Re: arsclist SoundForge 4.5--sampling rate

["Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Michael,

If you are mastering to audio CD, there really is no choice 44.1/16 is what 
it is and it can sound very good.

While some disc material may benefit from more bits/higher sampling rates, 
I would suspect that these would be few and far between.

I've been working on contemporary folk music--some of it recorded in major 
studios in the Toronto area during the 70--and I have found noise floors on 
these tapes that don't benefit from more than 16 bits--by a large margin.

If you're using Sound Forge, that implies that you're putting this in a 
computer. That is great, but it's time consuming.

I think the two biggest areas of concern are
  (a) playing back the tapes/discs properly
  (b) getting the sound into the computer properly

As to (a) you state 12-inch reels (as opposed to the more common 10.5 inch 
reels) so the good news is that you'll end up with a high-end professional 
recorder just to handle those reels. There are several Studer models to 
consider and often more economically Sony APR-5002 or 5003V and Otari 
MTR-12s. I have samples of the latter two. Consider that any good analog 
tape deck will require maintenance and alignment. The currently 
manufactured decks, while good, don't match the peak of the art--with the 
exception possibly of the Otari MTR-15 which may be available as part of a 
digital ingest package.

As to (b) I hope you're considering a top of the line sound card.

The Carddeluxe available from www.digitalaudio.com seems to garner great 
reviews. OR you could use a digital only card and outboard converters.

If your project is large, I'd consider sticking in the audio domain. 
Recorders like the Sony CDRW33 make very good-sounding CDs (and use data 
discs). I use both tracks.

I use audio for preservation transfers

I use the computer when I want to tweak/edit/adjust or release CDs

While I think for most of your material 44.1/16 is fine,  I wouldn't 
destroy the masters as there may be some problems in transfer that are not 
noticed until the transfer is done. If you've preserved the originals you 
can go back and retransfer. The tapes should last a long time. The discs 
should last a long time AND the discs have original artifact interest/value.

Cheers,

Richard

At 11:14 AM 1/10/2002 -0500, Michael R. Ridderbusch wrote:
> 1/10/2002
>
> We're looking for opinions regarding the sampling rate
> appropriate for making digital copies of folk music field
> recordings from tape to CD.  We have SoundForge 4.5.
>
> Most of our Appalachian folk music collection was recorded
> in the 1930s - 70s, the earliest to aluminum disc.  It's possible
> that a few of the later recordings are in stereo.  Later, most
> of these recordings were professionally transferred to tape on
> 12 inch reels recorded at 15 ips.
>
> Would it make a significant difference to sample this kind of
> material at a rate higher than 16 bits?
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Michael R. Ridderbusch
> West Virginia and Regional History Collection
> West Virginia University Libraries, Colson Hall
> Morgantown, WV  26506-6464
>
> mridder@xxxxxxx
> phone 304-293-3536
> fax        304-293-3981
> http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/wvcollection/index.htm
>
>
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