This session consists of 5 presentations and a joint Q&A with the presenters. The session contains:
➺ Tom Lorenz, Torsten Ahl - Playback speed identification for early shellac records (Long presentation)
➺ Karl Fleck - Let's Compromise: a Hybrid Approach to Compact Cassette Digitization (Short presentation)
➺ Jean-Hugues Chenot, Jean-Etienne Noiré - Bring Your Own Disc ! INA-Saphir analogue audio disc records optical recovery, update and tests (Long presentation)
➺ Rebecca Coronel - Deadline 2025 - All is not lost! (Short presentation)
➺ Julia Colleen Miller - Advancing PARADISEC's Archiving Workflow: Transitioning to Open-Source Solutions for Audio-visual Processing (Short presentation)
Abstracts:
➺ Playback Speed Identification for Early Shellac Records
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Tom Lorenz, Torsten Ahl
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This presentation addresses determining the correct playback speed of early shellac records. Digitising records from the early 1900s requires expertise in tuning, recording mechanisms, playback equipment, acoustic reproduction physics, and historical knowledge of pitch and musical performance. Choosing the right equalisation curve, playback speed, and needle is crucial for obtaining an authentic signal. While digital level corrections are possible, losses from incorrect signal extraction are irreversible.
QUADRIGA products ensure accurate digitisation and documentation. In collaboration with the Music Archive at the German National Library (DNB), a customised solution was developed to meticulously store all parameters in a database compliant with the AES Standard for audio metadata (AES57).
The presentation includes historical audio examples and will be jointly held by Torsten Ahl, audio engineer at the Music Archive of the German National Library, and the system manufacturer, who will explain the technical layout of the solution.
➺ Let's Compromise: a Hybrid Approach to Compact Cassette Digitization
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Karl Fleck
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Audio preservation operates at two extremes: fully-attended transfers and parallel transfers. Fully-attended transfers offer maximum quality assurance through real-time monitoring but can be impractical for large collections or limited budgets. Parallel transfers allow simultaneous digitization of multiple items but lack continuous monitoring and are risky for formats with multiple playback settings.
This presentation introduces a "hybrid" transfer workflow designed for compact cassettes, combining elements of both approaches. The method allows digitization of up to four cassettes simultaneously, with each playback machine aligned to a specific cassette. Transfers are continually monitored visually and spot-checked aurally, balancing the hands-on quality control of fully-attended transfers with the efficiency of moderate-throughput parallel transfers.
This hybrid approach aims to optimize the digitization process by maintaining high-quality standards while improving efficiency, particularly beneficial for projects with constraints on time or resources.
➺ Bring Your Own Disc ! INA-Saphir analogue audio disc records optical recovery, update and tests
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Jean-Hugues Chenot, Jean-Etienne Noiré
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Among the many analogue audio records, the most endangered are often those with few copies, such as direct recordings on lacquer discs. These may have unique audio tracks and present issues like cracks, de-laminations, stains, or even be broken, making conventional playback impractical.
The optical INA-Saphir process offers a way to recover audio from such records. After over 20 years of development within INA's research department, the process is now mature and available to the audio archive community. The first unit was delivered to the Czech National Museum in August 2023, used to recover historically valuable content.
The presentation will highlight recent system improvements and demonstrate audio extraction from seemingly irrecoverable discs, addressing limits in range, quality, and speed.
Attendees are invited to bring their damaged analogue audio records to test the INA-Saphir system during the conference. A full system will be on display, and we will attempt to scan and play every disc brought by participants: "BYOD2024: Bring Your Own Disc!"
➺ Deadline 2025 - All is not lost!
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Rebecca Coronel
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The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) has led international efforts to prioritize magnetic media preservation. In our 2015 publication "Deadline 2025," we warned that ‘Tape not digitised by 2025 will likely be lost forever.’ As 2025 nears, NFSA reviews its achievements in magnetic media preservation amid limited resources, evolving cultural policy, and new funding exceeding $42 million for digitisation and digital infrastructure.
With more of NFSA’s magnetic media collection now digitised than not, and robust infrastructure supporting access and discovery, the urgency of Deadline 2025 has shifted. While challenges remain, they are less about media perishability. We continue to collect magnetic media, especially broadcast TV, and seek equipment and engineering solutions to complete our preservation goals.
This presentation will highlight NFSA’s successes in digitising and preserving magnetic media, ongoing efforts to manage obsolete playback equipment, and future plans post-2025.
➺ Advancing PARADISEC's Archiving Workflow: Transitioning to Open-Source Solutions for Audio-visual Processing
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Julia Colleen Miller
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PARADISEC is a digital repository for records from diverse small cultures and languages worldwide. Our focus is on community access and adherence to international digital archiving standards. PARADISEC developed a framework for accessioning, cataloguing, and digitizing audio, text, and visual material, prioritizing at-risk content preservation.
We're transitioning to a cloud-based infrastructure using Amazon S3 for storage, enhancing efficiency and scalability. We're also shifting from JPEG 2000 MXF Op1a to FFV1/MKV for archival video, aligning with global sustainable archiving trends. Our workflows are evolving to incorporate open-source tools like MediaInfo and FFmpeg.
We'll expand our online documentation with new technical workflows, demonstrating our commitment to transparency, maintaining institutional knowledge, and providing resources for digital preservation. These resources can guide other archives and empower smaller communities to preserve their cultural materials, ensuring accessibility and longevity of cultural and linguistic resources for future generations.
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