This comes from someone who has been digitizing cassettes, outside the
studio environment, for more than 15 years. At the Cleveland conference, I
called on ARSC to
establish some standards for digitizing and restoring cassettes, and I am
disappointed that we have been dragging out feet on that as it is still
needed. If I am wrong, please
point me to the documentation, but I have not seen it if so.

Nevertheless, a couple of relatively simple things from me that I can't
recall seeing in this thread. Do not touch the tape. Cotton gloves are
perhaps less than ideal, but they
are better than your bare fingers. This is particularly important when
reshelling a tape; it can be tempting to handle it, but try not to. Leave
the shells flat on the surface on
which you are working, and try to transport the tape as flat as you can
manage. A tape that unspools even a little becomes a major project.

Try to get as much dust out of the shell, and tape, as possible. I have
heard that you can vaccuum them, but I dont know a proceedure for that.
Usually I just open it up, inspect
it and gently brush out the dust. Inspect the pad; if the contact with tape
is loose or the pad has dried up, fallen off etc. you have to replace it.
Memorex cassettes
almost ALWAYS have to have the pads replaced, and they are often already
gone.

High bias tapes may hold better signal up top, but Normal bias tapes tend
to be more stable and have less dropouts, just more noise.

Uncle Dave Lewis
Lebanon, OH





On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 3:31 PM, Don Cox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> On 29/10/2012, Craig Breaden wrote:
>
> > Derek, I'm a firm believer in doing what we can to get our mountains
> > of tape digitized, and sometimes (and in fact, most times) that means
> > working with limited resources. I think, as Richard suggested, that
> > given a caring steward, effective digitization can happen with good
> > results in institutions that do not have audio engineers on staff. In
> > fact, it happens all the time. The greatest lesson I learned in my
> > professional training was from a colleague who told me, "We have to do
> > the best we can with what we have." Time marches on, and putting aside
> > projects while waiting for outsource funding can be a liability (for
> > the tape, certainly, but also for the end users), particularly if you
> > have a capable and well-thought-out rig in-house, with a good workflow
> > and good people. I think a question that is worth addressing is how
> > the economics work out best for your institution. Outsourcing versus
> > doing it in-house is an question that will have different outcomes
> > depending on budgets and programs individual to institutions and
> > situations.
> >
> I think we should distinguish between spoken word tapes such as oral
> history, where good sound is desirable but a slightly wrong setting is
> not fatal, and music recordings direct from microphones,
> which do need to be reproduced with the highest possible fidelity.
>
> Off-air tapes I am not sure about.
> >
> > Craig Breaden
> > Audiovisual Archivist
> > Duke University
> > David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
> > Smith Warehouse, 114 South Buchanan Blvd
> > Bay 11, Box 90767, Durham, NC  27708
> > 919-684-6229
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message----- From: Association for Recorded Sound
> > Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Derek
> > Jackson Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 12:27 PM To:
> > [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] compact audio
> > cassette questions
> >
> > Thank you for all the suggestions and help... please keep it coming. I
> > am still sifting through all of Richard Hess's suggestions and the
> > threads that stem from them. I have my copy of Marvin Camras' book on
> > the way too. However, I wanted to clarify my second question, about
> > institutions digitizing their own cassettes, and I apologize in
> > advance because I suspect this question is naive. Nonetheless, I
> > didn't mean to suggest that anyone with a tape deck and a PC should
> > start digitizing cassettes. Rather I was wondering if folks on the
> > listserv thought that there was some middle ground and if audio
> > cassettes might be a part of that middle ground? So I guess a better
> > way to state the question is: WIth some modest investment in
> > equipment, resources and training do folks on this listserv believe an
> > archive/museum/historical society could responsibly digitize (for
> > preservation) its own audio cassettes of spoken word materials? or
> > even more dynamic content like music? Or is this just something that
> > should only be done by professionals in a professional environment?
> > (and Mr. Hess did answer this in his response, but I wonder what other
> > opinions might be.)
> >
> > Best,
> > -Derek
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> Regards
> --
> Don Cox
> [log in to unmask]
>