Haven't the recordings from the 1950s through the 1980s already been preserved?
Not if preservation means no alteration and no loss of quality.
When listeners find an analog recording sounding notably superior to its digital copy, we must question the quality of that copy. The surviving master tapes are the only true reference.
“Meanwhile, the analog tapes in the vaults are all disintegrating.” — Neil Young, 2019
Many audio tapes experience chemical degradation over time that can render them fragile and vulnerable to damage.
Today, surviving master tapes are being retrieved for cutting new lacquers for vinyl re-issues or for Dolby Atmos remastering. Alarmingly, irreplaceable tapes are routinely played back on restored vintage studio recorders, a grossly uninformed practice that can result in tapes being damaged or even destroyed.
To help stop the further loss of heritage master tapes, we’re building a multi-million dollar facility in Santa Barbara, California that will be staffed by expert personnel and equipped with state-of-the-art specialized tape playback hardware. This work will also let the public hear the often astonishing audio fidelity of many historic tapes for the first time.
Importantly, we’re making our services available to recording copyright owners worldwide, free of cost.
It's about respecting what the artists of the golden era of music recording created for us.