Recovering priceless audio and lost languages from old decaying tapes

https://theconversation.com/how-were-recovering-priceless-audio-and-lost-languages-from-old-decaying-tapes-248116

By PaulHoule at 8:45 AM

8bitsrule | 0 comments | 39 minutes ago

This page points at several useful info sources about problems and restoration methods: https://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/audio-conditio...

Re-recording for preservation is a complex topic, depending on the state of the media and availability of well-maintained reproduction gear.

Generally, preserving audio for generations will require significant expense. If you could -press- optical disks, that'd be great, but -recording- on optical is still iffy. Analog is probably still the best choice to last decades.

E.G. What Is The Best Way To Store Materials? (Includes links to more information.) https://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/audio-storage....

CharlesW | 4 comments | 14 hours ago

This is wonderful and important work. Are there audio restoration gurus who make their services available to the average person? I've found many "transfer your memories to DVD"-type places, but I haven't been able to find people/companies that specialize in doing the best-possible digitization of formats like Yamaha 4-track cassettes and Super VHS HiFi Stereo tapes. (I'll be doing the audio restoration part.)

[Edit: Oooh, I see that https://github.com/oyvindln/vhs-decode now supports HiFi audio decoding! Sadly for me, this appears to require some light VHS deck hacking.]

ksec | 0 comments | 5 hours ago

Really wish this is a services available everywhere. We have broadcast, radio or recording studio who throw away all the old recording because they couldn't afford to keep it or turn it into digital for easier storage.

m463 | 1 comment | 13 hours ago

I'd love to learn about this too.

I have some old family super-8 movies. There are film scanners that can scan them in, but none of them decode or even acknowledge the magnetic soundtrack.

actionfromafar | 0 comments | 12 hours ago

I'm sure the track could be captured more optimally, but I think still the cheapest way would be to find an old Super8 projector with sound. Even if the bulb is broken, you can still get the sound out. Then scan in a regular digital film scanner as you mentioned and merge with the sound in post-processing.

userbinator | 0 comments | 4 hours ago

Try https://www.video99.co.uk/ if you're in the UK.

actionfromafar | 1 comment | 12 hours ago

It's really pretty simple. If you can find an electronics repair shop, they should be able to do it for like the lowest rate they have, but it's pretty simple to do yourself in an hour even if you never soldered before.

CharlesW | 0 comments | 12 hours ago

It sounds like you're familiar with the process, so thanks for the reassurance! It would be neat to be able to do this for friends and family.

rswail | 0 comments | 57 minutes ago

I have a very old reel-to-reel recording that is sitting in the original recorder that I know has voice of me from over 55 years ago, along with family that have long passed on.

I really want to get what's on that tape moved to something, but no idea where to find someone to do it.

I'm in Australia (Melbourne) and would be really interested in anyone that can help.

davidzweig | 1 comment | 9 hours ago

Any tips for models that can restore speech quality on aged cassette recordings (often the higher frequencies are partially lost)? There's different approaches to noise reduction, and also audio super-resolution, but I didn't find anything geared towards old tapes specifically.

daniel_reetz | 0 comments | 6 hours ago

There's a piece of commercial software called Celemony Capstan. Might not be right for your application but it was designed explicitly for tape restoration.

ksec | 0 comments | 5 hours ago

Again. We need something that is either MiniDisc / UMD size. Or May be something slightly bigger than SD Card, that holds 1 - 2 TB minimum. And last 100 years with decent read speed. I wish SD Card could be that use case but i doubt NAND last that long.

I want something that last. Even NAS are not good at it.

DFHippie | 1 comment | 14 hours ago

Also priceless, in these times in particular, is hearing about people of good will doing their thing on behalf of humanity. Reading it brightened my day.

SoftMachine | 0 comments | 12 hours ago

Such divisive sentiments. It's no wonder you got flagged.

yapyap | 0 comments | 11 hours ago

First thing I think of when hearing about cassette tapes and preservation are deadheads.

Well done guys, you have successfully invaded my mind.