Clean up an old or rough recording, then master it
Tape hiss, turntable rumble, a 50 Hz hum, the echo of a bare room, clicks from a mouth. Pick where your recording came from and Echoteka removes the typical defects first, then masters the track in the same run, with a before/after report.
Who it is for
- Old recordings digitised from cassette or vinyl: family tapes, demos, a band’s first sessions.
- Phone and voice-recorder takes: lectures, rehearsals, field notes, voice memos.
- Interviews and podcasts recorded in an ordinary room, with a hum in the background and an echo on the voice.
It is not aimed at AI-generated songs. For those, see AI artifact cleanup and Suno mastering.
Four ready sets
Each set is a fixed combination of cleanup modules at moderate strength, chosen for what that kind of source usually gets wrong. This is exactly what each one switches on.
| Set | For | What it switches on |
|---|---|---|
| Cassette | Tape hiss, wow & flutter, mains hum | Hiss-tuned noise reduction (medium), wow and flutter correction (medium), hum removal, low-cut rumble filter at 60 Hz |
| Vinyl | Clicks, crackle, turntable rumble | Click and crackle removal, light noise reduction (gentle), hum removal, low-cut rumble filter at 80 Hz |
| Phone | Room tone, hum, boxy sound | Room-tone noise reduction (medium), room-echo reduction (medium), hum removal, low-cut rumble filter at 100 Hz |
| Interview | Room echo, mouth clicks, background | Room-echo reduction (medium), room-tone noise reduction (gentle), mouth-click removal, low-cut rumble filter at 90 Hz |
The modules, in plain words
- Rumble filter: cuts the very low thumps from a turntable, a stand or a handled microphone.
- Wow and flutter: evens out slow and fast pitch drift from a worn tape or an uneven turntable.
- Hum removal: takes out the steady mains tone (50 or 60 Hz) and its overtones.
- Click removal: finds short clicks and pops and repairs the gap from the sound around them.
- Mouth-click removal: the same idea, tuned for lip and tongue clicks in speech.
- Room-echo reduction: shortens the tail of the reverb so a voice sounds closer.
- Noise reduction: lowers steady background noise such as tape hiss or room tone.
- De-esser and breath reduction: soften harsh “s” sounds and loud breaths in voice recordings.
- Declipping: switches on by itself when a track is overloaded; you do not choose it.
The four sets use rumble, wow and flutter, hum, click, mouth-click, room-echo and noise reduction as listed above. De-esser and breath reduction are available in the manual setup and in the voice task, not in the sets.
What restoration does not do
- It does not bring back missing frequencies. A cassette that never recorded above 10 kHz will not gain “air”.
- It removes strong echo only partly. A medium amount makes speech clearer; a cathedral stays a cathedral.
- It repairs only moderate clipping. A flat-topped waveform is softened, not rebuilt.
- It cannot separate a voice from noise that sounds like a voice, such as other people talking behind the speaker.
- Stronger is not better. Heavy noise reduction makes music dull and voices watery, which is why the sets stay moderate.
How it works in the lab
- Upload the recording in the lab. The track analysis is free and shows loudness, noise and peaks.
- Choose the task “Restore” and pick the set that matches the source: Cassette, Vinyl, Phone or Interview.
- Start. The cleanup runs first, then mastering with the style and loudness suggested by the analysis. Cleanup and mastering are one run.
- Download the master and read the before/after report. If a set was too strong or too weak, try another and compare; each run is one credit.
What it costs
Restoration is included in a full master, so it costs one credit with no separate fee. Everyone can try a regular master free: one a day with no account, and signing up adds 3 bonus masters. The free daily master levels the track but does not apply the cleanup sets, so the defects stay in. Basic track analysis is free; the AI track check costs 1 credit. Refund terms are in the refund policy.
Can restoration bring back sound that is missing from the recording?
No. Restoration removes things that should not be there: hiss, hum, clicks, echo. It cannot add high frequencies a cassette or a phone never captured, and it cannot rebuild a word that was buried in noise. Expect a cleaner, easier-to-listen-to version of what is on the file, not a studio recording.
How much room echo can it remove?
Moderate echo, and only partly. Room-echo reduction shortens the tail of the room and makes speech clearer, but a recording made in a big empty hall will still sound like a hall. The Interview set uses a medium amount on purpose: stronger settings start to make voices thin and watery.
What about clipped or distorted recordings?
Moderate clipping is repaired automatically when the track needs it; you do not switch anything on. Heavy clipping, where the waveform is flat for long stretches, is only softened, not fixed. Distortion from an overloaded microphone or tape is part of the sound.
Does restoration also master the track?
Yes, it is one run. The cleanup set runs first, then mastering with the style and loudness suggested by your track’s analysis, so you get a finished file and the usual before/after report for one credit.
Do I need credits?
Restoration is part of a full master, so it needs an account with at least one credit. Signing up adds 3 bonus masters. The free daily master is a regular master: it levels your track but leaves the defects in. Basic track analysis is free; the AI track check costs 1 credit.
Can I tune the amounts myself?
The four sets are the quick route and use fixed, moderate amounts. For control over individual modules, use the manual setup in the lab, where the same cleanup modules are switches next to the mastering settings.