If you are copying commercially released records, most if not all of them will have been copied well elsewhere.  It's less expensive by far to get well-processed copies than make your own.  Should you be unfamiliar with the reissue quality of the records you are considering, professional outside guidance is worth the money, as there are many terribly transferred reissues out there as well as the better ones.

The copy you have to hand may well not be the best from which to transfer.  Collectors and donors have the hubris of believing that, since it is the one they have collected, it is the one that should be processed.  This is almost always not the case for the greater number of items in a collection.  Professional restorers often use more than one copy of a commercial record to assemble the best possible sound fil they can.  Read the notes on Ward Marston's reissues.

Copying records just because these are the ones you have and feel the need to get them into a more user-friendly format without considering the above is a colossal waste of money.  

If these are instantaneous discs, the issues can be similar if from radio broadcasts, as, other things being equal, the best sound by far come from discs and tapes recorded before having been transmitted over the air. 

The first job is to find out what has been done to and above your standards already and analyze the residue to see if a professional outside transfer studio is the financially wiser solution. The first step is a list of the records which includes condition and sufficient discographic data to enable you to make the decisions, record by record, that gives the best outcome for you.

Many sources are on the internet- Canada has posted a great many transfers as have various Library of Congress and Santa Barbara websites.

Doing the whole thing from scratch without implementing a program as described above is a colossal, irresponsible  waste of resources. 

Steven Smolian





-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2015 7:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Process suggestions for digitizing a very large quantity of 78s.

I was hoping someone would say what Shai said! Having digitized a bunch of old grooved disks for both clients and my own enjoyment, I can say that each record needs to be carefully cleaned, playback parameters need to be fine-tuned by ear, and if restoration software is used, it must be used with expert ears involved so it doesn't ruin more than it fixes (hint -- there's more "room tone" on old 78's than you might think, given their frequency-range limits). If you want a good example, compare the latest Robert Johnson remasters to the previous million-selling remasters from the early 90s. There's no comparison, in my opinion! In the new remasters, you can actually hear WHY Johnson was facing the corner of the room, how he was using the room to change the sound his guitar made into the microphone. You can also hear the distance from the mic to the room corner. The only thing that was clearly audible in previous issues of RJ material was the notes being played and the voice singing, almost none of what has actually happening around that was audible. The same is definitely true of some orchestral recordings made in lively acoustic spaces.

Bottom line, if you're talking about digitizing a collection of professionally recorded, commercially-released 78RPM records (or, for that matter, well-recorded broadcast transcriptions, which are most certainly professional-grade audio), then you can't "mass ingest" like you can some other audio. Each disk must be carefully cleaned, the correct playback parameters must be chosen (stylus size and shape, EQ curve, whatever other analog signal processing is to be in the chain, correct playback speed in accord with musical pitch, etc). And each transfer must be processed with skill and taste.  That is the only method to get great-sounding results that are worthy of an archival effort and budget. And this is most certainly the case for commercial reissues, although it's followed all too infrequently!

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shai Drori" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2015 2:14 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Process suggestions for digitizing a very large quantity of 78s.


> Dear Joel
> Disclaimer first: I have a studio that deal with digitizing analog media to
> digital files, but this is not a plug for my services (although you are
> more than welcome to contact me off list).
> Of all the media types out there, the one that can not be masses digitized
> are the early records. The setup time for each record is different and
> takes much longer than the actual playing time. This is one station where
> there is one operator per playing device, unlike cassettes or reel to reels
> where I can have one operator controlling several playing devices. If you
> have that many records to digitize you will need a large staff and many
> stations. From my experience you do not need to wash all records. Usually,
> most records are actually quite clean and need just a good dusting.
> Gotta go but will be glad to answer follow up questions.
> Cheers
> Shai
>
> On Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 11:58 PM, Joel Bresler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Dear friends:
>>
>> Apologies for cross-posting...I'd be interested in hearing from list
>> members
>> who have worked on teams digitizing very large numbers of 78 rpm recordings
>> (tens of thousands) or who have read good articles and reports on teams
>> undertaking same. I am particularly keen to learn about techniques and
>> process flows that "work" for large-scale production that would be
>> impractical logistically or economically for smaller quantities.
>>
>> I would also value opinions on whether it is important to wash all the
>> disks
>> first, or a process for determining which have to be washed for best
>> results.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Joel
>>
>>
>> Joel Bresler
>> 250 E. Emerson Road
>> Lexington, MA 02420
>> United States
>>
>> 1-781-862-4104 (Telephone & FAX)
>> www.linkedin.com/in/joelbresler
>> [log in to unmask]
>> IN CASE OF VERIZON EMAIL PROBLEMS, PLEASE USE MY BACK-UP EMAIL:
>> joelbresler-at-gmail.com
>>
>
>