Welcome to Ian Samson Sound Studio

Specialist Attention, Professional Results

Ian Samson Sound Studio is a hobby and not a registered business. Everything I do is strictly non-profit and is provided as a service to people who possess vinyl recordings but cannot play them except on digital equipment. I also digitize photographic slides, negatives and photographs CD, VCD or DVD. I do not transfer VHS or 8mm Cine filme to DVD.

2010 Prices

TABLE OF COSTS
33 RPMR70.00 per side
45 RPMR20.00 per side
78 RPMR30.00 per side
C60R100.00 per tape
C90R100.00 per tape
ReelsR250.00 per tape
Add the cost of CD, CD Covers,
Track Lists and Labels		R30.00 per CD

Unless otherwise arranged and stated, the following financial conditions apply: The Studio prefers cash or internet transfers for payment, but not cash deposits into the bank account due to "cash handling fees". Cheques are not usually accepted due to the restrictions on cheque clearance imposed by banks.

Should you consider these prices high, please feel free to search the internet for others' prices, services, talent, ability, attention to detail, accuracy, audio quality, and the like. The above price increase is the first increase in 5 years and justly deserved, especially in light of the electricity price increase of 31.3% in July 2009 and looming 35% increase in 2010!

LP to CD restoration costs R70.00 per side per LP for the recording, splitting into tracks, filtering, editing, audio modification, hiss reduction, etc., plus R30.00 for the CD, totalling R170.00 per CD. If you have a double album and both LPs fit 1 CD the cost is R310.00, otherwise the cost is R620.00 for 2 CDs. This Studio does not offer any form of "bulk discount". All work is performed by the owner, and for bona fide owners of the original source material. I will not accept orders from 3rd parties under any circumstances due to possible infringements of local and international Copyright Acts.

Using professional recording, filtering and editing software, The Studio transfers 33rpm LPs, 45rpm Seven Singles, old 78s, audio cassette tapes (C60) and reel-to-reel audio tapes to CD. C90 tapes takes 2 CDs or can be converted to MP3 for dedicated MP3 players and computer CD ROM drives up to 52x maximum speed. Please note that C90 tapes do NOT fit on one 80 minute CD in normal .CDA format.

Customers' records are thoroughly cleaned to ensure noise and crackle reduction. The turntable stylus is replaced frequently, whenever they are locally available. Only one recording is made from the original source material and no copies are retained on computer systems or other CDs, except at the client's request for possible re-arrangement or further copies at a later date.

There is no remedy for stylus jumps on shellac, vinyl, or warped tape, and clicks from badly scratched records cannot be entirely removed.

The professional software I use performs noise, hiss, crackle, rumble reduction, and can enhance the resulting sound, especially for use with 5.1 Sound Cards in PCs or home theatre CD/DVD equipment. Only when I am completely satisfied with the quality of the result do I transfer the recordings to CD. The surface quality of the original source material greatly influences the quality of the material transferred to CD. However, from reports from former SABC broadcasters (among others) they cannot hear any clicks on the resulting CD, originally recorded to a 1937 78rpm recording of pipe organ music at Liverpool Cathedral; Harry Goss-Custard playing Jeremiah Clark's Trumpet Voluntary! If you need a reference, The Studio has clients who are prepared to give their opinion of our work telephonically, as well I am sure in writing via e-mail.

To produce full-colour Jewel Case inserts, The Studio scans the original record cover (if available) and types out the full track list, with individual track duration. The Studio prints a colour CD label. Where no cover exists, as in the case of many old 78s, The Studio chooses an appropriate graphic for the Jewel Case front cover. The Studio uses Verbatim Audio CDs, when available, and running speed up to 52x. These are 78 minutes in length and can be played on any CD player.

The cost for the transfer of reel-to-reel audio tapes is determined by the value the customer places on the recording, with a minimum charge of R200.00 per hour, due to my old SONY equipment that requires serious servicing.

Should you wish to supply a compilation list together with your LPs, The Studio welcomes these. Put all your favourite music together on one CD. This could be as many as 28 tracks; or even more in MP3 format. to transfer to your iPOD!

The Studio also converts audio sources to MP3 to be played either on your computer's CD drive or a dedicated MP3 player (such as a DVD device, or iPOD) with a maximum speed of 52x. This way you can get up to 10 hours of music on one CD. MP3 Stereo is very heavy on electronic resources but the stereo reproduction quality can be astounding!

Applicable Conditions are that the original LPs/Seven Singles/78 disks/audio cassette tapes/reel-to-reel audio tapes remain the property of the owner requesting the CD backup. The sound source may not under any circumstances be given away or sold and no copies of the resulting CD may be made on any CD-duplicating equipment as this is an infringement of international Copyright Acts. To remain legal and ethical, The Studio does not make copies of CDs from professionally-recorded & bought CDs, nor does The Studio keep copies of recordings on its computer system. The Studio does not take selections from various sources to create backing tracks.

The Right of Refusal is reserved, without prejudice.
While The Studio accepts most genres, there are some that we simply will not work on. This is a personal preference and, while we respect customers' listening choices, we reserve the right to refuse to transfer music that offends us.

For further information, please contact:

Ian Samson Sound Studio
Telephone: 011 431 0820
Facsimile: 086 657 0805 (no area code required)
Cellphone: 076 784 4112
Location: 7 Camelot, 21 Lords Avenue, corner Louise Street, Windsor West, 4 streets north of Cresta Shopping Centre, on the Beyers Naudé Drive side. Find us on Google Earth at "21 Lords Ave, Randburg 2194, South Africa". From outer space you are landed on our building. Amazing technology! However, Louise Ave on the graphic is actually Louise Street, and Camelot is located on the North East corner. The current imagery date of October 24, 2007 is really accurate too!

For VHS to DVD, please contact Linda on 082 416 8616 and advise her that you found her number on my website. She charges approximately R150 per video hour. Please phone her for location and directions.


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