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.