This is a five page document
(it started life as four pages but has benefited from a number of useful
suggestions, from those in the world of talking newspapers and visual
impairment who have made suggestions to improve the information given, all of
whom I thank). It addresses the issues 'in the studio', the subject of outside
recordings deserves its own write-up.
The paper is written not by a
professional, but by a worker for a talking newspaper and is directed at those who
need to understand what is meant by 'going digital'. It is particularly
addressed at committee members of talking newspapers who need to 'get to grips'
with what this is all about.
There may be aspects of the
subject that are not covered, although I don't think so. The paper is based on
the knowledge I have acquired over several years of attending Talking Newspaper
regional and national conferences, and of course exploring the digital world
with, and on behalf of the talking newspaper I am attached to. Written in
September 2007, no doubt before long new ideas and new equipment will supersede
some of what is said. When it seems appropriate to update it, then an update
will be written.
The first question is, "Why"?
Is it because
1)
you have heard
that cassette tape recorders will soon not be available?
2)
you feel that
everybody else is doing it so you must?
3)
you, or somebody
on your committee is a 'techie' and wants to?
4)
your committee
think you will get more listeners if you do?
5)
you and your
committee believe that you will be able to offer a better service with a
cleaner sound to your customers if you are able to produce your TN digitally?
6)
you and your
committee believe that you will be able to offer a better service with a
cleaner sound to your customers if you produce a choice of either a digital or
an analogue product for them to listen to?
The second question is,
"Can you afford it"?
The third question is,
"Have you get the technical expertise to carry it out"?
And finally, "Are you
sure and do you know what you are letting yourself in for"?
The final question is probably
the most simple to deal with, you would not be reading this if you knew the
answer to that.
The rest of this report
assumes NO KNOWLEDGE at all and as such is an insult to most, but an education
(at least in parts) to some. To answer the first question above, it is untrue.
So far as we can tell at the moment cassette players and fast copiers are still
being manufactured and will continue to be so. It must be accepted that if
nobody buys them, then manufacturers will stop production, so it is right to
consider alternatives. Just because one major retailer in the
Firstly, I shall try to answer the above questions
First question
1)
The police round
the world use cassette recorders because it is possible to keep stopping and
re-listening to a small segment where it is unclear what has been said - no digital
equipment, apart from a computer based recording, presently exists that will do
that. Such equipment may be available soon, but not yet and police would not
like to use computer based recordings, as they are too easy to interfere with.
The police have more buying power than TN's do, so do not fret, the reported
demise of the cassette tape is a little in advance of the reality - for now. A
manufacturer in the UK who supplies TN's has told me recently that they are still
filling orders for cassette tape recorders and fast copiers both to police
forces in the UK and several countries around the world.
2)
It is true that
lots of TN's are producing a digital product, mostly CD's but as pathfinders they
are learning the cost and environmental implications of doing so - read below.
3)
You do not
produce your TN to suit you; you produce to suit your listeners. If that is not
the case you are working for the wrong charity.
4)
Some people
cannot be bothered with cassette tape and so do not become your customers. It
would also be true that many people do not have the means of playing a digital
recording and if you make a total change, you will disenfranchise them and your
number of listeners could go down.
5)
Service to our
customers should always be in the forefront, but just going over to CD's will only
partly achieve that
6)
Read on - if you
accept what has been said so far, you are now looking at this from the correct
perspective.
Second question
Apart
from the cost of the equipment, going over to CD's has a cost implication each
and every week AND it has an enormous implication in environmental terms.
However going digital means more than just using CD's, read on.
Third Question
As
with all things going digital is simple, if you have somebody prepared to
become an expert and others prepared to learn form that person. I am aware of a
TN who invested in a significant amount of equipment in order to 'go digital'
only to have their individual enthusiast suffer a stroke and die. Nobody else
knew what he had bought or how to start to use it. Quite a challenge that!
Fourth Question
Read
on to find out the answer to this question, at least if you have got this far,
you are committed to finding out, now comes the hard bit!
Going digital
is more than just recording onto a computer and sending out CD's instead of
tapes. Once you have a digital signal in your computer you can send it out by a
number of means. You can
a)
use a system such
as the 'Digimaster' from Graff of Newark http://www.graffofnewark.co.uk/products_details.asp?productID=4,
or the 'EDAT' from AVCOM, http://www.avcom.co.uk/digital_master.htm,
to download from your computer onto cassette tapes, with the computer
controlling the fast copiers. To an extent which system you use will depend on
whose fast copiers you use. Recording onto a computer will improve the quality
of your recording. As an alternative, you could split your signal and continue
to record a cassette on a tape recorder whilst also recording digitally on a
computer. Once you have the signal digitally in your computer you can then use
it for any of the applications that are enumerated below. Graff also produce,
for attaching to either a PC or a lap-top, the 'Digitiser', others may make a
similar product, I don't know of them. With this you run your master tape through
at eight times normal speed and create a digital file in your computer. From
this, once again, you can reproduce your recording in a variety of digital ways,
but of course the quality of the recording will always be that of a tape
recording, not that of a digital recording..
b)
Record onto a
computer then burn a CD to use on one of a number of CD fast copiers to
re-record as many CD's as you need, typically taking three minutes per set.
Fast CD copiers come in 1:1, 1:3, 1:7, 1:10 and daisy chained formats from
there. They can be obtained from a number of suppliers several of whom
advertise in and sponsor TNNews and are cheaper per 'copy head' than fast tape
copiers. CD's can be 'tracked'. This can be helpful to listeners who otherwise,
if they don’t listen straight through, would always have to start again at the
beginning if you did not 'track' the items or the blocks of items. A
significant financial problem with CD's is that even when purchased in bulk they
cost about 11p each. They also need some sort of label which does not unbalance
them (so a Braille label is no good). Printing and carefully sticking on labels
for a weeks production of CD's, or printing directly onto prepared CD's, is
very time consuming. If you don't label them a terrible confusion could ensue
when you are handling several tens of CD's a week, let alone two or three
hundred. CD's can lead to a lot of expense. Re-useable ones are not like
cassette tapes, they keep a shadow of what went before so essentially new ones
are needed every time, at 11 or 12 pence each to send out, many treasurers will
go cold at this point.
c)
Download onto a memory-stick
(or thumb drive or pen-drive or a whole host of other names for a USB connected
memory device). A system for doing this, called the Newbridge system has been
developed by
d)
Place your output
onto the internet for your listeners to access when they want to. This is good
if you can do it AND you have the permission of your copyright holders. After
all they may not want their newspaper placed on the internet for the entire
world to listen to. If they do they may want some quality control to ensure
that it is a really professional recording that is produced. This could lead
you to having to password protect your internet output, not a hard job but one
more thing to do. For those of your listeners that have computer capability,
this is the best and most accessible way to 'go digital' so long as they have
broadband connections. You also need an Internet Service Provider who allows
you a considerable amount of space to allow for two or three weeks of news and
magazines etc. to be on the site at any one time. Internet streaming has also
been suggested, I know nothing about this so make no further comment, apart
from the fact that it was a blind member of RNIB staff who suggested it, so it
is likely to be a useful concept. Podcasting is also a possibility, if you know
how to do that, I don't - yet.
e)
Send by e-mail.
Not an option at present, even in MP3 format a 90 minute production will be
several dozen mgb's. This is more than most people can download, or you can upload.
You can use e-mail to send the hyperlink (connection) address of the internet
site to your customers, which would resolve any problems they might have
searching for it.
f)
What I am suggesting
is that once you have 'gone digital' i.e. made a digital recording, you can offer
your listeners any one of the above options. You will need to amend your
administrative procedures to cater for your listeners' needs and availability
of playback equipment in their possession.
g)
There is no 'g',
but what is just round the corner? We don't know, but something new will turn
up soon!
So what do you mean by,
'going digital'? Hopefully you mean you are planning to offer to your listeners
the best available service that will best suit their needs and equipment
availability. If you force a new system on them that they either cannot use or
cannot understand then they will stop using it and your time and effort will
have been wasted. That is not what we are here for. Many TN's have carried our
surveys of listener and found a 50% uptake in the first instance for CD's. They
report on TNtalk that this uptake goes up to 75% once they are underway. It is
rare that they share with others what they do with the other 25% which may be a
few or may be many. There is no reason why all should not be catered for, that
is up to TN's to adjust as necessary.
How about the recording? Any computer of or above Windows 98, with a
reasonable amount of memory available will be able to do this, PC or laptop.
You will need a programme, some use Goldwave, some use Adobe Audition, there
are others, a programme called Audacity is recommended by some TN's, I am told
this one is entirely free for ever. To get any of these just enter the programme
name into Google and options will be offered, you will be able to download a
sample of the programme to practice with. This gives you a chance to learn how
to use it; you will need to practice before you go live. With some programmes
you eventually run out of free practice sessions, then you have to purchase -
some are more expensive than others. Some of these programmes are easier to use
than others; some do more than others do. You need to ensure that everybody who
needs to, knows how to use the programme you have chosen and is prepared to
practice with it to understand the foibles before going live. Several sessions
are suggested otherwise a disaster might ensue, and your listeners will not get
the product they deserve. All of these programmes are easy, once understood
Once you have 'gone digital'
of course, you have new time frames to consider. CD's are 80 minutes, there are
some 90 minute CD's available but they apparently do not work in all CD
players. If you go to memory sticks, length is almost irrelevant. You would be
hard pressed to ever fill even the smallest ones up with a week's local news.
You may be able to put your magazine onto the same memory stick, together with
anything else you produce in your studios.
Be Wary of:
Production noise. Many TN's suffer from unwanted noises off already, sometimes even
caused by readers who should be better trained than that, but they still do it!
Digital recordings pick these noises up even more than analogue ones do. We
should aim for the most professional product we are capable of, not one with
coughs and splutters, scratching and rustlings etc, these belong elsewhere, not
on a recording system which will faithfully reproduce them.
Jumping in too quickly. The demise of the cassette tape is not just round
the corner. Attend regional and/or national conferences of TN's and ask
questions of other TN members and of the suppliers that exhibit at those
conferences. Learn all you can before you make the changes. All these
conferences have session on digitisation, apart from other subjects, they are
designed to help you decide.
The machines that record a CD and a cassette simultaneously. These are great for church services or events where
whatever happens your cannot stop proceedings and go back to re-record. They
are no good for TN's because, whilst you can stop the cassette to re-record, you
cannot stop the CD and delete anything, once the track is recorded it will stay
there. Also CD's are 80 minutes, which cassette does that match?
I hope that helps
Bob Finch
September 2007