Media Transfers and Audio Restoration

Because of all the formats that Fast Trax offers, we are the place to call when you need one type of media transferred to another type. We can also provide audio restoration using digital tools to help clean up old noisy recordings.

Some of the formats we support are:

Analog

• 2 inch 24 track reel to reel (15ips and 30ips)
• 1/4 half track (15ips and 7 /12 ips)
• 1/4 quarter track (15 ips and 7 1/2 ips)
• cassette
• LP and 45 rpm vinyl records

Digital

• Stereo DAT (44.1 and 48 KHz)
• Alesis RDAT (type I and type II)
• all types of wave, asf, etc in numerous bit word lengths
• Audio CDs

Video

• VHS tape
• mini DVD tape
• 8mm tape
• Hi 8 tape
• DVD disks
• CD Video disks

We can get you a high quality transfer of one type to another. A popular transfer today is having VHS tapes put onto a DVD which of course we can do. We can also put cassettes onto a CD for which is especially good for archiving valuable old cassette tapes. Your original 24 track 2 inch tapes can be turned into 24 bit wave files for new work on a digital audio workstation. We can also "clean up" old recordings with the latest digital tools to help restore older, noiser recordings.

Audio Restoration

We have the latest tools to help clean up old, noisy recordings. These tools can help reduce or eliminate things such as tape hiss, record scratches, pops, and clicks. We can even minimize background noise on voice tapes to make the voice easier to understand. These is a limit to what these restoration tools can do, so if you have an old recording and want to discuss it with us feel free to contact us about your particular recording.

The Sticky Tape Syndrome

Fast Trax can also help restore magnetic recording tapes, mostly from the late 1980's and early 1990's that have gotten sticky. The problem with these tapes are due to a change in the glue used to adhere the oxide particles to the polyester film. In the late 1980's, the Environmental Protection Agency force the tape manufacturers to use a differnt formula for the glue used in the manufacture of magnetic recording tape. Unfortunately, this new glue formula was not tested for longevity.

Several years later, this adhesive started to "un-set" and it would get sticky again, prohibiting it from playing on tape machines. This problem affects most of the tape formats manufactured during the 1980s and 1990s. Fast Trax has aquired a small device to help "re-set" the glue so the tape can be played and transferred to another format. This method will not permanently reset the glue, as the chemical formula of the glue is unstable and it will return to its "sticky" state once again. However, after treatment, Fast Trax can play and transfer the tapes to a newer, more stable media to protect your tapes.

These are just a few examples of the valuable transfer service Fast Trax can offer with its wide selection of supported formats. If you have any questions about a particular format you have and are wondering if we can put it on another format, you can contact us for details.