World-class American Jazz and Rock pianist, organist, vocalist and writer Ben Sidran came to DNA with several vanloads of his multitrack master recordings on 2-inch, 24-track analog tapes. The tapes were degrading and needed to be digitized for safekeeping. These recordings spanned his career — a career that includes work with Van Morrison, Prince's New Power Generation, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton and countless others. Those tapes were going the way of the dodo, but that didn’t mean the music had to, too.
With Mark Whitcomb’s help, Sidran was able to transfer the recordings to high quality digital formats using DNA’s tape machine and Pro Tools HD. In order to play the tapes, they needed to be “baked,” which involves drying them out thoroughly in food dehydrators. Over time, the polymer used in magnetic tape deteriorates and absorbs moisture, causing a condition known as “sticky-shed syndrome.” Baking temporarily restores the tape so it can be safely copied to another format. Unfortunately, after about a month, baked tape will re-deteriorate. Once the transfers were done, Sidran took all the tape reels and threw them away.
The tape may be gone, but Sidran’s master recordings are preserved and sound fantastic. If you have old and valuable recordings of any type that you are interested preserving, we can help. Email us or give us a call at (608) 352-0322.