1 — Analogue & Digital Conversions & Transfer

AUDIO FORMATS: A SHORT PRIMER

There are a diversity of analogue audio formats created for consumer & professional markets, but I specialize in a simple two:

Audio Compact Cassette – Developed in Belgium and released by Philips in 1963, the lowly compact cassette gained greater prominence during the 1980s when it became perhaps the most cost-effective format to record off-air radio broadcasts, transfer LPs, create mix tapes for friends & travels, and capture family histories with a simple mic and recorder. Pre-recorded and blank cassette stock came in several grades of audio stock, of which the most popular are Type 1 (Normal low bias), Type 2 (Chrome), and Tape 3 (Metal).

The cassette tape’s heyday spanned the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, after which CD (compact discs) took over before a rapid decline as digital formats like MP3s, FLAC, OGG, WAV, and others became the easiest format to acquirem distribute, and archive music without mandating sturdy storage units.

Tape has enjoyed a peculiar resurgence in tandem with vinyl LP because it’s among the more affordable physical media formats, but there’s a still a need by some to archive old cassettes with archival contents as digital files.

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Vinyl LP / Record – As CDs became the preferred music format for the average consumer, average and even veteran collectors mothballed, sold, or outright junked their LPs, and after years of being relegated to the obsolete dustbin, vinyl returned to arguably its place as an audiophile format, the ultimate collectible format with its large gatefold design that showcases original art & liner notes, and as a refutation of all things digital, especially the lowly CD.

LPs from the 1940s can be played on any turntable with the right stylus and proper speed setting, and the most general formats of the record are 7″ 45 RPM discs (often used to a sell single song on each side), 10″ 33 1/2 RPM discs (popular in the 1950s), and 12″ 33 1/2 RPM discs.

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Whether from cassette tape or LP, all audio is recorded to the hard drive as an uncompressed WAV file, after which it’s edited into single tracks when there are deliberate pauses and gaps. The tracks can be saved in other formats – MP3, FLAC, etc.  – and archived on a DVD-R, memory stick, hard drive, and / or burned as a standard audio CD.

Recording options including capturing audio at a higher bit rate, and several cleanup options, such as removing various degrees of pops, lessening hiss, augmenting low volumes, and creating a more balanced file, especially when it’s an archival recording of a voice in less than ideal environments.

The type of cleanup is similar to what I offer for podcast audio, of which examples can be heard HERE.