Decoding DBX Tapes

B

bmg

Member
I have analogue recordings that were made with a DBX DX-8 unit.
Is there a way to decode these tapes without using the outboard unit?
Can these be decoded with software?
 
Yes, there are a few different ways of doing this.

1. Uhe's Satin tape emulation plug-in can decode a number of different types of noise reduction including both types of DBX, Dolby A and Dolby B.

2. Anaxwaves make a DBX decoder which works both stand-alone and as a plug-in.

3. It is possible to create your own plug-in chain to emulate DBX if your DAW supports sidechaining. This gives you a bit more control and allows you to fine tune all the settings but it can be difficult to set up. Here's my chain for Reaper


I make no guarantees as to its accuracy as I tend to tweak it to match the source.

James
 
Thanks for all the info.
Funny - I always lamented the fact my 3440 recordings were not made using NR.
But after hearing them recently, the hiss & noise are barely noticeable; making me wonder if it may have been overkill on the 80-8.
(Teac really had a nice product all those years ago.)
 
What @jamesperrett said ^^^^.

The DX-8 facilitates dbx Type I noise reduction BTW, so if you didn’t know that already, however you end up choosing to decode the tapes, that’s the noise reduction type you are decoding.

Nice sidechain @jamesperrett…that’s cool.
 
bmg said:
Thanks for all the info.
Funny - I always lamented the fact my 3440 recordings were not made using NR.
But after hearing them recently, the hiss & noise are barely noticeable; making me wonder if it may have been overkill on the 80-8.
(Teac really had a nice product all those years ago.)
Click to expand...
My first open reel multitrack machine was a Teac 3340S…I mean, it was a “quad” machine but the “S” meant it had simul-sync capability and per-track record capability…and 15ips. Somebody told me I needed noise reduction. Or maybe I assumed I did. This was 25 years ago or so so it’s fuzzy now. But I went to a local pro audio shop and they sold me a Tascam DX-4D. But there was no way to interface the Control Signal connection with the 3340S so I was lost, and they were too…no info readily available at that time to me about how to defeat the control signal function on the DX-4D. So I returned it and started recording not knowing what to do for noise reduction. It wasn’t bad. But it was a bit too noisy for my tastes and I found a pair of Type I 2-channel dbx units. And that was better. And actually I think that machine sounded fantastic.
 
My first 'experiments' were made with mics & instruments plugged directly into the machine - bypassing a board.
A bit limited, to be sure, but very clean signals.
 
Without a DBX unit, you have to reintroduce two things. A tone adjustment to cope with the EQ shift pre-emphasis introduced on record. It probably sounds a bit bright that needs taming and the dynamic range is squashed, so you need something to expand it rather than compress. With fiddling, you will get a result that works. It just wont be exactly what it should be, but musical taste back when it was mixed would probably need a remaster nowadays anyway? If you want it to be ‘correct’ you’ll have to seek out a proper DBX emulator. I’m not sure the word we used, ‘decoding’ was ever correct really, it was never really coded was it? Just companding and boost on record removed on replay.
 
sweetbeats said:
Nice sidechain @jamesperrett…that’s cool.
Click to expand...

I found a description of a similar setup for Protools somewhere on the web and adapted it for Reaper. On the first project that I used it on I tweaked the expander ratio down to about 1.8:1 instead of 2:1 because that gave me a sound closer to the reference mix of the multitrack that I was transferring. This is the result...

 
bmg said:
My first 'experiments' were made with mics & instruments plugged directly into the machine - bypassing a board.
A bit limited, to be sure, but very clean signals.
Click to expand...
That is how we recorded our first 3 albums. No board at all. Sounds great to this day.
 
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