RE: [AV Media Matters] Equipment recommendations forconverting 78 records to

[W.Williams@ru.ac.za]

Hi Andrea

Richard's broad overview has highlighted several important points and
you should consider each carefully should you decide to go ahead and
digitise your 78's.

There are two additional points I could add that I feel cannot be
emphasised enough:
1) The cost, time, effort and risk of digitising 78RPM records correctly
can quite easily outweigh any potential benefits so, if you only have a
few records that require digitisation, rather contract it out to a
reputable firm.
2) 78RPM records can quite easily be damaged by incorrect handling,
playback using incorrect stylus (or platter in the case of larger
transcription records), incorrect cleaning methods and materials, etc,
and such damage is usually irreversible.

We have recently (2000) undertaken a project to digitise the entire
contents of our archive, for reasons of both preservation and access.
Digitisation of the 78's has proven to be far more of a challenge than
any other audio media format.

For example, many of the recordings in our archive are the only copies
in existence and it is often impossible to ascertain with certainty the
exact playback speed as there is no reference.  In these cases we have
to resort to the ear of our sound engineer and accompanying information,
where available, to make an educated guess.  Playback at incorrect
speeds affects the pitch and therefore also the equalisation curve.

This is just one of many challenges you will face when undertaking such
a project, so my advice is either:
a) research it well and use qualified engineers and techs,
b) contract it out to a reputable firm, or
c) store the records under suitable archival conditions until you are
able to undertake either (a) or (b).

W. Williams

Project Manager, Digitising
International Library of African Music  

-----Original Message-----
Richard Hess wrote: 

Hi, Andrea,

This is a complex question concerning reproduction of "78" rpm
recordings. 
There are people who devote their lives to it. I'm not one of them.

You might find more information in two places:

The Association of Recorded Sound Collectors (ARSC) mailing list and the

78-L mailing list. I'm a subscriber to the former, not the latter. I 
restore tapes--and the odd LP.

Here's the info for subscribing to ARSC
http://www.arsc-audio.org/arsclist.html

Here's the info on 78-L
http://www.78online.com/

As you're probably aware, there are many steps that are involved in 
transfers of discs

--analysis of what you really have in your hands
--cleaning (using methods appropriate to the specific disc)
--selection of proper stylus and its alignment
--selection of proper speed (no, they aren't all 78.26 rpm)
--selection of proper cartridge phasing (lateral-vertical)
--the actual transfer
--post processing (click and noise reduction to a COPY,
    save the original transfer)

All of these steps involve knowledge that I don't have -- but in this
case 
I know what I don't know <smile>.

It's really important to save our oral history. Good luck. If you have
any 
questions about tapes in your collection, feel free to drop me a direct 
line or for any questions your posts to this list or ARSClist would, I 
think, be very welcome. No need to apologize as a new member, we all 
started somewhere! Go get 'em!

Cheers,

Richard

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