In the process of audiovisual archive management, the digitisation represents the first phase of the value chain. Digitisation can be provided as (i) sole service or (ii) part of a global service & solution offer to the client. By digitisation we mean the transfer of an audiovisual document from an analogue to a digital carrier or the migration of a digital document from a non-perennial to a more perennial carrier. The digitisation phase is also used to analyse, clean and/or repair the audiovisual archive received.

Memnon has a complete range of equipment for reading a wide range of sound formats. The Company makes it its business to constantly acquire audio equipment of all kinds (current and obsolete replay equipment, sound processing systems, etc). It has an extensive experience of working with delicate and complex formats and has developed innovative new techniques to successfully digitise these recordings*. Mass digitisation can be used for other formats, such as collections of cassettes in good condition, and high quality magnetic tapes.

Memnon is equipped with sophisticated digitisation technology, maintained with the utmost care, and has a broad range of  software and hardware specially designed and adapted for professional work. It is equipped with the NOA programme to reinforce the quality control of the digitisation of archives. This system makes it possible to automatically control a large number of technical parameters during digitisation.

Memnon has today a digitisation capacity of over 200.000 hours per year for sound, considering “cassette-type” and tapes carriers. 

*Some formats have to be handled extremely accurately. 78 RPMs or directly written records (including radio recordings), for instance, must be individually examined under the microscope to determine the size and degradation of the groove. This narrows down the choice of needles to be tested before choosing which one will ensure the best quality of final transfer.