I'm phasing out the obsolete hardware, and that includes my tape deck. I have several tapes with voice recordings that I'd like to encode to mp3 by encoding the output into a nomad jukebox 3 (as wav) and uploading and encoding the wavs on the computer. I've already read some useful posts, particularly these two (Lame setting suggestion... & converting old sermon tapes to mp3). In these posts, the following switches are suggested:

--alt-preset standard -b 32
-b 8 -h --athlower -50 --abr 38 -B 64 --resample 22 --lowpass 7.5 -m m -a

Which one of these is better, or can someone recommend a different one?

Also, when recording to wav I have the option of choosing a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz. Would 48 kHz yield higher quality when resampling? And lastly, I can apply Dolby Noise Reduction B, C or S on the tape deck. As I recall, B should be used both for recording and playback, C I know nothing about, and S should be used only for one of those two, but I can't remember which. None of my tapes were recorded with Dolby NR. Can someone shade some light on the situation?

Edit: I have a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy sound card; does that qualify?

Thanks for your help!

if none were recorded with any type of Dolby NR turned on, then you should not have any type turned on while playing them. Turning Dolby B noise reduction on when the tape wasn't recorded with it will only de-emphasize the frequencies that would have originally been boosted by recording with Dolby B. You'll get the best results with no noise reduction on if there were no noise reduction methods turned on while recording took place.

<edit> 44.1KHz is probably what you'll want to use if you're ever going to be inclined to put them on CDs in addition to encoding to mp3. And I'd go with --alt-preset -b 32, personally.

<edit> you didn't mention your soundcard, but if it's one of the bad 48KHz resamplers then you'll probably want to record in 48KHz and then use SSRC to convert to 44.1 afterwards

I'm not sure what settings you'd want to use precisely, but


Yes.
All Dolby Noise Reduction types for consumer tape decks should be used both during recording and during playback to get the full intended effect.
Dolby B is pretty poor, but Dolby C is somewhat better. Dolby S is quite good.
Dolby NR was the original term used to describe Dolby B, IIRC.
Dolby HX-Pro is the "headroom extension" and is not used in playback, only during recording, but is always totally automatic and is not associated with Tape Noise Reduction.
The bottom line is: if you recorded a tape with noise reduction, use that type of noise reduction during playback if you can.
You can find more information over here.

Once again, I forgot to check the official source. I encoded them with --alt-preset standard -b32 and the results quite good. Thanks!