.  I would have expected if there were disc surface issues (scratches, warping, fingerprints, etc) that there would be errors.  Am I correct in this assumption?  I very carefully cleaned the disc with a mix of isopropyl alcohol/distilled water (1:10 mix ratio), using a cotton cloth, radially from centre to edge of the disc.  This did not make a difference.  I can see very fine scratches (radial) that are present on the disc - at least a dozen of the buggers all around the disc.  I am not impressed.  Several of the scratches do appear to intersect, and the intersect points are probably very close to the problem tracks. 

My questions - if it was a scratch, and intersecting scratches, wouldn't it just affect that part of the audio stream, and not the entire track?  The 2 tracks are buggered from start to finish. 

I have checked by the left and right channels in Audacity, both have the sound issues present.  A 5 or so second excerpt can be downloaded via the URL below:

http://www.ecn.net.au/~dpastern/taylor/amboy_excerpt.zip

Taylor was just 14 when these songs were written and recorded and this is a rather rare piece of music history as some would appreciate. 

Could it be that the dye used on the CD-R is problematic on these 2 tracks and is causing the problems (as opposed to the visible scratches)? 

Is there a way that I could remove the warbling - any help would be appreciated.  I'm familiar with Audacity, but only a total beginner!

Dave

Warbling distortion audio file

Reply #1 –
There is nothing wrong with your CD. The symptoms that you describe could not result from a defect in the CD or how it was ripped.

The problem is that this is how it sounds on the master, some problem with the tape machine that recorded it I guess. If they were not able to make it sound better when they mastered the CD then there is probably not much hope.