A Philological Approach to Sound Preservation

Abstract

Audiovisual heritage comprises a large part of our cultural legacy. The development of a codified theoretical basis for the preservation of audiovisual materials became a concern only about three decades ago. Today, it is widely accepted that content migration, in particular analog-to-digital trans-coding, is the only viable solution to the long-term preservation of these materials. This chapter discusses the main challenges posed by the trans-coding of historical sound recordings, which can be summarized in the “disembodiment” of the information represented by the carrier. Special attention is given to the solutions that computer science offers in terms of methodological principles and software tools. Finally, the concept of digital philology is introduced, with practical examples of its implications on the preservation workflow.