David Giovannoni specializes in the preservation of early audio media with an emphasis on cylinder recordings.

He shares his experience in this series of introductory training videos produced by the Audio Preservation Lab at the Library of Congress. Learn more about the Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation.

From Transfer to Listener

The cylinder format poses a series of audio preservation and restoration challenges. In this short video Giovannoni demonstrates how these difficulties are overcome and proves that cylinder recordings don't have to sound all that bad.

Case Studies in the Preservation of Early Wax Cylinder Recordings: Hybrid Stylus & Optical Approaches

In this presentation to the Audio Engineering Society's 2023 Conference on Archiving & Preservation at the Library of Congress, Giovannoni demonstrates the power of augmenting state of the art tactile transfers with optical acquisition.

Recent Developments in Cylinder Audio Preservation

A panel of experts compares cylinder transfer technologies and examines the state of the art.

Wax cylinder recordings: Preservation and discovery through digitization

Indiana University's Archives of Traditional Music is home to nearly 7,000 wax cylinders recorded in the field. At the Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative, a modern playback machine created by Nick Bergh is used to digitize these cylinders. This short video demonstrates how skilled transfer engineers at a world-class facility are employing the best technology to task. At every level it's the state of the art in cylinder preservation.