Up-scaling Audio?
Is it possible to improve the quality of already recorded music?
Technically speaking - the honest answer is no, but subjectively - I would say the answer is definitely yes.
Most people who work with audio know that digital recordings have an inherent level of 'data compression' - effectively storing a minimal amount of information digitally, & disregarding what is believed to be imperceptible by the human ear. This is not the same as compression algorithms, which are aimed at significant reduction of data to save on memory space (such as ATRAC or Mp3).
Even 24-bit/192Khz recordings (which don't use compression algorithms at all) still have to disregard some information, in order to store their musical information digitally.
Recently, I've been doing some research into whether this inherent flaw in digital recordings could be used to create a perceived improvement in quality (with older CD quality, 16-bit/44.1Khz recordings) & I've happily stumbled upon a technique that allows me to do just that!
As far as I know, I'm the only person in the world who has so far, managed to do this (ahem!)
There are limitations to it, & it is a long & tedious process - but it does work ..... in fact the results are really quite astounding! As usual (on this website) don't take my word for it - the results (when released) will speak for themselves.
I'm reworking my back catalogue of music, & this new technique (which has to be a secret for now, works on individual tracks - not the stereo mixes) will be part of that process. The final mixes will be remixed down at 24-bit/96Khz. (I did look into 24-bit 192Khz, but to be honest, the perceived improvement in audio quality was simply too small to justify the high cost of the equipment required for it. In a world where many people cannot tell the difference between a keyboard-playing-singer onstage & a DJ - I doubt very much if anyone could spot the 'ever so slightly more open sound' of a recording at 192Khz over that of a 96Khz one.)
So - looking forward to (all being well) a more performance orientated & much better quality of recording in 2020 & beyond that.
Cheers, God bless & best of luck for 2020!
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