Davidson Library’s Special Collections Department has two audiovisual preservation labs to preserve the unique audiovisual materials held by the library and migrate them to digital formats. The labs have equipment to play back most formats in the Library’s collections including cylinders, discs and open reel audio tape as well as modern formats such as DAT and CDs. A vareity of video formats are supported as well.
Equipment in the studio has been chosen to provide the highest quality playback while remaining faithful to the original sound source. Some of the features that allow high quality transfers are the use of professional equipment, balanced audio signals and balanced AC power throughout.
The library has an active an ongoing preservation program and migrates hundreds of hours of unique recordings every year to digital formats that are stored on library servers for preservation and access.
Studio A:
Open reel playback:
- Studer A80 2 track
- Studer A807 machines with a variety of head configurations (5)
- Studer A810 full track
- Otari MX 5050BIII
- Revox B77
Audio disc playback:
- Technics SL-1015
- Technics/Esoteric Sound Turntable
- Thorens TD520
- Millennia LOC Phono Preamplifier
- Esoteric Sound Re-Equalizer
- KAB Souvenir EQS12 MK 12 Phono Preamplifier
- Owl 1
- Range of Stanton, Shure, and Expert Stylus cartridges and styli
Other playback equipment:
- Archeophone with complete mandrel set (for cylindrical carriers)
- Sony PCM R500 DAT
- Marantz PMD 502 cassette players (8)
- Marantz PMD 510 and PMD 511 cassette players
Digital Audio Workstations:
- PC based DAW workstations (3)
- CardDelux Sound Cards (3)
- Prism ADA-8XR Converters (2)
- 1 Sonifex ADDA
- Wavelab and Sound Forge Software
Restoration:
- CEDAR AZX Azimuth corrector
- CEDAR CRX Decrackler
- CEDAR DCX Declicker
- CEDAR DHX Dehisser
- Packburn 323A Audio Noise Suppressor
- SAE 5000 Impulse Noise Reduction
- Behringer 8024 Digital EQ
Monitoring:
- PMC TBS-AII stereo pair
- Alesis RA100 power amplifier and Monitor One stereo pair
- Sonifex RB-HD2 Headphone amplifier
- Fostex RM-2 rack mount stereo monitors and headphone amplifiers (2)
- Mackie Big Knob monitor controller
Power:
- Furman IT 1220 Isolation Transformer
Video
- Panasonic AG5210 VHS (8)
- JVC HR-S3902U SVHS
- Sony UVW-1400 Betacam SP
- Sony DSR-1800 DVCam
- Sony VP-9000 Umatic SP
- Sony SVO 2100 SHVS (2)
- Sony GV-D200 8mm/Hi-8/Digital8
- Sony SL-HF600 Betamax
- Toshiba DR420 DVD-R (2)
- DPS-290 TBC/Synchronizer
- Sony PVM-14M2U Monitors (2)
- Tektronix waveform monitor and vectorscope
Miscellaneous equipment:
- Microboards CD/DVD Duplicator
- MF Digital Ripstation (Robotic CD/DVD ripper)
Studio B:
Disc Playback:
- Technics SL-1015 (loaned form Library of Congress for National Jukebox)
- KAB Souvenir EQS12 MK 12 Phono Preamplifier
- Set of Expert Stylus coarse groove styli
- Keith Monks Audio Labs Record Cleaning Machine
- Olympus stereo microscope
Digital Audio Workstation:
- Apogee PSX-100 special edition converter (loaned form Library of Congress for National Jukebox)
- PC Based workstation
- Wavelab software
Monitoring:
- Mackie HR624 mk 2 stereo pair
- Mackie Big Knob monitor controller
Pitch source:
- Casio CTK-4200 electric keyboard
Power:
- Furman IT-1210 Isolation Transformer
Imaging:
- Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera
- Kaiser RS 2 XA camera stand
