Re: [ARSCLIST] What to do with 2-inch tapes?

[David Lewiston <david.lewiston@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> At 07:14 AM 9/11/2004 -0500, Rob Sevier wrote:
> >Esteemed archivists and collectors,
> >I have about 20 2-inch reel-to-reel tapes, each with probably about 20 to
30
> >minutes on them. I am looking for an affordable way to get the music off
> >them onto a digital format, preferably with the multiple tracks intact.
Does
> >anyone have suggestions? I'm located in the Chicago area. The music is of
> >Caribbean origin, and is obviously irreplaceable, so I'm not interested
in
> >shipping the tapes anywhere, but I would perhaps be willing to drive up
to
> >300 miles outside Chicago. I'd be grateful for any tips. Thanks again.
> >Rob Sevier

I suggest you find a studio with a knowledgeable engineer.

I think it was 3M who made a gadget containing iron filings beneath a clear
cover. By placing this on the tape, the number of tracks is clearly
revealed. Then, placing the tape on a machine with the appropriate head,
rewind if necessary. A tape made at a good studio should have calibration
tones first (100Hz, 1000Hz, and 10,000Hz). If noise reduction was used,
there should be a calibration tone for the system used. At the time your
recordings were made, the NR of choice was Dolby A, which has a distinctive
warble. A decent studio should still have its set of Dolby A boxes or, more
likely, the 363 models, which provide both Dolby A and SR.

I've been looking into A/D converters for an archiving project. A very
knowledgeable friend who has used all of the high-end converters in his
studio advises me that the Microsonics box is the best he's heard, and he
has advised me to use it with a sampling rate of 176.4 kHz. If your chosen
studio doesn't have this gear, the engineer may be willing to rent it for
your project, at your expense, of course.

Azimuth correction is essential to pulling the sound off the tape without
loss, so one question to ask the engineer, or engineers, would be whether
the studio has an oscilloscope for verifying azimuth.

Were the recordings made stateside or in Jamaica? If this were my project,
and I thought the recordings had been made in Jamaica, I'd wait a decent
interval until life recovers from the hurricane, then I'd start calling
studios in Kingston until I found someone who remembered this particular
reggae group, the studio they used and, hopefully, get a description of the
studio's gear. Shouldn't take more than ten calls, maybe less.

Salutations, David Lewiston
The Lewiston Archive, Recordings and Documentation of the World's
Traditional Music