# Smoother sailing: Studying audio imperfections in Steamboat Willie

DevFeed: [Smoother sailing: Studying audio imperfections in Steamboat Willie](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/smoother-sailing-studying-audio-imperfections-in-steamboat-willie-21660.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.windytan.com/2024/01/smoother-sailing-steamboat-willie-flutter.html>)

Author: Oona Räisänen (noreply@blogger.com)

Published: 2024-01-23T19:47:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Oona Räisänen](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/oona-raisanen.md>)

Topics: [Playback](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/playback.md>), [Compression](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/compression.md>), [Tool](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/tool.md>), [Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/code.md>)

Tags: [audio](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/audio.md>), [audio-media](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/audio-media.md>), [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [compression](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/compression.md>), [music](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/music.md>), [playback](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/playback.md>), [tool](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tool.md>)

## AI overview

The article examines flutter distortion in the soundtrack of the 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie. It discusses prior attempts to reduce the unstable playback or recording speed, including Celemony Capstan, and considers a homemade approach using a high-quality digital source.

## Source excerpt

Steamboat Willie (1928) was one of the earliest cartoons with synchronized sound. That is, it had post-production sound effects; this was something new and exciting. Now that the cartoon has recently entered the public domain[bbc24] we can safely delve into its famous soundtrack. See, there's something interesting about how it sounds... If you listen closely to the soundtrack on Youtube it sounds somehow distorted. You might be tempted to point out that it's 96 years old, yes. But you might also recognize that it is suffering from flutter, i.e. an unstable playback or recording speed. In the spirit of this blog let's geek out for a bit and study this flutter distortion further. Can we learn something interesting? Could we perhaps learn enough to be able to reduce it? Of course the flutter might be 100% authentic to how it sounded in theatres in the 1920s; we don't know when and why it appeared in the audio (more on that later!). It might have sounded even worse. But we can still hope to enjoy the sound effects in their original recorded form. Prior work I'm not the first one to notice this clip is 'fluttering' and to try and do something about it. I found videos of people's attempts to un-flutter it using Celemony Capstan, a professional tool made just for this purpose, with varying results. Capstan uses Melodyne's famous note detection engine to detect musical features and then controls a varispeed effect to cancel out any flutter. But Capstan is expensive, and it's more fun to come up with a home-made solution anyway. And what about non-musical sounds? Besides, I had some code laying around in a forgotten desk drawer that just might fit the purpose. Finding a high quality source Why would I need a high-quality digital file of a poor-quality soundtrack from the 1920s? I guess it's the archivist in me hoping that it has been preserved with high level of detail. But also, if you're going to try and dig up some hidden details in the sound, you'd want minimal interfere