Engage Wisdom

What's Included

Engage Wisdom is a comprehensive solution for collections of recorded words.
Here's what we do for your collection:

Gather

Delivery logistics are a snap with insured shipping or local pick-up. Since our digitization is archival-grade, we also offer tape recycling after archiving, if you prefer.

Document

Professional photographs of each tape capture the full context of the original handwritten notes, so nothing is lost in the transition to digital.

Repair

Physical media (cassettes, open reel tapes, etc.) are inspected for damage or deterioration and repaired as needed - saving audio that might have otherwise been lost.

Digitize

Analog tapes are recorded into archival-quality files with recording studio-grade playback machines and digital converters, far exceeding the resolution of the original tape.

Import

Your digital files, video tapes, CDs, minidiscs, and other recording formats are all easily integrated into your finished archive. Now is the time to bring it all together.

Enhance

All audio gets noise-reduction, tone-balancing, and volume-stabilization for clear, enjoyable listening. Our automatic audio processing is unparalleled in the industry.

Catalog

Your finished online archive is complete with audio and photos of each tape, plus space for all of your own notes, titles, keywords and tags. Your collection, all in one place, instantly searchable.

Engage

Collaborative editing tools enable your community to search, tag, edit, and engage with your archive as a team. Every interaction brings your archive to life, unlocking your collection of wisdom.

Living Archives

Here are some examples of collections we've helped preserve:

The No Abode Archive

An actively growing collection from Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi, and the active community at No Abode.
See the Archive

The Suzuki Roshi Archive

The definitive Shunryu Suzuki Roshi collection, including restored and remastered tapes dating back to 1965.
See the Archive

The San Francisco Zen Center Archive

The SFZC collection is an multi-phase project for the ongoing digitization and restoration of over 11,000 tapes.
See the Archive

Feeling the Love

"Our priceless archives of over 10,000 talks from the past 50 years are now safe from deterioration, and accessible by our community worldwide, thanks to Engage Wisdom. They even discovered several long lost recordings from our founder, Suzuki Roshi!"

Susan O'Connell

San Francisco Zen Center

Engage Wisdom was chosen as one of five finalists, from over 200 other projects at the intersection of wisdom & technology, in the Wisdom Awards Challenge.

Wisdom 2.0 Conference

"Now everything is automated and crowdsourced by Engage Wisdom for better excavation of critical information, all with the convenience of working in the cloud. Brilliant!"

John Sheehy

Journalist & Oral Historian

What Does it Cost?

The cost of archiving a collection is primarily based on size and condition. Our system is optimized to be most cost-effective with collections of 50 or more tapes, and can deliver tremendous efficiency when handling hundreds of items. For smaller collections, we still deliver the same uncompromising quality standards, but for the best price per item, please consider the largest batch of recordings that you might include.

With some basic info, we can generate a cost estimate that will be emailed to you instantly. It only takes a few minutes to find out how affordable true archival quality can be:

Instant Estimate

About Us

Charlie Wilson

Founder

Charlie Wilson is an entrepreneur, music producer and inventor. His Oakland, California recording studio, Sonic Zen Records, has contributed to more than 200 album releases, and his acoustics consulting firm has designed dozens of recording studios and buildings. Charlie holds a B.A. in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and is passionate about preserving, sharing and engaging wisdom.

Shundo David Haye

Archive Engineer

Shundo David Haye spent ten years as Studio Manager & Audio Engineer at the BBC World Service in London before moving to San Francisco and beginning fifteen years of residential Zen practice. Now an ordained Soto Zen priest, he is very happily combining these two worlds in his work for Engage Wisdom.

Tim Black

Development Director

Tim Black is a professional consultant most comfortable wearing many hats. From masters-educated musician to cryptocurrency operations generalist, He applies his weaponized curiosity to every role he takes on. Tim brings product expertise, an eye for design, operations savvy, and 6 years of unique startup experience across the tech industry. Tim is the "operational, organizational glue."

Kim Helmuth

Sales & Support Director

Kim Helmuth is a audiophile and people person. Her background as sound engineer includes a stint teaching at the School of Audio Engineering in San Francisco. She's now an expert in consultative sales, and focuses on connecting organizations with the resources they need. She is passionate about creating community and preserving and sharing knowledge.

Laramie Crocker

Software Developer

Laramie Crocker is a systems architect and software developer, specializing in application, user interface and framework design, and tooling for teams. Laramie is the author of the open source dynamic web application framework, Dynamide. He is currently working in the areas of big data and social art sharing.

Josh Jacobs

Audio Engineer

Josh Jacobs is an audio engineer and music producer with an appetite for challenging and creative content. Josh has studied under some of the greatest engineers in the Bay Area and lived in numerous tiny apartments, as well as boats, cars, and studios in the process.

Engage With Us

Find out more about how we can bring your archive to life.

This is Engage Wisdom.

How can we Engage Wisdom?

This is Archival Quality.

This is a Streaming Solution.

This is a Living Archive.

This is a living archive.