Audio Tape to CD, Is It Possible??

Cucullan

A friend of mine has an Audio tape with some songs on it that he wants to put onto CD, can this be done?
If yes how is it possible?

mike65

Its easy with the right gear, you need a tape deck/amp with "line out" which can be fed to the "line in" on a PC sound card. Then record the output in Soundforge or whatever audio programme is handy. Then save the songs seperately to file and burn CD.

Mike.

squibs

To do this right you are better off investing in custom software. Magix audio cleaning lab is cheap and sheerful and has all the tools for the job - the dehisser will be essential for any sort of quality at all. Also use a good cassette deck, clean the heads, and optimise your levels (as loud as possible without going into the red on the loudest parts).

PogMoThoin

Creative soundcards have features like "Hiss Removal" & "Click removal" just for analogue music conversion with the software they provide. If your gonna get a soundcard for the job, I'd get a Creative.

Cucullan

Is it this blue conncetion I need on the back of a PC for this to work?
Also could I use a headphone jack to get the sound from the tape deck to the PC as it outputs sound?

PogMoThoin

Yep, the blue is line in.

mike65

Also could I use a headphone jack to get the sound from the tape deck to the PC as it outputs sound?

Nope thats PC audio output only.

Mike.

Nalz

Soundforge or whatever audio programme is handy

is there any decent freeware software for recording from tapes?

Another question thats a little off topic (sorry OP), why do some song names off Audio CD's appear when copying to Win Media Player and not on other CD's?

thanks

PogMoThoin

Trilla wrote:

Another question thats a little off topic (sorry OP), why do some song names off Audio CD's appear when copying to Win Media Player and not on other CD's?

thanks

Cos WMP searches the net for the names. you wont get names without a net connection.

TempestSabre

Trilla wrote:

is there any decent freeware software for recording from tapes?...

This is what I use.

I find all those "Hiss Removal" & "Click removal" filters kill the dynamics.

squibs

I find all those "Hiss Removal" & "Click removal" filters kill the dynamics.

The algorithms vary hugely in quality, and even the good ones need to be twaked and used sparingly to get the best from them. I've had excellent results with the Magix software even on a mono cassette recorded on one of those brick shaped recorders in the 70s.

leche solara

Many of the higher end MP3 players have a line in record function that allows you to connect to a sound source and record into the MP3 player in MP3 format. You then just reformat it to WAV on computer if you want to make a CD of it.

Snowbat

Cucullan wrote:

Also could I use a headphone jack to get the sound from the tape deck to the PC as it outputs sound?

I have used the headphone output from a number of audio devices to drive the line-in on my sound card and, while less than ideal from a technical standpoint (impedence mismatch, extra amplifier in line, extra control to adjust for correct levels), it has always produced good results.

If you need a sound editor, try the open source Audacity.

TempestSabre

leche solara wrote:

Many of the higher end MP3 players have a line in record function that allows you to connect to a sound source and record into the MP3 player in MP3 format. You then just reformat it to WAV on computer if you want to make a CD of it.

Unfortunately, very few of them record in high bitrates or lossless formats. I get generally get good results from recording directly onto my HiMD. Which can then be uploaded to the PC via USB. I know its an extra step but its much handier to bring a HiMD recorder to the source then move a PC or laptop to the cassette deck. Well in my situation. If you have a computer beside your HiFi then thats would be easier.

TempestSabre

squibs wrote:

The algorithms vary hugely in quality, and even the good ones need to be twaked and used sparingly to get the best from them. I've had excellent results with the Magix software even on a mono cassette recorded on one of those brick shaped recorders in the 70s.

I'd assume theres a knack in getting the best results. What sort of tweaks?

squibs

I'd assume theres a knack in getting the best results. What sort of tweaks?

It's really just a matter of using your ears while you play with the settings.

With noise reduction, you need to find a good section of "silence" to generate the noise profile. Then alter the ammount of NR applied so that it's taking out most of the hiss but not messing with the dynamics too much.

You can use notch EQ for 50Hz ac hum and it's harmonics. Finally a touch of high freq eq qith a wide Q centered around 6-8 KHz may be able to add a bit of the bite back into the high end (no more that 2-3db - you are rescuing the song not remixing it!) and then normalize (as opposed to compress) it to -0.3 db.

TempestSabre

Ummmm...:)

zilog_jones

I found Adobe Audition great for noise reduction with audio from crappy old VHS tapes (linear track, not Hi-Fi audio), though it ain't cheap!

I think one of the most important parts to this is using a decent tape deck, and making sure the heads et al are clean and not magnetised. One big problem I've noticed is that after a while (I dunno if it's just age or lack of use or what) the tape decks seem to slow down - I have a Pioneer hi-fi (about 15 years old now, but it cost nearly a grand new) and the tapes play noticeably slower than on any newer tape recorders now, and I've also noticed recordings made on knackered old stereos play too fast on everything else.

Also, be careful with old tapes, especially anything from the '70s or older - it's quite possible that playing it now could render the tape useless (substrate degredation and whatnot). Professional restorers usually "bake" the tapes (literally putting them in some sort of oven) so this doesn't happen.

TempestSabre

I've had that problem. My old Sony midi though good quality when new, plays the tapes back slighly slow on one side (its a twintape unit) and I'm not certain about the other side. Fixing it was going to cost €80-100. I may still do it as I love that unit. But in the meanwhile I've bought some decent used HiFi seperates instead. The difference in quality of the tape deck is stunning. It also has decent hardware filters for noise and it does a great job of suppressing noise and preserving dynamics. Better than any of my attempts of doing it with software at least.

As a downside my lower biterate MP3's sound much worse via the line in. But thats a different discussion.