AES Fall Online Convention

Archival practice often spotlights the challenges of working with magnetic tape and grooved media. This panel shifts focus to the formats used frequently in 1980s recording production: Small format analog multitrack such as 8 track 1/2” and 16 track 1”, DBX and Dolby noise reduction,  DASH, ProDigi and PCM F-1. Loads of great records were made on these formats, frequently in project studios with smaller budgets. Sadly, they are some of the most at-risk formats, both because the carriers are awful and the because playback machines in working order are hard to find and maintain. The fact that most of the studios using these formats were smaller project studios with minimal budgets only heightens the urgency of preserving this content. Panelists will talk about playback and preservation of these formats, specific considerations in capturing audio, timecode and other data, sourcing and maintaining playback machines, and noise reduction techniques with tapes that often have less than optimal notes and are degrading faster than they can be cataloged.