6.1055, Qs: Field Recordings

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1055. Mon Aug 7 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  78
 
Subject: 6.1055, Qs: Field Recordings
 
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---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Fri, 04 Aug 1995 17:07:33 PDT
From:  charmii at u.washington.edu (David Prager Branner)
Subject:  Query:  preserving field recordings
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Fri, 04 Aug 1995 17:07:33 PDT
From:  charmii at u.washington.edu (David Prager Branner)
Subject:  Query:  preserving field recordings
 
        I have a question about preserving regular *analog* recordings
made in the field.
 
        I work in rural Chinese, and for the most part I collect
inventories of lexicon, along with some texts.  For ordinary background
recording of interviews I have been using a $45 Panasonic microcassette
recorder on half-speed, which does *quite* serviceably even without an
external mic.  I intend to use ordinary high-bias non-metal cassettes for
material I want to work with in some detail, such as stories,
conversations, and recitation.  I can transfer that to micro-cassette for
transcription, so that the master remains in good condition.
 
        What concerns me is finding a way to preserve material originally
made on analog tape.  Tapes mildew rapidly in Taiwan and southern China,
and even in Seattle and New York I have had tapes become unplayable after
a number of years in storage.  I was thinking that if there were some
inexpensive and painless way to digitize ordinary analog tapes, I could
transfer them to cd here at my school, for only the price of the cd itself
(about $12).  One problem is wasted space:  I can only fit 74 minutes of
uncompressed sound on a cd, because one seems to have no choice but to
record in stereo, even if the original source is mono.  Does anyone have
any experience with this?
 
        I could get far more material onto a cd if I compressed it but I
don't want to do that, because I have no confidence that today's
compression protocols will be readable in 20 or 50 years - remember the
data from the 1960 US census, which was stored on magnetic tape and could
no longer be read by the mid-1980's?  If something is important enough to
preserve on cd, I don't want it to become unreadable in a few decades.
 
        I'd appreciate hearing any ideas on long-term storage.  Also, if
anyone has ideas about why digital equipment might still be preferable for
my work, I'd like to hear them.  I will summarize the responses I get.
 
                Sincerely,
 
David Prager Branner, Yuen Ren Society
Asian L&L, DO-21, University of Washington
Seattle, WA  98195 USA                          <charmii at u.washington.edu>
                Web:  http://weber.u.washington.edu/~yuenren/Circular.html
 
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