{"id":84949,"date":"2020-02-22T15:09:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T21:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=84949"},"modified":"2020-02-27T17:16:09","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T23:16:09","slug":"audio-preservation-recovers-old-classics-in-the-heart-of-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/audio-preservation-recovers-old-classics-in-the-heart-of-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Audio preservation recovers old classics in the heart of Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Seb Peltekian<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

When Joe Tessone first opened the Mystery Street Recording Company in Lakeview in 2007, he envisioned a typical studio where bands would record music.<\/p>\n

But now, the nondescript building at 2827 N. Lincoln Ave. houses one of the nation\u2019s premiere facilities for audio preservation and restoration, a place recommended by the Library of Congress.<\/p>\n

Tessone, 35, an expert audio engineer, splits his time between the studio and teaching audio arts at Columbia College Chicago. He digitizes and preserves audio stored on various media, including phonographs, open reel tapes and analog cassettes, as well as other even more obscure formats, such as Betamax and DAT (digital audio tapes). <\/p>\n

Tessone’s clientele ranges from schools, radio stations, museums and businesses to individuals who bring in a cassette tape that they \u201cfound in a sock drawer\u201d and believe may have personal value. He says that one recent project stands out to him. A client brought in three wire reels, an obsolete audio storage technology where sounds are recorded to a thin steel wire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy that brought it in said, \u2018Yeah, I don\u2019t really know what these are but they belonged to my grandma and I just want to see what we have here,\u2019\u201d Tessone explained. \u201cIt turned out it was his great-grandmother\u2019s wedding, a recording of her whole wedding ceremony.” The recording dated back to 1948.<\/p>\n

Tessone\u2019s interest in archival audio goes back nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy initial love of it came from picking up a four-disc collection of Woody Guthrie recordings. I was probably like 16 years old,\u201d Tessone said, adding, \u201cThey just moved me.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his final semester at Columbia College Chicago, where he studied audio design and production, Tessone interned at the Old Town School of Folk Music. While there, he worked on developing a procedure to transfer audio from the school\u2019s extensive archives for preservation. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a lot of information about that yet. It was still a very fledgling thing,” Tessone said.<\/p>\n

Colby Maddox, 53, manages the archives at the Old Town School and was Tessone\u2019s supervisor there.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring [Tessone\u2019s] time, I was continually writing the protocols [to transfer audio] because they would change, so he was part of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This was done with preservation in mind, essentially creating a manual so that future engineers would be able to digitize audio from the school\u2019s archive of performances and radio broadcasts, some dating back to the mid-1950s. \u201cWe had to make protocols so that other people could do the work,\u201d Maddox said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t