Audio File Ingest
With the combination of NOA's file ingest applications FolderScanner and FileCollector, it is possible to ingest existing audio content to be normalized and stored in the archive.
The workflow for file ingest transfers the external media and metadata files, matches them up, scans and then integrates them into the jobDB or mediARC system. The main actor therein is NOA's tool WaveScanner.
When importing existing audio files, WaveScanner performs three steps:
1) Decoding and normalization of input files to a 32bit .wav file
WaveScanner decodes and converts the following formats to WAV:
- BWF (32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz, normal, double, quad / 16, 24, 32 bit)
- WAV (32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz, normal, double, quad / 16, 24, 32 bit)
- MP2 (64kbit – 384kbit/s)
- MP3 (64kbit – 384kbit/s)
- RF64 (2-channel)
- AAC, FLAC, OGG, WMA
2) QC analysis
The analysed data gives an immediate hint towards problematic transfer zones, such as loss of bandwidth due to smeared heads, correlation swap due to mis-phased replayers and/or tapes, as well as direct indication of anomalities of noisefloor raise. An especially viable azimuth analysis helps to evaluate correct transfers from i.e. third party service providers. This quality-related information – collected at the moment of WaveScanner analysis – is then stored in the jobDB or mediARC workflow system, allowing for a centralized quality assessment.
3) Read out of metadata and provision of MD5 checks
Typically BWF- related metadata can be parsed out from the headerfile; additional header files may be available on request (such as e.g. Sequoia files). WaveScanner provides also an MD5 scan and reports the calculated MD5 back to the workflow.