Fri 7 June @ 6pm | DEADLINE 2025: ANALOGUE MAGNETISM

There is now consensus among audiovisual archives internationally that the industry will not be able to support large-scale digitisation of magnetic media in the very near future. Magnetic tape - used in recording audio, video and data - that is not preserved digitally by 2025 will in most cases be lost forever.

As the NFSA races against time to digitise its magnetic tape collection, we pause to celebrate a legacy recording medium still revered by the recording industry in 2019. Studios both large and small remain committed to the use of tape due to its aural aesthetic, giving recordings a sense of life and warmth that some say digital lacks.

We delve into the importance of magnetic tape in a digital world, aesthetically and from a production perspective. A topic of contention and an extremely divisive subject with many angles to cover, the love for analogue cannot be denied. With such a large number of analogue-born items in the NFSA collection we discuss the pros and cons of physical storage for archives and the resolution of Deadline 2025.

Join us in discussion with producer and engineer Louis Mongomery (Safia, Young Monks), NFSA Audio Specialist Ross Garrett and NFSA Creative Producer Sam Dignand, as we dig into the NFSA collection to showcase rare and important examples of the format including live playback of some of Australia's most iconic studio sessions directly from multitrack tape.