Standard Cassettes
- To CD, .mp3 or .wav files
- Quality optimized primarily via equalizing, de-noising and de-hiss
- Easy upload to media players
- Ask if eligible for label transcription and track splitting
Mini/Micro Audio
- To CD, .mp3 or .wav files
- Quality optimized primarily via equalizing, de-noising and de-hiss
- Easy upload to media players
- Includes most dictation tapes, voicemail tapes, etc.
Vinyl Records
- To CD, .mp3 or .wav files
- Includes 78, 45 & 33’s
- Quality optimized primarily via equalizing and de-crackle
- Track splitting included for music recordings
Reel-to-Reel Audio
$35.99
starting, per reel
- To CD, .mp3 or .wav files
- Price based on size of your audio reel
- Quality optimized primarily via equalizing and de-noising
- Track splitting included for music recordings
A $40 service fee applies to all orders. This service fee provides for safe handling procedures including: intake, item coding, physical & digital storage, quality checks by senior technicians and packaging. GET FREE ESTIMATE Extras & Details
- With track label transcription: add $10 per tape
- Mini/Micro/DAT: $35.99/tape
- CD transfer: $20.99/CD for first 10, $15.99/CD for 11-40, $10.99/CD for 50+
- Private website upload free for 6 months
- Extra DVDs and CDs: $5 Standard, $10 Archival
- Extra USB: ask your consultant
- Volume pricing: Ask your consultant
- Add .wav files to your order: $40
One stop shopping for all your digitizing needs: other popular services
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Top 10 Reasons Why Families Choose Us
- Convenience: Home pickups, over 40 local stores, and easy shipping kits
- Trust: 30+ years experience, 60+ expert technicians
- Organization: We transcribe your written labels into CD covers or USB file names and can split music tracks based on the original recordings
- Respect: We don’t rush you. No upfront online payments.
- Time Efficient: We handle all types of audio transfers with fast turnaround times and can assist with Photo and Video digitizing as well.
- Affordable: We charge only what’s necessary to deliver great service. We don’t inflate pricing to offer big “discounts” riddled with hidden fees. We don’t charge for a 10-cassette box if you only have 6 cassettes.
- Fair: We don’t reject challenging, broken, or moldy items.
- Quality: We use the best equipment and don’t cut corners. For all the technical, nitty gritty details, click the following links:
Audio Cassette FAQ, Reel-to-Reel Audio FAQ, Vinyl FAQ - Security: Alarmed, sprinklered, camera-monitored lab during transfer. 180-days of free backup cloud storage afterward (in addition to your USB or DVD).
- Service: A human being to guide you on the difficult decisions at the start. Advanced barcode tracking and email technology to keep you updated along the way.
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866-363-3351
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHAT TYPES OF AUDIO RECORDINGS DO YOU DIGITIZE?
We routinely work with a wide variety of analog audio formats including cassette tapes, phonograph records, and reel to reel tapes. We also work with microcassette dictation tapes, DAT tapes, and much more. Further antiquated formats of audio recordings such as phonautograms and cylinder recordings exist, but they are far less common in most collections and we are currently unable to digitize these. We do not currently work with half inch, one inch, or two inch width audio tape formats. We have also recently discontinued in house processing of 8-track tapes.
HOW DO I TELL WHAT KIND OF AUDIO FORMATS I HAVE?
Most analog audio media is labeled to indicate its format. Unlabeled audio reels can be identified by the size of the audio tape. For more information, check out our blog post on the ultimate guide to audio formats: https://everpresent.com/ultimate-guide-to-audio-formats/
HOW LONG WILL PHYSICAL AUDIO MEDIA LAST BEFORE IT STARTS TO BREAK DOWN?
Most analog formats gradually wear down each time they are played. For example, a vinyl record is played by running a fine needle along the tiny grooves on its surface This process slowly destroys the relatively soft vinyl material and the recording stored within. In most cases, physical wear manifests as a permanent loss of quality where certain characteristics of the original audio are no longer capturable on playback. Voices can become muffled or distorted, music can lose its “magic,” or the media can become so frail that it’s no longer playable whatsoever. The digital files we provide can theoretically be preserved indefinitely without any loss of quality. Digital audio files are also easily copied and shared all while requiring virtually no physical space to store. Additionally, these files provide a convenient way to edit and further enhance audio recordings which would otherwise be difficult or impossible with analog media.
HOW LONG IS MY TAPE/RECORD/AUDIO RECORDING?
Audio recordings are often labeled regarding their playtime. If your media is unlabeled, you can make an educated guess based on factors such as the length of tape stored within, the size of the record you’re playing, or other visual cues. A 7 inch reel is typically about 1.5 hours while a 3 inch reel is about half an hour. Most cassettes are 30-45 minutes per side, but can be longer or shorter depending on the cassette model and the length of tape inside. 12 inch 33rpm vinyl records are typically about 20 minutes per side.
HOW CAN I LISTEN TO MY AUDIO RECORDINGS ONCE THEY’VE BEEN DIGITIZED?
You can choose to receive your project as a CD or as digital files on a USB. Additionally, all projects will be made available to you on a private web server for 6 months on Box.com. Box.com is a private online storage service that gives you immediate access to your digitized project.
WHAT HAPPENS WITH MY ORIGINAL TAPES AT THE END OF THE PROJECT?
Your original audio recordings will be returned to you in the order and condition they arrived in. Unless the original media is unusually damaged, the digitizing process will not compromise the playback or quality of your analog recordings in any measurable way. The digitizing process places the equivalent amount of wear on your analog recordings as a single playback.
ARE ALL AUDIO RECORDINGS DIGITIZED THE SAME WAY?
The equipment we use to digitize is determined by the type of media we are digitizing. In terms of sound quality, all audio media is digitized at a sample rate of 44.1kHz. We provide all digitized audio files in MP3 file format. We can also provide digitized files in an uncompressed WAV file format for an additional fee.
HOW DO I GET MY MEDIA TO YOU FOR DIGITIZING?
Projects can be dropped off at our headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts or at any of our 40 locations across New England and the Tri State area. As analog media is fairly safe to ship, we also accept mail orders and have worked with clients across all 50 states. All media should be kept and shipped in its original case or packaging as available. Ideally you should tie or rubber band stacks of media together to minimize unnecessary shaking and movement within the packaging. Bubble wrap or packaging material can be helpful as well. For flat media such as vinyl records and audio reels, a sturdy sheet of cardboard or similar addition to the packaging will help fortify your media for shipping.
CAN I CHOOSE TO ONLY DIGITIZE SPECIFIC SECTIONS OF MY AUDIO RECORDINGS?
Most audio media is charged by the item and not by the length of audio recording. Blank and unopened audio material are charged at a discounted rate. As audio media is charged by the item and not the length of the recording, the audio media is typically digitized in its entirety. If there’s a particular section of audio you’d like digitized, we can edit your file if you’re able to provide us with an accurate timestamp of the section you would like isolated.
CAN YOU EDIT MY AUDIO FILES?
We provide basic sound quality enhancement of all digitized audio files. Digitized audio recordings can be further polished and edited with our specialized audio software for additional fees. This can significantly improve the playback quality of aging or damaged audio media on a case by case basis. Additionally, if we’ve found any of your recordings may benefit from extra enhancement, one of our technicians will reach out to your consultant with editing options for you to review.
MY AUDIO RECORDING NO LONGER PLAYS, CAN YOU FIX IT?
We offer in-house repair services and can work with most damaged media depending on severity of damage.
CAN YOU MAKE ANALOG/NON-DIGITAL COPIES OF MY AUDIO RECORDINGS?
We do not offer analog to analog transfer or duplication services at this time.
HOW SHOULD I STORE MY CASSETTE TAPES/ OTHER AUDIO MEDIA?
Storing your cassette tapes and audio media in an appropriate environment is the best way to ensure the longevity of your collection. Cassette tapes and other audio media are best stored in a cool, dry environment free of dust and moisture. It’s always best to keep media away from prolonged contact with direct sun and fluorescent light. Avoid subjecting your media to frequent or rapid fluctuations in temperature. Keep in mind that regardless of storage conditions, excessive playback will still lead to gradual deterioration of your media.
The Technical Fine Print
There are certain folks who like to read the fine print before they make an important decision. This section is for you. It’s not a light read, but will give you a look under the hood at how the audio conversion process works. Our philosophy has always been simple: only offer a service if we can do it better and/or cheaper than the alternatives. If you can’t look in the mirror and meet that standard with a straight face, then don’t offer it at all.
QUALITY FACTOR #1 – CLEANING AND PREPARATION
Because analog audio formats tend to deteriorate and lose quality over time, it’s common to listen back to an old recording and feel dismayed by unintelligible voices or unbearable recording noises. However, dust and other fine particles can also hinder the digitizing process by compromising your recording’s audio quality or by damaging the equipment used to capture audio. A dirty audio reel may cause voices to sound muffled, an audio cassette with a missing pressure pad can sound warbly, or a record with dust in its grooves will sound especially crackly.
For these reasons, we begin our digitizing process by performing a basic inspection and cleaning of most media types to improve capture quality. The first step is to examine the media to assess if there’s any damage that would prevent cleaning; some older media is so damaged that the very process of cleaning will damage it to the point where playback is no longer possible. If we determine that the media is safe to clean, we employ a variety of media-specific cleaning methods to aid in removal of mold, dust, and any other junk that may have found its way onto your recording. While it’s rarely possible to restore your media to its original, pristine condition, the inevitable improvement in quality always makes this a worthwhile endeavor.
QUALITY FACTOR #2 – RECORDING EQUIPMENT
We pride ourselves on our ability to pay special attention to media types that many of our competitors can’t be bothered to look twice at. Our audio technicians are enthusiastic about the history and development of audio recording and constantly utilize their knowledge to make sure our entire process is thorough and up to date.
In the early days of audio recording, not all manufacturers would adhere to the same standards. While all audio cassettes store their audio recordings on magnetic tape, that magnetic tape can be made in several different ways. Phonograph records are even trickier: did you know the term “vinyl” is often a misnomer as most records before the 1960s were made using materials much different than vinyl and are often not meant to be played with your average modern equipment? Due to these factors, we utilize an array of high-end cassette players, reel to reel decks, turntables with special cartridges, and more to suit each recording’s particular needs.
During capture, all audio recordings are routed through a high quality analog to digital audio interface where the information is then saved to our computers in a lossless format in real time for further processing. Once the files are digitized, we can apply enhancements using advanced digital tools to reduce issues like background noise or hiss inherent to most analog media.
QUALITY FACTOR #3 – MEDIA ORGANIZATION AND STORAGE
One of the best parts of having your audio media digitized is the immense amount of physical space you save. A 16 gigabyte USB drive – quite a small size by today’s standards – can store close to 120 hours of music in the high fidelity CD-quality format we provide. That’s about 80 cassette tapes worth of music!
If you choose to receive your files digitally, we neatly organize your audio files either alphabetically by title or chronologically by year at request. Each recording is further organized by side, meaning if your cassette, record, or tape has two or more sides with audio recordings as is typical, you’ll receive two or more separate files corresponding to that particular piece of media. We can also further label, and even add metadata to your audio recordings for additional fees. If your audio recording is music with easy to identify breaks between songs, track-splitting is included in the cost of digitizing.
QUALITY FACTOR #4 – CUSTOMER SERVICE
It’s easy to overlook the human element involved in the digitizing process, but when you’re entrusting your delicate memories with strangers, you should expect nothing less than a team of dedicated, passionate individuals who are determined to treat your media with at least as much care as you. This begins at EverPresent with an expert consultant who can help you identify your media while guiding you through all of your digitizing options. Once we receive your items, a trained technician reviews each piece of media to check if cleaning or repairs are recommended as well as to determine the best method of audio capture. Our audio technicians then check each recording upon digitizing for problems which may benefit from recapture or editing. Finally, your entire order is reviewed for quality by a senior technician before we send your precious recordings back to you in the same condition we received them.
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