You can still get aphex aural exciters. Basically, it a 1980's solution to a nineteen eighties problem. On the narrow format multi tracks of the time there was often noise redution on the basic recording. Drawmer compressers, to fish the vocal out to the top of the mix, and then noise suppression on top of that no wonder it sometims sounded like the village pump was in there in the background pumping away!

I think it was all the way to 1992, before Roland brought their first digital multi track machine. I paid two grand for eight trax. You can buy twenty four tracks now for less that £500. CD mastering. better outboard than we would have dreamed possible.

Any way the exciter is still available - according to e bay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=aural+exciter&_sacat=0&_from=R40

It used to work like a graphic equaliser taking lots of pinpricks of HF in the mix boosting them and compressing them , I believe. The result was pretty good - we used to think!

Nice to hear Jeans well.