Since the introduction of stereo digital formats (F1 Beta, DAT, CDR) the studio has offered safe storage of final mixes free of charge. This means that if your band recorded here, your songs are in the archive. In fact early F1 recordings go back even further to include output from The Basement Studio in Wokingham, over 20 years ago.

Mastering technology is now very advanced, and revisiting old recordings can produce surprisingly good results when transferred to CD, infinitely better than the battered old cassette copy that was probably taken at the time of the session. Recent investment in Cedar specialist noise removal hardware and iZotope Advanced restoration software also makes revival of ancient reel to reel masters a viable option, although these are known to seriously deteriorate in storage, and may need cleaning or 'baking' to cure stickness - see below. It may even be possible to rescue cassettes to an acceptable standard for historic releases. Something to bore the grandchildren with...

Masters are stored in chronological order, so approximate month and year of recording would speed up the location process. It is intended to publish a list here on the website when time permits - watch this space.

Otari MTR-10 for reel to reel transfers

**NEW SERVICE** ANALOGUE TAPE 'BAKING'

No, nothing to do with cooking the books... Most analogue tape made between the 70s and mid 90s suffers from 'sticky tape syndrome' in storage, a chemical breakdown of the binder or 'glue' that holds the essential magnetic oxide onto the backing, thought to be caused by moisture absorption. This results in the shedding of a waxy black 'gunge' making the tape impossible to play safely. If playback is attempted the 'gunge' rapidly builds up on the heads and guides and clumps together, sticking to the tape surface and damaging the edges in particular. In extreme cases the tape slows to a stop with a squealing noise and can be permanently stretched as the motors strain to keep things moving. Although the clumps can usually be removed (individually, by hand!), patches of oxide containing your music are often pulled off in play or fast wind causing irreparable loss - holes in the recording known as 'dropouts'.

Fortunately there is a cure - a precisely controlled heat treatment process lasting anything up to 4 days. This dries out the stickyness and allows perfect playback for a short period, usually up to a month, allowing the tape to be transferred to a digital format. Correct baking produces no adverse effects, however, the temperature and timing are critical and a dry environment essential - we're definitely NOT talking gas mark 3 here.

To bake tapes the studio now has a fan-assisted biotech incubator which controls the treatment temperature to within half a degree, and features an over-temp cut-out for 100% safety.

Rates: just £10 for a single reel, discounts available for large batches.

Please note that not all tape needs baking, and some very early types can actually be damaged by the binder 'drying out' completely, so it is essential that the problem is correctly identified - please call for advice.

Cedar click, crackle and hiss removal

Tape restoration oven - cake anyone?

MULTITRACK TRANSFERS TO WAV FILES

In addition to the analogue tape baking and mastering service for stereo masters, transfers can be made from any of the analogue tape formats in the studio collection to WAV or AIF files for export to ProTools, Logic, Cubase or virtually any other DAW. Transfers are made via the superb iZ ADA converters, in 24 bit resolution and sample rates up tp 96kHz. Currently supported formats include:

1/4 inch stereo
1/2 inch stereo, 1/2 inch 8 track 1/2 inch 16 track
1 inch 8 track, 1 inch 24 track
2 inch 16 track, 2 inch 24 track

Similarly, transfers can be made between any of the digital formats including:

DAT, F1 (Betamax), ADAT (SVHS), Alesis HD24

New formats are being added all the time, so please email for a quote or advice.