MINNEAPOLIS - s4story -- After decades behind the scenes in music and video production, John Heinen and Nick Nichols are helping Minnesotans revisit recordings of their own lives. Their locally owned family business, Family Media Transfer, has grown to six Twin Cities drop-off locations in approximately 18 months, digitizing home movies, photographs and audio alongside business and organizational archives.

The story began in 1996, when Heinen founded A440 Studios and later built a recording complex inside the historic Grain Belt Brewery in Northeast Minneapolis.

"The business originally started just to support my own music," Heinen said of A440. "Before long, I spent years helping other artists bring their projects to life. Minneapolis has always had an incredible creative community."

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Heinen joined forces with filmmaker and producer Nichols in 2010, expanding into live music video and multi-camera performance filming. In 2016, they opened a 3,500-square-foot production and performance studio in New Hope. Touring artists, including Neil Young, later used that facility for rehearsal and production.

During the pandemic, their work increasingly included archival preservation as families and organizations sought to digitize older recordings. That work helped lay the foundation for Family Media Transfer.

"What started as occasional archival projects quickly turned into something much bigger," Heinen said.

Today, Family Media Transfer serves Minnesota families and has completed projects for Grandma's Marathon, AMSOIL and Grand Casino. Its marathon work included anniversary footage and footage from two additional years.

Customers can drop off media in Bloomington, Golden Valley, Eden Prairie, Northeast Minneapolis, Maple Grove and Forest Lake. The company digitizes VHS and camcorder tapes, 8mm and Super 8 film, photographs, slides, negatives and audio in Minneapolis. Customers receive digital files and their originals back; mail-in service is also available.

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For the founders, the work carries their production experience into family collections: home movies to watch again, voices to hear again and photographs to share with another generation.

Founder interviews and on-camera digitization demonstrations are available this week. Contact John Heinen to arrange a time.

About Family Media Transfer
Family Media Transfer is a locally owned family business based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded by John Heinen and Nick Nichols, the company digitizes video tapes, film, photos, slides, negatives and audio for families, businesses and organizations, with six Twin Cities drop-off locations and mail-in service.

Locations and service details: https://familymediatransfer.com