Need audio transfer advice

[jsjjane]

Does anybody know how I can transfer a cassette audio tape to an MP3 format CD? I have an old audio tape by my Dad who died a year ago and would like to make MP3 CD copies for my family and I know there's someone out there who can give me some coaching.
Thankful for you
Jane

[Tars]

Jane, you sound like a nice decent person. For that reason I gently suggest that, for your own peace of mind, you should avoid publishing your personal contact info in public forums. You'll have every SPAM geek & sex freak in the world giving you a ring.

Do you know any musicians? Chances are good they, or someone they know, has the equipment to easily transfer your father's recordings to CD for you. You have a choice of formats for your output when burning to CD. mp3 would only really be desirable if you have limited storage space, or if you want to email the files. mp3 files are "lossy", meaning they lose frequency range of recordings so as to reduce size. There are numerous audio conversion utilities available, many are free. If your musician friend doesn't have one, let us know here, and we'll handle that as a separate subject.

Good luck and have fun!

From answers.com:

Q: How can you convert audio cassette tapes to digital files?

Answers:

"It's not very difficult to do this. All you need is a 2 channel (stereo) input on your sound card, or you can buy a usb 2 channel preamp to interface your machine that way. Most sound cards don't work very well for bringing in this type of audio because of cheap connectors and cheap preamps. However the cheapest way to accomplish this is to purchase a RCA-1/8" adapter at RadioShack. (It will be stereo RCA female to 1/8" stereo male). You will then connect your RCA cable from the "out" or "play" of the tape deck to the line input of your sound card using the adapter. You can then use a audio program like cool edit pro or similar to record the two tracks of audio to your hard drive. Obviously there needs to be some basic knowledge of the audio software and where proper levels should be, but that is beyond the scope of this answer. The best and highest quality way of doing this is to have a seperate preamp into your computer. The cheapest are USB audio interfaces like the one linked here: musiciansfriend.com
If the link doesn't work it's a Edirol UA-1X USB Audio Interface with RCA I/O to allow audio inputs to your computer via USB. This is just one example of hardware, but this will do the trick. You still will need some audio application to record the audio from tape. Depending on which preamp you use it may be necessary to use adapters to mate the connections.
Here is a little info on levels: In your audio recording software you will want to set your input levels to peak at a little less than "0 dbfs" otherwise it will cause distortion. Some applications have a "normalize" feature that will take your recorded signal and bring the peak to maximum levels 0dbfs, it then raises the overall level the same amount. This will allow you to record the audio at lower levels to avoid "clipping" and then bring the levels up later. There are many tools out there for restoring and de-noise tape recordings, however that is also beyond what I wish to discuss.
I have a project studio and have done this in the past using my Digi001 Pro Tools interface. This is a bit more than the hardware I mentioned, but the principle is the same. I haved used a number of techniques such as compression and limiting and also some eq techniques and aural exciters to enhance the quality of a digitized tape. The options are endless.
I'm sure this is more than you were looking for, but maybe it was useful anyway.

Answer

U can always use the input connector at your sound card, by using end to end mini stereo plug(jack), connect the other end to your cassette tape head phone outlet to the input, then use the windows sound recorder to record analogue sounds then save the file as a wave file, or you can convert it to an mp3 file later using some program

Answer

Use DMC auxiliary input (download this from www.download.com)and (https://www.download.com%29and) its parent program dBpoweramp music convertor. I think you need both to run.
Attach a cable from the headphone socket of the device and plug the other end into the LINE IN socket of your sound card (most sound cards will have a line in, mic in, out)
You can listen to the music as you are recording. dMC auxiliary input will detect the start and stop sections of each song and save your files as MP3.
Great way to save tracks from old LDs, cassette tapes etc.

Answer

While the methods described by others would work, perhaps the most convenient method is to purchase one of the small MP3 portable audio devices now on the market. Some of these are playback only, and some support only recording via their built-in microphone. But many models now also accept "line-level" signals from any audio component, so one could feed the signal from a tape deck into the device directly. Then the device can transfer the file via USB cable to the computer.

Answer

One way is to record live from the audio device playing the cassette into line in of the computer using a studio software such as Sonic Sound Foundry. Then You can save the application as a digital format and name it. Or You can record the audio live into a Tascam CD Recorder then extract it from the cd then save as a digital format.

Answer

It is very simple to do this. you just plug your cassette tape audio out connector in to your pc sound card "audio in" port . run the jet audio program on pc. click on record and play the cassette. and record your audio in to digital sound. and enjoy :)

Answer

There are basically two steps:
Step 1: Wire a cassette player's output to a computer sound card's input.
Step 2: Play the cassette on the cassette player while recording the sound using software on the PC.
Details:
Step 1:
You wire the output of a cassette player to an input ("microphone" or "line in") on the sound card of your computer.
When I did this 3-1/2 years ago, I used the microphone input, and I found that I needed to reduce the input signal level, and I did so with a couple of resistors, the values of which I chose experimentally. Basically, I started with a good guess, and used trial and error to tweak it until it sounded good. (But I'll bet that someone makes a prebuilt adapter to do it.)
This schematic might be readable and actually make sense if viewed in a monospace font. I don't know whether the HTML 'pre' and '/pre' tags work on this web site, but here goes:
+-------------------+
| |
R=ring o---/\/\/\/--+--/\/\/\/-+ +-----o R=ring
R1 R2 |
cassette | sound card
player | input
earphone sleeve o----+------------------+---+----------o sleeve ("line in"
out | | or mic)
Gnd |
R1 R2 |
L=tip o------/\/\/\/--+--/\/\/\/--+ +----o tip
| |
+-----------------+

The resistors should be fairly low values. The actual values depend on whether you can use a "line in" input, or must use the "microphone" input. (The "line in" input expects 0-2v, and the "microphone" input expects 0-0.2v.) For use with the "microphone" input, try 100 ohms or so for the R1s, and 10 ohms or so for the R2s. For use with the "line in" input, try using equal values for all four resistors, perhaps 50 ohms, or if the sound level seems low you can even replace the R1s with wires (0 ohms).
The resistors' power ratings don't matter, 1/4 W or 1/8 W carbon resistors should be fine.
Note: the "tip," "ring," and "sleeve" terms will make sense of you think about what the metal contacts look like on a headphone or microphone plug: "tip" is the tip of the plug, "ring" is the next contact, and "sleeve" is the long contact starting at the base of the plug.
Step 2:
After you have the cassette player output successfully wired up to your PC sound card input, you're ready to play your cassette and record it on the computer.
You'll need to run a program on the computer to record from the microphone or "line in" input to a computer file, while you play your cassette. I think that I used GoldWave 4.26, however, there are free programs that can do the job
(The "Sound Recorder" that comes with Windows will suffice for testing your connections, but it is basically just a toy. As I recall, it will only record very short snippets of sound.)
But before you install any downloaded program, first look up the name of the program to ensure that it is not on a list of known spyware.

Some "recorder" programs can only save your recording in .WAV format. So you might need to use another program to convert the .WAV file to .MP3 format (which is compressed and thus much more compact). See the "nonags" links, above, for several such programs.
If you are going to be converting lots of cassette tapes, there are devices you can buy just for that purpose.

Answer

Or, if you can't or just don't want to do any of the above, but you have a very good sound system to play the tape with and a very good microphone, sound card, and recording software for your non-ancient computer, you could simply record what the sound system is playing with the microphone.

Quick tips - do the job in 1/2 time

The older dual-cassette machines allow dubbing at twice normal speed, so you can download your cassettes in half the time!

You need to put the "record" drive into Record (push down the cassette tab sensor inside the cassette bay or load a cassette carcase as you kick into record), then put the cassette into the "playback" drive and record it onto the computer via the deck's line out connectors

Yes, you now have the job done in 1/2 the time, but the recording is at double speed! Most audio editors allow you to reduce the speed and pitch of a file - load the recording into your editor, select the entire file, apply double time, 1/2 pitch.

I've checked the resultant frequency response and found it to be flat (no excess/ reduced highs or lows).

Be careful with noise reduction - moderate "toasting" can be done, but aggressive noise reduction will destroy the recording. You can put in a mild high-frequency boost to compensate for ageing, but be aware of the high-frequency/tape noise tradeoff.

The great thing about digital editing is the ability to do a sample conversion/toasting, then assess the results immediately and fine-tune the process. <!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[carpet crawler]

Does anybody know how I can transfer a cassette audio tape to an MP3 format CD? I have an old audio tape by my Dad who died a year ago and would like to make MP3 CD copies for my family and I know there's someone out there who can give me some coaching.
Thankful for you
Jane

If you were going to transfer lots of tapes, you might want to consider buying actual hardware, for example the Ion Tape2PC. There are also any number of free software programs that will help you out. Here's a link to one description, at Alpha Geek: How to digitize cassette tapes - Alpha Geek - Lifehacker (https://lifehacker.com/222394/alpha-geek-how-to-digitize-cassette-tapes)

I have used the Audacity program that is mentioned, it works really nicely.I also have extensively used a tool called Wave Repair (Wave Repair (https://www.waverepair.com/)).

But if you only have one tape, and you don't want to be the technical recording person, there are also any number of services that will do it for you. For example, Convert Cassette to Cd | Transfer Tape to Cd or Mp3 (https://www.digitize-it.com/) will convert a tape for about $30. There are plenty of similar places - try using Google and search for "cassette tape to mp3 service"

Hope this helps. I'm verrrrry slowly transferring hundreds of cassettes and LPs to digital using Wave Repair, Audacity and one or more MP3 tagging programs.

hugh

[Barry]

Hope this helps. I'm verrrrry slowly transferring hundreds of cassettes and LPs to digital using Wave Repair, Audacity and one or more MP3 tagging programs.
Are you using a pre-amp? Is any editing of the mp3 file required? How's quality of the mp3 compared to the original tape?

I've got some choice Dead tapes I'd like to convert! :syf:

[carpet crawler]

Are you using a pre-amp? Is any editing of the mp3 file required? How's quality of the mp3 compared to the original tape?

I've got some choice Dead tapes I'd like to convert! :syf:

I use an M-Audio FasTrack Pro, which allows me to connect standard stereo out jacks (well, 1/4" plugs) direct from the record or tape player to USB as the audio input to my computer, so no preamp involved. I run Wave Repair, which writes the input directly to disc as a WAV file and then allows me to edit (both track splitting and sound cleanup like clicks and pops and such). Then on to Audacity which reads in the WAV and writes MP3. Lastly is MP3tag, which lets me apply tag information to the files.

I use this setup mostly so far for digitizing LPs, I have not experimented much with tapes like live shows (and what is your favorite Dead era BTW?).

Editing is needed to split the tracks, unless you want a single large MP3 of your whole show! As far as quality, MP3 is a compressed format, so there will always be some loss of quality. Of course, if your tapes are hissy and such, that will transfer right on over. Wave Repair can let you try to adjust some of that, but it can take a lot of tinkering.

hugh

[Barry]

I use an M-Audio FasTrack Pro, which allows me to connect standard stereo out jacks (well, 1/4" plugs) direct from the record or tape player to USB as the audio input to my computer, so no preamp involved. I run Wave Repair, which writes the input directly to disc as a WAV file and then allows me to edit (both track splitting and sound cleanup like clicks and pops and such). Then on to Audacity which reads in the WAV and writes MP3. Lastly is MP3tag, which lets me apply tag information to the files.
...

Editing is needed to split the tracks, unless you want a single large MP3 of your whole show! As far as quality, MP3 is a compressed format, so there will always be some loss of quality. Of course, if your tapes are hissy and such, that will transfer right on over. Wave Repair can let you try to adjust some of that, but it can take a lot of tinkering.

hugh

OY! I guess I'll leave them as cassettes. Now where did I stash my cassette deck? :hmmm:


and what is your favorite Dead era BTW?If I had to pick one, I'd have to say late 80's with Brent. Be sure to catch the Thugz (https://www.thethugz.net/) if you haven't seen them yet...

[stuartdole]

I've converted a bunch of vinyl and cassettes to mp3. My setup is simple - I have a typical (old fashioned) component stereo with separate turntable, cassette deck, CD, and of course the tuner/amp. I have my computer plugged into the system as "TAPE 2" - separate input and output cables to the computer's sound card. This completely gets around the issue of pre-amps, which are really only needed for the super-low levels of turntables, IMHO

Recording (to mp3) is simple - I just play the record or tape and turn on my sound software's "record" function. I'm using a program called "Magix Audio Cleaning Lab 12" (they're up to 15 now) - but I've heard that the open source "Audacity" works just as well. At that point I can adjust the levels, clean up tape hiss, remove clicks and vinyl scratches, insert the track markers (and other info), then output to mp3 (or any other format for that matter). You can set the mp3 quality parameters to anything you want - I usually use a better setting than iTunes uses, but for an old tape or record it's not needed.

One problem (speaking of pre-amps!) is that the normal "line" levels from the tape output on the tuner are a good deal higher than the sound card likes - I have to turn the input levels down almost as far as they'll go. (Note that stereo tuners output the line signal at a standard level - setting the "Volume" has no effect aside from the system's speakers!)

It takes a while to do all that, but it seems worth it to me. I know I can get much of the same stuff (aside from old Dead Tapes, or other special tapes, or real vintage 78 vinyl) on used CDs for a lot less trouble, but to me it seems to be better to copy the ones I already own.

With this setup I can also play my digital collection through my stereo, and setup nice playlists and get good sound quality. I have a desk-top (desk-under, actually) system instead of a laptop, so the cables are permanent and it all works nicely.

Maybe we'll see you tonight?

Happy trails!



Are you using a pre-amp? Is any editing of the mp3 file required? How's quality of the mp3 compared to the original tape?

I've got some choice Dead tapes I'd like to convert! :syf:

[CrystalWizard]

hi folks,

i do audio transfers "professionally" as part of my digital editing and production routine. i usually charge between 15-30 per tape depending on how much work is involved ($10 per tape and $45/hr editing). editing entails cleaning up the beginning and end, separating the traks, cleaning up distortion, cliks, pops, mic noises, etc.) it seems easy to do, but to get a decent quality file does take some work sometimes.

crystal
228 2552

[stuartdole]

Oh, I forgot. Quality is great, at least to my ears. I can hear quality problems with 128k mp3s, but not with 192k or 256k. This is true only with classical music (especially piano). With rock there's no noticeable problems even at 128k.

I can hear some quality issues with CDs too, again only with classical music. But recording to 192k mp3s seems fine. Especially for "normal" listening - the dryer rumbling in the background, the traffic outside, conversation in the next room - brings the "noise" level up to where you can't hear the digital artifacts anyway!

Happy trails!

[jsjjane]

WOW! WACCO ROCKS! Thanks for all the support. I think I've got it handled now. Soooo nice to have such expertise available. Thank you, thank you.
Jane

[steveausten555]

Thanks for the info guyz .. the audio transfer Ion Tape2pc USB Cassette Deck (https://www.dealsourcedirect.com/ion-tape2pc.html)is gud...