Cassete to CD/MP3/PC

[Jammie300]

As mentioned in the title I want to do as it says. Record from tape to .wav or MP3.

 

I have a stereo which has a minijack headphones out and the line in on the PC. Connected via minijack-minijack. This works but it sounds really bad. What I mean is that it hisses at the higher end of the spectrum. I use audacity to record on the PC which is good.

 

Is there any other way that would work effectively and would sound half decent.

 

If not then I can work with what I have got. But I want to try and make it sound better.

 

Any Questions Please Ask

 

Many Thanks

 

James Allen

[Bobbsy]

Ideally, you'd find a cassette player with a LINE out and connect this to the LINE in on your PC, avoiding the use of the headphone socket.

 

If this isn't possible, I'd play with the volume control on your cassette player to see if raising or lowering the setting reduces the noise...level mis-matches can accentuate hiss. A bit of EQ or noise reduction on Audacity after your recording can help too, but don't overdo it and kill your music...even with everthing at its best, don't expect cassette sound to ever be as clean as what you've got used to on CDs.

 

Bob

[jamesperrett]

If you really want to do this to a high standard then ideally you should use a decent cassette deck with a line out into a decent soundcard. Align the cassette deck head mechanically to the tape that you are playing and, if the tape is encoded with Dolby then match the level going to the Dolby decoder properly. Both of these will require you to open up the cassette deck to some extent in order to have access to the right controls (unless you are lucky enough to have access to a really high grade deck that makes these adjustments more accessible).

 

I suspect that most of your current problems are down to a mismatch between the headphone output and the computer input - make sure that you are using a line input and not a mic input. You should also make sure that you are recording at 16 bit resolution or higher. Some on-board computer inputs are pretty bad so I would suggest that you use a decent soundcard or external interface.

 

Cheers

 

James.

[p.k.roberts]

Do you know whether the original cassettes are Dolby encoded? If they are commercial (pre-recorded) then they will have a Dolby symbol on them (it looks like two upper case 'D's back to back). If this is the case, then you really need to play them back on a cassette deck that can decode them. There may also be controls on the deck for ordinary or 'chrome' tape. I would also check that the heads are clean.

Once you've got the stuff into Audacity (taking into account the advice about level matching etc.) then whatever you do will be a compromise; a combination of equalisation and noise reduction should improve matters, but remember, your source material is from a very narrow tape running very slowly so it's never going to be marvellous!

[entersoundman]

griffin's iMic isn't a bad method either - I used it to transfer my vinyls over to my laptop, sound was pretty decent!

[Jammie300]

Bearing in mind it has been recorded from CD onto a blank tape. So I know the quality wont be CD quality. I would like that annoying hiss to cease.

 

I'll have a play and explore of Audacity though...

[Shez]

Bearing in mind it has been recorded from CD onto a blank tape.

 

Can't you get hold of the original CD? Would give you far better & easier results all round...

[Tomo]

If you can record some 'blank' hiss as well as the music, then Audacity has tools that can subtract the hiss from the rest of the track.

 

It's still not great though, and will affect the sound quality.

[Ynot]

Can't you get hold of the original CD? Would give you far better & easier results all round...

I already suggested that to my youn apprentice, but the problem, I believe, is that several of the tracks have been chopped about a lot and stuck together to make up a 'new track'.

Sort of things dance schools are renowned for, along with the quality that sounds like they've hung a Tandy mic in front of a budget tape deck speaker (mono of course).

 

Yes, using the original CD's would be ideal, assuming the track 'adjustments' can be matched.

[Jammie300]

Jus what I was going to say that they ARE severely edited. So I probably have to work with what I have got.

 

And I dont have a Soundblaster doohicky that does it all. Yet :(

 

Cheers for the suggestions anyway guys

 

James Allen

[Modge]

I'm fairly sure a lecturer mentioned in passing once (on a elec eng course, not a music type thing) that cassette's didn't contain anything above about 8.5kHz. If that really is the case and I confess I've come across it any where else (but then again I'm a lampy) then a brick wall filter there will be really helpfully with out doing the sound any harm.

 

edited to make more sense

[Andrew C]

OK, this is the method recommended by someone much better at these things than me, for use with Cool Edit / Audition. I don't know if it will be possible with Audacity, but certainly worth a look.

 

1) Record track into prog & save.

2) Record some blank track with just hiss, as much as you can. Try to avoid clicks or pops, just the background hiss.

3) Use the "Noise Reduction" feature on the whole track, using the hiss only bit as the seed.

4) Save the HISS that the programme discovers, NOT the track at this point.

5) INVERT the hiss.

6) Put the inverted hiss on one fader, and the original track on another. (Pair if using stereo)

7) Play the track at full, with the hiss fader down. It will sound like there has been no change.

8) Fade up the inverted hiss, and you will hear the reduction as it cancels out.

9) Decide what the optimum trade-off point is between too much hiss, and a reduction in the highs in the music.

10) Mix down; you could do this live if you felt that the trade-off point is different for some passages.

 

All clear? Good!

[Shez]

8) Fade up the inverted hiss, and you will hear the reduction as it cancels out.

 

I very much doubt that this would work. Hiss is by its very nature random. If you invert a section of it, nothing really changes as it's still random. In Audition, there is a noise reduction function that can use a section of noise as a sonic fingerprint but the way it works is rather more complex than just inversion. If you try to remove too much noise, the audio suffers, so there's a balance to be struck between minimising noise and minimising the detrimental effect the process can have on the wanted audio. Unless you have access to some Cedar magic of course.

[Andrew C]

I very much doubt that this would work.

Sorry if I wasn't clear; I have used this method, and it does work. What I don't know is whether Audacity has the tools to do it.

[Dave]

I'm fairly sure a lecturer mentioned in passing once (on a elec eng course, not a music type thing) that cassette's didn't contain anything above about 8.5kHz. If that really is the case and I confess I've come across it any where else (but then again I'm a lampy) then a brick wall filter there will be really helpfully with out doing the sound any harm.

 

I'd beg to differ. Most manufacturers of cassette decks quote frequency responses to 14-15kHz or thereabouts.

 

However, if you have a grotty recording then it may not have anything like that much bandwidth. So an LPF is worth a try.

 

But if the recording consists of edited CDs, I'd try to get the originals and re-edit them.