Abstract

This year marks the 25th anniversary of CEDAR Audio Ltd. opening for business. CEDAR was amongst the earliest of the recent wave of ‘spin-out’ companies from the University of Cambridge, and was set up following a research project in the Engineering Department funded by the National Sound Archive of the British Library.

The initial focus was to use digital signal processing techniques to remove the surface noise that results from fungal decay of shellac- and cellulose- based audio discs.   Once CEDAR was founded, the scope soon expanded to include a wide range of noise reduction processes applicable to many recording media, and then further to tackle noise and interference inherent in the audio signals themselves, not just noise added by the recording medium.

Since its inception, CEDAR has been at the forefront of noise reduction in a commercial, professional audio context, with applications and clients in the music, film & TV, broadcast and security industries.   This lecture will look at the technological landscape that enabled CEDAR Underpinned its success, and use live demonstrations to illustrate the technologies developed by CEDAR over two and a half decades.

There will be an emphasis on current techniques and a look forward to some of the major remaining unsolved problems.