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.
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
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