I have several cassette tapes that are original (my own recordings), no longer available for purchase, or will never be released on CD. I know there is stereo equipment out there that is a cassette tape/CD burner combo unit (a friend of mine has one), but (a) I’m not sure if this would be the way to go to transfer to CD’s (maybe I should digitize them to my computer first, then burn a CD from there?), and (b) I wouldn’t know where to start as far as what I should look for, how much it should cost, etc.
I have enough tapes that this would make it worthwhile to spend some money on a unit. Any suggestions/advice from folks out there?
In theoryall you need is a PC with a CD burner, a decent cassette deck, a cable to connect the ‘line out’ of this to the ‘line in’ of your soundcard.
I’d probably use a sound-editing utility like Audacity - this can record the incoming sound and gives you the ability to clean it up a little to remove hiss and other noise, then you export the captured sound from Audacity as a .wav file (or MP3 if space is an issue, but .wav is better), then (in WinXP) send the .wav files to the CD drive (WinXP will ask you if you want to write them to the CD as data or audio), or use Nero/NTI/Adaptec cd writing software to create an audio CD from the .wav files.
The main advantage the audio equipment has is that it is usually easier to use than a computer, though purists argue that different CD-convertors sound different–but this is really splitting hairs. Since your PC probably already has a soundcard with a line-in, any half-decent sound card will have better S/N than cassette tape and so you won’t really “lose quality” by using your PC. All you really need is a line to connect the tape player’s headphone connection to the computer soundcard’s line-in. Then turn the computer’s recording level up 1/3 of the way, and start with the tape player’s volume at zero and slowly turn it up until you get a decent signal.
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Some people have said that the WInXP CD-Media PLayer-thingy makes nonstandard files that don’t read properly by other programs/devices. I don’t know, I never used it myself, but considering MS’s history and future plans it certainly wouldn’t surprise me. -->At the least, expect anything you make with Windows Media Player to be playable only by Windows Media Player. I would say to try to find something else to use…
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The main advantage to digitizing it to your computer first, is you can use software such as cool edit to clean up the tape recording prior to burning it to cd, now that i actually read the other posts like Mangetout said but on a side note, check out cool edit pro…its a 64 track recording studio on your computer, and not very expensive at all.
This info could be outdated, cuz I cracked it and don’t care anymore, but you get 30 days trial on Cool Edit Pro, costs zero. So use those days to jam up your HD, fussy around with the sound, and then later burn onto CD at your executive leisure. (Why does the i before e except after c rule not apply to the word “leisure”?)
I did this with my wife’s cassette tape of her uncle’s 1979 recordings of his original folk songs - to make him a CD as a surprise.
I used MusicMatch, which has facilities for recording from either line in or microphone inputs to WAV and converting to MP3 and tagging. We even submitted the CD data (when done burning) to the CDDA database so there’s a tiny chance that his computer will look it up and find it when he puts it in his drive.
I appreciate the info. Does anybody have any experience with the specific stereo component I’m speaking of? I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking to see if it’s something I want to invest in. Even a place to go shopping for it would be helpful.
I got it from Brook Mays Music Group – don’t know if they have stores on the left coast, but surely there is some music dealer in San Diego. Brook Mays does mail-order, too.
I use it in teaching and making recordings of my school band. I’ve also used it’s line inputs to connect a cassette deck and make CD recordings of the tapes. The system did not add any noise to the recording and really made very fine copies. I burned the tracks I wanted to a CD-RW, then copied the tracks that I didn’t screw up onto a CDR for the final product. It was a bit time-consuming, but worked very well. The above link lists it at $1099, but I’ve seen them for around $800. It can also change the tempo and the key, if that interests you. You can also add CD text. Other than that, there is not a lot of editing or processing, such as hiss reduction, etc. Just give it a good signal and it will make an excellent CD without the hassle of using a computer.
I taught my 86 year old father in law how to do this with some tapes of performances of music he’s written. The result sounded great, even to him (and he has perfect pitch.) We used nothing more than what came on Windows 98, and he was able to do it on his own after I left.
You can use Apple’s free iTunes, or Toast Titanium , to burn the CD’s. Toast Titanium comes bundled with a program called Spin Doctor, which you can use to input your audio cassettes or LP’s to MP3.
but on a side note, check out cool edit pro…its a 64 track recording studio on your computer, and not very expensive at all.