78rpm Album cover graphic restoration

[RetroToday]

I bought this Lionel Hampton 78rpm record album set a few weeks ago, along with about 400 other 78s.

This cover wasn't in the greatest shape so I decided to to a digital restoration of it in Photoshop after taking a picture of it.
The camera's flash actually made it look in worse condition than it is!

It ended up taking a few hours, but here are the results:

Before

After

Had fun doing this.

I don't think I'm going to replace the original cover with a digital print of this, but it might be an idea for an album cover that is completely ruined by graffitti, sun damage, etc.
You can see some of my other 78s here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremyhopkin/sets/72157601130561663/

Please tell me what you guys and gals think.

 

[vitanola]

You do fine work!

As a longtime collector of 78's, one who is primarily interested in music that predates the Hoover Depression, I have always been short of record sleeves. I have cut apart multiple copies of every album that you show in your photo album to salvage the sleeves. The "modern" records that the albums contained I have generally scrapped.

If you like this stuff, please let me know, for I come across it in great quantity, and would gladly pass it on to someone who would appreciate it in exchange for nothing more than the price of clean record sleeves (about 25 cents per disc).

I just picked up a great many early post-war popular discs, mostly unplayed store stock, which might be of interest to you. Jo Stafford, Stan Kenton, Coleman Hawkins, Kay Kaiser, Patty Paige, Perry Como, Peggy Lee, Tex Beneke, Vaughn Monroe, etc. Media Mail shipping is cheap. If you are interested, feel free to e-mail me at viva-tonal (at) sbcglobal (dot) net, or send a PM through this board.

 

[Fletch]

You do fine work!

:eusa_clap I agree! (And I've done some of this myself, so I know how involved it is. The magic wand and Fill menu don't do the job all by themselves!)

 

[Idledame]

While I appreciate the work you put into it, I think I like the original better, because of the signs of age and use. I think it has more personality and warmth with all the signs of age. But then maybe it's because I'm old with signs of age and use!!

 

[RetroToday]

Thanks Vitanola,

If you want to buy brand new good quality sleeves (older style) for your pre-hoover 78s, several of the gramophone restoration places supply them at a reasonable price, acid free too. I'm sure your familiar with APSCO and all those other supply places on the net.

And, I would definately be interested in those sleeves and records, I'll be in contact soon. Thank you very much for the offer.

Take care.

You do fine work!

As a longtime collector of 78's, one who is primarily interested in music that predates the Hoover Depression, I have always been short of record sleeves. I have cut apart multiple copies of every album that you show in your photo album to salvage the sleeves. The "modern" records that the albums contained I have generally scrapped.

If you like this stuff, please let me know, for I come across it in great quantity, and would gladly pass it on to someone who would appreciate it in exchange for nothing more than the price of clean record sleeves (about 25 cents per disc).

I just picked up a great many early post-war popular discs, mostly unplayed store stock, which might be of interest to you. Jo Stafford, Stan Kenton, Coleman Hawkins, Kay Kaiser, Patty Paige, Perry Como, Peggy Lee, Tex Beneke, Vaughn Monroe, etc. Media Mail shipping is cheap. If you are interested, feel free to e-mail me at viva-tonal (at) sbcglobal (dot) net, or send a PM through this board.

 

[RetroToday]

:eusa_clap I agree! (And I've done some of this myself, so I know how involved it is. The magic wand and Fill menu don't do the job all by themselves!)

You have that right! :eusa_clap For some reason when you say you did it in Photoshop, people believe there's a filter that automatically repairs every flaw. lol

There's a lot of art involved on something this in depth. Glad to hear you've done some of this stuff.

 

[RetroToday]

While I appreciate the work you put into it, I think I like the original better, because of the signs of age and use. I think it has more personality and warmth with all the signs of age. But then maybe it's because I'm old with signs of age and use!!

Good point Idledame, no worries - I like both images equally, for different reasons.

1. I love the 'modern', cutting lines and bold colours of the design on the day it was made by the artist. How the artist interpreted the musician and how they intended the design to appear is great. And, of course I like the work I put into it. I feel almost like I created it myself now, and cleaning it up made me focus on details I would have never seen - I learned a lot.

2. I also appreciate what the album has experienced throughout the years, the marks that previous owners have left, the dings, the yellowing (but not too yellow) just the human factor to it all. I have another 78 album that still has a Christmas gift tag in it which made it special to me - I still have it in there and show it to people.

 

[vitanola]

Thanks Vitanola,

If you want to buy brand new good quality sleeves (older style) for your pre-hoover 78s, several of the gramophone restoration places supply them at a reasonable price, acid free too. I'm sure your familiar with APSCO and all those other supply places on the net.

And, I would definately be interested in those sleeves and records, I'll be in contact soon. Thank you very much for the offer.

Take care.

I am always in need of sleeves. I purchase them from a manufacturer in Indianapolis, in quantities of 5000. They are a heavy, brown kraft paper, made of 170# stock. his minimum quantities are a bit off-putting, and so I still cut up 1940's albums to sleeve the lesser discs.

I can get good quality 32# Kraft sleeves for $93.00/thousand, in 10000 quantities. They are a good alternative the the heavier stock. Perhaps some posters on this board might be interested in clubbing together to split up a production run?

 

[Fletch]

That's a tempting proposition. I've got about 2,000 78s back East that could use re-sleeving.

 

[carter]

Nice work!

I bought this Lionel Hampton 78rpm record album set a few weeks ago, along with about 400 other 78s.

This cover wasn't in the greatest shape so I decided to to a digital restoration of it in Photoshop after taking a picture of it.
The camera's flash actually made it look in worse condition than it is!

It ended up taking a few hours, but here are the results:

Before

After

Had fun doing this.

I don't think I'm going to replace the original cover with a digital print of this, but it might be an idea for an album cover that is completely ruined by graffitti, sun damage, etc.
You can see some of my other 78s here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremyhopkin/sets/72157601130561663/

Please tell me what you guys and gals think.

:eusa_clap I think your work is impressive! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

This image would look great on a T-shirt like the NRA ones done by Louie.

A lot of those old 78's would qualify.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Nice work, however I'd tone the red down a touch, it's a little hard to look at.

=R

 

[RetroToday]

Nice work, however I'd tone the red down a touch, it's a little hard to look at.

=R

Thanks FM,

I can see what you're saying about the red. The colours vibrate because their tones are very similar, doesn't help that red is next to blue.

The original size image looks fine and is easy to look at. When Flickr compressed this file it gave it a bit of that "hard to look at" appearance.

I'll think I'll work on it a little more anyways.

 

[RetroToday]

Taking a cue from Forgotten Man, here's the cover again, but this time it's a little less "Hot".

I also updated some of the graphic outlines (actually where the colour printing plates overlapped) that I missed before that help separate those vibrant colours.
*Update - added red to the small Hot Jazz to the bottom right of the album, something I didn't notice before because it was so faded.

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

Before

Is it me, or are the words "Hot Jazz" supposed to look like flames? You know- red on the bottom fading up to orange and yellow at the top. It could be just the fading, but i think it would look cool nonetheless.
Great work!

 

[V-Sweetheart]

78 Sleeves

I don't know if this is off topic, But I thought I would pass along a 78 sleeves seller. The place is on line called Sleeve town. I bought like 50 sleeves for a reasonable price. It gets more reasonable the more you buy! So check on line for companies.

You do fine work!

As a longtime collector of 78's, one who is primarily interested in music that predates the Hoover Depression, I have always been short of record sleeves. I have cut apart multiple copies of every album that you show in your photo album to salvage the sleeves. The "modern" records that the albums contained I have generally scrapped.

If you like this stuff, please let me know, for I come across it in great quantity, and would gladly pass it on to someone who would appreciate it in exchange for nothing more than the price of clean record sleeves (about 25 cents per disc).

I just picked up a great many early post-war popular discs, mostly unplayed store stock, which might be of interest to you. Jo Stafford, Stan Kenton, Coleman Hawkins, Kay Kaiser, Patty Paige, Perry Como, Peggy Lee, Tex Beneke, Vaughn Monroe, etc. Media Mail shipping is cheap. If you are interested, feel free to e-mail me at viva-tonal (at) sbcglobal (dot) net, or send a PM through this board.

 

[vitanola]

I don't know if this is off topic, But I thought I would pass along a 78 sleeves seller. The place is on line called Sleeve town. I bought like 50 sleeves for a reasonable price. It gets more reasonable the more you buy! So check on line for companies.

Thanks taking the trouble to offer this information.

Unfortunately, the expensive sleeves that I buy are 25 cents each, and the cheap sleeves are less than 10 cents. I understand that Sleeve Town buys these from Bags Unlimited. Next time that you need sleeves, check Bags Unlimited out. Their products are quite a bit cheaper than Sleeve Town, as I recall.

Even so, my thanks for your assistance!

 

[RetroToday]

Is it me, or are the words "Hot Jazz" supposed to look like flames? You know- red on the bottom fading up to orange and yellow at the top. It could be just the fading, but i think it would look cool nonetheless.
Great work!

Thanks for the nice comment on my work.

I thought the same as you when I first saw the fading of the red, but I discovered a few images on the net that all show solid red.
That flame red/orange colour scheme you mentioned would look cool though.