On the methodologies of audio restoration

The peculiarity of the audio material present in the electronic compositions on tape, the technology with which they were generated, and the cultural modifications produced by a new medium, raise extra problems which cannot be reduced to the normal praxis of audio restoration. In the restoration of pure electronic music we do not have to retrace the "true" sound of performer but we have to safeguard, through an interpretative process of the materials, through the compositional and recording techniques of the time, the sound quality of the signal which is considered the best according to the operational standards of the time. On the other hand, computer technology dedicated to audio restoration does not seem to be decisive at present. From a conceptual point of view, it is incorporated in the technological dimension of electronic music and cannot, therefore, provide total solutions to the problems involved in the restoration of sound materials of electronic origin. We are thus induced to rethink the fundamental principles of restoration and to reflect on a meta-operating level, starting from questions of method, which will be approached in this article through a historical re-visit of the most important theories on audio restoration and its technical and scientific evolution.