The original master recording for the flexi-discs that accompanied the book Music by computers – Beauchamp & Von Foerster (1969).

Welcome back to the blog!

Since my last entry, the project has advanced considerably…

Last week we had a meeting in the EMS which included the current and former Directors of the EMS (Scott Wyatt and Eli Fieldsteel respectively), Josh Harris (UIUC Preservation Unit), and Scott Schwartz (Sousa Archives and Center for American Music). The meeting was extremely positive and we got a lot accomplished. Among those accomplishments were:

• Scott Schwartz acknowledged that the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music would take much of the materials and add it to their collection. The Sousa already hosts many items from the EMS. Furthermore, by including these items into the Sousa Collection the EMS materials are guaranteed to have a long term preservation plan as well as a disaster plan.

• In talking with Scott Schwartz, we came to an understanding as to the data that should be collected from the materials during the cataloging process. At the moment (with the analog recordings), I am collecting all of the data on the tape cases. I am also doing an item-level evaluation of the physical tapes themselves and detailing condition concerns.

• I talked to Scott Wyatt about the provenance of the recordings and what their original purpose was. Scott confirmed that some of those recordings were indeed “master recordings.”

Sine my last entry, I created a cloud-based survey form that I can easily enter information about the tapes into (and then export that data as an Excel file). This has made collecting data much easier.

I initially made the rookie mistake of trying to both catalog data nd examine publishing information at the same time. I soon realized that it would make a lot more sense to just catalog all the materials and then go back through the data and detail information about the provenance and uniqueness of the materials. This will also be easier with the assistance of the Sousa Archives. That said, I am collecting the data regarding if a tape is a “master” or “copy” of the recording. Any recording masters will, of course, have a high priority for preservation and digitization.

There is, of course, also issues of potential copyright issue regarding the materials in this collection. Scott talked about this quite a bit. Those issues will have to be sorted out in the following rounds of this project. That said, there are certainly master recordings that originated both on and off campus by well-known composers in the EMS’ collection. That in of itself is tremendously exciting.

This page is intended to provide updates and ongoing information regarding my current project of cataloging and digitizing the analog materials within the University of Illinois’ Electronic Music Studio (EMS). This “blog” will be updated weekly.

The goal of this project is:

(1) Catalog the items in the University of Illinois EMS (mostly analog recordings).

(2) Begin the digitization process of selected items.

(3) Find long-term, on campus storage of the analog and digital materials.

(4) Recognize unique materials in the collection.

(5) Document and share the rich history of the EMS

Getting Started:

After several months of planning, the EMS Cataloging project has begun and I have been able to spend a little time with the materials..

Some first impressions:

The EMS collection is a mix of cataloged and uncatalogued recorded materials and some ephemera. A physical catalog, of sorts, was created by the esteemed Scott Wyatt to document some of the sound recordings.

With the help of Scott and Dr. Fieldsteel, I have located a wooden box with a index card catalog with information on some (but not all) magnetic recordings. I also located two folders that appear to have some information about some of the recordings. Such information includes tape title, speed, catalog number, track information, length of recording, and occasionally some information regarding originating studio, master or copy, etc. Many items are not cataloged.

The types of media include:

• Analog magnetic recording tape (mostly ¼” but some ½”).
• LPs, EPs, Flexi grooved media (i.e. records)
• Compact discs
• At least one CD-ROM
• Paper materials including books and ephemera.

Where to start:

This is a big (and tremendously exciting) project.

Here’s the top priorities so far:

• I need to understand what recordings are unique to this collection. Unique and master recordings are the top priority for preservation.
• The existing physical catalog needs to be digitized. By having a digital catalog of the holdings we can be begin to understand what is unique to the collection. We can also build on that database when other items start to get cataloged. That said, the original index-card catalog is an interesting object in of itself and should be preserved in the UIUC archives.
• In considering how to create a database of items (i.e. a digital catalog), important considerations must be planned out ahead of time. For example, a digital catalog can be created using Excel (or a similar cloud based application). I could also create a catalog using something like Access or SQL. The advantage of using something simple like Excel is that others can easily use it and add to it. Unfortunately, such a “flat” database (like Excel) does present some problems when considering that one tape can have multiple authors, songs, recording locations, etc. Such dynamic information is better suited for a more robust database. These considerations must be addressed ASAP.
• A damage/risk assessment must also be done for the materials.

Regarding the recorded content, here’s the metadata (i.e. information about the EMS content) that I’m anticipating putting in a catalog:

• Author(s)
• Catalog Number
• Number of tracks
• Title of tracks
• Time/length of tracks
• Information about recording location (or studio)
• If the item is commercially available or is available in the University of Illinois Library Catalog
• Any hand-written notes on the case
• Speed of playback
• Provenance (master copy, copy, etc.)
• Year of recording(s)
• Tape size (1/4”, ½” etc.)
• UIUC Significance (I’m not sure about this category but it might be nice to be able to search for faculty and students)
• Format of recording (once we move beyond Scott Wyatt’s original catalog, we’re going to have to specify for the mediums of LPs, DATs, CDs. CD-ROMs, tape, etc.).

Immediate To-Do

Much more meetings need to be had all around campus. There are resources that will need to be utilized around campus including: The University of Illinois Archives, the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Music Library, the Preservation lab, and maybe the Grainger Engineering Library.

Next week:

I will begin to create a digital catalog of the materials and I will also decide on a temporary digital catalog format.

Meet with Dr. Fieldsteel and discuss potential University of Illinois repositories for various items. Also evaluate the uniqueness of items in the EMS.