RGB Digital Audio is located in the Keweenaw Peninsula which juts out into Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where I have lived my entire life with the exception of my college years.

I am passionate about restoring music and spoken word that has been archived on traditional media such as 78's, Long Play Records, 16 inch electrical transcriptions, reel-to-reel tape and cassettes.

My love affair with audio goes back as far as I can remember.  One of my first memories is that of listening to 78 rpm records on a portable record player with steel shank needles in a crystal cartridge.

By my 11th year I owned my first tape recorder:  A Brush Soundmirror reel-to-reel tape recorder that I purchased from my father's radio station for $15.  In the Seventh grade I was chosen to use the school's Wilcox-Gray recorder to record school concerts.

At the age of 14 I acquired my first 16 inch electrical transcriptions and built my own tone arm to accommodate the large discs.  By my 16th year I owned my first commercial turntable that was designed to play 16 inch discs.

By the end of my teens I had begged, borrowed, bartered, bought and sold more than a dozen recorders including an RCA cassette recorder that used quarter inch tape.  I had also rigged my Wollensack recorder to play in our family car.

I graduated from Wheaton College with an MA in communications and became the director of WGGL-FM at Michigan Technological University where I oversaw the construction of a 100,000 watt FM stereo transmitting facility and the addition of a stereo master control center plus three stereo production studios.  During that time WGGL became a charter member of NPR and built a loyal listening audience in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Northern Wisconsin, the north shore of Minnesota and the areas of Ontario, Canada, bordering the north shore of Lake Superior.

In the decades that followed I continued my passion for audio by adding both equipment and recordings -- LP's, 78's, 16 inch ET's, 12 inch ET's and reel-to-reel recordings.

In the mid 1990's digital audio restoration tools gradually became available for Windows computers.  I became an early adopter and during the more than 20 years since I began digital audio restoration I have spent thousands of hours developing the skills to remove all kinds of analog noise from archival recordings.

During that time I have acquired tens of thousands of dollars worth of hardware and software and transferred and restored hundreds of 16 inch ET's and hundreds of LP's and numerous reel-to-reel and cassette recordings.  I have worked with recordings cut into raw aluminum, lacquers with glass and aluminum substrate, 78's, LP's, homemade cardboard records and even an occasional wire recording.

I have also written dozens of articles reviewing digital audio hardware and software for RADIO WORLD and PRO AUDIO REVIEW published by Imas Publications and I have done alpha testing for WAVES LTD and beta testing for Tracer Technologies.  Digital audio restoration continues to evolve and I enjoy being on the cutting edge testing and applying new technology.

I created RGB Digital Audio to extend my passion for high quality audio to assist others who have recordings that can benefit from new technologies that can remove old noise and renew music and spoken word so that it can be appreciated by future generations.

Read G. Burgan  Owner

RGB Digital Audio