Archive Digitization Guidelines

Practical Notes Before You Start Scanning and Ripping

Most music archives are a mix of formats: printed magazines and fanzines, gig flyers, photographs and negatives, cassettes, vinyl, and early optical discs, including the CD-ROMs that carried so much late-nineties multimedia. Each needs a slightly different approach, but the same principle applies throughout. Capture once, at the highest sensible quality, then make smaller copies for everyday use.

Paper and photographs

For printed pages and flyers, scan at around 300 to 600 dpi. Use the higher end for small type or halftone photographs. Save the master files in a lossless format such as TIFF, and export JPEGs or PDFs for browsing. Negatives and slides benefit from a dedicated film scanner or a well-lit copy stand, because flatbed scanners often lose shadow detail. Handle originals with clean, dry hands, and avoid flattening brittle paper by force.

Audio

Rip CDs with software that checks for read errors, and store the results as FLAC or WAV rather than only as MP3. Cassettes and vinyl need a well-maintained player and a decent audio interface. Record without heavy noise reduction, because clicks and hiss can be cleaned later on a copy, while lost information cannot be recovered.

Old CD-ROMs

Make a full disc image (ISO or BIN/CUE) instead of copying individual files. Many multimedia discs relied on specific players or operating systems. An image lets you run them later in an emulator or virtual machine and keeps the original structure intact. Discs can degrade over time, so prioritise any that show scratches or discolouration.

Naming, metadata and storage

Decide on a file-naming pattern before you begin, such as date, publication, issue and page, and stick to it. Keep a simple spreadsheet recording the source, the date captured, the equipment used and any condition notes. Store at least two copies on separate drives, keep one in a different location, and check them periodically.

If you are researching the period these materials come from, our archive and features offer useful context on how digital-era music culture was documented.