8 replies to this topic

[Steve77]

I'm planning on starting the big task of converting my collection of tapes to a digital format so that I can finally ditch my tape deck and all the tapes too.

I've read a few guides that I found with Google and think I have a fair idea how to go about it, but these guides don't seem to be aimed at people who are concerned about sound quality (eg some of them suggest that the headphone output from a walkman is fine as a source, and they tend not to talk about sampling rate, recording levels and that sort of stuff).

Can anyone here offer any advice to get me on the right track please?
Is Audacity fine for doing this? And what about recording levels? The instruction manual for another program i found on the net (Reaper) says that you should aim for peaks of no more than minus 10db - does this apply equally to all recording software? I'm having trouble adjusting this because as soon as I move the level slider above zero, I have peaks hitting zero db straight away, according to the level meter in Audacity.

Another problem is that the meter in Audacity is showing some signal in the right channel even when no source is plugged in (see picture below).

It does this for line-in and also microphone input. Does this mean my computer's onboard sound is crap? I do have another PC I could try - it's really old but at least it has a sound card so maybe that would be a better option?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

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My low-budget installation so far

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[Captn_Awesome]

maybe try a cheap usb sound card

But I have to ask is it worth your time to do this? Are the tracks you have on cassette not already available (possibly even remastered) on CD or digital download?

[Pulse-R]

The noise is often caused by internal power supply creating noise.

pretty much any reasonable USB sound device would be better. I use the Lexicon Lambda - very good.

[Steve77]

Thanks guys, I might have to look into USB sound cards.

To answer Sparkles' question, most of the tapes aren't prerecorded ones, they are from the old days when I tried to play guitar in a band with my mates and we did lots of recording. Some of it I'd like to preserve as well as possible, but the rest of it I'll probably just keep as 320kbps MP3.


Anyone know if a USB sound card will give me more control over the recording levels than I have now with my onboard sound? Even at minimum setting, the peaks from a line-level source are too high.

[Captn_Awesome]

you need to pad your your cassette players output if your clipping the input.
You should be able to find a 3.5mm - 3.5mm or even RCA - RCA 10dB pad filter without too much trouble.

[TERRA Operative]

Don't forget to record a few seconds of silence to make a noise profile to apply to the rest of the recording for noise reduction.

[ubernoob]

Jaycar have a doover for such a job but $50 for playing with cassettes is a bit steep- http://www.jaycar.co...te&form=KEYWORD

I wouldn't use a Walkman you would be far better off using a decent tape deck,years ago I had a Discman hooked up to a home theatre amp and the sound quality it output was pretty poor, it had optical out too and that wasn't great either.

[artuc]

ubernoob, on 07 February 2012 - 11:37 PM, said:

I wouldn't use a Walkman you would be far better off using a decent tape deck,years ago I had a Discman hooked up to a home theatre amp and the sound quality it output was pretty poor, it had optical out too and that wasn't great either.

I'd have to agree, was driving a bomb for a donor engine for a bit, it had a tape head unit so made some tapes for it.

Found that tapes recorded on cheap 90s era mini hifi systems sounded really bad, borrowed a mates Technics tape deck, ran the input off my computer through a decent DAC and they actually sounded pretty damn good.

[Mr. Drifter]

Tape that plugs into your ipod, and daym son, we have some doof..... coming out of only two.. wait, no now we have three... no back to two speakers now..
Gotta love racecars