Cleaning Old Audio???

[mysticpain]

Hello, Here is my situation. I have a recording of my old band from 8 years ago. We recorded on a tape recorder set in a strategic area to get our entire jam sessions. We then made a "master" tape of our best practices. As technology advanced we were able to get them to disc and MP3 format. I have put the mp3 files into programs like Magix studio to bring up the volume and such. I am also starting to experiment with Magix audio cleaning... which does infact take away the tape "HISS". What my question is...Is there a way... some type of program that will allow me to cut away layers of the recording to edit them all individually? So I am able to filter out different tracks at all? Is this a lost battle? Is it even worth trying to improve these any more? OR... is it possible to polish it up so they really sound good? THanks.

[Dr Biscuits]

Well, you can certainly clean up the sound a bit with various processors, but unfortunately you'll never strip out the drum parts etc, if this is what you're asking, and you'll never make it sound like it was recorded in a $1000000000 studio ...
One thing I'd suggest if you can is to go back as far as you can in your chain of "changes" -back to the tapes if possible - to do your pass of "re-mastering". Each time you convert, copy, compress to mp3 you lose quality, so you're layering your corrections and possibly making it worse. Mp3 in particular is a horrible format to have as your master copy...
Good luck, I know that frustration of trying to clean up old stuff!

[Alexbt]

It is impossible to edit individual instruments within a mixdown. Some mastering engineers may be able to perceptually adjust levels, but there isn't all that much you can do.

And please, digitize to and work in a non lossy format like WAV or AIF. It'll be easier to remove the hiss and will sound better too.

[mysticpain]

YO! Excellent advice on the MP3 thing... I realize I have lost a lot of audio due to layering too much via the mp3 format... I am going to start over with wav and see what happens. I actually am having good luck with Magix audio cleaning lab. Will keep everyone posted. Thanks.