We Convert Reel-to-Reel Audio to Digital
Reel-to-reel audio tape
Listen to your reel-to-reel audio recordings again! Bring us your reel-to-reel audio tapes from through the years and we’ll convert them to digital MP3 files or transfer your reel-to-reel to playable CD.
Our high-resolution reel-to-reel tape to MP3 service ensures you’ll get the best possible capture of your original recordings in a lasting, easy listening format. We have extensive experience working with old reel-to-reel audio. Our top-of-the-line audio hardware, professional audio interface and state-of-the-art software maximize sound quality and enable us to create high-quality digital reproductions.
Once we convert your reel-to-reel audio to digital, we can improve the original sound quality and restore damaged or degraded audio. Our skilled audio editors can correct volume levels, improve clarity, fix speed issues, and remove hiss, and other unwanted background noise or sounds.
No matter which options you choose, after we transfer your reel-to-reel audio to digital, you can easily listen to, edit, upload and share your recordings on any device. Your reel-to-reel audio recordings will be ready to enjoy and share, preserved in a digital format for generations to come. Get started today–pick a location to drop off your media and book an appointment, or simply stop by a location that accepts walk-ins.
We Digitize Reel-to-Reel Tapes
High-resolution audio conversion
Select digital files, playable discs, or both formats
Unedited or edited options
At Memories to Digital, we are experts at getting the best possible results from old reel-to-reel audio recordings. The quality of old reel-to-reel is unpredictable–recording equipment had limitations and recordists had varying levels of experience. Some recordings sound fantastic, others are barely audible. With over 20 years of experience, we know how to adjust our capture process to maximize sound quality, and we offer a range of editing services to improve the audibility of your old reel-to-reel recordings.
Additional Information
What’s Included When We Transfer Reel-to-Reel Audio to Digital
- Meeting with you to discuss the details of your project. If you’ve mailed your material, we’ll call you for details.
- Transferring your audio recording using top-of-the-line audio conversion equipment and software. This process includes:
- Digitizing your audio at high-resolution beginning to end, unedited, as one long file per side or recording track.
- Maximizing fidelity to original sound quality and minimizing added interference.
- Converting your audio at a high sampling rate and bit depth.
- Removing silence at the beginning and end of the recording.
- Monitoring quality from start to finish to ensure the best possible capture of your original audio recording.
- Providing digital MP3 audio files
The MP3 files we create are high-quality, widely compatible, easy to store and uploadable. We do require a drive to deliver MP3 files. We sell drives or you can provide a drive. We will load any one drive for free. Loading is included when you purchase the drive from us.
Adding a playable CD to your project additionally includes:
- Combining up to 80 minutes of audio recordings per disc beginning to end, unedited.
- Each original recording side or track as a separate CD track.
- Customizing the disc with a text title of your choice.
- One original copy of your project on disc in a case.
Your original materials are returned to you with your finished project. All audio work is done by our professionally trained staff in our local lab.
Note: Drives sold separately. Digital quality is limited by the quality of your original audio recordings. Additional charges may apply for checking tapes or tracks for duplicate footage, verifying media is unrecorded (blank sides/tracks/discs), cleaning, handling or troubleshooting dirty, moldy, damaged or degraded media, disc buffing and tape repair ($90/hour, $29.95/repair or buffing minimum), etc. Records graded poor to good may require special handling to capture with a minimum additional charge of $15 per side. Playable CDs are limited to 80 minutes of recording per disc.Selecting playable CDs requires purchasing one disc per 80 minutes of audio files that fit together naturally within the 80 minute limit. Splitting files to fit recordings to CD is $2.95/file segment.
Preparing Your Reel-to-Reel Audio for Transfer
- Number your audio recordings if there is a specific order you’d like us to maintain.
- For files projects, decide on titles for each recording side or track. Custom naming your MP3 digital audio files with up to 10 word filenames is $1.95/file.
- For recordings with multiple songs, topics or dates, decide whether to add track separation so that you can easily play just what you want to hear or share select tracks with friends & family.
- If you are purchasing a playable CD, select a title. “Grandpa Smith Stories”, “Scherer Family Recordings” are a couple of examples.
- Decide on options to enhance your recordings. For example, you can request filtering to remove hiss, pops, clicks and other unwanted background noise or sounds, or editing to improve clarity, speed, volume or to delete or rearrange sections of the recording, etc.
- Think about how many copies you’ll need. We recommend purchasing an archive copy on disc or a drive that can be stored for safekeeping.
- Get started – pick a location to drop off your media and book an appointment, or simply stop by a location that accepts walk-ins.
Pricing to Digitize Reel-to-Reel Tapes
Audio Format | MP3 Files |
Reel-to-Reel Audio Tape | $59.95/hour/track, prorated $29.95 minimum per track |
Common Enhancements:
Recommend pre-purchasing at least 2 filter passes or 20 minutes of editing per side/track for microcassettes, reel-to-reel and records graded poor to good |
|
Volume discounts: 10% off over 20 sides/tracks, 15% off over 50 sides/tracks
Want playable CDs? Add $12.95/disc. Want WAVs? Add $4.95 per file/disc.
Minimum order: $29.95
Drives sold separately. Digital quality is limited by the quality of your original audio recordings. Additional charges may apply for checking tapes or tracks for duplicate footage, verifying media is unrecorded (blank sides/tracks), cleaning, handling or troubleshooting dirty, moldy, damaged or degraded media, disc buffing and tape repair ($90/hour, $29.95/repair minimum), etc. Records graded poor to good may require special handling to capture with a minimum additional charge of $15 per side. Playable CDs are limited to 80 minutes of recording per disc. Selecting playable CDs requires purchasing one disc per 80 minutes of audio files that fit together naturally within the 80 minute limit. Splitting files to fit recordings to CD is $2.95/file segment.
Listen to a Sample Audio Recording
A Sample audio track from one of our clients oral story projects
Listen to a Sample Audio
Additional Services
With our experience and your creativity, the sky’s the limit in creating the digital audio recording archive you envision. We can organize, edit or enhance your collection of old audio, and offer several options that make it easy to share and preserve your digital audio recordings.
PREVIEW
We offer a range of options to help you listen to your audio recordings before or after digitizing, so you can put your recordings in order, identify where to separate tracks, or give us instructions for editing:
- Preview onsite: Select locations offer an audio cassette player free for use in the lobby. We don’t provide reel-to-reel audio players or record turntables. We recommend looking on Craigslist or eBay for equipment, or visiting your local library to see if they have old audio players free for use.
- In-house preview: Once your recordings are digitized but before we finalize your project, select locations offer the option to listen to your audio in-store, in our editing software. Our software makes it easy to review your recording in detail with precise timecodes, so you can provide editing instructions for your final project. Conversion price plus $39.95 for the first hour, $19.95/hour thereafter, plus the cost of any editing or enhancements. Please note, an in-house preview does not save you the cost of converting your audio recordings.
- The beauty of both: If you purchase both files and a disc, or both unedited files and an edited file, you can pick up the unedited digital portion of your project first to conveniently review at home. Then, just send us your detailed instructions for your final, edited or disc project. Conversion price paid up front, plus the cost of any editing or enhancements.
- Need to review an edited project before we finalize it? We can output a low-res version of the recording and post it in the cloud for your to review for correctness. Add $16.95 per file/upload.
ORGANIZE
Organize your audio recordings by year, event or a system of your choosing. Separate tracks to help listeners find what they want to hear and identify the contents. We offer a range of options to help you better organize your final digital product:
- Custom naming: Customizing your file and/or folder names with content information such as date, event, subject, etc. Computers sort files alphanumerically, so let us help come up with a system that will keep things in order. $1.95/file for 1-10 word short names
- Track separation: Separate your recording into multiple files or tracks. Exporting separate tracks with distinct breaks clearly identifiable by silence between tracks, or accurate start/end time codes, is $2.95/separate MP3 export. Add $90/hr for us to find track breaks within an original recording without time codes or distinct breaks clearly identifiable by silence between tracks.
- Custom capture of select footage: $90/hour of capture time
EDIT
Any editing is possible to create the perfect final presentation of your audio recording. Did your recording lose its luster over time? Our professional editors can correct volume levels, improve clarity, fix speed issues, and remove hiss, pops, clicks and other unwanted background noise or sounds. We can also delete or reorder sections of footage. $14.95/filter pass, $90/hour of editing time.
Plan to edit your recordings yourself? Ask us to provide uncompressed digital WAV files for $4.95 per file/disc instead of MP3 files. Uncompressed, lossless WAV files are the best file type for audio editing and remastering.
We offer a range of options to help you listen to your recordings before or after digitizing, so you can give us instructions for editing. See the PREVIEW section for options to preview/view your films.
ENHANCE
Enhance your listening experience by combining your audio and photos or video into a multi-media video production:
- Mixed Media Editing – Synchronize your audio recording with photos, slides, video or film footage for a stunning production. See our Video, Film and Photo and Slideshow pages for more information on these services. Disc/Edited conversion price or slideshow rate plus $9.95 per audio track and $90/hour of editing time for synchronization if necessary.
- Text Screens: Add a text screen before songs or sections of the recording, or during the recording. Disc/Edited conversion price plus $4.95/1-5 words, $6.95/10 words for 6+ word text or text over an image or footage. Scroll long-format text $90/hour of editing time.
SHARE
One of the benefits of converting your old audio to digital is that you can easily share copies of the disc or file with friends and family.
An extra copy of your digital MP3 file(s) is just the cost of additional USB drive. We sell reliable, fast drives starting at $16 per drive including loading your file(s). Drive price depends on file size.
If you would like to provide the drives to store your digital files, we’ll load any one drive for free. For each additional drive that you provide, there is just a small loading fee depending on the amount of data. For projects of up to 16g of data the charge is $5.95/drive to load. Loading fees vary by file size.
Our custom USB cases make great gifts and keep your drive(s) safe. Each USB case includes a label with a photo or frame shot from your project (or that you provide), and a title of your choice. $14.95/case, $9.95/case with purchase of 2+drives, $6.95/case with purchase of 5+drives
If you put your audio to CD, copies of discs start at $12.95/disc. Ask about our discounts for multiple copies or copies of multiple discs.
Why Choose Memories to Digital?
We Treat Your Memories as if They’re Our Own
We founded Memories to Digital in 2003 after our family mailed their family films away and they got lost. We wanted our community to have a local place to convert family memories, one that offered an alternative to faceless mail-away services.
Today, whether you visit a Memories to Digital location, a Memorywise location, or one of our local partner businesses to drop off or pick up, you receive the same great service from the same dedicated local team. We are your media digitization experts.
We do 100% of our work ourselves, in-house, locally. We give you and your memories the personal service, care and attention deserved, and we use the latest technology to provide you with high-quality digital memories.
Safe, Secure, and Nearby
Eliminate the worry of mailing your memories. We’re local, we do all of our work in-house, and we take it seriously to safeguard your media while in our care.
Media Digitization Experts
Put our extensive digitization expertise to work! We don’t sell cameras or print photos–we specialize in converting all of the old media formats into the latest and best digital formats.
Quality You Can Trust
Our 30-day, 100% guarantee says it all. We pride ourselves on delivering the best possible digital replication of your media as ordered, and will work tirelessly to resolve any issues.
Customized Solutions
Meet with a real person and get your project done right. We’re not a cookie-cutter, drop-box operation– we offer a level of personal service and customization others can’t touch.
Testimonials
I needed old cassette tapes converted to digital. One was a sentimental music tape and the other was an irreplaceable recording of my grandfather being interviewed about his life. It took Memories to Digital less than 48 hours to complete the job. They allowed me to bring in my own USB drive to transfer the data to. They were very professional and did a great job! The sound quality is better than I could have imagined. I highly recommend them for cassette to digital recordings! The price was fair too!
Leanne B
I really wondered where to start with having my old master recordings digitized. They were in all shapes and sizes including: cassette tapes, cd's, discs and some were even on 1/2" reel-to-reel tape! Memories to Digital helped me out in so many ways. The people were terrific, and honest. They weren't actually able to handle the reels, but connected me to people who could do the job. I really appreciated all their help and would highly recommend them for any major (or minor) project you might have. Thanks Memories to Digital!
Katherine Dines
I had an incredible amount of slides, videos, and audio from the late 1960's. The canisters were labeled and I cannot tell you the great care memory wise took with my family memories with members of my family who have long since passed. Their care is allowing me to walk through part of my family history in an organized and complete manner. Thank you! This was an expensive endeavor and the memories are priceless.
David Scott
Our Process
1. Contact & Drop Off
When you’re ready to get started, pick a location to drop off your media and book an appointment, or simply stop by a location that accepts walk-ins. During your initial appointment, we will gather the details, determine which services best suit your needs, and provide an estimate of cost and timing. If your appointment is via phone, we will make arrangements for you to drop off your media.
2. We Digitize!
3. Enjoy, Share & Preserve
Common Questions
Question goes right here
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Question goes right here
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Question goes right here
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Question goes right here
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Digitize Your Reel-to-Reel Tapes and Preserve Your Audio Legacy
Reel-to-reel tapes were once the standard for professional and home audio recording, capturing everything from music performances, to audio letters home, to family narratives. Don’t let the fact that you no longer have a working reel-to-reel player stop you from enjoying them—let us transfer your reel-to-reel tapes to digital so you can enjoy them on any digital audio player.
What We Convert
We specialize in digitizing the standard ¼ inch audio tape that was used in most domestic consumer reel-to-reel audio recorders and players. ¼” reel-to-reel tapes can have recordings on up four tracks, and the recordings can be mono or stereo. We are equipped to digitize recordings in Standard Play speed (7 ½ inches per second or IPS), Long Play speed (3 ¾ IPS), Extended Play speed (1 ⅞ IPS) or Studio Quality (15 IPS). We convert the audio signal recorded on your ¼” tape into high-quality digital audio files such as MP3s or WAVs to USB drives or external hard drives. Additionally, if you normally listen to audio using a CD player, we can burn the audio to a playable CD.
Why Convert Reel-to-Reel Tape to MP3?
Like all magnetic tape media, reel-to-reel tapes are subject to degradation over time as the audio signal dissipates and the tape binding degrades. Reel-to-reel tape can also become warped or stretched. Converting reel-to-reel to digital formats not only preserves the recordings but also provides easy access to them anytime, anywhere. Benefits of digital conversion include preventing further degradation, enabling options for audio restoration, and providing enhanced accessibility and effortless sharing. Digitizing your reel-to-reel enables you to play your reel-to-reel audio on modern devices like smartphones, tablets, computer, TVs and more.
Reel-to-Reel Restoration and Enhancement
Our reel-to-reel restoration services go beyond basic digitization. If desired, we can employ expert techniques to enhance and restore your tapes through noise reduction, including applying specialized techniques to minimize hiss, hum, and other unwanted noise that often accompanies amatuer reel-to-reel recordings, speed correction to ensure the correct playback speed throughout a recording (reel-to-reel tapes were often recorded at multiple different speeds on the same tape and even within tracks), degradation repair to fix issues like broken splices, and volume leveling to adjust uneven volume levels for a balanced listening experience.
Safeguard Your Audio Legacy with Expert Reel-to-Reel Conversion
Reel-to-reel tapes represent a vital part of audio history, but over time, they can deteriorate and become harder to play. By choosing Memories to Digital for your reel-to-reel digitization needs, you’re not only ensuring that your valuable recordings are preserved in modern, accessible formats, but also that they’re given the care they deserve. Whether your tapes are filled with personal memories, rare recordings, or professional audio, we’ll work with you to bring them into the digital age.
Let us help you secure your audio legacy—digitize your reel-to-reel tapes and ensure they continue to tell their stories for years to come.
Contact Us Today!
Questions? We’re Here to Help! Fill out the form, give us a call or stop by a location near you.
By providing your phone number and submitting the form, you agree to receive Customer Care related texts via SMS from Memories to Digital and MemoryWise. Message frequency may vary. Standard Message and Data Rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out. Reply HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Privacy policy: Your mobile information will not be sold or shared with third parties for promotional or marketing purposes. See more here.
