Group,
This is a sort of cheat post that is a copy of one I posted on usenet. I'm
not getting much there so decided to see if someone can help me here:
--
I suspect I'm greenhorning things up here and hope someone with some
experience will take time to straighten me out.

I'm trying to record from a collection of homemade cassette tapes to
computer file. That is, to mp4 or something similar.

The mechanics of recording are ok and I understand what to do but,
I find that getting from tape to electronic file causes the volume capabililties
to weaken. That is, on tape I can lift the roof with medium high volume,
but once recorded to mp4 or *.wav I need pretthy high volume just to hear normally.

The hardware is a sony stand alone cassete deck. TC WE-475
Soundcard is SB Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro
OS = windows xp pro

I've used software that is supposed to allow you to compensate
somewhat. Goldwave, and SB Audigy2 soundcard bundled software that is
a recorder/player with a slide for setting input level. Cubassis wave studio
light, Also nero 6 tools mixer and wave studioi.

Most of above have some form of record level adjustment.
I find the amount of ajustment is very small. In some cases it seems
to be non-existent.

I'm thinking this is really a hardware problem. That I need something
in between that can boost the signal or something.

Maybe something like the cards suggested in a post here [on usenet -ed HP
rec.video.desktop]:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=produc...&ID=pciinterfac

Do these kind of cards have capability to make incoming tape data not loose
volume or in some way increase gain I guess. (not sure if that is the
correct term)

Thinking about that I realized I don't really have a clue what I'm
doing.

What is a normal way or tried and tested way of doing this? That is, adjusting
recording level so that on playback one has normal ranges of volume control.
Can software do that? Or is it a hardware signal boost of some kind that does
that sort of thing?

I don't know much about sound cards, but I've used Wavegain to correct low volume from analog sources, cassette and LP.

Well,this link is kind of alphabet for transfering tapes-lps to cd.It will illustrate all processes from source to burning to cd with all additional processes like audio editing and volume normalizing.Still,using a audio editor you can very simple check if you got a hardware problem
http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm

Ripped CDs (no replaygain, no normalisation) sound as loud as they are mastered, and can give you an idea of the output level of your soundcard. This way, you can know if the problem is on the playback side, or on the recording side.
Keep in mind that it is normal for a recording of a tape to sound quieter than a ripped CD on a computer. CDs are mastered insanely loud, nowadays.

If its that your cassette player is putting out sound sans amplification (as would a record player) you may end up wanting a gadget to fix that. I settled on http://www.dak.com/reviews/2020story.cfm , a handheld sized tool from DAK for $70. Its designed to handle line in and phono inputs (w/ground), and to shield your sound card from the ac waves. DAK can be a bit cheesy and the bundled software is lousy, but the gadget itself works just fine. It let me move the phono and cassette drives to my back office for input to the computer without carting the entire stereo system along.

Raederle

Cassette decks ouput line out levels. No need for an external amplifier.

First look for the peak level of the recording. It should be no less than -3 db. If it is, then look if the SB Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro can amplify its input (is the line input recording volume (not playback volume) already at maximum ?).