Music Library Staff Guide: Recording Digitization/Processing

1. Login to the storage room with your VUNetID.
2. Map BPA drives.

Recording:

• Before digitizing/recording anything, always check the Musicarchive drive to make sure the work hasn't already been done.
• Cassettes and LPs should be captured at 32 bit depth float, 96000 khz sample rate, which is the archival standard for analog media.  Audacity's settings have been pre-configured to record at 32/96, but always double check to make sure.
• The recording sample rate can be changed using the drop-down marked 1 in the illustration below. 

1. Place the cassette in the player.  cassettes spooled on the right side are wound for playback; press REWIND if the cassette is not spooled on the right side
2. At roughly the same time, press PLAY on the cassette player and record in Audacity (2 in the illustration above).  The recording levels (3 in the illustration above) will jump to the right after the clear leader tape has cycled through.  Very small jumps in amplitude rather than large jumps are preferable to avoid amplifying inherent format or player noise.  If levels look good (remember, small peaks/waveforms are usually better when capturing), you can let the player and Audacity run.  Recording does not need to be monitored, but you will need to check back after 25 minutes or so to see if the recorded content on the cassette side has stopped (there will be no activity for many consecutive seconds in the recording level monitor)
3. When the cassette or music has stopped for a side, select Pause, flip the tape and record the second side
4. Repeat for concerts that span over multiple cassettes
5. Stop the recording when all sides have been digitized.

Saving:

Saving the Unedited Preservation Master:

1. Select and erase any silence at the end of the file.  Note that there may be unexpected/off-program content at the end of the file since blank cassette space was often used to make rehearsal recordings.  There may be cases in which we want to retain the entirety of the cassette content
2. Name the file using the following formula: [YYYY_MMDD_TTL] - [Title]. The title is the title transcribed from the concert/recital program.  Ex. 1999_1231_23I - Purple Rain

• YYYY=Year of performance (e.g. 2007)
• MM=Month of performance (e.g. 04=April, 12=December)
• DD=Date of performance
• TT[TT]=Time of performance using 24-hour clock (e.g. 15=3 p.m., 095=9:30 am., 1925=7:15 p.m.)
• Add the .flac file extension

3. Extract the file (In Audacity, one must extract files to save to FLAC or WAV) to 24-bit 96 kbps stereo FLAC
4. Add the main performers in the Artist Name field
5. Transcribe the title from the concert/recital program in the Album Title field
6. Click OK

Saving the Access File for Editing:

Using the same file:

1. Normalize (bring the average or peak amplitude to a target level) the audio in Audacity at 32-bit depth.  Normalize can be found in the Effect menu.  Normalizing at 32 bits should result in a more accurate reproduction of the original recording.

• This is an art, not a science!  As a general rule, the average peak of your wave form should be in the middle of the peak amplitudes if you are normalizing a concert of a brass band (see the second point): at around .5/-.5 in Audacity (and around 6/-6 in Sound Forge). 
• Do what sounds best!  Peaks for a recording of a un-amplified guitar should be low.  Peaks for a recording of a brass band should be high.  However, use your ears to make the best decision
• You can make volume adjustments during editing.  Right now, we're just making normalization adjustments
• Now you can get rid of "extra" rehearsal content (just make sure it is rehearsal content) if you so desire

2. Extract the file to 24-bit 96 kbps FLAC
3. Name the file using the following formula: [YYYY_MMDD_TTL] (See also steps 4-7 under Saving the Preservation Master).  Do not include a title in the file name when saving access files.

1. Go here for instructions about downloading and setting up Handbrake.
2. Open Handbrake
3. Insert the DVD-R into your workstation's optical drive or an external optical drive
4. Once the disc is recognized, select Source and choose your optical drive, or select folder and select the disc's VIDEO-TS folder.  Either method will open the disc in Handbrake
5. Use the Title dropdown to determine how many Titles were added to the DVD-R.  If more than one title is present, each title should be ripped as [File name]a, [File name]b, etc.
6. For Destination, choose the mapped BPA drive
7. Handbrake will automatically recognize the video recording's aspect ratio.  It will be listed in the Picture tab under Size.
8. [Skip if you've created a Handbrake preset]: In the Video tab, under Quality, select Constant Quality.
9. [Skip if you've created a Handbrake preset]: Under the Audio tab, adjacent to Source, choose 256 (kbps) from the Bitrate dropdown and choose 48 (mbps) from the Samplerate dropdown
10. Select Start (next to the green circle at the top) to begin ripping
11. Follow the instructions under step 9 of Ripping and Saving Compact Disc Audio using SoundForge to save the ripped video file to the mapped BPA drive

Scan programs using the public multifunction copier scanner, saving to one of the circulating USB flash drives in the drawer to the left of the circulation workstation.  It's best to scan multiple programs in one session.

• To avoid clipped programs, always scan to 11" x 17".  You can always crop later.
• Programs should be scanned at 600 dpi or 600 dots per inch.
• Scan in full color or Mono2 (black & white) as appropriate.
• From the Other menu, choose Slow Scan Mode
• Don't bother to name the file at this point.  The scanner will name the file upon saving based on the date and time. 

Clean-up and save the file in Adobe Acrobat:

• Use the Crop Tool (Tools>Advanced Editing>Crop Tool) to trim the program to size
• Rotate as appropriate using Shift+Ctrl+R
• Use the Redaction Tool (Advanced>Redaction) to remove pencil markings and black edges
  • Set Redaction Properties (Advanced>Redaction>Redaction Properties) for a white "Redacted Area Fill Color"
  • Mark (Advanced>Redaction>Mark Redactions) appropriate areas for redaction/Erasing
  • Apply redactions (Advanced>Redaction>Apply Redactions)

Save the program to the BPA PDF drive:

• Name the file using the following formula: YYYY_MMDD_TTL.pdf
  • YYYY=Year of performance (e.g., 2007)
  • MM=Month of performance (e.g., 04=April)
  • DD=Date of performance
  • TT[TT]=Time of perfomance (24-hour clock, so 15=3 p.m. and 095=9:30 a.m.
  • L=Location (e.g., T=Turner, I=Ingram)
  • Example: 2007_0927_15T.pdf was performed Sept. 27, 2007 at 3 p.m. in Turner Hall.
• Save to the mapped BPA PDF drive.  If the bpa-pdf drive didn't map properly, save the files to G:\MUSIC\Blair recitals|Blair Recital Programs for now.  They can be transferred later.

• Put the media and/or program back in its case!
• Shelf the recording in the storage room before the end of your shift!