Digitisation
What do Libraries and Cultural Institutions have in common with the world’s biggest music artists?
They are all racing against time to preserve their archives.
We can help.
Who we are
Studios 301 are the longest running recording studios in the Southern Hemisphere, playing a major role in pioneering the use of most commercially utilised audio formats in Australia. With over 90 years of experience in the audio and music industry, we are experts in our field.
How we can help
Whether you are a library, archival or cultural institution, record label, manager, legacy band, artist or music collector, we can help you digitise, restore, and preserve your invaluable audio to ensure its longevity.
Our digitisation specialists can transfer virtually every format of audio including but not limited to cassette tapes, reel to reel tapes, 78 rpm, vinyl, DAT and CD.
Technical Expertise
Our in-house technical team can consult on all of your audio needs, from restoration to remediation of any damaged media via our large workshop and a number of on-site tape baking ovens.
Additionally our engineering team can facilitate the recording of any new audio projects including oral histories, in studio, and on location recordings.
In-House Technical Team
Owen Butcher
Digitisation Team Leader
Owen’s foray into audio production was at the age of 16, working in live sound at all-age events. He started his studio career under the mentorship of Lachlan Mitchell at Jungle Studios, as well as attaining a Master of Recording Arts through Macquarie University (2011). Since joining Studios 301, Owen has established himself as a Senior Engineer, working with artists such as Stevie Nicks, Will I Am, Birds Of Tokyo and The Jezabels, and has been team leader in Digitisation at 301 for over 2 years now.
His primary role is to digitise tapes of all formats and ages, advising and implementing quality control across projects, inspection and appraisal of the condition of tapes and media, and advising on baking techniques and best practice for storage.
Owen has project managed and digitised tapes for clients such as INXS, Cold Chisel/Jimmy Barnes, Macquarie Radio Network, Universal Music, Liberation, and Paul Mac.
Stephen Crane
Technical Director
Widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading music studio technology experts, Stephen is the longest serving member of the Studios 301 team.
With experience working in major studio facilities in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Montserrat, his unique skills and exceptional expertise provide an exclusive service to 301. During his tenure at Studios 301 he has overseen all major digitisation jobs from a technical perspective.
Moe Feizi
Senior Technical Engineer
Moe is an integral member of the Studios 301 Technical team. His education started half a world away in London studying Sound Engineering before completing his Bachelor of Audio Production at SAE, Sydney. In 2015, Mo joined the Studios 301 team under a mentorship with Technical Director Steven Crane and is widely regarded as one of Australia’s best studio technicians.
Harvey O’Sullivan
Digitisation Engineer
Harvey joined Studios 301 in 2013, following on from experience in mastering, digitisation and transfer techniques, and advanced DAW operation.
Audio Digitisation at Studios 301
An overview of our services and expertise from 90 years at the forefront of the Australian music industry.
ASRA 2018 annual Conference
Australasian Sound Recordings Association 2018 annual Conference at Studios 301 in Sydney
Services
Oral History
Studios 301 has the capacity and experience to digitise Oral History collections of all sizes. We are a member of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives and as such, our processes and equipment comply with the IASA-TC04 guidelines.
Our track record includes digitisation projects ranging from home interviews on cassette and micro-cassette, journalist’s notes on DAT, 1950’s field recordings on reel-to-reel tape and esoteric recordings across many vinyl formats.
Capabilities include:
- Playback and capture on the highest quality equipment
- Expandable capacity from 1-4 operators and studios
- Conversion to multiple file formats
- Metadata capture and entry
- Bulk digitisation systems
- In-house tech support
- Custom solutions
Case Studies
State Library of New South Wales
State Library of New South Wales – Digitisation of Oral History Collections Tender – Digital Excellence Program (DEP) Oral History and Sound Recordings Project FY15/16
Project
The SLNSW sought an audio digitisation specialist to digitise the content of 1710 tapes comprising oral history recordings dating from the 1970s to the present in various recording formats and recording speeds. This is the fourth archive digitisation job we have undertaken for SLNSW. We commenced this job in December 2015 and completed it in May 2016.
Our Process
SLNSW delivered batches of approximately 300 tapes to us.
SBS Archives
SBS Archives – ¼” Reel to Reel Audio Digitisation
Project
SBS sought an audio digitisation specialist to output the content of 516 ¼” reel to reel audio tapes to 24-bit, 96kHz WAV files in adherence to the IASA TC04 standard.
Our Process
SBS delivered the 516 tapes to Studios 301 in batches. We received ten boxes of tapes initially, and then received three boxes of tapes per week, returning the boxes of tapes as we completed work on them.
Playback Equipment
Tape machines
- 1x Studer A800 MKIII 2” analogue
- 2x Studer A810 TC ¼” analogue
- 2x Studer A820 ¼” & ½” analogue
- Ampex ATR-102 ½” analogue
- Technics RS-1500 ¼” ¼ track analogue
- Fostex Model 80 ¼” analogue
- 1x Studer D827 ½” 48 track digital (DASH)
- Mitsubishi X880 1” digital
Cassette replay machines
- 2x Nakamichi CR-7A
- 2x Nakamichi ZX-7
- 1x Nakamichi 680
- Micro-cassette on request
Other playback machines
- Technics Turntables
- 2x Tascam DA-45HR DAT
- Sony DMR 2000-PCM1630 Digital Master Recorder
- 2x Tascam DA-38 (DA-88 compatible)
- 1x Tascam DA-78HR
Above is a list of the machines we commonly use for digitisation or transfers.
Don’t see your tape format here?
Contact us in case we have your machine in our vault!
Get in touch
Enquire here for a consultation or free assessment of your audio tape transfer.