Posted for Katharine Sanderson

It might have passed you by, but at the Grammys last week a bunch of mathematicians and their algorithms walked away with a gong. The award was for “best historical album”, and was a remastering of the only known bootleg recording of Woodie Guthrie, the American folk musician (press release).

The award went to Kevin Short, a mathematician at the University of New Hampshire, and engineers at Jamie Howarth’s company Plangent Processes who developed algorithms to remaster a particularly fragile and crackly tape recording of Guthrie performing in 1949 (buy it here).

Apparently the software developed by the team recreates the machine on which the original performance was recorded and so can cancel out the wobbles and strange speed delays caused by the flimsiness of the tape. Here’s an explanation of the process with sound effects and all on NPR – explaining that the acetate tapes break down into vinegar, which causes the warping we hear as a that rather disturbing wah-wah effect.

Or go straight to the before and after sounds of the Grammy winning Guthrie performance.

Congratulations to maths.

Image: Kevin Short holding the album and his Grammy medallion / Douglas Prince, UNH Photo Services