Audio Digitization workshop presentation 20150616
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Transcript of Audio Digitization workshop presentation 20150616
Here is what we are going to do:
The basic umbrella of audio preservation
Focus on audio cassettes and lps (vinyl records)
Equipment and maintenance
Digitization
Resources
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Temperature and Humidity
No more than 5% fluctuation within a 24 hr period+-
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Sunlight (UV) and Heat
Thus far vinyl (lps) have proven to be the most stable of materials used in the manufacture of sound records.
However, that does not mean they are not affected by environmental conditions such as ultraviolet light and heat.
Vinyl discs are made primarily of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with a stabilizer. The stabilizer prevents degradation for several decades however PVCs are inherently unstable.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Sunlight (UV) and Heat
Similarly, magnetic tape is affected by ultraviolet light, the tape will begin to degrade when exposed to UV.
Heat
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Caring for your Vinyl
Remove any remaining shrink wrap. Shrink wrap will continue to shrink over time warping the record.
Do not stack your vinyl horizontally (flat): The weight of the records on top of one another can
exert pressure on the grooves and cause sound distortion.
Letting your records lean will cause the vinyl to warp.
Vertical storage exerts the minimum amount of stress possible.
Do not interfile records of different sizes: Smaller records may get damaged Larger records may be subjected to uneven pressure
causing surface deformations.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Caring for your Vinyl
Do not store your vinyl records squeezed together. The additional pressure on the vinyl will lead to sound distortion and surface warping.
Keep your vinyl collection free of dust and other foreign deposits.
Wash your hands before touching the discs and avoid touching the playing surface.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Caring for your Vinyl
When cleaning the surface of your records use a proper cleaning brush, i.e., carbon fibre brush.
Recommend Storing in polyethylene dust jacket and insert to reduce wear on record cover and record.
- Source: http://www.franksautographs.com/VINYL-RECORDS-PRESERVATION.html
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Caring for your Audio Cassettes http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/11-cool-things-made-from-old-cass
ettes
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Caring for your Audio Cassettes Storage:
Fast-forward and rewind the tapes before storage- make sure that the tapes are correctly wound evenly and smoothly.
Store all tapes vertically in acid free boxes. Do not store on wood shelving, in a basement or attic.
Environment: Keep cassettes in a cool, dry, dust-free environment. Store away from direct sun & fluorescent light. Do not store near combustibles like wood or
cardboard.
Handling: Have clean hands and a dust free working area. Do not touch playing surfaces; handle the cassette
tapes by their outer casings.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Caring for your Audio Cassettes
Handling cont’d: Do not operate or store cassette tapes near high
magnetic fields or high vibrations.
Cleaning: Clean equipment (tape heads, guides, etc.) often and
thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs.
Precautions: Fast forward to the end and back to relieve stress
before playing. Push out the small squares found at the top corners
of cassette tapes to prevent taping over the content.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Caring for your Audio Cassettes
Precautions cont’d: Play tapes through every few years to check their
condition and to minimize any sticky shed symptoms (tendency for the layers to stick together).
Tape recorders: Clean the heads every 100 hours to demagnetize
them. After 1000 hours of use have the recorder checked
for worn guides, worn heads, and proper tension. Tapes being “eaten,” arise when tape recorders
create poor tape guiding, speed variations, and poor tension.Source: Preserving Your Sound Recordings, Amy Kohlstedt and Sara Doyle,
for the Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortiumhttp://www.iowaconserveandpreserve.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/AudioTipSheet.pdf
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Repair & Maintenance
Let’s look at some available online resources, Note: Not all online help is equal, some is worse than
others.
Cleaning a cassette deck / tape recorder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2LQr63X7lk
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Repair & Maintenance
Splice & Repair
Tape Centre: www.tapecenter.com
Splicit: www.splicit.com
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Repair & Maintenance
How to splice tape (1 min in): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaKBBZzU1zg
How to fix a cassette when tape broken off spool: http://www.dvdyourmemories.com/blog/how-to-fix-an
-audio-cassette-audio-cassette-repair-guide/
What’s wrong here?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oglmVcLIYK0
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6328625_repair-music-cassette-tapes.html
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Repair & Maintenance
The Pros:
Richard Hess provides services for the restoration of magnetic tape (Reel to Reel, etc), (Toronto): ww.richardhess.com.
Graham Newton provides a full range of audio analogue transfer to digital services, www.audio-restoration.com. (Don Mills, Ontario)
For video, Kim Tomczak at V-tape: www.vtape.org (Toronto)
Ray Cook at Transit-Audio – www.skylightstudios.ca – for video and audio. (Toronto)
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Scrub a dub dubGet your vinyl spic and span clean
Discwasher D4
In the GrooveNagaoka CL-152
Nitty Gritty VPI
Spin Clean
ClearAudio Dble Matrix Pro
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Scrub a dub dub
So many options, here are some prices: Wood Glue, $8.00 In the Groove, $19.99 Nagaoka, $89.99 Spin Clean, Starter: $79.99, Full Kit: $124.99 Nitty Gritty, entry level: $399.00 VPI, $650.00 (Bundle: $800.00) ClearAudio, $3,999.00 Do it yourself – price varies
But what is the best option, the safe option?
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Scrub a dub dub Since dust is usually held in place by electrostatic
attraction, dry wiping does not work effectively. Wiping will attract dust back to the surface.
Distilled water is commonly used because: Its precise chemical composition is known, It will not leave deposits behind, It is safe and non-toxic, It is inexpensive, It disperses static charges and counteracts the increase in
conductivity from the pick-up of salt deposits from finger prints.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Scrub a dub dub Water alone cannot, however, dissolve grease:
A surfacant additive is necessary, therefore, to break the grease surface bonds and to allow the water to penetrate and disperse the grease.
Discs are best cleaned by using a machine such as the Keith Monks, VPI or Nitty Gritty using a surfacant in distilled water. These machines evenly disperse the liquid over the surface of the disc and then vacuum clean the surface leaving it clean and dry. Records should be cleaned before each playback.
An airgun or aerosol of compressed air should be kept handy to blow light dust off surfaces.
Audiophiles favour carbon fibre brush before playing record.
Source: Audiovisual Archives: A Practical Reader, UNESCO: 1997
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Digitization The purpose of digitization is to provide accessibility to
information found on old formats that are no longer easily accessible.
Digitization may be used as a backup to the original.
Digitization may be used to clean up audio and restore.
Digitization may be used as a conservation tool when the original format is of threat of degrading until no longer useable.
Digitization is not a replacement tool.
Do not get rid of your originals, especially if they are one of a kind and not a commercial release.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Digitization - Equipment Vinyl:
Turntable, preferably manual
Receiver with a phono input, or
Receiver and a preamp or
preamp (alt integrated preamp)
Audio jack to RCA Male cable Or Creative Sound Blaster
X-Fi Titanium PCI-E Sound Card
Cassette:
Cassette Tape Player
Receiver
Audio jack to RCA Male cable Or Creative Sound Blaster X-
Fi Titanium PCI-E Sound Card
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Receivers
Used vs New
Onkyo TX-NR626 - $489.99
Used vs NewUsed Receiver $35.00 - $150.00
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Preamps and Cable
Canada Computers: Behringer PP400$34.00
avshop.ca: Rolls VP29 Phono Preamp($77.00)
Available at The Source1.8M (6’) 3.5mm stereo male plug to two male RCA plugs$21.99
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Integrated Amplifier
An integrated amplifier (pre/main amp) is an electronic device containing an audio preamplifier and power amplifier in one unit, as opposed to separating the two. Most modern audio amplifiers are integrated and have several inputs for devices such as CD players, DVD players, and auxiliary sources.
Integrated amplifiers commonly had dedicated inputs for turntables, AM/FM tuner, and tape recorders (cassette or reel-to-reel) back when those devices were more common. Except for the turntable, all of the inputs are line level, thus they are interchangeable.
The turntable also uses RIAA equalization.- Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_amplifier
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Turntables & Cassette Players Turntables (preferably manual turntable)
Used should be able to get a good quality turntable for $150 or under.
New, introductory audiophile $350 - $400, under this price mark and quality is an issue.
The sky is the limit on what an audiophile will pay for a turntable.
USB turntables general rule of thumb are low quality.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Turntables & Cassette Players Cassette Deck
Yes, a new deck is possible:
TEAC W-890R http://audio.teac.com/product/w-890r/
at B&H - $250.00 – TEAC W-890RMKII
Used, anywhere from $25.00 to $100.00 - However they often come with a great need of
cleaning.
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Hardware & Software Audacity
“Audacity is a free, easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems.”
It is Open Source Software It is relatively easy to learn how to use A reliable source to download from is Sourceforge:
- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Some basic Audacity functions: Playing Recording Noise Reduction Click Removal Selecting a recorded segment Methods of copying and deleting Fade in / Fade out And …
Audio Digitization and Preservation
Hardware & Software
Hardware & Software Pro Tools 11 / mbox 3rd gen Pro Tools and the mbox are a software
hardware combination that constitute a professional digital audio workstation for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, post production, musical notation and MIDI sequencing.
Yes that is a mouthful. Mbox intro demo
Audio Digitization and Preservation