Cube-Tec @ IASA 55th Annual Conference

This year, Cube-Tec will once again take part in the annual conference of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA).

IASA and L'Institut Valencià de Cultura (IVC) invite to the 55th IASA Conference from 23 to 26 September 2024, which will take place at La Nau Cultural Center of the University of Valencia in Spain.

Torsten Ahl (German National Library) and Tom Lorenz (Cube-Tec) will give a joint presentation on "Playback speed identification for early shellac records" (More information below).

Contact us if you would like to meet us there:
Either via our contact form or send us an email directly at t.lorenz@cube-tec.com.


Torsten Ahl (German National Library, Music Archive) and Tom Lorenz (Cube-Tec) will give a joint presentation on Tuesday, September 24 at 2pm CEST.

The topic of the presentation will be: Playback speed identification for early shellac records

Summary:

This presentation addresses determining the correct playback speed of early shellac records. Digitising records from the early 1900s requires expertise in tuning, recording mechanisms, playback equipment, acoustic reproduction physics, and historical knowledge of pitch and musical performance. Choosing the right equalisation curve, playback speed, and needle is crucial for obtaining an authentic signal. While digital level corrections are possible, losses from incorrect signal extraction are irreversible.

QUADRIGA products ensure accurate digitisation and documentation. In collaboration with the Music Archive at the German National Library (DNB), a customised solution was developed to meticulously store all parameters in a database compliant with the AES Standard for audio metadata (AES57).

The presentation includes historical audio examples and will be jointly held by Torsten Ahl, audio engineer at the Music Archive of the German National Library, and the system manufacturer, who will explain the technical layout of the solution.