Hello! First post ever for me...

Playing New Vegas I have noticed that one song seems too good in quality to be the original 1941 recorded one. It's the song by Ink Spots, It's a Sin to Tell a Lie. The sound is as if it was recorded today, in a digital recording studio.

Does anybody knows any info on how those songs were recovered from the (supposedly) original 78 rpm record? I mean, in '41 there were no recording technology able to record the sound with the full spectrum of frequencies (the voices are clearly recorded in full spectrum) and there were no stereo sound... yet, the piano is coming mostly from left speaker, and so on...

My suspicion is that that song was re-recorded by someone mimicking very closely the Ink Spots performance, but the record couldn't be more than 20 years old. Any info on that?

I have no idea if the song is sung by the originals or not. If it wasn't I would imagine that it would have to legally be mentioned.

As far as the technology goes, they may not have had it in 1941, but we sure have the technology to digitally remaster music now. As a disclaimer, I do not work in or with the music technology business, but I do work with computers. Getting a decent, clear recording, possibly from a master, copying into digital format restoration artists can do a lot of work with clearing it up, adding stereo and all of that. So really, it's not so far fetched to think that it is the original song, just improved with remastering technology.

This song was Digitaly resmastered.

You can do absolute wonders even with Nero bought off the shelf; I'd imagine that studio grade professional audio software is far superior at doing the same task.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Ink_Spots

Thanks, P Pierce34, I knew about the Wiki on Fallout before even registering with the forum, I have done quite a bit of searching on the Internet before asking...

Gizmo, Boradam, I have done a bit of digital restoration myself and I know that you cannot invent data where there is none. A record committed to shellac or even vinyl, using the technology of '41, has no useable signal higher than around 8-10 kHz, and up to this frequency the spectrum diminishes steadily. I am not hearing that response. Also, what I do not hear is the artifacts left invariably by the elimination of clicks and pops and hiss from the material. So either The Ink Spots were recorded using a magnetic recording device that was used on the process of remastering and that tape was in exquisite condition, and the recording was made using modern microphones and hardware, or the song was re-recorded by someone sounding very-very close to the original song.

On Amazon there is a sample for the Ink Spots album from where this song was extracted and the quality is quite bad, exactly what I would expect from a gramophone record (complete with hiss, pops and cracks, and the unmistakeably sound of an early recording - be it all-electric or mechanical one).

If indeed it was quite a restoration work on an original recording, I would very much like to know more about the procedure since it clearly surpasses everything I know about restoring old recordings (and I do know a little about it).

Oh, btw, Gizmo, I do have access to professional studio software. I work as a sound engineer on a local recording studio.

The song is credited to "Dominion Entertainment Inc." in the game credits, and that is apparently a subsidiary of K-Tel. I suspect you'd have to contact them.

I have heard some amazing reconstructions in cases where they can get ahold of multiple copies of the same recording. Using bits of one to reconstruct and augment another.

Right. That explains it, it's a cover version. The thing I was very interested in was the restoration technology I supposed it was being used. If it's not restored, then it's not that interesting, but the song is quite nice, nevertheless.

Thank you, folks, my curiosity is satisfied.

Interesting question, certainly worth a Google:

Cover version or just re-recorded, the Group were apparently around for a long time though the line up did change:

http://www.theinkspots.com/history.htm

From 1961, final paragraph, they were performing live

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dCAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=%22the+ink+spots%22+fidelity&source=bl&ots=5do904Okn0&sig=NcEr1V6btCPE81XwgBQMOr3Yqf4&hl=en&ei=KIsGTZ3JI4XNhAfSiq3_Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22the%20ink%20spots%22%20fidelity&f=false


:)