Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio (?!)

[Eric Jacobs <EricJ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday, December 05, 2007 7:17 AM Karl Miller wrote:

> For me, the question is, how does one deal with an administrator 
> who makes statements like, "well my grand child made great 
> transfers of some of my old 45s." How does one address these 
> notions and educate library directors when even those who 
> administer conservation programs seem totally unaware of the 
> skill sets required to do this work?
   
Unless you can actually demonstrate the differences in sound
quality of various transfers on a high quality playback system,
it is difficult for most people to understand the difference
simply from explanations.  It's something you need to experience 
first-hand to truly appreciate - assuming that you know how to
hear the difference...

In fact, a strategy of demonstrating the differences could 
backfire - if the listener doesn't know how to hear the 
differences (they lack training and experience), they may 
declare that indeed their grand child's work is more than good 
enough.

A critical audio listening class would be invaluable for many
working with audio collections and their preservation.  Learning
to hear a range of distortion types, compression, digital 
artifacts, restricted frequency response, improper equalization, 
noise (buzz, hum), etc. could provide people with the tools to
talk about audio quality.


Eric Jacobs

The Audio Archive, Inc.
tel: 408.221.2128
fax: 408.549.9867
mailto:EricJ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx