Saturday, October 31, 2015

This is how we wash ... discs!

Så gør vi sådan, når vi vasker… plader! Digitalbevaring.dk. October, 2015.
     The Danish State Library has started to wash a large part of their old records so they can be digitized. Some can be cleaned by just wiping off the dust with a dry brush but other need a turn in the discwasher. This is a machine that looks like a turntable but instead of a needle has a small vacuum system that sucks water from the record. Another article on this, Disc washing at the library, has more information with images of the process of digitizing the 78 rpm record discs. There are about 37,000 Danish shellac discs (78 rpm records) and the audio engineer digitizes about 10 to 12 discs a day.  The process is to register the items to be digitized, check the condition of the disc, after which they are washed and cleaned. About three or four discs can be washed per hour. In the digitization room is the recording machine and an audio engineer who listens to the record and based on what he hears, chooses one of four different pickup needles for the final digitization. 

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