The Iggblog

Restoring music through physics:

Apparently they take pictures of records and convert the images into digital music files. Usihng computer magic, they synthesize the path of the needle through the grooves on the record. Then through science magic, they use the same digital image processing to eliminate physical damage to the records as they use to single out the paths of particles in particle detectors. Or something. Blurb next, full article behind linky.

To test their hunch, Fadeyev and Haber turned to a precision optical metrology system used by Berkeley Lab physicists to inspect silicon detectors destined for the upcoming ATLAS experiment, which will search for a theorized but never observed particle called the Higgs Boson. Instead of measuring silicon detectors, however, they programmed the system to map the undulating grooves etched in shellac phonograph discs. The images were then processed to remove scratches and blemishes, and modeled to determine how a stylus courses through the undulations. Lastly, the stylus motion was converted to a digital sound format.

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