In a New York studio archivists at Sony Music Entertainment have been busy preserving some of the most iconic jazz records ever made.

As the second-largest record company in the world, Sony is one of the ‘big four’ labels, with the other three being Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI. Like its rivals it consists of a number of smaller labels and companies it has acquired over the years including such famous names as Columbia, Epic and RCA.

Columbia is still home to some of the most iconic artists in jazz, such as Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Mingus. Some of the famed albums in their back catalogue include Kind of Blue, Mingus Ah Um, Duke Ellington at Newport and Time Out.

What is perhaps less well known is how Sony preserve these crown jewels of jazz. Five days a week, inside a studio on West 44th Street in Manhattan a team from the label digitally preserve the company’s archives. Marc C. Kirkeby is one of the archivists – and self-described “professional ear” – charged with the task of transferring older formats and preserving them on new ones.

Speaking to the New York Times recently he described the difficulties in the process as records and metal plates deteriorate:

“Everything falls apart. We want to be the last best place in the world where all this stuff can be preserved.”

The physical archive contains around 1.5 million items that Sony has collected over the years by with their acquisition of labels like Columbia Records and RCA Victor. Some of the more recent records the team have archived include a recording of heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson describing his 1910 title fight against James J. Jeffries, a 1941 session of Billie Holiday singing ‘All of Me’ and the last known copy of Simon and Garfunkel’s final concert tour.

The studios where this work takes place is Record Plant Studios (also known as just “The Record Plant”) which was started and run by Gary Kellgren, an engineer, producer & studio designer and Chris Stone, a National Sales Rep for Revlon Cosmetics. The success of the Record Plant was attributed to Kellgren’s relationships and work with artists like Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix and the fact that the studio was designed as a comfortable living space and not just a sterile office environment.

Famous albums recorded in the New York studio included Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen and Toys in the Attic by Aerosmith. This was also the studio John Lennon was working at the night he got killed in December 1980.

The history of the music and studios is matched by the expense of the technology used to preserve it. The archive team have needles, various Studer tape decks, a special device that plays old steel recordings (nicknamed ‘The Tank’) and a customised granite-based turntable from Rockport Technologies which weighs 800 pounds and at a cost of $65,000 is probably the world’s most expensive. Apparently there are only four like this in the world.

Given archiving operations like this don’t come cheap the team tries to respond to demands in the market for older tracks, such as when TV programs or documentaries want one. If a production company or film-maker want an old track from Sony’s extensive archives then it is easier to get hold of once it has been tagged and properly archived.

Most importantly, it is a place where some of the greatest jazz ever recorded is preserved for future generations to discover.