Measuring signals – challenges for the digitisation of sound and video

In a 2012 report entitled ‘Preserving Sound and Moving Pictures’ for the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Technology Watch Report series, Richard Wright outlines the unique challenges involved in digitising audio and audiovisual material. ‘Preserving the quality of the digitized signal’ across a range of migration processes that can negotiate ‘cycles of lossy encoding, decoding and reformatting… Continue reading Measuring signals – challenges for the digitisation of sound and video

Magnetic Reel to Reel Tape and New Transfer Machines – Pictures from the Greatbear Studio

The Greatbear studio always has a wealth of interesting material in it, that somehow have survived the test of time. From racks stacked full of obsolete audio and video tape machines, to the infinite varieties of reel-to-reel tape that were produced by companies such as Scotch, E.M.I. and Irish Recording Tape. As objects in themselves… Continue reading Magnetic Reel to Reel Tape and New Transfer Machines – Pictures from the Greatbear Studio

Curating Digital Information or What Do You With Your Archive?

Today is the first day of iPres 2013, the 10th international conference on the preservation of digital objects held in Lisbon, Portugal. To mark the occasion we want to reflect on an issue that is increasingly important for the long term management of digital data: curation. Anyone who has lived through the digital transition in… Continue reading Curating Digital Information or What Do You With Your Archive?

The Magnetist – Audio Cassettes in Contemporary Culture

As lovers of magnetic tape and obsolete media, we keep our eyes open for people who remain attached to the formats most have forgot. A recent film posted on Vimeo features the creative life of part time chef, noise musician and tape DJ Micke, also known as ‘The Magnetist’. The film follows the Stockholm-based artist… Continue reading The Magnetist – Audio Cassettes in Contemporary Culture

C-120 Audio Cassette Transfer – the importance of high quality formats

In archiving, the simple truth is formats matter. If you want the best quality recording, that not only sounds good but has a strong chance of surviving over time, it needs to be recorded on an appropriate format. Most of us, however, do not have specialised knowledge of recording technologies and use what is immediately… Continue reading C-120 Audio Cassette Transfer – the importance of high quality formats

Greatbear Studio Visit – Archive for Mathematical Sciences and Philosophy

This week in the Greatbear Studio we are being visited by Michael Wright, Director of The Archive Trust for Research in Mathematical Sciences and Philosophy. The Archive Trust for Research in Mathematical Sciences and Philosophy holds an extensive collection of audio and video recordings on subjects in mathematics, physics and philosophy, particularly the philosophy and… Continue reading Greatbear Studio Visit – Archive for Mathematical Sciences and Philosophy

How sustainable is digitisation?

Often when we think about the reasons to digitise magnetic tape collections we are considering the future. We digitise to make material accessible so it can be used again, or to preserve it so subsequent generations can benefit or learn from it. But how sustainable is digitisation and digital technology? What is the ecological impact… Continue reading How sustainable is digitisation?

What is the future of analogue media?

In a recent blog article on the Presto Centre website, Richard Wright argues that ‘the audiovisual collections of the 20th century were analogue, and we are now at a critical time for considering the digital future of that analogue content.’ He goes on to say, emphatically: ‘All analogue audio and video formats are obsolete. Digital… Continue reading What is the future of analogue media?

4 track 1/4 inch reel to reel tape recorded in mono – The Couriers Folk Club, Leicester

We were recently sent a ¼ inch tape by Ed Bates that included recordings from the Couriers Folk Club in Leicester,  which ran from Autumn 1964 – June 1974. The tape features performances from The Couriers (Jack Harris and Rex Brisland), George and Thadeus Kaye, Bill Pickering, Mark Newman and Mick Odam. Jack Harris, who… Continue reading 4 track 1/4 inch reel to reel tape recorded in mono – The Couriers Folk Club, Leicester

Digital Preservation – Planning for the Long Term

There are plenty of reflections on the Great Bear tape blog about the fragility of digital data, and the need to think about digitisation as part of a wider process of data migration your information will need to make in its lifetime. We have also explored how fast moving technological change can sometimes compromise our… Continue reading Digital Preservation – Planning for the Long Term

‘Mysterious little reddish-brown ribbon’: BASF Magnetic Recording Tape

‘It seems we are living in an age in which practically every dream comes true. At no time in the past have so many scientific discoveries and inventions changed our way of life and the face of the world. Yes, we live in the age of science! Maybe we are forgetting to be awed, or… Continue reading ‘Mysterious little reddish-brown ribbon’: BASF Magnetic Recording Tape

Repairing obsolete media – remembering how to fix things

A recent news report on the BBC website about recycling and repairing ‘old’ technology resonates strongly with the work of Greatbear. The story focused on the work of Restart Project, a charity organisation who are encouraging positive behavioural change by empowering people to use their electronics for longer. Their website states, the time has come… Continue reading Repairing obsolete media – remembering how to fix things

Digitising Audio Tape – Process, Time & Cost

Last week we wrote about the person time involved in transferring magnetic tape to digital files, and we want to tell you more about the processes involved in digitisation work. While in theory the work of migrating media from one format to another can be simple, even the humble domestic cassette can take a substantial… Continue reading Digitising Audio Tape – Process, Time & Cost

From digital files back to analogue tape

The bread and butter work of Greatbear Analogue and Digital Media is to migrate analogue and digital magnetic tape to digital files, but recently we were asked by a customer to transfer a digital file to ¼ analogue tape. The customer was concerned about the longevity of electronic digital formats, and wanted to transfer his… Continue reading From digital files back to analogue tape

Real time transfers – digitising tape media

In theory the work we do at Greatbear is very simple: we migrate information from analogue or digital magnetic tape to electronic digital files. Once transferred, digital files can be easily edited, tagged, accessed, shared or added to a database. Due to the ubiquitous nature of digital media today, if you want to use your… Continue reading Real time transfers – digitising tape media

Archiving for the digital long term: information management and migration

As an archival process digitisation offers the promise of a dream: improved accessibility, preservation and storage. However the digital age is not without its archival headaches. News of the BBC’s plans to abandon their Digital Media Initiative (DMI), which aimed to make the BBC media archive ‘tapeless’, clearly demonstrates this. As reported in The Guardian:… Continue reading Archiving for the digital long term: information management and migration

Digitising & Restoring Personal Archives – 1/4 inch reel to reel audio tape

In today’s digital society most people have an archive. On personal computers, tablets and mobile devices we store, create and share vast amounts of information. We use archives to tell others about our lives, and the things that are important to us. Gone are the days when archives were dusty, dark places where experts went… Continue reading Digitising & Restoring Personal Archives – 1/4 inch reel to reel audio tape

Audio cassette transfer and Martin Parr’s The Non Conformists

We were recently sent a collection of recorded interviews with residents of Hebden Bridge, a mill town in the Pennines. They were recorded on regular, domestic tapes of the mid-1970s, the kind that were sold in shops such as Woolworths or WHSmith. As magnetic cassette tapes go, these cheaper tapes can often deteriorate at a… Continue reading Audio cassette transfer and Martin Parr’s The Non Conformists

Delivery formats – to compress or not compress

After we have migrated your analogue or digital tape to a digital file, we offer a range of delivery formats. For video, using the International Association of Sound & Audiovisual Archives Guidelines for the Preservation of Video Recordings, as our guide, we deliver FFV1 lossless files or 10-bit uncompressed video files in .mkv or QuickTime… Continue reading Delivery formats – to compress or not compress

digitising tape issues

The main work of Greatbear is to make analogue and digital tape-based media accessible for people living in a digital intensive environment. But once your tape-based media has been digitised, is that the end of the story? Do you never need to think about preservation again? What issues arise for information management in the future,… Continue reading digitising tape issues

Nakamichi 680 Discrete Head Cassette Deck and Music & Liberation

In 2012 Greatbear digitised a selection of audio and audio-visual tape for the Heritage Lottery Funded exhibition, Music & Liberation. The first job was to migrate a short film by a feminist film making collective called Women in Moving Pictures who were based in Bristol in the early 1980s. The film shows how the Bristol… Continue reading Nakamichi 680 Discrete Head Cassette Deck and Music & Liberation

greatbear at work

A selection of images from the Greatbear engine room on a typical day at the office. Repairing, cleaning, baking, testing, sorting and transferring are our daily bread. The work is done to the backdrop of miscellaneous audio and audio-visual recordings ranging from early 1990s house music to ethnomusicological field recordings, corporate archives and everything else… Continue reading greatbear at work

broken DAT / degraded mouldy tape

Early tape based digital formats such as DAT, Tascam DTRS and ADAT, etc are often problematic now, partly with tape issues and also reliability and spares availability. In 20 or even 10 years time these machines will be much less serviceable than the analogue tape machines of the previous generation and as a result more… Continue reading broken DAT / degraded mouldy tape

Repair Teac A3440 4 track Multitrack Reel to Reel

The Teac A3440 is a classic reel to reel tape recorder from the late 1970s, early ’80s significant in that you could use it to make 4 track multitrack recordings at 15 inches per second, the professional tape recording speed. At the time there was precious little else around at the price to do this… Continue reading Repair Teac A3440 4 track Multitrack Reel to Reel

8 track cassette capstan motor Tascam 238 Syncaset

We specialise in tape transfers, many of which are multitrack cassette tapes. Tascam, Fostex and Yamaha sold cassette multitrack recorders in the golden days of home recording in the 1980s and ’90s. The 4 track format was especially popular but an 8 track format was also developed that squeezed even more out of the small… Continue reading 8 track cassette capstan motor Tascam 238 Syncaset

copy tape to cd, convert video to dvd, is it a good thing?

Digital formats are great and the ease of access and distribution that an Audio CD and a Video DVD offers is fantastic at the moment with cheap players, recorders and personal computers. In the audio and video tape transfer business, getting your business website to rank well in the search engines for key phrases such as… Continue reading copy tape to cd, convert video to dvd, is it a good thing?

azimuth adjustment when you transfer and convert cassettes to cd

Cassette tapes run at a very slow speed of 17⁄8 inches per second (ips) with a very small track width of 1.59mm Cassette decks when they left the factory or a service centre should have been aligned to a standard reference for the position of the record and play heads. Unfortunately they often weren’t all… Continue reading azimuth adjustment when you transfer and convert cassettes to cd

Sony PCM 7030 DAT repair

We have several of these large, wonderful machines. It’s not often we need or want to get involved in DAT machine repair as generally they are not easy to service machines and many key transport parts are becoming unavailable. The Sony 7030 DAT though has been designed with easy servicing in mind. There’s alot of… Continue reading Sony PCM 7030 DAT repair

Tape baking of unreleased Shoes for Industry studio master

In amongst a batch of very mouldy quarter inch master tapes we were recently asked to look at was this unreleased recording by Shoes for Industry, the Bristol band on Fried Egg Records. Like much late 1970s and ’80s studio recordings, this was recorded on Ampex branded tape that suffers badly from binder hydrolysis or… Continue reading Tape baking of unreleased Shoes for Industry studio master

Tape mould cleaned and removed. Rare lost masters recovered and preserved for Druidcrest Ltd

We have recently worked on probably the worst looking tapes but with some of the best sounding music recordings we’ve seen for a while! A batch of 10.5″ NAB studio masters had bad tape mould growth. Andy Leighton, owner of Bolex Brothers and music publisher of the Rocky Horror Show, found a batch of studio… Continue reading Tape mould cleaned and removed. Rare lost masters recovered and preserved for Druidcrest Ltd

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