Practical Visualaudio
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Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL Practical VisualAudio A long journey to tangible results. Practical aspects, challenges, ups and downs, room for improvements. JTS 2016, Singapore, 7-9 March 2016 Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Microscopic observation of the surface of a disc: • The shape of the groove visually represents the acoustic vibrations, which closely correspond to the electric signal, of the recorded sound. • There's plenty of information available, but it requires a very high resolution photography or scanning. Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 2 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • A schematic overview of the VisualAudio concept: • The disc is photographed (high resolution copy) • The film is scanned (image digitization) • The raw image is processed (groove reconstruction) • The final image is transduced to sound (sound extraction) Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 3 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Why the analog photographic step? • The photo is an accurate, high-res copy. • It is a quick and reliable way to freeze the degradation of the surface of a disc. • A certain depth of field is granted by well known photographic principles. • Film is a small, cheap, stable medium. Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 4 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Some additional benefits of analog photography: • The picture is shot without interfering with the surface of the disc. There is no need to manipulate the disc, except for placing it inside the photo camera. • Discs in virtually all conditions (even delaminated, broken, deformed, etc.) can be read and the sound restored. • Each and every disc format (size, speed, cutting, etc.) is read using the same equipment. • Image processing is very well established. It is relatively easy to make corrections to the physical incoherencies of the disc. • Film is a quite stable, small, and cheap carrier for storing sound information. We may consider it a long term storage format. Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 5 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Main parts: the 1st generation photo camera Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 6 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Main parts: the 1st generation photo camera… its current location Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 7 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Main parts: the 1st generation photo camera… how we got it there Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 8 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Main parts: the 3rd generation photo camera Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 9 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Main parts: the 1st generation turntable scanner Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 10 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Workflow and average timings: • Photography: 10' (disc positioning, picture shooting, film development) • Film scanning: 30' (film positioning, ring-by-ring scanning and merge) • Image processing and image-to-sound transduction: 2h 30' (groove alignment and reconstruction, image-to-sound transduction, de- emphasis) These processes are independent. They may be carried out by various people, in various locations, on a different schedule. The timing as for steps 2 and 3 is just a guidance, it relies very much on the shape of the disc. Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 11 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Audio(visual) samples: • How does a ring look like? • Linking the grooves • Lonesome blues (Sindey Bechet's Blue Note Quartet); BLUE NOTE 13; RS 709-A (HR6052) (constant amplitude vs. constant velocity, linear vs. de-emphasized) • O lacrima (Ernst Krenek), part I (96kHz 24bit, 21kHz and 48kHz LPF) • AES 78rpm test record, side B (turntable vs. VisualAudio) • Noise floor • Harmonics Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 12 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Room for improvement: • The current image sampling frequency is of 64 or 128ksamples/ring, while standard audio sampling frequencies are of 44.1, 48, or 96kHz. How do this different figures correlate? • On an image, the radial position of the groove can be estimated by detecting the edges of the groove (2 or 4). On a turntable it is determined mechanically by the pivot and the inertia of the arm, as well as the stylus tracking the groove. What is the impact on the audio quality? • Image processing extracts the position (i.e. the amplitude) of the groove, while a stylus gets the velocity. Is the derivative (i.e. the signal) the same for both methods? If so, can we apply the same de-emphasis, such as the RIAA or any other less known curves? Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 13 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Room for improvement (cont.): • Is it possible to get a better digital image by using a (semi-)automated imaging tool for improving sharpness and contrast and reducing noise? • Or, thinking outside the box, what about developing a tracing system instead of scanning, i.e. something like a laser beam the follows the groove on the image? • Is any of the other optical retrieval systems, such as IRENE or ELP, suitable for processing our analog pictures? Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 14 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • Room for improvement (cont.): • Is it possible to get a better digital image by using a (semi-)automated imaging tool for improving sharpness and contrast and reducing noise? • Or, thinking outside the box, what about developing a tracing system instead of scanning, i.e. something like a laser beam the follows the groove on the image? • Is any of the other optical retrieval systems, such as IRENE or ELP, suitable for processing our analog pictures? The concept of VisualAudio itself and all these questions lead to… Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 15 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • A broader view • The business of audio archiving can be summarized as: • To provide broad sonic access to our cultural heritage as it has been captured and preserved in sound. • To provide the faithful reproduction of the intended signal source – “Preserve history, not rewrite it”. • To collect and preserve recordings as a means to provide sonic access. • There is currently no existing global solution: • Investment in engineers, technologies, and research not proportional to the mission. • Millions of recordings with grossly insufficient staffing, inadequate tools. • Need for a strategic plan to assess and implement evolving technical advances to address mass transfer and global access. Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 16 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • A broader view (cont.) • Today’s self assessment, best practices model: • No enforceable mechanism for adherence. • No universal quality control or assurance. • Not supportive of a degree of education. • History of incorrect practices. • Possibly leading to forever corrupted files: • “Record everything” re-recordings co-mingle all signal and noise sources assuming that someone in the future will be better able to address issues. • But there’s neither evidence that co-mingled noises will ever be able to be separated, nor that anyone will ever have time to go back. • Pragmatism can lead to stagnation not innovation. Practical VisualAudio | A long journey to tangible results 17 Stefano S. Cavaglieri Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA Swiss Federal Office of Culture FOC Swiss National Library NL • A broader view – G•MARC • The mission statement of the G•MARC initiative, meaning Global Media Archive Research Consortium, is: To support research, develop applications, and design and produce standards-based systems and procedures specific to the needs of media archiving. • How does VisualAudio fit into G•MARC? Imaging is an objective means for transferring the physical representation of a sound recording (i.e. the groove) to another media while retaining full authenticity. Practical