Re: [ARSCLIST] Archiving to hard drive

[Jerome Hartke <jhartke@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Naropa Audio Archives wrote:
>
>  Responding to Claire Michelle Viola's request for information:
>
> <While we have been transferring here and there to CD-R, mainly in order
> to provide service copies, the audio engineers here at Eastman are now
> seriously considering the option of transferring directly to hard drive,
> with several servers to provide for back-up.>
>
> The Naropa Audio Archive Project is in a one-year pilot (NEA
> funded)project to test the migration of analog audio cassette from 30
> years of lectures, performances and panel discussions onto various
> digital formats, including hard drive, for preservation and for access.
> We've been moving over audio since October.
>
> Both considerations - preservation, and access - have specific
> requirements that need to be addressed before any material is migrated,
> or you run the risk of having to redigitize it.
>
> For preservation - neither cd-rs or hard drive are 'approved'
> preservation mediums for audio at this time. That means your DAT is your
> oficial preservation copy.  Any format you migrate to is provisional and
> needs to be as pristine a copy as you can afford (uncompressed file,
> high sampling rate, professional equipment).  You're likely to have to
> migrate off the cd's or server at some point in the near future, so
> budgeting for multiple (continual) migration is a consideration. As is
> the format and encoding you intend to employ in creating your digital
> copy of the audio.
>
> For access, how are you going to catalog the transferred files, how do
> you want access to be handled from the server, what kind of permissions,
> copyright, or releases are necessary, how are you going to log material
> as it's transferred for which cataloging format...gotta work all that
> out first.
>
> We have a small audio lab equipped with a professional grade (nakamichi
> dragon) cassette playback, (for your project this would be replaced by
> DAT playback machine). After converting analog to digital the signal is
> transferred in realtime into a digital audio workstation (computer with
> audio programming - ours is a SADiE). We're sampling at the highest rate
> we can afford to store on - 44/24. We want a high-quality preservation
> master, because the cassettes are going to be unplayable soon - even if
> we are calling it our 'preservation' copy. Is it worth it to go even
> higher? Everyone we talk to disagrees.
>
> Once the file is in the computer, we create:
> -one CD-DA (audio)for reference - this is a flat, unaltered transfer
> -two CD-Rs in BWAV format - also the unaltered file (BWAV is the most
> open format we could find - we want the files to be able to be read in
> 20 or 200 years). We burn copies of the audio files on two different
> manufacturers' CDs because there seems to be almost 10% bad cd stock on
> a random basis. We're using Mitsui gold and Taiyo Uden, although I don't
> think TU is making gold alloy anymore. Anyone know another supplier?
> This is a preservation issue - gold alloy being
> most stable.  We may move over to DVD's as standards emerge.
> -one back up BWAV file on AIT data storage tape in case the CDs reach
> some as-yet-unknown end of lifespan
>
> As we transfer into the computer, we log the material for all fields
> required in Dublin Core cataloging. We'll test capturing info sufficient
> for Marc/Ead records next month - then we'll make test-catalog records
> for both to see what level of cataloging we can accomodate on a
> moving-forward basis.  We want the public and researchers to know the
> material's available, so cataloging for digital web-based access is very
> important to us. We're also logging the content so as to better describe
> the files. We're not creating transcripts at this time.
>
> All copies made to this point go to a temperature and humidity
> controlled storage facility as the preservation copies. We intend to
> check the cds and AIT tape annually for loss of data and migrate as
> needed.
>
> -For access, we take the original file that's still in the SADiE, and
> put it through noise and hiss reduction programs. We edit out the
> intermissions, smoking breaks, and other dead air. We create an access
> protection/dubmaster CD-DA (audio copy) and a listening copy.
>
> This is at a 3-1 ratio - three hours of real time to process one hour of
> original audio. It takes up a lot of CDs. At 44/24 every hour of
> original uses up 3 cds for each BWAV copy. Our librarian does not want
> to store and handle the 15000 or so access cds we expect to make. So
> we're developing plan to test server for digital access to collection.
>
> We will still create CD-rs and AIT tape for preservation. There's too
> much fragility to count on keeping preservation copy on hard drive, at
> least for us. We're in a flood plain. Too much memory for us to afford
> uncompressed hard drive copies of the entire collection. We'll rig up
> output from SADiE into server to move compressed access files over.
> Server will have RAID array as well as a tape back up system. We're
> working on the front-end internet design now. We figure 2.5 tb to store
> 3000 hours of compressed audio.
>
> The compressed MPEG files will go out to folks over the internet after
> the internet user registers online and signs use agreement. We are
> planning to offer streaming audio as opposed to downloadable audio, but
> we'll have to see what's most useful to people.  What we are worried
> about is how many people might use it at once - I have no idea how to
> budget for bandwidth until we're up; still looking at what to do if too
> many simultaneous users attempt to listen. We should be so successful.
>
> Hope this is helpful.  If you'd like more specifics, budget info,etc,
> don't hesitate to give me a call. I were you, I'd call Seubert and
> Seadle to advise on the project design. They have been very helpful to
> our project.
>
> Sue Salinger
> Administrative Director
> Naropa Audio Archive
> 2130 Arapahoe
> Boulder, CO 80302
> (303)546-3573
> archive@xxxxxxxxxx

Having conducted quality tests on both helical scan tape (DAT) and CD-R
discs, the latter would be significantly better for archival purposes.
Is DAT approval a format issue?

J. Hartke
Media Sciences, Inc.