Collection of non-studio quality music recordings

Cataloging tape collection circa 1980

Analog transfer circa 1980

Original reel-to-reel being prepared for transfer to digital audio

While much has been done to access, catalog, preserve and perpetuate the audio programs, there remains a significant amount of material to be accessed, transferred, transcribed, proofread and preserved. Much of this remaining material is unidentified and has poor audio quality, which is the reason it remains undone. The main format for our preservation transfer* is DAT (digital audio tape), which was the technology available when we began our transfers from reel-to-reel to a standardized digital format. We are always looking for new more stable formats that will be easily accessible in the future. It may surprise you to know that the archival community is still recommending magnetic tape as a preservation format, much like microfilm is recommended as long term preservation format for documents. Magnetic tape in the reel to reel format can have a reasonable shelf life and the analog equipment needed for playback is simple in nature when compared to today's technology.

There is still a large backlog of transcribing work to be done. This requires at least one and preferably more dedicated transcriber or transcribers. It requires someone who is very familiar with the speaking voice and way of speaking and pronunciation of Srila Prabhupada (Hindi and Bengali included) to be employed full time for 4 years, preferably one of the previous BBT and archives transcribers. This work is NOT for a general typist but for a specialized individual/s. Similarly, proofreading needs to be carried out in English, Hindi, Bengali and Sanskrit. This is also very specialized work and very time consuming (2-3 years full-time).

The estimated cost of this project will be $500,000.

* There is no one standard format for long-term audio preservation without ongoing maintenance and re-transfer to an updated or new format in order to save the audio information.

Collection of non-studio quality music recordings

Preparing originals for transfer

Accessing vinyl recordings

Digital work station used for mastering DAT and CD ministry