OT--analog/digital conversion

[davelittel]

I have some materials on cassette tape that I would like to get onto my ipod. Does anyone know of a reasonable cheap way of converting audio from a cassete into a digital format? Thanks!

[Dirk]

> I have some materials on cassette tape that
> I would like to get onto my ipod. Does
> anyone know of a reasonable cheap way of
> converting audio from a cassete into a
> digital format? Thanks!

I recommend Audacity. Google it. It's a great audio editor that happens to be free. Very powerful, so knowing a bit about digital audio is a big help.

Basically, you'll plug your tape player into your PC. Record each song, save as MP3. Personally, I think the hardest part about the process is just getting the mixer set up properly in windows. Audacity also has a lot of great filters & digital processing that can do a lot to clean up "old" audio. If you're a Mac guy, I think there's an OSX port of it, as well.

[jonpike]

Yep, Dirk's setting you on the right track. Haven't played with Audacity yet, I also hear Goldwood (?) is another decent free audio editing program. I'm a Cool Edit guy, too bad Adobe bought them and left only a >$400 version..

Basically, you need a program to record with... and preferably do trimming, fade in and out, and noise reduction as other nice features.

Tips I would suggest: If you have a line in, use that instead of a Mic in. If only a Mic in, turn off whatever extra gain it might have. Play around with/Set your levels carefully, it can make a difference to how good the result sounds. Clipping is bad! Lots of dynamic range is good!

Hope that helps...

[Dirk]

> Yep, Dirk's setting you on the right track.
> Haven't played with Audacity yet, I also
> hear Goldwood (?) is another decent free
> audio editing program. I'm a Cool Edit guy,
> too bad Adobe bought them and left only a
> >$400 version..

> Basically, you need a program to record
> with... and preferably do trimming, fade in
> and out, and noise reduction as other nice
> features.

> Tips I would suggest: If you have a line in,
> use that instead of a Mic in. If only a Mic
> in, turn off whatever extra gain it might
> have. Play around with/Set your levels
> carefully, it can make a difference to how
> good the result sounds. Clipping is bad!
> Lots of dynamic range is good!

> Hope that helps...

Goldwave, IIRC. I used it around '96 for my first real audio editing. From there, I went on to CoolEdit. I had forgotten all about them. Mainly because Audacity is a.) open source and b.) really good. It's got FFT visualization. Handy if you REALLY want to know more about what you're listening to. There for a while I was doing wedding montage DVDs, and being able to do pitch / playback adjustments and fade between multiple tracks was VERY handy.

[djjustice]

The sound card also plays a part in the recording from the microphone input. I use a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. Works good, but I want to upgrade to a X-Fi and a new computer when I get the money.....

[Dirk]

> The sound card also plays a part in the
> recording from the microphone input. I use a
> Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. Works good, but I
> want to upgrade to a X-Fi and a new computer
> when I get the money.....

Not really. I don't think they make a soundcard anymore that is incapable of capturing all the fidelity of a cassette tape. Not since 8-bit was big.

[davelittel]

> Not really. I don't think they make a
> soundcard anymore that is incapable of
> capturing all the fidelity of a cassette
> tape. Not since 8-bit was big.

Ah the wonders of the digital age. Here I thought I was going to have to buy hardware.

Thanks to all.

[Dirk]

> Ah the wonders of the digital age. Here I
> thought I was going to have to buy hardware.

> Thanks to all.

Well, if you WANTED to, there's this:
<A HREF="http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/85fb/">http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/85fb/</A>

this:
<A HREF="http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/drives/7a8d/">http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/drives/7a8d/</A>

and (I can't believe it exists), this:
<A HREF="http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/8be8/">http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/8be8/</A>

Then again, as you've noticed, not everybody realizes how simple a process it can be.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you run into any hiccups.