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Abstract
This article presents the results of the research project REVIVAL (2009–2012), aimed at the development of a hardware/software platform to support the preservation of the audio collection of the Fondazione Arena di Verona, with a special attention on protocols and tools for quality control. The most significant achievements of the project are (i) the set up of a working environment inside the archive; (ii) the knowledge transfer to the archival personnel; (iii) the realization of chemical analyses on magnetic tapes; (iv) the development of software tools. On the cultural side: the recovery of unique copies of unpublished live recordings of artists the caliber of Domingo and Pavarotti.
Notes
1 Since 1998, Sound and Music Computing (SMC) has been included in the category H.5.5 of the ACM Computing Classification System [Information Interfaces and Presentation (HCI)].
3 Pavarotti performed at the Arena summer seasons for seven years from 1972 to 1990: the recordings of his performances are stored in the historical section of the archive, and some of them have been recently restored and presented at an exhibition entirely dedicated to Pavarotti’s career. The exhibition opened in New York in April 2013 and then moved to the Opera Museum in Verona, where it closed in September 2013 (http://www.arenamuseopera.com/).
4 The term is used in this context by extension: in its original meaning, a facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction in that it attempts to replicate the source as faithfully as possible. For books and manuscripts, this also entails a complete copy of all pages: in the audio field, this entails the digitization of blank portions of tape. Facsimiles are sometimes used by scholars to research a source that they do not have access to otherwise, and by museums and archives for media preservation and conservation: especially in the audio field, facsimiles facilitate the remote consultation of the recordings, allowing for customized quality of the files according to the researcher’s needs. Unlike other types of book reproductions, facsimiles are meant to preserve defects, which is another crucial point in the creation of a preservation copy of an audio document.
5 Unintentional alterations are further divided into two groups, according to Schüller’s definition: (1) alterations caused by the imperfection of the recording technique of the time (e.g. distortions); and (2) alterations caused by the misalignment of the recording equipment (wrong speed, deviation from the vertical cutting angle in cylinders or misalignment of the recording head in magnetic tapes).
6 In a preservation copy, a distinction is made between metadata and contextual information. From the viewpoint of computer science both are metadata, but speaking of a preservation copy it is useful to make a distinction: by (audio) metadata we refer to (audio) content-dependent information, which concerns the audio signal and can often be automatically extracted; by contextual information we refer to metadata that represents additional content-independent information, such as a photographical documentation of the carrier case and the accompanying material (Orio et al., Citation2009).
7 George Brock-Nannestad (October 2007): personal communication to the authors. The statement bases on the fact that the characterization of the documents with a low quality useful signal usually relies on its corruptions, which are generally spread on a broad band. Therefore a high resolution is needed in order to capture as much information about the corruptions.
8 Linear Tape Open.
9 ‘Hydrolysis [is] the process by which the chemical that bonds the recording oxide to the polyester base absorbs moisture from the air’ [p. 2]congress06a
10 Sticky Shed Syndrome (SSS) is a particular case of SBS [p. 8]norris07a.
11 Java Version 1.6.0_24
12 In the summer of 2012, a special documentary on the Arena di Verona was broadcast to celebrate its centennial festival (1913–2013). The special included an interview with Plácido Domingo, honorary artistic director in the season 2013, where he is seen listening to himself performing as Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca in 1974: the audio he plays was digitized during the REVIVAL project. Domingo is moved to tears by the recording and the interview continues with him sharing the memories about his career in those years.