FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
November 20, 2009
IMLS Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Jeannine Mjoseth, jmjoseth@imls.gov
Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov
IMLS Funds Research on 3D Scanner
Technology to
Save Endangered Recordings
Washington, DC—The Department of Energy’s
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will advance technology
that can recover and digitally re-master rare early sound recordings made on
wax cylinders – including experimental recordings created in the 1880’s by
Alexander Graham Bell -- even when the original cylinder is cracked or broken.
The research project, which includes development of a mobile 2D scanning device,
builds on previous successes of
the "3D/PRISM" or
"IRENE-3D" project, which significantly impacted research and
practice in the area of early audio recordings preservation.
The current IRENE projects are funded in
part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
under the National Leadership Grant program. Other project
partners include the Library of Congress, The Phoebe Hearst
Museum of Anthropology, The University of Chicago’s South
Asia Library, The Berlin Phonogramm Archive, The Smithsonian
Institution’s National Museum of American History, the
Edison National Historic Site, and the University of Applied
Science, Fribourg, Switzerland.
In the project’s first stage (2005-2006, funded by the National
Endowment for the Humanities), Berkeley Lab created IRENE-2D (Image, Reconstruct,
Erase Noise, Etc.), technology that gathered digital sound from grooved discs (flat
recordings such as traditional 78 rpm shellac disc records) by illuminating the
record surface with a narrow beam of light. The flat bottoms of the groove -- and
the spaces between tracks -- appeared white, while the sloped sides of the groove,
scratches, and dirt appeared black. The computer turned this information into a
digital sound file and corrected areas where scratches, breaks or wear made the
groove wider or narrower than normal. IRENE then “played” the file with a virtual
needle without damaging or destroying the original media. The technology was
adapted from methods used to build radiation detectors for high-energy physics
experiments.
In stage two (2008-2009, funded by IMLS), Berkeley Lab developed
a 3D imaging sound player to read foil, wax, plastic cylinders (which preceded the
development of flat records), plastic dictation belts, and discs. The 3D technology
read the cylinders since the sound was held in vertical movements of the groove.
The 3D device was based upon a type of confocal microscope. White light directed
at the surface of a cylinder or disc passed through a special lens, creating a
spectrum. Each color of the spectrum came into focus at a different depth so the
color of the reflected light revealed the height of the scanned point. A computer
assembled these points into profiles for each groove and translated the data
into a sound file. The 3D scan extracted information based on 20-30 points –
compared to IRENE-2D's 2-4 points – offering the possibility of higher quality
sound files. Tinfoil and wax cylinders were developed in the late 1870s and 1880s,
and cylinders remained in use until 1929, when commercial production for these
music recordings ceased. However, cylinder technology continued to be used for
dictation recordings for office use into the early 1950s.
The new three-year research project will address large scale
digitization of collections through the design and evaluation of a software control
and analysis framework. For collections that are remote or not transportable, a
mobile 2D scanning device will be built and evaluated in a remote application.
Collaborating with the University of Chicago South Asia Library, a system will be
operated in India where significant early 20th century recorded sound collections
exist. In addition, measurement studies will be made on copper “galvano”
cylinder molds from the Berlin Phonogramm Archive, and a collection of rare and unusual
experimental recordings created by Alexander Graham Bell in the early 1880’s from the
collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Software tools and measurement strategies for
the virtual reassembly of broken cylinders and discs will be evaluated. The latter will
include a measurement of the (broken) Dickson Cylinder, Thomas Edison’s 1893 attempt to
synchronize film and audio. The range of special studies has been chosen both to address
key aspects of the technology development and to gauge the potential benefit to these
and other important special collections. Other project activities include archival
workflow, field operation, special materials studies, and further technical development
to be carried out through a series of national and international collaborations.
Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy
national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It
conducts unclassified scientific research for DOE’s Office
of Science and is managed by the University of California.
Visit their Web site at www.lbl.gov
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