Dave Hardy Archiving Services

You've known for years that your archive needs more attention and better organization. But in spite of all your best intentions, or due to limitations of time and resources, it remains undone.

And maybe that's as it should be, since your business is to continue creating music. You have never intended to be your own archivist. That's exactly what we do for you.

Recordings on tape require tending to, in hopes of preserving the original recording for as long as possible. Environmentally controlled storage, baking-off of tapes, correct physical positioning of media, such as vertical storage, are all commonplace in the practice of preservation. The ever-present deterioration of media is a great concern. To resolve all of these issues, digital transfers are the answer.

From your 2-track master, a 16-bit, 44.1KHz safety master and a second "listening" CD will be provided, with data that includes track information, and test results showing the quality of CD burn.

We offer packages that include delivery of your new archival CDs in acid-free binders with Lucent Technologies Corrosion Intercept™ pages, or a digital transfer delivered in a polypropylene case and Corrosion Intercept™ insert. In addition, archival storage is available in our private vault.


About Archiving

If you are new to archiving your music, consider creating a scheme for storing and retrieving your archival material. If you have already begun a coding system for archiving your music, let us know what method to use, and we'll gladly use it, and print the text on your CD cover that utilizes the system you have in place.

If no system is in place, selecting the archival coding style is up to you, and is a system you will want to live with. If you would like to create your own system, we will provide information to you, for your consideration, before you decide to commit your archive to a coding system.

Archival coding is a very good idea, especially if you have a large archive. You will want to store and find your individual recordings in a way that's well-organized and intuitive to you, or your personal archivist, in the future.


About CDs

You may have heard conflicting things about the reliability of digital media for archiving purposes - that writable CDs will deteriorate within 2-5 years, or that they will last a century or more. Both are true.

Writable CDs ("CD-R") consist of 4 layers: a relatively thick layer of hard, clear plastic is the bottom surface, a very thin layer of dye is on top of that, followed by an extremely thin, reflective layer of metal (usually a gold or silver alloy), with a thin layer of varnish or plastic on top to protect it. In all early CD-Rs, and most inexpensive CD-Rs being made now, the dyes used tended to deteriorate quickly with age, and did not survive exposure to light, humidity or heat very well. The early dyes also tended to react with the metal of the reflective layer, giving them a fairly short life expectancy even when protected from the environment. Well-made, newer CD-Rs use much less reactive dyes, and use only silver or gold, since they are both dye-tolerant and highly reflective. The better of the newer dyes are at least three times as stable as the older types, and survive weeks of torture tests intended to simulate the aging process. Based on these results, many manufacturers assert that their disks will last 100-300 years, but the more honest ones qualify that with an expected failure rate at that age. Additionally, because attempts at simulating aging may not be as accurate as intended, it is possible that failure rates might be well above manufacturers' predictions.

To an archivist, any failure rate higher than zero is completely unacceptable, so we provide customers with Windows-based software for testing the integrity of archive disks, which may be used every few years to see if disks require replacement. Due to the nature of digital recording technology, copying from one relatively error-free disk to another will result in no degradation of sound quality. Recommendations for managing your own archive storage and copying schedule will be included with your masters. We can provide storage and scheduled copying services for you, should you wish to have the highest quality maintenance possible.

In addition to using stable dye and good metal, an archival-quality CD-R needs to have good protection on top. Many people have been horrified to remove a sticker or piece of tape from the label surface of a CD-R, only to find that the varnish and reflective layer came off with it, destroying the disk and the data on it. Writing on the back of a CD-R with a ball point pen has also been known to ruin them. Thin layers of cheap varnish also leave CD-Rs more vulnerable to electrostatic and chemical damage. A CD-R suitable for archiving will have at least a thick layer of very tough varnish, and ideally will have a layer of hard plastic which is close to as protective as is the polycarbonate on the other side.

But use of the right materials is not proof of an archive-quality CD-R, as durability does not ensure that the data will be stored correctly to begin with. All digital media like CD-Rs, CDs, DVDs and digital tapes will have minor imperfections which will result in recording errors. All digital recording and playback devices are therefore set up with fairly elaborate mechanisms for the detection and correction of errors. On a CD or CD-R, for example, any error which occupies one or two bytes out of a 32-byte block, will be repaired by a relatively simple, first level of error correction, while errors which require more complex remedies (or which may defy error correction) are passed on to a second level of error correction processes. This combination of methods allow for recovery of data from disks which are damaged across areas up to 1/10th of an inch wide - errors occupying up to 500 contiguous bytes. A technical appendix at the bottom of this page explains the practical realities of CD error detection and correction in more detail.

Our CD Testing

The main standard used for testing CD-R quality is 'BLER,' which indicates the number of blocks per second which contain errors. An average BLER of under 10 is generally considered suitable for archival purposes, 30 is undesirable but unfortunately common, and a disk with a BLER above 220 is considered a defective disk, even if it has no uncorrectable errors. Any damage to a disk may cause a formerly correctable error to cross the threshold and become uncorrectable, so the fewer errors of any kind there are, the better.

Making a truly archive-quality CD-R goes beyond spending more for disks, because you don't always get what you pay for. We do look at third-party tests of recording media, but we don't stop there - we compare different makes of disks on our own recording equipment to find which will produce the most reliable, error-free recordings. Then we test every shipment of disks we get on the machine which will be doing the recording, trying different recording speeds and settings to ensure the lowest possible error rate for that particular batch of media. After each of your master disks are created, they will be checked to ensure that they have an average BLER of less than 5, and zero uncorrectable errors, as well as checking a number of other parameters - we are perfectly ready to throw away any disks which aren't provably of top-notch quality. They will then be packaged in covers which are specially designed to protect them from ozone and other reactive substances in the air, electrostatic damage, and ultraviolet light. These covers are expensive, but are estimated to extend the life of CDs by up to 30 times, and definitely help CD-Rs as well, particularly silver-based disks. So that you may store your master in absolutely pristine condition, we provide you with a second copy of each recording at no extra charge, which you may use for near-term duplication and as a "safe copy" to be stored separately from the master. It will have a verified average BLER of under 5, no uncorrectable errors, and will be recorded on a premium quality disk.

This is the sort of attention to detail we give your archives, because we know how much your music means to you.

We have tested, and continue to test, recordable CDs of all kinds, including Mitsui, Taiyo Yuden, Prodisc, Benq, and others. We also test CD-R burning hardware and software, to ensure that your archives will be be readable by a broad range of playback equipment for a very long time.


Archive Choices

Your Master copy is created to archive, and should be stored. Your second CD is created to provide you with a copy to duplicate and/or listen to.

STANDARD PACKAGE

MASTER CD: Taiyo Yuden media with polypropylene case and Corrosion Intercept™ foam insert. Mitsui-manufactured gold media may be substituted at no extra charge.

The "listening CD" is recorded on Prodisc media.
Mitsui silver, Taiyo Yuden or Benq media will be substituted upon request, at no additional charge.

Both CDs will have the following information provided:
BLER test, track numbers and titles, archival coding (if requested), printed on sulphur-free, acid-free paper.

PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE

The media are the same as for the standard package, but the disks are stored in Corrosion Intercept™ binder pages, in a premium-quality, acid-free binder and protective case.

The Professional Package includes eight hours or more of archival recording, with accompanying BLER tests, track numbers, individual time, track titles, and archival coding (if requested).

All documentation is printed on sulphur-free, acid-free paper. Archival polypropylene pages will be added to hold additional documentation, if necessary. Each binder will hold 60-96 disks with documentation.

ECONOMY TRANSCRIPTION

For those whose primary interest is in getting their material digitized, and for whom long-term archiving is not a priority, we offer the equivalent of the standard package's listening copy as a stand-alone item. One disk, made to our usual high standards, on premium silver media, with track numbers and titles.


Standard Package: $44.50 per hour.
Professional Package: $335 for the first 8 hours, and $39 per hour thereafter.
Economy Transcription: $39 per hour.

Additional copies of masters or listening disks, which are subject to the same quality standards and come with the same packaging, may be purchased at $5 per master, or $3 per listening copy. Duplicate masters come on your choice of Taiyo Yuden or Mitsui-manufactured gold media, duplicate listening disks on premium silver media. (Note: if you are keeping a master and a separate "safe copy," standard archiving practice is to pick two different brands of media, so if your master is Taiyo Yuden, you might want to consider a Mitsui safe copy, and vice-versa.) If you are ordering the Professional Package, you may order 8 additional masters for $34 or 8 additional listening copies for $19, both of which come with Corrosion Intercept™ binder pages for storage.

24-bit/96KHz transfers are also available, but require more disks to hold the same amount of music, and are not playable on standard CD players; a computer is required to copy them, and, aside from computers or some DVD players, no consumer-grade hardware will play them. If you are interested in sound quality that is significantly above normal CD level, and are unintimidated by these inconveniences, please contact us for specifics.


Archival Vault Services

Climate controlled, HEPA-filtered environment.
Please contact us about your individual needs.

Receiving Source Tape

We may be able to personally transport your original tapes, if they are located within California. Contact us about shipping methods recommended.


Contact Us

Technical Notes

CDs and CD-R are protected by two levels of Reed-Solomon codes, with interleaving used between them. The first level can correct the sorts of errors which are due to inevitable, minor imperfections in the manufacturing process, or to other damage which is no more than a few ten thousandths of an inch across. This is a (32,28) Reed-Solomon code, which is a shortened form of the (255,251) code. (It isn't necessary that one know anything about Reed-Solomon encoding to get the basic idea, and explaining it would go far beyond the purposes of this web page; all you really need to know is that they are very powerful and reliable error detection and correction methods.) Errors which can be corrected by this level are referred to as "C1" errors.

Interleaving is basically a way of spreading data around. For example, let's say that you have 3 digits worth of information you need to store: value A, which is 3, value B, which is 1, and value C, which is 2. If we store them normally (3,1,2), losing one of those digits means that it is gone and cannot be recovered. If, instead, we store them as (A+B), (A+C), (B+C), (A+B+C); or (4,5,3,6), we have increased storage space by 1/3, but can lose any of those 4 digits and still reconstruct it from the surviving digits. By spreading the data over a wider area, harm from localized damage can usually be overcome.

After the C1 correction level and interleaving, another Reed-Solomon code is used, this one being a (28,24) code. The interleaving combined with this second code is the "C2" layer.

BLER, mentioned above, is basically how many C1 errors there are per second of music, and consist of 3 categories of errors; E11, E21 and E31, all of which are correctable. There are also 3 categories of C2 errors; E12 and E22, which are correctable, and E32, which are not.

No disk prepared by us will ever be shipped with E22 or E32 errors.

We normally use Benq or Plextor drives for error-scanning, as they tend to do the best job of telling which disks will be readable by ordinary hardware. Drives made by LiteOn and Pioneer may also be used for this purpose, but often give extreme results which don't provide a clear idea of the disk's condition. For example: LiteOn drives can often read disks which are too damaged to be read by 90% of available drives. They also do not report E11 or E21 errors at all, the only C1 errors they will report are E31s. Similarly, they do not report E12 and E22 errors as C2 errors, they only report the uncorrectable E32s. For these reasons, LiteOn drives will almost always show very low error rates, sometimes even with disks that are no longer readable. Pioneer drives, on the other hand, are not usually as good at reading disks (although they are excellent for writing CD-R), and they report errors very differently; E22 and E32 are both reported as C2 errors, and they appear to randomly report C2 errors which cannot be found on a subsequent scan, i.e., C2 errors which probably do not actually exist. Plextors and Benqs both fit into a middle ground, where their read capabilities are good, but not freakishly so, and their error reporting tends to give a realistic idea of the condition of a disk.

Should you wish to use the software which we provide (or provide download instructions for), it is important that you use a supported CD-RW drive, as not all drives are able to report errors; some manufacturers do not care to build in that capability. While the list of supported drives is always growing, the currently supported drives are:

Aopen: DVD1648/AAP, 52X32COMBO, COMBO48X,COM4824/AAH, COM5224/AAH, COM5232/AAH, COM5232/AAH PRO, 16X52X24X52XCOMBO, 16X52X32X52XCOMBO.
Asus: DVD-E616P2, DRW-0804P, DRW-1604P. (but many Asus drives are rebranded Pioneers, so proceed with caution.)
Benq: (highly recommended) DW820A, DW822A, DW830A, DW1600A, DW1610A, DW1620A, DW1625, DW1630, DW1640, DW1650, DW1655.
BTC: DRW1004IM, DRW1008IM, DRW1108IM.
Cyberdrive: DX162D.
LiteOn: (not recommended as a scanner, for reasons mentioned above)
LDW-401S, LDW-411S, LDW-811S, LDW-451S, LDW-851S, LDW-812S, SOHW-832S, SOHW-832S, LTD-163, LTD-165, LTD-166, SOHD-167.
Memorex: MAXX1648AJ.
MSI: MS-8216M, MS-8216S, MS-8448M, MS-8452M, MS-8048M.
NEC: ND3500, ND3520.
NU Tech: SDR081, SDR083, SBW241, SBW242, SDW041, DDW081, DDW082.
Philips: DVDRW824B, DVDRW824G, DVDRW885.
Pioneer: (Most models, but not recommended as a scanner, for reasons given above.)
Plextor: PlexWriter Premium, PX-712A, PX-716A.
Ricoh: (not recommanded as a scanner, C2 detection questionable)
MP9200, MP5120, MP5125.
Sony: DDU1611, DRU700A, CRX320A (320 not recommended as a scanner, see LiteOn comments).
Toshiba: SD-M1802, SD-M1912.

Many companies, including several in the above list, have sold LiteOn and/or Pioneer drives rebranded with their own name. If you regularly get scan results which seem improbable, contact us and we can probably tell you if your drive was rebranded.