Audio+Migration

= Audio Migration = toc

[[image:messedup_reallysm.jpg align="right" caption="Messed-up tape in a cassette"]]How migration of older audio formats to digital format affects the LIS profession
Migration of audio files is important to a library or archives which has recordings on older media forms such as cassette and reel-to-reel magnetic tape, vinyl recordings, wax recordings, and other pre-digital audio formats. Migration can preserve the audio on decomposing media and can spare the older media the necessity of being played in order to recover their content. Migration to digital format can also provide a wider audience for the material.

The situation
Portable cassette tape players with record function allowed people to make recordings of every-day events. Cassettes were not as messy as reel-to-reel tape on spools; they were convenient, small, and easy to send through the mail. Novice attempts at singing, instrument and voice practice, and letters to people far away were some of the personal uses for cassettes. While professionally recorded albums and songs are, more and more, becoming available in digital audio formats, and even lesser-known recordings are available, amateur audio tapes go unsalvaged.

Who cares?
Traditionally, letters, diaries, journals and logs have provided historians and genealogists with information about the daily lives of ordinary people. The words of correspondents come from across time to inform about events as seen through the eyes of by-standers and publicly silent observers, and to chronicle the ups and downs of a family or a community. Amateur recordings by and of public persons hold interest to biographers, historians and fans or followers and may chronicle important events in which those people were involved.

Voices from the Past
Audio formats provide not only the words, but the voices as well, with the emotions of a moment coming through. Family members can hear the actual sound of a lost relative's voice; perhaps, for the first time, can compare their voices to their ancestors' voices in the same way that they compare their looks with old photographs. Public events such as a famous speech or other news can be heard again as if it were happening right then, providing a new immediacy and understanding of the events of a time and place. The evolution of a song might be traced through the recordings of its composers or singers.

Voices add a deeper layer of humanity. Recordings by family members separated by notable events, such as the 1990-1991 Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, can give a "soldier in the field" perspective to historians and material to writers, since spoken communications are often unscripted, mentioning, instead, emotions, and things which were happening as the recording was made. These recordings can be especially dear to family when one of the speakers has died. Taped interviews, memoirs, notes-to-self, practice sessions and other audio in collections of public individuals such as politicians and entertainers, are of interest to researchers in those fields. For LIS professionals, these recordings are value-added items which can draw researchers into a facility.

Migration - the necessaries
A cassette tape needs to be in good condition. Aging tapes or tapes with damage such as twists, creases or tears should not be attempted, as playing them in this condition can ruin the tape. Damaged tapes should be sent to professionals who understand how to work with such tapes and who have the equipment and the knowledge to keep the originals from further damage.

An auxiliary cord is needed to connect the tape player to the computer. A cassette tape player with an earphone, or, simply-labeled, "phones" jack, is necessary. The phones jack directs the sound through the auxiliary cord, which will be used to transmit to the receiving computer. A computer with recording software and an operating system which will allow recordings to be made through the machine are also necessary. Some operating systems donot allow a computer to record sounds machine to machine due to copyright issues with many commercial audio files. One program that records sound is AudioGrabber. Another is Audacity.

How-to
To record the tape, make sure it is turned to the correct side. Tapes have a beginning and an end. To make sure, attempt to rewind the tape. Most of the more recent tape players will stop automatically when the tape has run its course. Connect the player to the computer through the phones jack on the player and the auxiliary outlet on the computer. Bring up the recording software. Begin the tape - most tapes have a lead-in time which will allow you to start the recording program before the tape begins. Name the file on the software, in the spaces provided, either before, during or immediately after recording so files are identified from the beginning. Most software allows for the name of the track, if any, and the name of the album, if any. For personal recordings, add the names of the participants and the estimated date that the recording was made. Other information can be added to the "properties" of the file once it has been recorded. Include rights, restrictions, the location of the original file, and a brief description of content, along with any other information that is appropriate and available.

The file will most likely be saved in a .wav format at first. This will be the master copy since .wav files are not compressed and so have not lost information. Make a copy of the .wav file. Compress the copy to an easily accessible format, such as MP3. Save both files.

There are applications on the market to help transfer old tapes and vinyl recordings.

~Caution
These sound recordings fall under copyright and privacy laws, in the same way as letters, diaries and other reminiscences. Do not provide access without permission from the participants or their descendants unless there is some overriding reason why they should be made available. Consult with a lawyer versed in copyright and fair use. These are often private people who had no expectation, at the time the tapes were made, that they would go any farther than their originally intended recipient. Other tapes, part of the memorabilia of public persons, may have different rights for use, and different restrictions.

~How we did it
We have several old cassette tapes, including the ones mailed back and forth during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm (1990-1991.) A few are from the 1970s; some are of the kids back when they were little. Magnetic tape degrades, so it was time to either take steps to salvage them, or let them rot away. We have a tape deck and a computer with an older operating system which allows for recording from one device to another. We connected the tape player to the computer, brought up our copy of AudioGrabber, and recorded.

All of the recording applications we have used - Nero, AudioGrabber and Audacity - will convert the raw .wav file to MP3 format while saving the .wav as well. One thing we needed to take care of was switching AudioGrabber's sound control panel to microphone so the sound would come through.

It was a simple process and, the voices from our old tapes have been preserved in a format which can be stored and shared and, which will not spindle, mutilate or fold.

**References**
[|Lifehacker: Alpha Geek: How to digitize cassette tapes] [|Digital Bits Technology Column: Converting audio cassette tapes to CD, MP3 and other digital formats] [|How we did it: the video]

Related:
[|Ancestry,com Learning Center]