Test photo shoot for sheet music...

[Trapdoor2]

Ok, here's a test pdf. I shot this a few hours ago and have finally gotten it pared down to size. Mistakes were made...you should see the original! The cover page somehow got downsized in the xfer...but it prints out fullsize here.

So, take a look at it and tell me if this is a usable start. The next gen will be framed much closer to the music, so it will print out a bit larger on a given paper size.

I have to figure out how to do this more efficiently. My rig requires too much stooping over and too much time positioning the sheet (esp. considering the quantity of individual shots required). My wife has promised her sewing table (unused since time immemorial), which should help with the stooping over and I've ordered a remote cable-release which will keep my hands off the camera. I think I may buy a cheap small-screen TV to act as a monitor as the camera can be plugged right in. If I had a laptop, I could plug the camera into it and control it via the PC...but I don't.

Let me know what you think.

[Ray Jones]

Hi Marc. Love your efforts. I browsed down the legend. I have never heard of those tunes or composers, which shows we have so much to learn. One small critisism, please try not to spill your coffee over the pages as they leave a water mark ! Only joking, as usual. We can't get enough blokes of your callibra in the banjo world.
Ray

[Jody Stecher]

well I can provide a little bit of info on some of the composers. Gad Robinson seems to have been the inventor of the scalloped tone ring. Fairbanks made banjos for him and it wasn't long before they were using that design in their Electric model and later the Whyte Laydie. Thom. E Glynn is Tommy Glynn, a celebrated banjo player from Maine who was an early partner of Vess Ossman and about whom Van Eps speculated as having been the likely source of Ossman's style and technique. H.F Odell was a big name in Boston banjo circles and was also known as a composer for mandolin orchestra. His pieces are still played in that subculture. He's also the Odell of Thompson and Odell , the manufacturers of Rob McKillop's banjo, the fretted one he's been playing on the mp3s and videos he's been posting here.

Marc probably knows and can tell us about the others and more about the ones I mentioned. He sure picked a relevant book to begin his scanning project.

Ray Jones said:

I have never heard of those tunes or composers,
Ray

[Trapdoor2]

Test #2. This one has been processed a bit and is higher in quality (and quite a bit larger). Another Thompson & Odell cover...I just love this type.

BTW, these are individual sheets, not books. It was typical for publishers to list all their available music on the front covers. Music stores would often either underline or stamp (with a pointer in the case of "Skylark") which bit of music was actually inside.

Sorry, Ray, I'll try to be more careful with my coffee! ;-) All this old stuff is quite yellow with age, I'm going to experiment with the "white balance" in the camera to try to get them to "whiten up" a bit. I'm torn, of course, between getting them "perfect" and just letting their graceful age show thru. As long as the music is legible, I think I'll keep the digital mucking about to a minum.

[Trapdoor2]

Whew! I didn't think it would swallow that one...gotta figure out a good 'middle of the road' for clarity vs file size!

[Trapdoor2]

Test #3. This one is @ only 100dpi, otherwise the same. Still a hefty file size...but if it swallowed "Skylark"...!

This is a great cover. I wish I looked as handsome as ol' Gad!

[Adam]

Hi Marc,

Thanks a million for doing this! These are great. I find myself both excited and intimidated by all the music that's out there - so much to learn!

One thought regarding file size: I think you can save a significant amount of space by saving in a filetype other than PDF. For example, I was able to open your PDFs in Photoshop and then save them as png files - in grayscale and with a smaller resolution. The 3 pages of Queen City Waltz as png files total just over half of a megabyte - or about 1/3 of the size of the pdf. I'll attach a page as an example.

Of course there is a quality degradation ... But I think it's still quite readable - if smaller, with less of its aging charm shining through, etc.. As you already said, figuring out the quality versus size is the archivists dilemma! I just wanted to share my two cents on the subject and suggest some other possibilities to pursue as you figure this process out.

Finally, how do you feel about me earmarking these tunes for inclusion in the classic banjo tunes database that I'm working on? As you upload your treasure trove, I'd like to help catalog it.

Thanks again. You'r doing Gad's work ... :P

All the best,
Adam


queen city waltz pg 1.png

[Trapdoor2]

>>You'r doing Gad's work ... :P

You need to send me a paper towel. I spit coffee on my screen after reading that. ROFL!

The png file you uploaded is just too fuzzy, one of the things I want to "fix" is not being able to clearly read all the fingering, grace notes and other small notations. I still have a lot of room to work with in the camera itself and I haven't even explored shooting it in B&W or RAW formats. I'll keep png in my pocket though.

My targetted format is pdf, simply due to the ease of use across a variety of platforms. If I can get these down to about 200k per page (and meeting my specs), I think I'll be in the ballpark. Since I have a large quantity of shooting to do (est. 1500 individual pages, more if I include the small format stuff), I want my "process" to be as quick and simple as possible, yet yielding the best quality. I want to just shoot the shot and keep the processing to a couple of clicks.

I think I may 'rethink' my set up. The camera can be simply hooked to the computer via USB and completely controlled from the keyboard/mouse...and the files may be sent directly to the computer's hard-drive bypassing the camera's memory (becoming a 12.2mp 'webcam'). The image review can be sent to the computer screen (or any video capable TV), so what I really think I can do is have a table-top set-up where all I do is shuffle sheet music under the camera and click the mouse.

I'm also slightly worried about the spherical error in the reproduction. If you look closely, the top lines of the sheet music are bowed up and the bottom lines are bowed down (and the sides are bowed out). This is due to the camera lens...I think there is a correction factor built in somewhere...but I don't know where!

[Adam]

Sorry about your computer screen ... :)

Totally understand about the png file being subpar for the quality you're shooting for ...

I look forward to seeing what you come up with ...

Best,
Adam

[thereallyniceman]

Hi Marc,
Your digitization project is a magnificent gesture..keep up the good work. I will supply any music I have, and am able scan to PDF format, if I have something that you want!?

One question though, on Ebay you can buy a cheap A3 scanner for $50ish..... why not just scan the music and print to PDF creator software and hey presto.... all the music can be printed off at A4 or any other size you need.

I am sure that there must be a reason for doing it your way, apart from you being able to justify spending and arm and two legs on a new camera :)

Ian

[Trapdoor2]

Hi Ian,

While I have indeed explored the scanner route, it is a horribly slow one. They all claim fast scanning but the damn things take minutes (and even more in post-processing). So far, I think I can have a .pdf of my photo-work done in less than 30sec. per page...and actually get a higher quality copy with less handling of the often fragile sheet music. A big benefit with the camera is being able to see the image in real time. Most scanners do a "proof" scan (another minute gone) and then you find out the damn thing has slipped crooked and now you need to adjust and rescan. Been there and done that!

Besides, the camera cost me exactly $0.00 (it was a 10yr service gift from the company where I work). I had to do something with it! ;-)

I appreciate the offer of music, Ian but I'm not exactly looking for music (well, at least at the moment...don't worry, I will not hesitate to ask!), just a way to digitize my collection and make it available. However, I encourage anyone with a collection of classic banjo music to get whatever they have into a digital format...and share it with the world. If we can get a large quantity out on a website like Hal's and then get Adam to lay on a searchable database...we're set! After I get all my stuff scanned and the full list is available, perhaps we can see about what folks out there are willing to contribute to add to the collection?

There is a guy selling CDs of old banjo sheetmusic on ebay right now...I considered doing the same thing for about 10 sec. I don't have a problem with making money off of one's collection. More power to him, I say. However, I just feel different about my collection...I'd rather it be a library than a magazine stand.

I don't really want to think about how much I paid for all this stuff over the years. A few I got for under a dollar, some for under five dollars and some for considerably more. =8-O

===Marc

[Jody Stecher]

All I can say is "Bravo". And "many thanks". -Jody

[Joel Hooks]

One of the guys selling the CDs on ebay (perhaps the one you speak of) lists the music included. Incidentally, 90% if not all are available from the LOC American Memories collection. I'd hazard that that is where he got them.