Play it again – Recovering archived music from degraded analogue magnetic recordings using RIXS-MCD

A large fraction of 20th century audiovisual heritage is stored on magnetic tape. However, tapes suffer from wear and chemical decay that make them unreadable using magnetic heads, which are in physical contact with the tape. This can lead to permanent loss of cultural heritage as well as inestimable ‘loss of artistry’. We have recently obtained excellent proof-of-concept results with RIXS-MCD using a Johann spectrometer to readout analogue audio recordings. Here, we will use a von Hamos spectrometer with a 311 Si monochromator and a microfocussed beam to reliably readout audio frequencies up to ca. 15 kHz, necessary for high fidelity audio. We will also measure a segment of a degraded B.B. King recording with ‘sticky shed’ syndrome. The large photon flux at ID20 will allow us to significantly speed-up the readout. This proposal is an essential step towards the development of a reliable contactless technique for the digitization of presently unrecoverable historical tapes.