audio archiving and restoration services

Analog & Digital Tape Transfer Service

Craig S.

Have had an unbelievable experience with CAW so. Bringing a dead project from 2003 roaring back to life in 2020! Amazing! Thank you Stewart!

Craig S.

Joe R.

Fast turnaround and superior work. Any of you musicians with archived analog tape want them converted to wav for mixing, “CAW” is the place to go. Highly Recommended! Terrific Job…

Joe R.

Jim S.

The Sony F1 digital transfers worked out superbly.  It has been 34 years since I have heard those songs and I was surprised at how good they were way back when.  What a great set of musicians I got to work with.   Thank you once again.

Jim S.

John Allen

“What a trip down memory lane!! Several of us had been trying for almost a decade to get this indie record from 1994 remixed and re-released. Stewart did an amazing job with the transfer and with a speedy turnaround time. Excellent communication and attention to shipping of the precious original masters. Everything sounds great and the project will live again because of Stewart’s mastery. Thank you!!! I will be sending much more work your way!!

John A.  FOH engineer

Mike Ladd

Stewart and CAW were personal, responsive, and the turnaround was fantastic. The resulting files were easily transferred to me and payment was quick and easy. Couldn’t recommend CAW more – and that’s great to be able to support our Massachusetts businesses.

Analog Reel-To-Reel, Cassette, and Digital Tape Transfer

 

Quality matters to us. Creative Audio Works offers superior audio tape transfer services of analog reel-to-reel, cassette tape, and digital tape using state-of-the-art equipment. Our machines go under thorough and frequent quality checks to ensure we are consistently delivering our customers, the highest quality tape transfers – without exception.

If you are not sure what type of audio media you have or its condition, you can visit our contact page and upload a photo or photos for us to better understand what you have.

 

We transfer all ¼” analog reel-to-reel tapes to High-resolution 24-bit/96kHz WAV files

This includes any of the following tape head formats:

¼” Mono
¼” Stereo   1 7/8ths -30 ips tape speeds
¼” Quarter track stereo (4 track)   1 7/8ths -30 ips tape speeds
¼” 4-track   1 7/8ths -15 ips tape speeds
¼” 8-track, 7.5 ips and 15 ips, Tascam and Fostex.
½” 8-track transfer

Tape Baking may be required if your recordings show signs of Sticky-Shed Syndrome. Creative Audio Works uses a Fisher Scientific Incubator for our tape baking needs.

Contact Creative Audio Works for more information regarding transfer and tape baking pricing.

If you are not sure what type of audio media you have or its condition, you can visit our contact page and upload a photo or photos for us to better understand what you have.

Common Tape Formats Supported By Creative Audio Works

 

We transfer all cassette formats to High-resolution 24-bit/96kHz WAV files

The following cassette tape formats are supported:

Mono Cassette                                            RCA Tape Cartridge
Stereo Cassette                                           4-track Cassette
Micro and mini dictation Cassette                8-track  Cassette
DAT Cassette                                               ADAT (Alesis)
Sony PCM F1 (501,601,701)*                      Nakamichi DMP-100*

Please call for pricing. 

*VHS and Betamax format Supported for F1 and Nakamich encoded tapes.

½” Eight Track Reel-To-Reel Transfer

Creative Audio Works audio tape transfer service can transfer ½” analog eight-track reel-to-reel tape with or without DBX noise reduction to hi-resolution digital audio files. We use a custom head arrangement crafted by John French of JRF Magnetics. In this setup, the erase and record heads are replaced with rollers to reduce drag and pitch fluctuations (wow and flutter). When your transfer is complete, you will receive eight .wav files recorded at 96khx/24bit resolution, ready to be loaded into your DAW of choice ready to be mixed.

Tape Baking may be required if your recordings show signs of Sticky-Shed Syndrome. Creative Audio Works uses a Fisher Scientific Incubator for our tape baking needs.

Contact Creative Audio Works for more information regarding transfer and tape baking pricing.

¼” Eight Track Reel-To-Reel and Eight Track Cassette Transfer

Our Fostex M80 has been modified to run at 7.5ips and 15ips and is accurate within 1db of tolerance.  Pretty impressive for ¼” eight-track. We can transfer 8-track reel-to-reel recordings made on R8,  A8, A8 LR, and M80 decks with Dolby noise reduction, running at 15ips, and Tascam 388 decks with DBX noise reduction.

Tape Baking may be required if your recordings show signs of Sticky-Shed Syndrome. Creative Audio Works uses a Fisher Scientific Incubator for our tape baking needs.

Contact Creative Audio Works for more information regarding transfer and tape baking pricing.

8-track Tape transfer Pricing ¼” and ½” formats

*There is a $75 minimum on all orders.   Contact us for more information regarding your transfer.

1-3   $75.00 ea.       4-6   $65.00 ea.      7-10   $55.00 ea.      11-15   $45.00 ea.      15 – Plus 37.50

 

This recording is the group Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, a live performance performed at the North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly MA., on September 18, 1987. Originally recorded on a Sony PCM 501 modified with Apogee ADDA converters.

Digital Audiotape transfer

Creative Audio Works can convert digital audio formats such as Digital Audio Tape (DAT), Alesis ADAT M20, Sony PCM F1, (501, 601, 710), and Nakamichi DMP-100 (compatible with Sony F1) recorded on VHS and Betamax, to digital audio files. DAT, ADAT, and Sony PCM F1 are now unused these days, but Creative Audio Works can transfer these formats to .wav files ready for you to remix your masterpieces. Depending on your preference, these can be supplied on a hard drive/thumb drive or posted to our server for download.

Digital Transfer Pricing* 

*There is a $75 minmium on all orders.  
Contact us for more information regarding your transfer.

DAT

D-30     $   37.50 ea.
D-45     $   55.00 ea.
D-60     $   75.00 ea.
D-90     $ 112.50 ea.
D-120   $ 150.00 ea.

Sony F1

Sony F1 transfers are billed based on the time required for each tape transfer. It’s typical to encounter frequent dropouts when dealing with F1-encoded tapes. To salvage and create a playable file from these tapes, Creative Audio Works often needs to make multiple passes, with tracking adjustments for each pass. Consequently, a 2-hour performance tape may necessitate approximately 3 hours for the transfer and editing process. The final cost cannot be determined until the transfer is completed.

Alesis ADAT

                                                         8-track              16 Track          24 Track
Transfer   1-10 Sessions            $   75.00 ea.       $ 100.00 ea.     $ 125.00 ea.
Transfer   11-20 sessions           $   70.00 ea.       $   95.00 ea.     $ 120.00 ea.
Transfer   21 and higher             $   65.00 ea.       $   90.00 ea.     $ 115.00 ea.

This recording was made in the 1980s on a Sony F1 PCM type recorder. Transferred by Creative Audio Works from the original BetaMax tape, there were multiple dropouts that needed attention in order to make the program listenable. By making multiple passes of the tape, which required adjusting the tracking for each pass, Creative Audio Works was able to reconstruct the recording into a playable file.

Tape Timing Chart (Nominal minutes)

Reel SizeTape ThicknessFootageSpeed – inches per second (ips)
1.875 i.p.s.3.75 i.p.s.7.5 i.p.s.15 i.p.s.30 i.p.s.
3″.5mil300′30157.5
1 mil225′22.511.255.6
1.5 min150′157.33.45
5″.5 mil1200′1286432168
1 mi900′964824126
1.5 mil600′64321684
7″.5 mil2400′25612864328
1 mil1800′19292482412
1.5 mil1200′1286432168
10.5″.5 mil4800′5122561286432
1 mil3600′384192964824
1.5 mil2500′2671136733.516.75
12.5″1.5 mil3750′4002001005025

Pitch Shift Calculator

When working with old media, it is often required to change the pitch of the audio to sound correct. This Pitch Shift Calculator converts speed and tone changes (revolutions per minute- RPM, inches per-second IPS, hertz-Hz) to semitones and cents in order to perform accurate pitch correction.

  Current Goal Cents Semitones
Speed (RPM):
Speed (IPS):
Hum (Hz):
Calibration Tone (Hz):
A440 (Hz):

Reel-to-reel and cassette repair

Reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, and microcassettes are often subject to physical damage. They can snap, pull out from the end of one spool hub, or become wrapped around a part of the player’s transport.

Creative Audio Works has the audio restoration tools to repair these issues and minimize any loss of original audio recording, including repairing broken, tangled, and poorly stored open reel tapes. We understand that every client has unique audio repair needs – why not reach out to discuss your project?

We can transfer reel-to-reel tapes recorded at the following speeds:

1 ⅞” or 1.875 inches per second (ips), (4.76 cm per second)
3 ¾” or 3.75 inches per second (ips), (9.525 cm per second)
7.5 inches per second (ips), (19.05 cm per second)
15 inches per second (ips), (38.1 cm per second)
30 inches per second (ips), (76.2 cm per second)

Reviews of our Audio Transfer work

Craig S.

Have had an unbelievable experience with CAW so. Bringing a dead project from 2003 roaring back to life in 2020! Amazing! Thank you Stewart!

Joe R.

Fast turnaround and superior work. Any of you musicians with archived analog tape want them converted to Broadcast modern waves for manipulation, “CAW” is the place to go. Highly Recommended! Terrific Job…

Michael Cusumano

I would highly recommend creative audio works to preserve your old reel recordings.  From shipping to communication to the flawless finished product, they were a pleasure to deal with.  Good price. Fast turnaround too!  I just got back a little of my youth.  Thank you!

John Allen, FOH Engineer

“What a trip down memory lane!! Several of us had been trying for almost a decade to get this indie record from 1994 remixed and re-released. Stewart did an amazing job with the transfer and with a speedy turnaround time. Excellent communication and attention to shipping of the precious original masters. Everything sounds great and the project will live again because of Stewart’s mastery. Thank you!!! I will be sending much more work your way!!

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