Tape Digitisation:   

As cassette tapes age, so does the quality of the audio stored on them. Magnetic tape slowly breaks down over time, leading to loss of clarity, increased hiss, dropouts, and eventually the complete failure of the recording.  Factors like humidity and temperature all accelerate this deterioration. Over time, tapes that are stored incorrectly can develop mould growth, sticky shed syndrome and demagnetization of the tape, which ultimately lead to the tape being rendered unusable. 

Steps can be taken to slow down this process, and you can find a list of these steps on the "Tape Preservation" page on this website, however the best way to protect audio recordings stored on cassette is to transfer the content to another storage medium, this process is referred to as "Digitising".  Digitising a tape involves preparing the tape to be played (i.e, mould removal or warming of the tape) before playing it and feeding the output into an analogue to digital converter, and recording the output. This allows the content of the tape to be converted to an MP3 file, which stops the deterioration  process. 

VintageAudio26 offers a tape digitisation service which promises to archive your cassette tapes* and provide you with a high quality MP3 produced using regularly cleaned and serviced cassette decks.  This process prevents further deterioration to your recordings. 

*Results based on the condition of the provided cassette tape, all reasonable steps will be taken to prepare the tape before attempting digitisation.

Price List:

Singular Cassette: £6 (each)

3-15 Cassettes: £4 (each)

15+ Cassettes: £3 (each)

Each tape that requires mould removal will incur a further charge of £6 per tape. 

Each tape that requires drying will incur a further charge of £2 per tape.

*Digitisation is priced by tape rather than by tape duration. 

* Original tapes can be mailed back after digitisation for a further £5

To enquire about getting your tapes digitised, message me at VintageAudio26@outlook.com or contact me on Instagram/Facebook @VintageAudio26😊