DiscographiesWhat are they, really?

And how can audio preservation make use of them?

William R. Vanden DriesIntro to Audio Preservation

Fall 2012

Are these Discographies?

Evolved out of early manufacturer products listings and business records.

First scholarly use in 1936 - Hot Discographie by Charles Delauney

Other terms suggested as alternatives, such as "audiography," to cover the broad field of formats.

Discography stuck because

Discs were dominant at the time

Widespread usage

Needed a term to cover sound recordings the way "bibliography" covered printed materials

Did, in fact, emulate bibliography in certain theoretical aspects (historical, analytical, descriptive, systematic)

Early Evolution

“the documentation of all types of reproduced sound preserved on all types of artifacts (e.g., commercial, non-commercial, disc, tape, piano rolls, wire recordings, movie sound tracks, air checks from radio and television-literally any type of recorded sound).”

~ Gordon Stevenson, 1972

"Real" Discographies

"there is no formal agreement about what the subject is."

~ Michael Gray, 1979

"Real" Discographies

"Real" Discographies

• Very high standards

• Highest-quality sourceso physical copies of

recordingso manufacturer ads, lists,

internal docso (can also use trusted

discogs if nothing else available)

• Abbreviations, codes, typographical styles

Trying to gain INSIGHT!

So much stuff, so little space!

What if we left some stuff out? They'll figure it out, right?

Benefits of digital:

Practically speaking, no space limitations

Entries can be rearranged, resorted very quickly (if stored at a very granular level)

Easy to update

Data can be easily transferred between systems

Drawbacks: Data longevity

Print discographies still popular - majority of ARSC Journals printed in the last decade contained a discography

Limitations of print - let's get digital!

Forbidden Eye Archives

bsnpubs.com

78discography.com

bsnpubs.com

Breakin' it down into databases

Relational

Document-

Oriented

<recording><performer>Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra</performer><title>Dinah</title><recording_date>1930-05-04</recording_date><matrix_number>404001-C</matrix_number><manufacturer>Okeh</manufacturer><issue_number>8800</issue_number>

</recording>

What the heck does this have to do with audio preservation?

Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR)

Database-driven, Web-based "Audio Preservation Registry"

Registry

Bibliography"AllMusic : Music Search, Recommendations, Videos and Reviews." Accessed November 6, 2012. http://www.allmusic.com/

"Both Sides Now Album Discographies Main Page." Accessed November 6, 2012. http://www.bsnpubs.com/discog.html

"Current and Back Issues List for the ARSC Journal (Association for Recorded Sound Collections)" 2007. Accessed November 9, 2012. http://www.arsc-audio.org/journal-backissues.html

"Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings Project History." 2009. Accessed November 9, 2012. http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/resources/detail/49

"Explore Releases on Discogs." Accessed November 6, 2012. http://www.discogs.com/

"Forbidden Eye Archives." 2006. Accessed November 8, 2012. http://forbiddeneye.com/labels/archives.html

Foreman, Lewis. Systematic discography. London: C. Bingley, 1974.

Gray, Michael H. "Discography: Its Prospects and Problems." Notes (1979): 578-592.

"National Jukebox LOC.gov - Library of Congress." 2011. Accessed November 6, 2012. http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/

Stevenson, Gordon. "Discography: scientific, analytical, historical and systematic." Library Trends 21.1 (1972): 101-135.

"The Online 78 rpm Discographical Project." 2009. Accessed November 8, 2012. http://www.78discography.com/