Alexandre Agergel, Radio France alexandre.abergel@gmail.com

Véronique Ginouvès, MMSH veronique.ginouves@univ-amu.fr

Archiving and disseminating

sound archives – 1: Processes and procedures

in digitizing sound materials

Who are we ?i suis-je ?

*

Alexandre Abergel alexandre.abergel@gmail.com

Sound operator at Radio France http://www.radiofrance.fr http://www.ina.fr Freelance audioengineer for post production film editing and mixing http://www.avh.asso.fr

Who are we ?suis-je ?

Véronique Ginouvès veronique.ginouves@univ-amu.fr - Engineer at CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) at Aix-Marseille University, France -  Head of the sound archives at the MMSH : Maison Méditerranéennes des Sciences de l’Homme – - Director of a professional Master about sound and audiovisual archives. Scholarly blog : http://phonotheque.hypotheses.org Twitter : @bagolina Articles in open access : HAL *

The Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme (MMSH) is a research center in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities in Aix-en-Provence, focused on Mediterranean studies.

THE MMSH SOUND ARCHIVES

Founded in 1979 by scholars in humanities specialized in mediterranean studies : - To preserve the source documenting their research: the inquiry recorded on the field - For a potential re use of the recordings for new research. A new responsability appeared since the ratification by France of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage supported by UNESCO, which involve the managment of the cultural heritage of these archives.

La phonothèque de la MMSH 6500 hours (field records) 5000 hours digitized 1500 hours on line 600 hours from radio broadcast 2000 vinyls

Incentive practices lead to new deposits

The MMSH sound archives set  up  best  prac+ces  and  rules  to    receive  new  sound  archives.  It  created  a  complete  methodological  package  from  the  collect  to  the  dissemina+on  of  the  sound  archives.  

The work of the MMSH Phonothèque is similar to our training program…

•  Collecting – clarifying ethical and legal issues •  Preserving and digitizing •  Analyzing and indexing •  Disseminating

Our program

1. Processes and procedures in digitizing sound materials 2. Managing sound data 3. Analysis and treatment of sound data

4. Valorising digital sound archives

5. Collecting sound data for digital storage and dissemination

1. Process and procedures in digitizing sound

1. Behind sound digitization : definitions and objectives.

2.  The sound digitization procedure in conjunction with document treatment.

3. How to make technical decisions to begin and carry out the digitization process.

1. Process and procedures in digitizing sound

1.1. Behind sound digitization: definitions and objectives.

What is a sound archive ?

What is a sound archive ?

OBJECTIVE ELEMENTS

-  A unique document: when it is not copied for commercial purposes, it does not refer to any standard or rules making ;

-  Recorded on analog or digital media -  The main information that describe it are

provided by the individual(s) who have recorded it: the packaging of the box when there is one, the naming of the file attachments.

UNESCO : ABOUT SOUND AND AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES

There is no expression, universally recognizable, to describe the concept of audiovisual archives, like the words "library" or "museum ». It is a major handicap… Audiovisual archives are organizations or departments within organizations that are dedicated to the collection, management, conservation and communication of a collection of audiovisual materials and audiovisual heritage.

DEFINITIONS IN FRANCE : THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

The word « archives orales / sound archive » is restricted to contemporary recordings, verbal character, made in the current and ordinary course of business of a corporation or individual, or speech broadcast interviews, speeches, conferences, arguments, debates, films, documentaries… => primary source The term « témoignage oral / oral testimony » is used for oral documents preserved for a heritage or historical usage => secondary sources

PRIMARY SOURCES VS SECONDARY SOURCES

A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event. A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event

GIVING A NAME TO THE RECORDINGS

Source orale – Oral sources Enquête orale enregistrée – Recorded inquiry Archives sonores – Sound archives Archives orales – Oral archives Témoignage oral – Oral testimony Histoire orale – Oral history Son enregistré – Recorded sound Enquête de terrain – Field recording

What else ?

THESE DEFINITIONS ARE LINKED TO THE TECHNICS

1877, in April Charles Cros discovers the Paléophone but in November, Thomas Alva Edison invents the Phonograph 1888, Emile Berliner produces the Gramophone 1934, BASF and AEG Telefunken produce plastic tape, the « Magnetophone » (Tape recorder) 1950, Philips comercializes the first tape recorder for consumers 1964, Philips develops the Compact Cassette 1983, Compact Disc (CD) launch 1987 Digital Audio Tape (DAT) launch 1992, Minidisc (Sony) and DCC (Digital Compact Cassette, Philips) launch As of 2000 spread of digital recorders and direct-to-disc system.

PHONOGRAPH Exemple : Exposition universelle de 1900 - chant de piroguiers (men on pirogues), Madagascar : http://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/items/CNRSMH_I_1932_001_035_02

GRAMOPHONE

REEL TO REEL TAPE

IDENTIFYING AUDIO – MAGNETIC

Sound recordings on analog magnetic tape can be tape cassettes or reels.

1/4 inch audio tape (reel-to-reel) Used for professionals and amateur recordings 1/8 inch audiocassette aka Compact Cassette or Standard Audio Cassette Used for professionals and amateur recordings

IDENTIFYING DIGITAL MAGNETIC

Sony Digital Audiotape (DAT) Introduced in 1987 Most common digital magnetic audio format Similar in shape to audiocassette, but thicker Used for professionals and amateur recordings Likely polyester substrate

IDENTIFYING ANALOG DISCS – 1

Introduced in 1895 Used primarily for professional, but amateur and dictation recordings exist. The dominant form of domestic audio in the 20th

century Various coatings and substrates.

IDENTIFYING ANALOG DISCS – 2

• 78rpms Manufactured between mid 1890s and 1950s - 10” and 12” diameter sizes Nitrate or acetate coated, metal or glass based metal or glass based - Manufactured between mid 1890s and 1950s - Used as instantaneous recording discs - 16’’ diameter size Vinyl based Introduced in 1948 - 33 1/3rpms, 45rpms & 78rpms – 7”, 10” or 12” diameter

WEB SITES ABOUT HISTORY OF THE SOUND RECORDING : HTTP://WWW.RECORDING-HISTORY.ORG HTTP://WWW.AES.ORG/AESHC/DOCS/RECORDING.TECHNOLOGY.HISTORY/NOTES.HTML HTTP://WWW.AVPRESERVE.COM

The sound archives are deeply linked to the humanities and social sciences methodology

Who uses field recording and why ??

Field recording in sociology 1920-1930 : Chicago school published The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (5 vol.), by W. I. Thomas et F. Znianiecki From this school a student Howard Becker : http://www.canal-u.tv/producteurs/canal_socio_universite_paul_verlaine_metz/dossier_programmes/trois_lecons_de_sociologie/trois_lecons_de_sociologie_1_sur_le_travail_de_terrain

…Never ask “why ?”

Exemple : from the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute to INESOR

Fondation: 1938 in North Rhodesia (Lusaka) by Godfrey Wilson After the independence of Zambia, it became the Institute for Social Research (1966-1970), in 1971 the Institute for African Studies (University of Zambia) and in 1996 (to date), INESOR, the Institute for Social and Economic Research. http://www.unza.zm/institutes/inesor/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80&Itemid=126

Field recording in ethnology 1900 : In France, the Anthropology society from records various ethnic groups in the “Exposition universelle” and Léon Azoulay (ethnomusicologist) begin a sound archive 1902 : Publication of a list of the sound archives of the Phonograph museum of the Anthropology society : liste des phonogrammes composant le Musée phonographique de la Société d'Anthropologie => Listen a sound archive from Zanzibar recorded in 1900 “Qama bibi wa nipenda” http://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/items/CNRSMH_I_1900_001_300/

ETHNOMUSICOLOGY: 2010 LAUNCH OF TELEMETA

Ethnolinguistic 1911 et 1916 : first cylinder records of Ischi, Yahi indian from Northern California by Alfred L. Kroeber, T.T. Waterman and Edward Sapir Listen an archive recorded in 1900 in Swahili (from the Comoros islands): sang, spelled, -  http://archives.crem-cnrs.fr/archives/items/

CNRSMH_I_1900_001_301

The oral history departement of Columbia University

1948, Alian Nevins and Louis Starr created in the Columbia University the first oral history department: Columbia University Oral History Research Office : life stories of cultural, political, economic, military ... elites 1967, creation of the American oral history Association, followed by the IOHA - International oral history association, http://www.iohanet.org

ORAL ASSOCIATIONS IN AFRICA IN LINK WITH THE IOHA

Oral History Association of South Africa: http://www.ohasa.org.za Centre for Popular Memory (CPM), University of Cape Town: www.popularmemory.org.za The Sinomlando Centre for Oral History and Memory-Work, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/sorat/sinomlando SA History On-Line: http://www.sahistory.org.za International Society for Oral Literature in Africa (ISOLA): http://isola.binghamton.edu South African Archives: http://www.national.archives.gov.za

What‘s the use of sound archives ?

What is the uses of sound archives ?

•  Producing a document as written, audiovisual iconography •  Collecting quickly and effectively information (prevents error in note taking) •  Recording data that can be collected only in oral : languages, practices, experiences, emotional, or symbolic representations of the imaginary, sensitive issues on which there is no printed archives, musical pieces that have never been effect transcripts •  Giving voice to anonymous •  Completing sources including print sources

Among ethnologists recent interest in "their" archives

•  A  genera+onal  turnover  among  ethnologists;    

•  A  strong  will  for  archives,  heritage  and  memory;    

•  Evolu+on  of  the  discipline  and  its  research  objects;    

•  Closure  of  fields  and  globaliza+on.  http://africanistes.revues.org/2542

ETHNOLOGIST’ FIELD MATERIALS

A  growing  interest  of  the  population  recorded  for  "their"  archives  

Populations that have been recorded in the field wish to get back these documents that reflect their history and their culture, sometimes to restore their traditions that may have been, or risk to be, forgotten.

The anxiety of researchers on the consultation of "their" archives

When  socie+es  surveyed  by  the  ethnologists  have  changed  abruptly,  the  researcher  is  in  a  posi+on  of  informant  of  tradi+ons  which,  when  they  where  collected,  evolved  over  +me.    

But  these  archives  are  not  those  of  the  socie+es  studied,  they  are  the  product  of  a  project,  the  result  of  a  mee+ng  with  informants.    

How  will  the  materials  be  viewed  and  interpreted  by  the  communi+es  for  whom  they  were  produced?    

Rather  than  a  heritage  to  be  restored,  they  are  seen  by  researchers  as  objects  of  research,  informa+on  to  share.  

hHp://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc127.htm  

http://ateliers.revues.org/2902

1. PROCESS AND PROCEDURES IN DIGITIZING SOUND

1.2. The sound digitization procedure in conjunction with document treatment

DOCUMENT PROCESSING CHAIN FOR A SOUND ARCHIVE : 3 LINKS – 3 GOVERNING PRINCIPLES

Input: collecting – preserving Treatment: analyzing – digitazing Released: consultation – dissemination Legal and ethical issues Preservation in the long term Information watch

Université de l

CATALOGING TO MAKE ACCESSIBLE

VALUES NOT TO FORGET EACH AND EVERY ONE IS VERY

IMPORTANT ü  Ethics rules ü  Collection integrity ü  Contextualization ü  Rights of present users as well as of future users ü  Rational use of available tools ü  Standards and catalogs (ISAD-G, EAD, RDF…)

Maybe you will dream about them J

1. PROCESS AND PROCEDURES IN DIGITIZING SOUND

1. 3. How to make technical decisions to begin and carry out the digitization process ?

LOOK AROUND YOU !

-  Is there a place dedicated to digitize ? -  Is this place appropriate ? -  Is all the equipment required to play the media

available ? -  How to store the medias ? -  Are there similar medias ? -  Among these media is it possible to categorize

them ?

We are going to talk about in the coming days…

Any questions ?

Photo Credits Slide 1 and 8: Sound archives Marceau Gast, MMSH, photogr. Laure Principaud, janvier 2010. Slide1: Digitizing sound, MMSH, photogr. Serge Mercier, 2012. Slides1 and more : July 12, 1967 in northwest Burundi, Sekere, Emile Mworoha and Jean-Pierre Chrétien. Slide 5: MMSH, 2000, photogr. Pierre Monteil Slide 15: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/publications/philof/philof3.htm Slide 20: Wikipedia Norman Bruderhofer, www.cylinder.de Slide 21: Wikipedia, Norman Bruderhofer — Collection of John Lampert-Hopkins and no information for the « gramophophe valise » Slide 22: pas d’information sur l’image (reel to reel tape) and Wikipedia, Pittigrilli, 2006 Slides 24 to 26: California audiovisual preservation project, 2006 http://calpreservation.org/projects/audiovisual-preservation/ Slide 39: documents from thee ethnologists of the french laboratory LESC Slide 44: Boîtes de conserve, http://www.preparationmariage.com/spip.php?article11 Slides about archives ethnologists: many thanks to Marie-Dominique Mouton, Bibliothèque Dampierre http://www.mae.u-paris10.fr/lesc/spip.php?article21 Slide 48:National archives UK, Hong Kong fisherman's two sons listen to an up-to-date children's story on a very old transistor radio, 1969, No known copyright restrictions.