The Sound Restoration Unit of the SABC was established during the 1950’s.  The Department was  established as a means of recording local music for use as broadcast content, as well as establishing local artists. The Department is now responsible for converting the collection  of records to CD and re-distributing the music to all  SABC media libraries in the country.  With a constantly changing technology and the switch to digital sound, the Sound Restoration Unit has had to keep up with the changes.

The Unit now concentrates on the following:

Audio Restoration: The department operates two Sonic Studio  NoNoise Studios offering facilities for noise  removal and Sound Restoration  and,
CD and DVD duplication with our in-house sleeve design and CD printing section.
The Sound Restoration Unit of the Media Library is responsible for the restoration and re-mastering of audio. The audio is obtained from recordings of local artists, recorded in various SABC Studios around the country, between the years 1950 and 1986. These recordings were made by the SABC to promote local talent, as well as provide local content for broadcast purposes.

Most of the audio is sourced from vinyl records. These are washed, cleaned and then recorded into a sophisticated computer for digitizing, electronic cleaning and transfer to CD.

All the necessary data, e.g. song titles, composers, artists and writers, is captured. We then design covers and sleeves for the CD, 
which contains this captured data. If necessary, the CD will also be duplicated here.

When the process is finished, the master CD is stored, the duplicates are distributed and the CD is used for broadcasting as and when necessary.

Contact:

Brenda  Klassen
Tel:  +27 11 714 3351 
E-mail: klassenbr@sabc.co.za