Archival Transfer and Restoration

I’m capable of transferring discs up to 16” in diameter with as much or as little restoration as desired. Generally speaking, due to my limited availability and existing workload, I’m most interested in working on rare and clean 1920s-era jazz discs. 

Fees are based on how interested I am in the material. 

• Rare and clean 20s jazz I’d generally work on for free or even in some circumstances may consider paying you, the owner. I have been in the habit of buying, transferring, and reselling high-end jazz records at a loss. Anything that limits my need to do that is of great interest. 
• Genres of less interest to me can be discussed. I charge a competitive hourly rate.

I offer two tiers of service:

• Flat archival transfer coupled with ‘quick’ restoration exclusively with automated CEDAR plugins. This is the same process I use for my own personal listening library. The final product sounds just like a typical reissue CD or even better but usually leaves in some bigger clicks or medium-frequency clicks that look a lot like musical transients and any noises not removable by automated processes. If I have a few minutes, I’ll take out the bigger clicks and more annoying defects, but the less intrusive ones are left in. You won’t find a better value anywhere. Having honed my skills in CEDAR for years, I can do an incredible amount of high-quality work in a very short time.
  • Deductive stylus selection
  • Manual centering of the record
  • Half-speed transfer
  • High-quality restoration including EQ, automated click and crackle removal, best mono mix, conservative noise reduction. 
• Complete restoration. All of the above plus exhaustive manual cleanup of the record in CEDAR Retouch. This can take anywhere from half an hour to several hours, especially with some earlier discs with less-than-perfect surfaces and acoustical recordings where bass thumps and thick clicks need to be removed manually. Billed hourly.

Consignment

For collectors looking to downsize, I have the ability to take on small-to-medium quantities of higher-end, higher-value records and sell on consignment at extremely competitive rates. For extremely high-end records I’d even consider selling for free in exchange for transferring the record. I’ve been an ebay member for over 20 years with nearly 2,000 positive feedback. I also have been a VJM reader for some time and have sold there before. Partnering with me ensures both that your collection is preserved for future generations as well sold at an honest market rate!

Reissue Projects

I am always seeking interesting reissue projects, especially of worthy classic jazz material. Don’t hesitate to get in touch