Analog-to-Digital Sound Transfer
Can you compile a CD from multiple recordings and/or multiple sources as LP’s, cassettes, tapes?
Yes. Everything is possible but such custom transfer will take extra time. The best way is to describe to us all you need, your analog sound sources; tape speeds, tape record format, all you know to give us a chance to properly quote you. This we do on custom basis all the time. To calculate the cost, first we should figure out the total cost of your CD project. That is, are you going to do a straight transfer or you need sound restoration as well. Once you've made that decision, then to that price, you would add $3.00 to our standard rate for each hour of processing time we require to process your compilation. This covers the extra time it takes to pull from all the different sources.
What is your standard rate per hour of sound transfer?
It is $7.99 per one hour of direct audio transfer analog-to-digital, to date July 2006
Direct audio transfer? What does it mean?
It means that there is no sound processing of any kind during sound transfer, or otherwise said, analog sound of the original source is the same after the transfer, no analog sound deficiencies removed, as clicks, hiss, dropouts and so on.
I have some tapes with old recordings I like to get on CD but I have no idea what has been recorded on these tapes, and I do not know what format is the recording. How do I know what would be my transfer costs?
In this case of unknown initial recording conditions of the transfer we offer fixed rates per tape per transfer, give at the table below. First we need to know weather the tape is playable at all, how old is (your guess) and what size is the reel or cassette. If the tape is playable, we will perform sound transfer with or without extra sound restoration upon your request. All you need is to contact us, get fix rate quote for whatever you like to transfer, pre-pay audio transfer via our PayPal link, ship tapes to us and wait for our e-mail response. We will keep you constantly in contact until we finish your transfer.
Can you remove every singe pop and click?
Not worth the efforts and can be very expensive. Most of the clicks and pops are automatically filtered during extra software processing time. There are many thousands of pops and clicks on each recording. Some of these may not be recognized and passed trough. Only manual removal can fix these issues on individual click and pop selection, and removal. We will advise you about the condition of your recording and, upon giving you an estimation for required extra time and cost, you should decide to order such extra processing or not.
How many songs can I put on standard 80-minutes CD?
This totally depends on the total time (including space between songs), of all the songs you want to add to a CD, you can do the math yourself, or give us a list of songs you like to put on single CD and we will calculate it for you. This is custom sound restoration and will require to add $3.00 to our standard rate. If your project totals more than will fit on a single CD, we will contact you and ask you how you wish to proceed. Options would include removing some of the songs from your list or going to a second CD.
As a rule of a thumb, average approximately 10 songs for each CD. That's on the conservative side so more than likely the final product will have more if need be.
How can I figure out how much time of record has each of my Reel-to-Reel tape?
Total record time depends on many factors, as tape size, tape speed and tape format. Check the table below to figure out total recording time can be recorder on your particular tape. If you have more questions, contact us via e-mail.
I know my tape record total time , it is about 720 minutes. So, how much to pay?
Look at our table here e-mail us to quote you.
I cannot figure out total time of record for my tape(s). What to do?
In that case we have prepared fixed rate table for you, see below the example including tape return back to you after transfer.
Can I combine songs from both records and tape?
Yes. The costs are the same as outlined above.
Can I customize the order in which the songs are sequenced on the final CD?
No problem. You have to write us an e-mail how you like to sequence the material on your custom CD.
I have some old LP records. Can you transfer them to CD’s?
LP records should be in excellent to poor state, but without vinyl plate major cracks (or missing surface) and not damaged by heat (uneven surface that can make LP impossible to play). If you need direct transfer, see your basic rates above.
Can you clean the sound of my old LP records, make it clicks free, crisp and better?
We can certainly do that. Clicks and Hiss removal, track separation, initial cleaning the record from dust and dirt will add $3.00 to basic rate for each of your records.
How do I pay for my order?
We accept PayPal, Money Orders and Checks. If sending a Money Order, your package will ship upon receipt of the money order. Checks must clear before we ship product.
About Packaging and Shipping
How to package and ship my recordings to you?
Most LP's fit well in a 13 wide x13 deep box
Average height of 10 LP's (in jackets): just short of 2 inches
Average weight of 10 LP's (in jackets): about 5 pounds +/- 1pound depending on many factors as age and origin
Using US Postal Office Media Mail rates will allow you to deliver your recording at low cost. However, we recommend you to insure your package for full value you determine.
Part of your bill is shipping and handling your original records, or tapes back to you. We always insure your records for at least the insurance you paid to deliver them initially to us. Thus, we can cover your losses if your package gets lost or damaged during transportation back to you.
It is your responsibility to ship your records to us in protected packaging. We can transfer sound of your recording only if it is not severely damaged during transportation, or before. Please avoid shipping valuable records in single-layer packaging, such as record mailers.
If you are in any way uncomfortable about shipping, then we suggest you get a professional to pack your recordings.
I do not know how clean my records are. Should I wash/clean them before shipment to you?
Cleaning of your LP records from dust and particles, or baking your old reel tapes is our job, performed when necessary. Please - don't try to clean your records by yourself.
Using conventional record cleaning products may well do damage to the disc. Alcohol-based solutions are capable of breaking down the binders in shellac discs and may also cause chemical break-down of the acetate disc surfaces found on privately recorded and one-off discs. Audio-Restoration has all the tools and experience to clean up your discs.
Packing very old 78s record
78rpm discs can be easily broken. Their shellac construction is virtually guaranteed to break without proper packaging. If you do it right, they should be fine.
The disc itself should be protected on both sides, preferably by several sheets of thick cardboard. By alternating the direction of the corrugation of the cardboard its strength and resilience will be greatly improved. Cut the cardboard to squares a little larger than the disc itself and tape these squares firmly around the disc. The disc should be held tightly by the pressure alone of the cardboard surrounding it - don't stick any tape onto the disc itself. If the disc has a protective paper or card sleeve keep it inside this.
Next, this package should be further protected. Use bigger box that you can place the disk package in without it touching the sides, and then packing around the sides with bubble wrap or polystyrene packaging, to create an extra layer of soft insulation between the disc and the outside world and to make sure it doesn't move around.
When you've finished, there should be avoided any way the discs can be bent or dropped on their edges.
Are my recordings safe after arrival to you?
No problems at all, we know how to handle your stuff. Your recordings will be handled with extreme care at our studio. We clean each record carefully, and use only low-hours quality cartridges on our turntables.
Will my original tapes be damaged or erased?
Not even a chance. They will be returned to you upon completion of your project.
How do you keep my recordings?
In proper way, aligned vertically on a shelf. Your recordings will be returned to their original shipping container once duplicated and then stored in our secure storage area until your project is finished.
Will transferring and/or restoring damage my original recordings?
There is no chance audio transfer to damage your original recordings. You will actually receive your record back cleaner than when you sent it. Audio transfer normally require playing your recording just one time and it would only be played again if there was a problem with the initial transfer to digital.
Will I get my original recordings back?
Only if you request returning back to you, and pay upfront returning S&H charges, otherwise we will assume that you do not need them after the transfer.
How long audio transfer will take?
About two weeks, in general. This is based on an average work-load. If your order is very simple, it may take less time to complete. If we receive a number of orders that is way above average, it will take longer to complete your order.
Large orders (20 recordings or more), will take longer. Very complex orders (very noisy recordings, multiple source recordings, custom restorations) and "special requests" orders will take even longer. Every order completion time will be specified versus work load, recording material conditions, volume, destination and seasoning reasons on order-by-order basis. Please remember to add to that the shipping time, which varies depending on the shipping method you select.
Can all types of problems be fixed?
Unfortunately no, we are living in real world. Below is given a list of some of the limitations. Please read carefully these limitations and write or call us if you have any questions. The quality of our work is 100% guaranteed, but this guarantee does not apply to defects that are impossible to fix, such as those described below:
1. Unplayable disks: Please do not send disks that are cracked, warped, thermally exposed with uneven surface or otherwise unplayable.
2. Severe scratches: We routinely eliminate regular clicks, pops and scratches per record, see our extended service rates. Most clicks are completely eliminated; however, if the scratch is very severe we may need to eliminate these clicks manually, and advise you for extra time spend on this procedure.
3. Skips: If the record "skips" on your turntable, it will probably "skip" on our turntables too. If the needle skips forward we will continue processing. If the record skips in place we will push the needle gently into the next groove. We will repeat this a few times until the needle will track again. Some discontinuity may be noticed. We may not detect if the needle has skipped only a few times and then continued. If any of these conditions are not acceptable, please do not submit records that skip.
4. Distortion: We cannot and do not reduce or eliminate sound distortion, and that is impossible by definition. There are many types of distortion and possible causes: over modulation at recording, defective microphones or recording equipment, faulty stamping or quality control when the record was pressed, playing the record with a worn needle or with improper tracking force. A distortion becomes part of the sound. The computer and filtering software can not detect what is distorted and what is not. Therefore, if your source recording is distorted, the restored copy will also be distorted only the sound will be "cleaner".
5. Other audio transfer problems. One is strong hiss, caused by damaged LP surface due to playing this record with worn needle in the past. We can reduce the hiss, but not eliminate it. Big gaps in sound when transfer is made tape to digital. We do not monitor 100% of the time the transfer itself, so if in your recording there are gaps, they will be transferred as recording gaps to digital source. Removal of these gaps will require extra manual time and costs. We would like our customers to be aware of these problems may arise during the transfer.
6. Off-center hole: Some LP's have the center hole slightly off-center. These records will play with the pitch varying slightly at each revolution and we cannot do anything to correct the defect.
7. Poor quality home or commercial recording: Some customers prefer to record their vinyl or shellac records onto a cassette/tape, and send the cassette/tape for processing. Please be aware that if the cassette/tape is recorded with amateur equipment (noisy turntable or cassette/tape recorders) the resulting digital format will also be of pretty bad quality. Theoretically is impossible to create better sound after copying, and that is valid to audio transfer to digital format too. However, in spite of analog to analog copying, analog to digital transfer allows some sound deficiencies as clicks, pops, pauses and hiss to be eliminated. This also applies to inferior commercial recordings (recordings with metallic, tiny sound, recordings with bad sibilants, recordings badly mixed).
8. No pause between tracks: Please note that there must be few seconds of actual pause (silence) between the songs in order for software to be able to accurately assign tracks. If the original material does not contain a few seconds of silence between the songs, and timings are not provided software program will try to guess where the tracks should begin, but may not exactly match the tracks of the original. This happens frequently with "live recording" albums, opera and sometimes with custom compilation tapes. If such "guessing" is not acceptable, please advise us to do the transfer without pauses between songs/chapters.
Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy / Copyright Issues
ReelProAudio.com values its customers and respects privacy. All customer information is considered confidential. We do not release information to third parties and we do not use email or mailing addresses for solicitation purposes. Our audio restoration services are intended solely for individuals who have purchased audio recordings (vinyl records, cassettes or reel-to-reel tapes) and wish to transfer them to digital format for their own use. We also offer the same audio transfer service to companies and/or government offices may requite to transfer their analog recording material to digital media. As soon as we get conformation that our client has received his audio transferred material, we delete clients audio transfer files from our storage devices.
Copyright laws allow individuals who have purchased audio recorded music in one format to transfer it to a different format as long as it is for personal use and is not re-sold. Also, copyright laws do not impose restrictions companies to transfer their own analog audio materials to digital format for their own use.
ReelProAudio reserves full rights to change or edit the information posted on this site at anytime without warning.
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