Announcing the winners of the CEDAR Awards 2003
19 January 2004
CEDAR Audio is pleased to announce the winners of The 2003 CEDAR Awards. The Awards recognise outstanding contributions in the field of audio restoration, and nominations were invited in each of the following categories:
- CD Remastering from a Modern Recording (post 1949)
- CD Remastering from a Vintage Recording (pre 1950)
- Post Production of a Film Soundtrack
- Audio Restoration for Broadcast Use
- Audio Restoration for Forensic Use
This year's winners include studios and engineers working in Spain, the USA and the UK.
Marketing Manager, Deborah Hunt explains, "This is the sixth consecutive year that we have presented The CEDAR Awards. Past winners include Skywalker Sound for the Star Wars Trilogy, Jon Astley for the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions, Ted Kendal's remasters of The Goon Shows, BMG's box set of Elvis Presley's Essential Masters, Abbey Road Studios restoration of The Merry Widow. The CEDAR Awards are a great opportunity to discover projects where CEDAR has been used. It is rewarding to keep in close contact with our customers, and to be able to say 'thank you', as it is through their efforts that CEDAR now enjoys the acclaim and recognition of being the world's leading manufacturer of audio restoration equipment."
Judging was carried out by a panel that listened to 'before' and 'after' samples for each entry, and who were looking for material that had been restored without changing the fundamental nature of the original recording. As in previous years, the quality of the submissions made it a very difficult task to choose just one winner per category. Nonetheless, judging is now complete and we are pleased to announce the winners.
CEDAR also presents a special Award to one of its dealers to recognise exceptional performance over the past 12 months.
CD REMASTERING FROM A MODERN RECORDING - POST 1949 
Jon Astley: Who's Next - Deluxe Edition (1971)
Jon used his CEDAR Series 2 CR-1 De-Crackler alongside Denoise for SADiE and Retouch for SADiE to remove crackle, hiss and background noise from The Who classic tracks including 'Baba O'Riley', 'Behind Blue Eyes', and 'Won't Get Fooled Again' for the CD 'Who's Next'. This is the third CEDAR Award to be presented to Jon, who also won in this category in 1998 for the restoration of 'The Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions' on Atlantic Recordings, and in 2001 for George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass'.
CD REMASTERING FROM A VINTAGE RECORDING - PRE 1950 
Fonotron SL, Spain: Cilindros de Cera (1900)
Fonotron Audio Engineer, Manuel Romero, used WIN1: Declick, WIN2: Decrackle, plus CEDAR's NR3 Noise Reduction module running as part of a CEDAR for Windows system to remove scratches, clicks, crackle and hiss from his one hundred year old source material on a brown wax cylinder.
POST PRODUCTION OF A FILM SOUNDTRACK 
Michael W. Wiese, The Criterion Collection, USA: The Complete Monterey Pop Festival (1967)
The Criterion Collection recently released a DVD box set entitled 'The Complete Monterey Pop Festival', which included a newly restored and re-mastered print of Monterey Pop by D.A. Pennebaker. Michael Wiese worked closely with Eddie Kramer to remix the soundtrack in 5.1 surround, and also to restore it using the Series X DCX declicker, CRX decrackler, and DHX dehisser. Wiese says, "The Otis Redding set in particular had a lot of crackling in the original audio, and drastic improvements were made possible by using the CEDAR Series X units." This is the second CEDAR Award to be presented to Michael. He also won in this category in 1999 for the restoration of Kurasawa's 'The Seven Samurai' released on DVD.
AUDIO RESTORATION FOR BROADCAST USE 
Metro Broadcast, UK: The Roland Collection
Metro installed CEDAR for Windows after discovering a large crossover market where video restoration customers requested audio restoration as part of their project. The winning material was a short film, 'The Roland Collection', in which art collector Anthony Roland displays his collection and excerpts from his catalogue. Audio Engineer, Daniel Klimcke explains, "The source material - an optical soundtrack - contained every conceivable fault, and tested the CEDAR for Windows system to the full. However, the processes successfully removed the crackle, hiss, sprocket hum, peak distortion and varying levels. The NR3 Noise Reduction module was exceptionally helpful with the broadband noise, and we were very happy with the results."
AUDIO RESTORATION FOR FORENSIC USE 
The Metropolitan Police Forensic Audio Laboratory
The Metropolitan Police Forensic Audio Laboratory uses a range of CEDAR equipment to reduce noise and increase the intelligibility of forensic audio recordings. Due to the confidential nature of the audio work, we cannot give details of the recordings.
DEALER OF THE YEAR 
David Logan: Westlake Audio, USA
Westlake Audio is one of CEDAR's most successful dealers, and we are delighted to present The CEDAR Dealer of the Year Award 2003 to David Logan. As one of the leading Pro Audio dealers in Los Angeles, Westlake has represented CEDAR for over ten years, and has been responsible for sales to major studios including 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Disney, and Technicolor.
For further information:
CEDAR Audio Limited, 20 Home End, Fulbourn, Cambridge, CB21 5BS, United Kingdom.
t: +44 1223 881771
f: +44 1223 881778
e: info@cedaraudio.com