We are the undisputed kings of analogue tape. Since 2004 we have digitised and documented 15000 hours of audio material. Primarily for museum archives, but also for media organisations and individual collectors.
If you have boxes of tape and vinyl you want converting to CD/.wav/.mp3, call us. If you have corrupt CD-R or DVD that you want sorting out, call us. We have some expertise in this field and may be able to recover 'lost' data. Any strange audio problems- we might be able to help.
We also offer recording and audio production services. Call us with your requirements. We offer hard disk recording and mixdown to analogue tape or digital formats. Please note that we do not undertake video transfer work.
Some of our major projects to date-
CNN Cold War collection (2004)
Holocaust Archive (2010)
Korean War collection (2005)
Durham Light Infantry collection (2007)
WW1 collection for the Western Front Association (2008)
Winston Churchill Archive (2007)
September 11 interviews (2006 -2007)
Cataloguing and metadata entry will be done by us to your requirements, subject to your security protocols allowing access. Otherwise we can export the data for it to be integrated by your organisation.Procedures vary across archives and we are familiar with this.
Digitisation
Sampling and bit rates are up to you. Generally we continue to use 16 bit, 44.1 kHz wav format, as it remains the best choice across devices old and new. It doesn't require an expensive computer or playback device,filles take up less space, and continues to be the standard across mastering facilities and archives around the world. We do offer 96kHz / 24 bit depth if required as it is the standard for many organisations. Or any format you wish - we can prepare it onto cassette it that's your thing!
There are numerous debates online as to whether 96kHz/24 bit is better than 44.1 or 48kHz/16 bit. The majority of playback devices will accept 44.1kHz without extra internal conversion or resampling. The less conversion the better, as it can introduce audio artefacts which is the last thing you need.
Restoration
Obviously we will prepare your material so it is a good reproduction of the original, but avoid any extra processing unless necessary. Usually we will prepare processed and unprocessed versions, so you can decide which you'd prefer to go with.
