Contents:
- General Principles and Guidelines
- Metadata — Related Data and Other Information
- Digital Copies
- Transfers from Analog Masters: Playback, Metadata, Making Digital Archival Masters
- Transfers from Digital Originals
- Storing the Digital Files
- Documentation
- Conclusion
This document contains the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Technical Committee’s (ARSC TC) recommendations for preserving sound recordings, and more specifically for transferring sound recordings to an archival digital format, based on the state of the art and the technology in 2009. This statement updates the ARSC/AAA (Associated Audio Archives) recommended practices that guided audio preservation work starting in the late 1980s. It is not intended to offer specific procedures or best practices; for that level of detail the reader is referred to the accompanying list of audio preservation resources.The authors endorse the work of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) Technical Committee as published in IASA documents TC 03 (The Safeguarding of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy) and TC 04 (Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects) and directs interested parties to those works. This document is meant to complement these by providing some additional thoughts of the ARSC TC.This document provides general guidance using, as much as possible, language accessible to a non-expert audience, although those with more experience in preservation matters may also find it useful. It is designed to provide guidance to public and private archives, libraries, museums and other collections that include recordings of speech, music, ambient sounds and other audio.
As the authors state, this eight page document is meant to provide a brief overview of the best practices for preserving sound recordings. It has more detail on actual transfer issues and does not have a lot to offer on metadata management. It does offer a clearly written introduction to all the issues a sound archive needs to know about preservation and is prescriptive in its recommendations. Useful for starters in audio preservation or those looking for a good but short overview of important audio preservation issues. The list of resources however is now a little outdated.