What tremendous replies both in content and variety.
Thanks to everyone for your comments.
As to labor of love first, this material does not exist anywhere else.
These tapes in most cases are the only recordings which exist.
The reasons for digitizing are, one to preserve them as some are over 30
years old. Two, to more easily listen to search through them. And
finally, to ultimately digitally transcribe to text the recordings at
some time in the future, although that's a far less important goal for
now.
It seems to me that using an outside service would be tremendously
expensive, certainly well into five figures if not more.
And I have the advantage of not having a hard deadline for this work
meaning if the job takes me several years to complete that is far better
than leaving the tapes to deteriorate without preservation.
For now, deleting silence at the beginning or end of the recordings is
not critical. Just getting the material digitized is my priority.
I currently have an M-Audio Ultra Lite Mk3 audio interface.
The big questions for me then (I think) are what software to use and
some step-by-step instructions as to how I connect several audio
cassette recorders to the audio interface and on operating the software
I would use.
I'm sure there are questions I don't even know to ask.
So let me just say one more time, thanks to everyone.
What a great community you have here.
Joel
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Don Cox
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2013 11:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [GRAYMAIL] Re: [ARSCLIST] Digitizing 10,000+ audio cassettes
On 21/02/2013, Randy A. Riddle wrote:
> I'll ask a very simple question: Why does all of it have to be
> digitized?
>
Especially as the cassettes will probably be easier to preserve than
digital copies.
> I'd start with a triage process to prioritize the material.
>
> There's a point when you have to look at something and determine if
> the material - or significant parts of the material - are worth
> saving. If you're really doing this as a "labor of love", you will
> likely find out that the love affair will end when you consider the
> time and cost involved.
>
> Archivists and collectors have to make these decisions all of the
> time. I would consider getting advice from a professional with some
> familiarity with the material to see if making it available for
> researchers at some point is going to be really useful or just
> marginally "nice to have". It might be that the content is available
> in other forms or is similar to something already being archived and
> not as useful as something unique.
>
Regards
--
Don Cox
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