A SOUND EXCHANGE PRESERVING THE VOICES OF CUBA YASMIN DESSEM & ALLIE WHALEN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

Transcription

1 A SOUND EXCHANGE PRESERVING THE VOICES OF CUBA YASMIN DESSEM & ALLIE WHALEN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

2 INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL EPHEMERA PROJECT (IDEP) Build international collections through collaboration, preserve cultural heritage, and facilitate access for future generations Building on-site digitization capacity with data mgt & access at UCLA Moving image & sound, photographs, journals, books, social media IDEP Partners Toolkit

3 INSTITUTO DE HISTORIA DE CUBA (IHC) HAVANA, CUBA RARE COLLECTIONS PARTNERSHIPS WITH STAFF LOCAL COLLABORATIONS FACING CHALLENGES IMPLEMENTING DIGITIZATION

4 COLLABORATIONS BUILDING EXPERTISE THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS Joel Cabrera Rodés, Museo de la Música Niurka Alina Lecusay Guerra, Studio Abdala Nick Bergh, Endpoint Audio

5 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES DEDICATED STAFF FOR DIGITIZATION & MANAGEMENT Luis Alberto Montes de Oca Colina: Head of Conservation Aylin Espinosa Perez: Prep and digitization Sergio Romero Valdez: Photo documentation and metadata creation

6 EXPANDING PRESERVATION BUILDING AN AUDIO TRANSFER STATION AT IHC Introduction Equipment Infrastructure Training Resources Sustainability

7 INTRODUCTION INITIAL STATUS AND PROGRESS Inventory with condition notes Housing (boxes and sleeves) and labeling Excellent environmental controls Attempts at homemade cleaning solutions repurposing low ph shampoos and Netzmittel Some early transfers outsourced

8 SOURCING, HAULING, AND INSTALLING EQUIPMENT & INFRASTRUCTURE Specialized equipment hand transported due to embargo Weight restrictions Limited to no Internet No data storage infrastructure

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10 BLESS ALL OPEN SOURCE TOOLS SHARING & IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES FADGI BWF MetaEdit AVP Fixity Audacity MediaInfo Manuals Detailed workflows & tutorials (with pictures!)

11 RADIO TRANSCRIPTION DISCS DIGITIZING THE UNIVERSIDAD DEL AIRE COLLECTION

12 TRAINING AND PREPARATION 5 DAYS TO BECOME AN EXPERT Format background and best practices Disc cleaning and preparation Turntable setup, cartridge alignment, tonearm adjustment Measuring and setting vertical tracking force Settings for A/D & D/A converters, preamp and software File specifications and naming conventions Metadata capture

13 CLEANING UP WASH, RINSE, REPEAT

14 DIGITIZATION PROCESS STYLUS SELECTION & TROUBLESHOOTING Discs sounded best with 2.3 and 2.5 ET styli & RIAA EQ When loss concentrated in one area, transfer before and after loss to capture as much as possible. Set aside discs with heavy damage for future troubleshooting

15 MANAGING METADATA & UCLA Creating item-level metadata and describing content & condition Data storage at UCLA and accessing materials through the IDEP digital library

16 1/4 OPEN REEL COLLECTIONS ASSESSING & PLANNING Proposed project: Set up digitization station for audio reel collection of historic interviews & speeches Environmentally controlled storage No playback equipment to assess speed and alignment of recordings Discussion of item level housing & microenvironments with Luis, a trained microbiologist

17 SOURCING A PLAYBACK DECK: THE SAGA Challenge #1: We need a deck. Solution: source one in Cuba. Challenge #2: We found one, but it doesn t work. Need parts and a local engineer to repair. Solution: Find the service manual & source parts. Challenge #3: We found an engineer, but the deck has extensive electrical issues. Solution: Find a refurbished deck to borrow.

18 SHIFTING PROJECT FOCUS SAMPLE TAPES & GATHER SPECS Inspect condition & quality Examine track alignment Confirm speeds & levels Verify content

19 TRIAL TRANSFERS & FINDINGS Survey of tapes revealed: Half track alignment (stereo/mono) 7.5 or 3.75 ips ORWO brand tapes were noisy and distorted

20 NEXT STEPS PLANNING FOR CONTINUED PROJECTS Start the open-reel transfers July 2018 Possible retransfers of lacquer discs Zooniverse audio transcription for Universidad del Aire Digitize materials at Isla de Juventud for Japanese diaspora documentation Explore data management solutions Workshops for local institutions

21 LESSONS LEARNED Nurture a strong relationship with your collaborators (listen, respect and support) Overly prepare and document everything imagine every scenario Custom equipment may not arrive when you hope Start packing before you think you need to Share resources widely on USB flash drives BUT also bring print outs Stay flexible and be ready to shift priorities Language is not always a barrier

22 Questions? Contact us at Yasmin Dessem: Allie Whalen: