You’re Not Alone – Millions of Analog Audio Recordings Await Digitization

Report from ARSC – Everybody Has Something Ann Blonston represented Airshow’s Restoration Center at the 2015 ARSC conference in Pittsburgh in late May. She describes the event as a entertaining mash-up of archive professionals and obsessive collectors. In these modern times, we have hundreds of thousands of recorded media items available to be listened to […]

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Keep Your Recordings Safe: Best Practices for Analog Media Preservation

This post offers some simple tips to help collectors extend the life of analog recording media and prioritize their preservation for the long term. We live in a lucky time: we have sound recordings available to us at our very fingertips. Recorded sound surrounds us, and recordings – spoken or sung – are an almost […]

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Quality Control: What and When

Quality Control, or QC, is an important part of the production process. Whether you are making a physical product or a digital one, QC makes sure everything is made as was designed. Many companies will hire a 3rd party to oversee quality control in the production of physical goods, especially if hiring a factory from […]

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How to Plan A Vinyl Release Without Delays and Headaches

Increased demand pushes the supply chain Since 2012, when Nielsen reported that 4.6 million vinyl LPs were sold, vinyl sales have nearly doubled. Nielsen projects 2014 sales over eight million vinyl units. These stats likely undercount indie vinyl releases, or 7” or 10” discs (the smaller projects that many Airshow clients favor). Infographic courtesy of […]

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Is it Time to Rethink Your Master Parts Order?

Many recordings are released these days in several formats – CD, downloads in multiple resolutions and file formats, LP’s, and streaming. While the CD master at 16-bit/44.1 kHz resolution remains the most useful master format, one master does not fit all! With the growth of DIY digital sales platforms and Apple’s Mastered for iTunes (MFiT) […]

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Multi-tasking Masters: Vinyl + Mastered for iTunes + HDTracks

Airshow clients’ interest in Apple’s “Mastered for iTunes” quality initiative is growing daily. Did you know that the same 24 bit master we create for your iTunes submission can be used to create additional high-res formats for sale to your fans? A 24 bit master file delivers high-quality audio to listeners and can be distributed in multiple ways including: […]

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Record Store Day is April 20th!

Record Store Day rolls around on April 20th, and once again Vanguard Records has some interesting offerings from their eclectic catalog, chosen in a listener poll. Titles include Festival: The Newport Folk Festival 1965; Blues at Newport 1963; Country Joe and The Fish, I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die; Buddy Guy, Hold That Plane, and Big Mama Thornton, Jail, all remastered from the original master tapes […]

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A Few Questions About Vinyl

We’ve been talking with our clients about vinyl releases a lot lately. We have a handful of questions for you – as artist, producer, engineer or label rep – about your interests in vinyl release and related mastering services. Please take a couple minutes to answer them for us. Here’s a link to our BRIEF […]

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