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Hi guys,
I have a lot of old cassette tapes (some are 40+ years old) that I would like to transfer to my computer with a view to burning them to disk. I'm hoping for suggestions & advice as to which would be the most effective method of transferring; however the only cassette device I have does not have RCA outputs, only speaker outputs & a stereo headphone output. I have at my disposal:
1) Real Band
2) Goldwave
3) Cakewalk UA-1G Audio Interface
I'd appreciate any advice on which of the above would be the most suitable & effective (rather that my trying trial & error) . My preference would of course be Real Band as I can then have control over balance, bass/treble etc.
Any thoughts/advice/suggestions will be gratefully received.
Thanks in advance.
PS. Most are not commercial; (old band recordings etc) but many are from my late father who lost his ability to write, and used to send me cassette tapes rather than letters, so as you can appreciate, are very precious to me.
Thanks guys.
Cheers,
Keith
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Enthusiast
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Hi Keith this is a program I use and it works great. You get 14 days free trial and the "Full" version of the software: http://www.polderbits.com/
Dell Studio 16 Laptop i7 with 256 gig SSD
BIAB, Reaper, Encore, Sibelius
Roland SD-50
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keith.
this might work..run a test.
1. connect stereo headphone output from cass dek to ua1g line input.
(MAKE SURE YOU RECORD SOME CASSETTE NOISE BY ITSELF
FOR EXAMPLE BEFORE THE SONG STARTS.)
2. record each song in rb.
3. after recording go to town cleaning up the song as follows.
a. try the rb dx plug in NOISE GATE.
(read my tips re setting threshold...THIS IS CRITICAL.
setting the right threshold.)
and/or..
b. in RB youll also find dx plug in VINYL TOOL.
try some tests //experimentation.
and/or..
c. in goldwave is a noise reduction facility if i remember.
and/or..
d. if i remember there is a free trial of izotope available with various
restoration facilities.
i tell ya what ..as a favor to you mate.
do one song into RB , save as a wave a minutes worth of the song..
WITH CASSETTE NOISE before the song starts..or at song end.
and i'll have a bash at cleaning it up..send it back to ya..
and if your happy..i'll tell ya what i did.
then you can take it from there on all 40 songs.
i love to do audio restoration for the challenge of it.
also i lost my dad years back , and i know well the feelings in ones heart.
fair ??
god bless.
retired puter engr....powertracks on amd......NICE !
"what is the black art of audio engineering ?"
my silly songs...motagator.com/bmanning
see my tips in the tips section.
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I don't know if the sell them where you are but some stores here were selling both cassette players and turntables with usb plugs.
I don't have one but wonder if a small mixer (50 buck) Behringer with a pre-amp has enough power to allow you to take it to the line in of the computer and use Audacity to record.
I also see Audacity has a new beta release. FWIW.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Hi Keith, I have used Manning1’s method to preserve old band tapes. The only variations from his method and mine is that is that I used the free Audacity to clean up the noise and I added the PG Music 10 band EQ the add some treble. The real key for me was the Vinyl Tool. That is one fantastic hidden gem when restoring tapes and albums. My method is as follows:
1-record a song to a wav file
2-in Audacity remove the noise
3-in my sequencer use the Vinyl Tool to clean up the wav
4-use the 10 band EQ to polish the sound.
Good luck.
When you are at the checkout line and they ask if you found everything say "Why, are you hiding stuff?"
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Hi Keith,
I just did a batch using RealBand. I can't see what the need would be to buy anything else.
Don S.
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Keith, Real Band, Audacity, Goldwave all will do the trick. I would, however, recommend the purchase of a better tape deck, though. Remember that these are priceless memories, and they are only going to be as good as the player that you use to record them from. An old Cassette player that has only speakers or a headphone out is not going to be the best to play back your old recordings. I would look around in your local stores and such for used decks. Also, you want to make sure the tape head is cleaned, aligned, and that the tape transport is also clean and free of debris. I would look at some higher end units on ebay, such as this one: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Harman-Kardon-TD4...=item2a055480a9or, this one: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/YAMAHA-SINGLE-CAS...=item3caae38950or: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Denon-DRM-510-Cas...=item439dc33f20Anyway, you get the picture. To assure the best playback, on units this old you probably should consider investing in new belts for the drive assemblies, which shouldn't be that hard to replace. I think with that, you'll be very pleased with the results you get from transferring your tapes to digital. Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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As Gary said, you may want to buy/borrow another deck.
Do NOT hook the speaker output of the deck you have to the line level inputs of any device. You may be able to (carefully) use the headphone out, adjusting the volume slowly up from zero to set the levels.
Having a line level out will likely make your job easier and better.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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I take the headphone out into the rca in jacks on my mixer, then record the output via Audacity. The advantage of that is that I can adjust the mixer to get the best sound before I actually record the output.
tony
Lenovo lappie, 4Gb RAM, 500Gb HD
Ubuntu 12.04
Running BIAB under WINE
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Hi guys,
Thank you all for the excellent advice & suggestions: they will all be taken on board. The tape transferring is going to be one of my winter projects, so I'll be trying the various options you suggested.
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Keith
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One more word or two - you will notice that you will probably lose oxide from the tape which will coat the heads and create it's own noise and cause the tape speed to slow. Clean the heads after using them for a short period of time. When I transferred my analogue stuff, I cleaned after each song until I figured out just how fast the tape was losing oxide and it was accumulating on the heads. Then cleaned accordingly. I was also fortunate enough to find a double Sony cassette player c 1995 vintage on a buy and sell list. It worked superbly for the playback - easy access for cleaning.
Enjoy the memories. Ian
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Keith, I've used adobe audition for years and find it brilliant for removing noise. If you can pick up a copy 2nd hand it'll be worth it, some of the older versions are every bit as good.
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Thanks Ian & Graham. What do you suggest is the best thing to clean the tape heads with?
Cheers,
Keith
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Keith,
Rubbing alcohol and a swab.
Also, make sure that you get the rollers and pinch rollers as well. Do not put the tape in until everything is dry.
Many cassette decks will allow you to remove part of the front cover so you can close the door and activate the play mechanism to move the tape head, rollers and pinch rollers into position. It may not run for long, if there is an auto stop mechanism, but it should be enough, if you do it a few times, to get stuff cleaned.
Also, look for a tape head demagnetizer. The heads become magnetized over time, reducing high frequency playback. Use of a demagnetizer will restore the head to it's designed condition, giving you the best possible playback.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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You'll probably start to notice a brownish discoloration on the pinch roll but I'd still do the heads every two songs or equivalent. At one point I tried to play back the Gambler album when it got old and the tape just slowed it down to a stop. Just depends on the quality used in cassettes by the company. My old quarter in large reels have held up better that the cassettes over the years - never know, but it's fun recovering the old stuff - worth the effort. P.S. don't turn the demag on near any tape.   Cheers - Ian
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Quote:
however the only cassette device I have does not have RCA outputs, only speaker outputs & a stereo headphone output. ....
More than a software suggestion, you first need a quality cassette deck.
Beg, Borrow, get your hands on one to do the task.
**Examine the tape heads for cleanliness, scratches, etc. Do not use a scratched head of any kind on your precious tapes. One pass can ruin the tape permanently. Also examine the rubber pinch roller(s) and don't use any deck that has shiny, mirrored or "barrelled" worn pinch rollers, a recipe for not only bad audio in the wow and flutter dept. but a situation that can also result in the dreaded "eaten" cassette tape as the tape skews off of the barrelled worn pinch roller. Rubber pinch roller should be square to the capstan, in other words, *flat*.
**CLEAN the heads, tape path to include rubber pinch rollers w/alcohol and cotton swabs before *every* playback. Oxide buildup on the heads and tape path is not good for the next tape recording. Cleanliness is indeed next to Godliness when it comes to working with analog tape. Allow the path to dry thoroughly before attempting to run a precious tape through there. Only takes a couple or three minutes for that.
**Also get a tape path demagnetizing tool and use it on the deck's heads and capstan, tape guide path, before every session.
**First thing to do when you pop a Cassette in the deck is to FF it all the way to one end and then Rewind it all the way back. This is to put all the windings at the same tension as the deck operates. Can eliminate tape tension wow and flutter problems before they can rear their ugly little heads on your final recording. This should be done when recording any reel-based media, is especially important on tapes that have been sitting around in storage, for over time the tape windings can bind to each other, not a good thing when the transport is supposed to be moving the tape at an even speed across the tape head(s).
**fIND OUT IF THE TAPE WAS RECORDED USING DOLBY NOISE REDUCTION, AND IF SO, WHICH TYPE. Failure to play back using the same type of Dolby Noise Reduction will result in skewed EQ of the original recording. The same goes for tapes made with Ferrous-based, or Chromium-based, etc. and if you have those, the deck used should have the switch for the proper EQ curve of the various tape formats.
**LISTEN FIRST TO THE RAW DIGITAL RECORDING. Don't just blanket apply any noise reduction algo or anything else digital unless and until you have listened carefully to the raw digital recording and ascertained what's *wrong* with it. There may be little need to do anything at all here, maybe some tapes will sound good "as-is" while others not so good, etc. Make *decisions* rather than invoke some blanket set of algorithms to the entire batch.
But your hurdle to cross first is that cassette deck issue.
Get your hands on a rather decent one for the purpose, don't waste your precious time with a sub-par cassette deck -- and if it has only headphone jack output, it is very likely to be sub-par for this purpose.
--Mac
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Mac, that is one of the most helpful post's I've seen here on the PG forums. I have a client at the moment who is trying to do this and I'm going to make sure he reads your post.
Thanks so much!
Ed
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Hi Keith,
In addition to all the above good advice,the way to extract the best sound from a cassette is to use a deck that lets you adjust the azimuth of the playback head. Unless you get lucky and find a deck that just happens to be perfectly aligned to your cassettes, you're going to lose some high-frequency content because of the misalignment. That said, it can be tricky but well worth the effort if you're comfortable with having a go. The tiniest of adjustments is all that will be required.
I wouldn't recommend this if you were going to use the deck for subsequent recording but I've found it to be invaluable for ensuring your high's aren't lost during playback of cassettes from different machines. Of course, in an ideal world all decks would be calibrated the same but even high end machines are not immune to a little azimuth shift!
Kind Regards,
Dave.
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Quote:
Hi Keith,
In addition to all the above good advice,the way to extract the best sound from a cassette is to use a deck that lets you adjust the azimuth of the playback head.
*All* decks have a head azimuth alignment adjustment screw. At least all that are any good do.
Easy to tweak one, get the right sized jeweler's screwdriver, first *demagnetize* it, then while the cassette is playing back *in the center of the tape travel, not from either end* adjust that screw in either diretion while listening to the high frequency content. Sometimes helps to boost the treble control of your listening system temporarily so that you can hear this. Point where there is most treble content heard is the best place to leave the adjustment.
--Mac
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Thanks for all the great advice & information, guys. I'll start searching for a tape deck, and beg, borrow or buy. I'll let you know how I get along.
Cheers,
Keith
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