How to make it sound like old 1999 recording

Hi Audacity, How do I make it sound like 1999 recording?
Audacity Version: 3.7.3

Try using the Telephone preset in the Equalizer effect. There are other presets you can try as well.

I’m going by memory here, so you might have to poke around to actually find it.

The graphic equalizer is pretty easy to experiment with: Effect → EQ and Filters → Graphic EQ.

The Filter Curve EQ is more flexible/powerful, but not as easy to play around with. It has presets for AM Radio, Telephone, Treble Cut, and Walkie-talkie.

…We had digital recording in 1999. :wink: In the mid-to-late 60’s pro analog recordings were getting very good, and certainly not “muffled”. (At home the best we had were vinyl records which had more limitations, but by 1999 we had CDs.)

In terms of recording quality, there is no difference between 1985 and 2025.

PLEASE STOP asking virtually the same question over and over without explaining what you actually mean.

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Old recordings aren’t just about limited frequency - they also have specific glitches and artifacts, similar to JPEG scaling issues. Simply reducing frequencies won’t replicate these effects. Listen to 1990s recordings to identify the artifacts you need to implement. The best option is to use equipment from that era, because even if you 1) cut frequencies to 100–15000 Hz 2) compress dynamics 3) even mimic tape pitch fluctuations, replicating side effects like bass distortions might be impossible without authentic gear

How can modern producers accurately replicate the unique audio artifacts of 1990s recordings like bass distortion and tape hiss without relying on vintage gear?

domestic* tape emulation plugins. Free ones which work in Audacity include …
Chow Tape model … Chowdhury DSP - Products
AirWindows To-tape … ToTape7 | Airwindows

[ * As opposed to studio tape emulations, which also exist, but are more subtle ].

Ignoring the fact that just about everything was digital in 1999… :stuck_out_tongue:

You can find 3rd-party tape simulator plug-ins but most of them simulate pro tape (sometimes a specific machine) so you probably won’t hear much difference. Pro tape was excellent by the end of the analog era - Much better than anything we had at home, but not as good as digital.

I haven’t used it but try Tape Saturation Plug-in for “bass distortion”. (In the effects menu it will show-up in the “n/a” category.) If you don’t get a strong-enough effect, try setting the saturation level to the maximum (-6dB) or re-amplify and run it again. It may also help to boost the bass before applying the effect.

To add hiss go to Tracks → Add New to create a new track for the hiss. Then Generate → Noise → White. The Amplitude is normalized which means 1.0 is 100% ( 0dB). When you play or export, the two tracks will be mixed.

Try an amplitude of 0.01 which is -40dB and maybe close to what you’d hear from a cheap cassette recorder. You can Amplify with a positive change to make the noise louder or run the Amplify effect with a negative change to lower it.

You can also try pink noise which should be closer to real analog tape but probably not as noticeable (depending on the level, of course).

I’m guessing you must be young. For us oldies, 1999 was not that long ago. Digital audio was a mature technology. In professional studios, tape hiss was a thing of the past unless used as a “vintage” effect. Professional audio equipment was generally more expensive, but the sound quality was just as good (and frequently better) than today.

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