Heritage Archives of Tanzania: http://phonotheque.hypotheses.org/13257 Mise à jour août 2017

1. Alexandre Agergel, Radio France
alexandre.abergel@gmail.com
Véronique Ginouvès, MMSH
veronique.ginouves@univ-amu.fr
Archiving and
disseminating
sound archives – 1:
Processes and procedures
in digitizing sound materials

2. Who are we ?je ?
*
Alexandre Abergel
alexandre.abergel@gmail.com
Sound operator at Radio France
http://www.radiofrance.fr
http://www.ina.fr
Freelance audioengineer for post
production film editing and mixing
http://www.avh.asso.fr

4. Who are we ?suis-je ?
Véronique Ginouvès
veronique.ginouves@univ-amu.fr
- Engineer at CNRS (French National Center for Scientific
Research) at Aix-Marseille University, France
- Head of the sound archives at the MMSH : Maison
Méditerranéennes des Sciences de l’Homme –
- Director of a professional Master about sound and
audiovisual archives.
Scholarly blog : http://phonotheque.hypotheses.org
Twitter : @bagolina
Articles in open access : HAL
*

5. The Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de
l’Homme (MMSH) is a research center in the field of
Social Sciences and Humanities in Aix-en-
Provence, focused on Mediterranean studies.

6. THE MMSH SOUND ARCHIVES
Founded in 1979 by scholars in humanities
specialized in mediterranean studies :
- To preserve the source documenting their
research: the inquiry recorded on the field
- For a potential re use of the recordings for new
research.
A new responsability appeared since the ratification
by France of the Convention for the Safeguarding of
Intangible Cultural Heritage supported by UNESCO,
which involve the managment of the cultural heritage
of these archives.

7. La phonothèque de la MMSH
7500 hours (field records)
5000 hours digitized
4000 hours on line
600 hours from radio broadcast
2000 vinyls

8. Incentive practices
lead to new deposits
The MMSH sound
archives set up best
practices and rules to
receive new sound
archives. It created a
complete
methodological
package from the
collect to the
dissemination of the
sound archives.

9. The work of the MMSH
Phonothèque is similar to our
training program…
• Collecting – clarifying ethical and legal issues
• Preserving and digitizing
• Analyzing and indexing
• Disseminating

10. Our program
1. Processes and procedures in digitizing
sound materials
2. Managing sound data
3. Analysis and treatment of sound data
4. Collecting sound data for digital storage
and dissemination

11. 1. Process and procedures
in digitizing sound
1. Behind sound digitization : definitions and
objectives.
2. The sound digitization procedure in
conjunction with document treatment.
3. How to make technical decisions to begin
and carry out the digitization process.

12. 1. Process and
procedures
in digitizing sound
1.1. Behind sound digitization:
definitions and objectives.

13. What is a sound
archive ?
What is a
sound
archive ?

14. OBJECTIVE ELEMENTS
- A unique document: when it is not copied for
commercial purposes, it does not refer to any
standard or rules making ;
- Recorded on analog or digital media
- The main information that describe it are
provided by the individual(s) who have recorded
it: the packaging of the box when there is one,
the naming of the file attachments.

15. UNESCO : ABOUT SOUND AND
AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES
There is no expression, universally
recognizable, to describe the concept of
audiovisual archives, like the words "library"
or "museum ». It is a major handicap…
Audiovisual archives are organizations or
departments within organizations that are
dedicated to the collection, management,
conservation and communication of a
collection of audiovisual materials and
audiovisual heritage.

16. DEFINITIONS IN FRANCE :
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
The word « archives orales / sound archive » is
restricted to contemporary recordings, verbal
character, made ​​in the current and ordinary course of
business of a corporation or individual, or speech
broadcast interviews, speeches, conferences,
arguments, debates, films, documentaries…
=> primary source
The term « témoignage oral / oral testimony » is
used for oral documents preserved for a heritage or
historical usage
=> secondary sources

17. PRIMARY SOURCES VS SECONDARY SOURCES
A primary source is a document or physical
object which was written or created during the
time under study. These sources were present
during an experience or time period and offer an
inside view of a particular event.
A secondary source interprets and analyzes
primary sources. These sources are one or more
steps removed from the event

18. GIVING A NAME TO THE RECORDINGS
Source orale – Oral sources
Enquête orale enregistrée – Recorded inquiry
Archives sonores – Sound archives
Archives orales – Oral archives
Témoignage oral – Oral testimony
Histoire orale – Oral history
Son enregistré – Recorded sound
Enquête de terrain – Field recording
What else ?

19. THESE DEFINITIONS ARE LINKED
TO THE TECHNICS
1877, in April Charles Cros discovers the Paléophone but in
November, Thomas Alva Edison invents the Phonograph
1888, Emile Berliner produces the Gramophone
1934, BASF and AEG Telefunken produce plastic tape, the
« Magnetophone » (Tape recorder)
1950, Philips comercializes the first tape recorder for consumers
1964, Philips develops the Compact Cassette
1983, Compact Disc (CD) launch
1987 Digital Audio Tape (DAT) launch
1992, Minidisc (Sony) and DCC (Digital Compact Cassette,
Philips) launch
As of 2000 spread of digital recorders and direct-to-disc system.

20. PHONOGRAPH
Exemple : Exposition
universelle de 1900 - chant de
piroguiers (men on pirogues),
Madagascar :
http://archives.crem-
cnrs.fr/archives/items/CNRSM
H_I_1932_001_035_02

21. GRAMOPHONE

22. REEL TO REEL TAPE

23. IDENTIFYING AUDIO – MAGNETIC
Sound recordings on
analog magnetic tape
can be tape cassettes
or reels.
1/4 inch audio tape (reel-to-reel)
Used for professionals and amateur recordings
1/8 inch audiocassette
aka Compact Cassette or Standard Audio Cassette
Used for professionals and amateur recordings

24. IDENTIFYING DIGITAL MAGNETIC
Sony Digital Audiotape
(DAT)
Introduced in 1987
Most common digital
magnetic audio format
Similar in shape to
audiocassette, but thicker
Used for professionals and
amateur recordings
Likely polyester substrate

25. IDENTIFYING ANALOG DISCS – 1
Introduced in 1895
Used primarily for
professional, but amateur
and dictation recordings
exist.
The dominant form of
domestic audio in the 20th
century
Various coatings and
substrates.

26. IDENTIFYING ANALOG DISCS – 2
• 78rpms
Manufactured between mid 1890s and 1950s -
10” and 12” diameter sizes
Nitrate or acetate coated, metal or glass based
metal or glass based - Manufactured between
mid 1890s and 1950s - Used as instantaneous
recording discs - 16’’ diameter size
Vinyl based
Introduced in 1948 - 33 1/3rpms,
45rpms & 78rpms –
7”, 10” or 12” diameter

27. WEB SITES ABOUT HISTORY
OF THE SOUND RECORDING :
HTTP://WWW.RECORDING-HISTORY.ORG
HTTP://WWW.AES.ORG/AESHC/DOCS/RECOR
DING.TECHNOLOGY.HISTORY/NOTES.HTML
HTTP://WWW.AVPRESERVE.COM

28. The sound archives are deeply
linked to the humanities and
social sciences methodology
Who uses field
recording and
why ??

29. Field recording in sociology
1920-1930 : Chicago school published The
Polish Peasant in Europe and America (5 vol.),
by W. I. Thomas et F. Znianiecki
From this school a student Howard Becker :
http://www.canal-
u.tv/producteurs/canal_socio_universite_paul_verlaine_metz/dossier_programmes/trois_lecons_de_
sociologie/trois_lecons_de_sociologie_1_sur_le_travail_de_terrain
…Never ask “why ?”

30. Exemple : from the Rhodes-
Livingstone Institute to INESOR
Fondation: 1938 in North Rhodesia (Lusaka) by
Godfrey Wilson
After the independence of Zambia, it became the
Institute for Social Research (1966-1970), in 1971
the Institute for African Studies (University of
Zambia) and in 1996 (to date), INESOR, the Institute
for Social and Economic Research.
http://www.unza.zm/institutes/inesor/index.php?option=co
m_content&view=article&id=80&Itemid=126

31. ETHNOMUSICOLOGY: 2010 LAUNCH OF
TELEMETA

32. Ethnolinguistic
1911 et 1916 : first cylinder records of Ischi,
Yahi indian from Northern California by Alfred
L. Kroeber, T.T. Waterman and Edward Sapir
Listen an archive recorded in 1900 in Swahili (from the
Comoros islands): sang, spelled,
- http://archives.crem-
cnrs.fr/archives/items/CNRSMH_I_1900_001_301

33. ORAL ASSOCIATIONS IN AFRICA IN
LINK WITH THE IOHA
Oral History Association of South Africa: http://www.ohasa.org.za
Centre for Popular Memory (CPM), University of Cape Town:
www.popularmemory.org.za
The Sinomlando Centre for Oral History and Memory-Work, University
of Kwa-Zulu Natal: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/sorat/sinomlando
SA History On-Line: http://www.sahistory.org.za
International Society for Oral Literature in Africa (ISOLA):
http://isola.binghamton.edu
South African Archives: http://www.national.archives.gov.za

34. What‘s the use of
sound archives ?

35. What is the uses
of sound archives ?
• Producing a document as written, audiovisual iconography
• Collecting quickly and effectively information (prevents
error in note taking)
• Recording data that can be collected only in oral :
languages, practices, experiences, emotional, or symbolic
representations of the imaginary, sensitive issues on which
there is no printed archives, musical pieces that have never
been effect transcripts
• Giving voice to anonymous
• Completing sources including print sources

36. Among ethnologists recent
interest in "their" archives
• A generational turnover among
ethnologists;
• A strong will for archives, heritage and
memory;
• Evolution of the discipline and its research
objects;
• Closure of fields and globalization.
http://africanistes.revues.org/2542

37. ETHNOLOGIST’ FIELD MATERIALS

38. A growing interest of the population
recorded for "their" archives
Populations that have been recorded
in the field wish to get back these
documents that reflect their history
and their culture, sometimes to
restore their traditions that may have
been, or risk to be, forgotten.

39. The anxiety of researchers on the
consultation of "their" archives
When societies surveyed by the ethnologists have changed abruptly,
the researcher is in a position of informant of traditions which,
when they where collected, evolved over time.
But these archives are not those of the societies studied, they are
the product of a project, the result of a meeting with informants.
How will the materials be viewed and interpreted by the
communities for whom they were produced?
Rather than a heritage to be restored, they are seen by researchers
as objects of research, information to share.
http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc127.htm
http://ateliers.revues.org/2902

40. 1. PROCESS AND
PROCEDURES
IN DIGITIZING SOUND
1.2. The sound digitization procedure
in conjunction with document
treatment

41. DOCUMENT PROCESSING CHAIN FOR A SOUND
ARCHIVE : 3 LINKS – 3 GOVERNING PRINCIPLES
Input: collecting – preserving
Treatment: analyzing – digitazing
Released: consultation – dissemination
Legal and ethical issues
Preservation in the long term
Information watch

42. Université de l
CATALOGING TO MAKE ACCESSIBLE

43. VALUES NOT TO FORGET
EACH AND EVERY ONE IS VERY
IMPORTANT
 Ethics rules
 Collection integrity
 Contextualization
 Rights of present users as well as of future users
 Rational use of available tools
 Standards and catalogs (ISAD-G, EAD, RDF…)
Maybe you will dream about them 

44. 1. PROCESS AND PROCEDURES
IN DIGITIZING SOUND
1. 3. How to make
technical decisions to
begin and carry out the
digitization process ?

45. LOOK AROUND YOU !
- Is there a place dedicated to digitize ?
- Is this place appropriate ?
- Is all the equipment required to play the media
available ?
- How to store the medias ?
- Are there similar medias ?
- Among these media is it possible to categorize
them ?
We are going to talk about in the coming days…

46. Any questions ?

47. Photo Credits
Slide 1 and 8: Sound archives Marceau Gast, MMSH, photogr. Laure Principaud, janvier
2010.
Slide1: Digitizing sound, MMSH, photogr. Serge Mercier, 2012.
Slides1 and more : July 12, 1967 in northwest Burundi, Sekere, Emile Mworoha and
Jean-Pierre Chrétien.
Slide 5: MMSH, 2000, photogr. Pierre Monteil
Slide 15: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/publications/philof/philof3.htm
Slide 20: Wikipedia Norman Bruderhofer, www.cylinder.de
Slide 21: Wikipedia, Norman Bruderhofer — Collection of John Lampert-Hopkins and no
information for the « gramophophe valise »
Slide 22: pas d’information sur l’image (reel to reel tape) and Wikipedia, Pittigrilli, 2006
Slides 24 to 26: California audiovisual preservation project, 2006
http://calpreservation.org/projects/audiovisual-preservation/
Slide 39: documents from thee ethnologists of the french laboratory LESC
Slide 44: Boîtes de conserve, http://www.preparationmariage.com/spip.php?article11
Slides about archives ethnologists: many thanks to Marie-Dominique Mouton,
Bibliothèque Dampierre http://www.mae.u-paris10.fr/lesc/spip.php?article21
Slide 48:National archives UK, Hong Kong fisherman's two sons listen to an up-to-date
children's story on a very old transistor radio, 1969, No known copyright restrictions.