AUDIO TRANSFER
Digitize Your Audiotape Collection, Done Right.
Professional digitization of every audio format (cassette, reel-to-reel, DAT, and more) capturing the full quality of your recordings and keeping them safe for years to come.
Who We Are
We are specialists in the digitization of analog and digital audiotape. We work with record companies, artists, archives, and individuals who hold recordings worth preserving.
Extensive Experience
For more than 30 years, we've worked with professional audio as part of media production, post-production, and distribution. We lived the entire analog-to-digital transition firsthand and have produced every kind of audio file along the way.
That gives us a depth of technical knowledge most services can't match: in handling fragile magnetic media correctly, and in capturing every detail of a recording at true archival quality.
Our Equipment
We maintain well-kept playback machines across a range of audio formats (open-reel decks, cassette decks, and DAT machines) so your tapes are played back securely and to the highest possible standard.
We transfer through high-resolution analog-to-digital converters, with the playback machine carefully aligned to each tape. Proper alignment and careful monitoring of the signal before and during transfer are what separate a faithful digitization from a careless one.
Formats We Transfer
ANALOG
Open reel (reel-to-reel) · Audio cassette
DIGITAL
DAT
Don't see your format? Call us. We have partners worldwide and can source almost any format we don't carry in-house. If we don't have it, we can find it.
Behind the Scenes: What Happens to Your Tapes
From the moment your tapes arrive to the day they ship back, here is exactly what each one goes through at Encanta.
1
Receiving, labeling & data entry
As soon as your tapes arrive, we give each one a unique identifier and log it in our database, so every tape is tracked from the moment it is in our hands.
2
Acclimation
Every tape rests for a 48-hour "sitting period" to adjust to the controlled conditions in our facility. Playing a tape before it has acclimated can damage it, so we never rush this step.
3
Physical & technical evaluation
We inspect each tape for shell damage, loose or broken tape, dust, and mold, and test-play a sample of the tapes that look sound to gauge overall quality. Any tape showing mold is quarantined and treated immediately. If a tape needs treatment or repair, we let you know.
4
Pre-transfer treatment & repair
If the evaluation shows a tape needs treatment before it can be played safely (baking for "sticky-shed," repair, re-shelling, or mold removal), that work is handled by our Revival service and quoted separately, and we always confirm with you first. Routine cleaning and careful re-winding are part of every transfer.
5
Machine inspection & cleaning
Before every transfer, we clean and check the playback machine, including the heads and tape path. A clean, properly working deck is essential to a faithful transfer.
6
Calibration
Before digitizing each tape, we use professional calibration equipment to set its audio to the correct reference level, so every bit of detail in the original recording is preserved. When a single tape holds several recordings made at different times or on different machines, each can need its own alignment, so we handle them separately rather than applying one setting across them all.
7
Digitization
We digitize each analog tape to a master-quality 24-bit / 96 kHz Broadcast WAV file, capturing the full audio signal. Born-digital formats such as DAT are transferred at their native bit depth and sample rate. Your master stays a true record of the original.
8
First quality control
We review every new file for technical quality. If we believe a different adjustment would give a better result, we digitize the tape again.
9
Listening copies (optional)
Your master files hold the full quality of the transfer, ideal for archiving and the highest-quality playback, but large to handle. If you'd rather listen and share your collection with ease, we can also create smaller, compressed copies. Many professional clients keep the masters alone; families and collections meant for sharing usually want both.
10
Second quality control & log
Once everything is digitized, we run a second technical and metadata check and log the running time of each tape.
11
Delivery media
We copy your digitized files onto the recommended media and verify the data for consistency. For long-term safety we follow the recognized 3-2-1 standard: three copies of your collection, on two different types of storage, with one kept in a separate location.
12
Files delivered, tapes returned
When the project is complete, we carefully package your tapes and delivery media and ship them back with a tracked service. We keep a backup for 30 days after completion, so you are covered until everything is safely in your hands.
Questions at any point? We are always a call or email away.
Delivery Formats
Master files
24-bit / 96 kHz Broadcast WAV (BWF) for analog transfers; born-digital formats such as DAT transferred at their native bit depth and sample rate.
Listening copies
Compressed MP3, optimized for easy listening and sharing
Broadcast WAV is our standard master format — uncompressed and archival-grade. From that high-quality master we can produce any other delivery format your project needs.
You Get the Master, Not a Compressed Copy
Many services, especially with family recordings, hand back a single compressed MP3 and never mention what that means: much of the original quality has been quietly thrown away, and it can't be brought back. We don't work that way.
No matter what is on the tape, every transfer is captured at full master quality as an uncompressed Broadcast WAV file (for analog tapes, a 24-bit / 96 kHz capture; for born-digital formats such as DAT, transferred at their native bit depth and sample rate), the professional standard for audio mastering and archiving, the format trusted by record labels, broadcasters, and the world's sound archives, and recommended by the Library of Congress. Not a compressed consumer copy, but the same master the industry keeps. If you'd also like something easy to listen to and share, we add a compressed copy. But the master is always yours, because it's the only version that lets you do more later: as restoration and remastering keep improving, they can elevate a true master, never a copy that has already lost its detail.
How We Document Your Work
You see everything we did, before you pay and after. And if we can't recover something, you don't pay for it, though it's still documented so nothing is a mystery.
The report before you pay
A full report of every recording and the honest total, sent before your final payment.
Proof your files are there
A scan of your delivery drive's complete file list, so you can see everything is accounted for.
Photographed & logged
Photos of your tapes and delivery, plus the running time logged for every item.
Your labels preserved
Key details in every file name, and crowded labels photographed into your report, so you can read them even after the tape is gone.
Beyond the Transfer
Once your collection is digitized, we can take it further.
Ready to digitize your audiotape collection?
Start with a free virtual consultation. We'll learn what you have, its condition, and your goals, then plan the best approach together and give you a cost estimate. No pressure.
Request a Free Collection Assessment
