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Hello Lynn,
this is just a hint for you:
the biggest radio station in Germany- the "West
German Radio"( WDR) in Cologne- has its archive holdings
transferred onto CD-Rs, a project that shall take
about 10 years with costs of 1 minute à 5 DM (c.$2.30).
That specialized company makes 2 dubs: one of the
recording in the form as it is in its present state, the second
dub is a restored version with the help of
specially developed equipment to eliminate clicks, drop-outs
etc.(not
the commonly available technical
equipment).
Two years ago we (members of the Int'l Assn of
Sound Archives Germany/Switzerland) had a presentation of
how the recordings are treated and it was welcomed
by all.
It's always a question with old recordings: leave
them as they are or restore them. We have a lot of negative
examples in the music industry with too much Dolby
and stuff. So I think for archive purposes it is in fact the
best thing to have two copies made.
It is timeconsuming,yes, but from my own experience
it also makes a lot of fun and gives you another opportunity
to listen to those old but precious items. (I
currently transfer my reel-to-reel archive of about 50,000 spoken
word recordings onto CD-R.)
Kind regards
Bernard Wichert
Aachen/Germany
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 5:06
PM
Subject: Re: arsclist Transferring
reel-to-reel recordings to CD or digital format . . .
Lynn,
I'll let others discuss the companies that can do
this but in general I'd like to mention some things that are obvious but bear
repeating:
This is the last time these tapes will probably be played so
make sure they are played in the ultimate quality
- use the best
machine available
- align that machine for azimuth and EQ
- make sure you use hardware decoders for any noise
processing
(if you hear artifacts -- or can measure some
-- try a different
decoder. I've had bad dbx and
Dolby decoders over the years)
- Prepare the tape properly (does any
of it need baking?)
Then remember as you undertake the analog to
digital transfer that these tapes may represent the highest-quality sound
source you've yet digitized (widest frequency response, lowest noise) as
compared to disks. To keep this in perspective, most LPs from the 50's on were
made from tape. Therefore use the best A-to-D converters you have access to.
Again, trust your ears...especially in A-B comparisons between the original
source material and the digitized copy.
Oh yes, listen carefully...did
I say that already? One of THE MOST ANNOYING things that I found is that the
original transfer can have anomalies that creep in (mostly from junk that gets
between the tape and the head) which can manifest itself by subtle
high-frequency loss perhaps even in one channel and dropouts. The best way to
fix this is to go back and transfer.
There is no instrument that will
tell you this has happened (well if you carefully watch a 2-channel spectrum
analyzer you might pick this up), but in my opinion there is no substitute for
non-distracted-by-other-concerns listening to the transfer by someone who
knows good sound.
There are some anomalies that are easily fixed by
retransferring that cannot be easily fixed later in the computer.
Good
luck! 450 tapes is a large project for one person. In my experience, I'd be
hard pressed to do two albums-worth (a bit under an hour) completely in a
day...and even then, I like to live with and listen several times to the first
CDRs and see if I missed a dropout or something doesn't sound
right.
Oh, and don't trust a musician to pick up the technical errors
of the transfer--my experience indicates that musicians are not sensitive to
the same things that engineers are sensitive to. We need both types of
listening for many things, but for the transfer it's the engineering listening
that we need.
Cheers,
Richard
At 09:30 AM 02/01/2001
-0800, Lynn Calhoun wrote:
Our music
lab has a collection of between 400 and 450 reel-to-reel recordings of
university band, orchestra, and choir performances. I would like to
archive these recordings by transferring them to CD or digital format.
I am aware of techniques used for transferring records and tapes to
CD/digital format. Would reel-to-reel transfer require any special
equipment? Are there any companies out there that specialize in the
process? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Lynn
Calhoun
Music/Multimedia Librarian
Pendergraft Library and Technology
Center
Arkansas Tech University
Room 209
Russellville, AR
72801
Phone: (501)
964-0584
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