Hello just wondering if anyone had a product or review of software/hardware that would allow you
to hook up your cassette player of turntable to the PC and convert to MP3 ?

This forum has quite a few threads addressing both the basics and many in-depth details (some rather current), as do various other sources. Basically you just plug the output of a cassette player or phono preamp into the line-in of your soundcard and record. All recording applications will capture the basic data the same way, except that some don't handle 24 bit data so you will only get 16 bit regardless of the soundcard. There are of course, many details, but it might be more instructive to first read a little of the great volume that already exists, then ask some more directed questions.

Making mp3s cannot be done until the data is on the computer, as above. There are some applications that will hide this from you, recording, encoding to mp3, then deleting the recording so you can't see it, but this can not be recommended for these sources. If you ever want to improve the quality -- take care of noise and clicks, adjust the level, EQ, etc. etc. -- mp3 is a very poor way to go. You should convert to mp3 only after you are satisfied you have exactly the audio you want because you can't properly do it afterwards.

Hey cowpoke.

Dittos to what AndyH-ha said, and to add my .02

....Hardware -
It really isn't too complicated. If your device has "Line-Out" and your soundcard has
"Line-In" you should be good to go as far as hardware. I wouldn't waste time trying to
"record" externally from speakers or a microphone if that is your only option, barrow
a good cassette player and use good cables.

....Software -
There's lots of options, here are a few. You can learn more about the setup from the
software support page of the program you use. Get to know your soundcard's control
panel also. I have used - "Audacity" - ($)"Sony Sound Forge " - ($)"Adobe Audition"

Audacity does a good job of creating usable PCM Wav files to edit if need be before you
do your final encoding to "flac" or "mp3" or whatever, and it is free. I think EAC has
a "sound" editor you might be able to use.

For recording from cassette:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

For cleaning up your wav files:
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/index.php/...w/sound-editor/

If you really want to spend the money for a Pro tool - not really needed the above do a
great job.
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/

TIP:
You will need to experiment with your "Input" and "Output" settings.
Also, you will be happiest with your final product if you spend the time
cleaning up your "audio" files if they contain artifacts (unwanted noise).

Make sure your "Source" signal is as strong as can be without distorting - 0.0 db or only
slightly above. I have found it is easier to add volume to a quiet file rather than try to
remove distortion.

I like to use my finger to gently move "back" or "forward" the tape using the "gear" instead
of hammering the actual tape material by using the cassette drive. This also allows me to
quickly place the tape at a point so I can begin recording with some silence like a CD - you
can "cut" later if need be. You will want a bit of silence at both ends of your audio.

NOTE: Experiment with "Copies" of your wav files so you have a fresh file to "Try Again"
with. When you like what you hear use an "original" copy and apply your settings "Once" - IMO.
I have copied 30 to 40 cassettes this way and I'm very happy with the result.

Hope this helps...

Mike

Thanks for the help,
So I'm gathering that this would be a 2 step process.

1) record the music to the PC, which ends up in a Wav...? format

2) then convert to MP3

Is this correct ?

p.s. Have you heard of the Xitel INport software ? I think this would work as well,
any reviews ?

1. Record music to the PC (Yes, in WAV format)
(1.5) Split WAV into individual tracks (optional)
2. Clean up audio with audition, sound forge, audacity, etc.
3. Convert to MP3 (optional)

I'm not familiar with Xitel INport. I'd stick with the software I listed in step 2. There's not much you can't do with those three.

I would say that device is mostly a fairly typical inexpensive USB soundcard except that
it doesn't have any output capability at all and
it has the ground loop isolation transformers
such long interconnects could easily be more expensive than the total package.
The transformers could be a nice addition, but in fact any need for such things is not very frequent. Also, I would like to see some data on their performance. The INport manufacturer carefully fails to provide any specifications what-so-ever, always very suspicious. I would suspect some real limitations with frequency response.

I am also suspicious of the recording applet's ability to correctly control the signal level. To work properly, there must be some feedback to the hardware, which would have to have level control in the analogue domain. All in all this seems quite doubtful because this requires kit rather somewhat more costly than could be included in such an inexpensive bundle.

They don't mention that a phono preamp is necessary for LPs, assuming you already have one, I guess.

If you want to assure the best quality mp3s, use LAME rather than the software they sell you.



Look at this test
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1231751,00.asp
The device is rather noisy, even for LP and cassette recording.

From Gtr~Mike:

Redoubled in No Trumps!

You probably know about getting the recording level right on analogue tape. What you might not know is that analogue tape has 'soft' limiting. As you push up the level the wave peaks are progressively rounded off and the effect is a gradual increase in odd harmonic distortion. (For the mathematically minded, the transfer function is approximately B.tanh-1(x) where B is tape saturation.) It is common practice to allow the level meters to go 'into the red' on short-lived peaks rather than lose quieter passages in tape noise.

Digital recording doesn't work like this. If you set your level too high the peaks will be sliced straight off. It will sound terrible and there is no easy way to correct it later. Even on a standard 16 bit sound card you have lots of dynamic range to play with so keep the level low enough to avoid clipping.

For a ton of information about recording (and "cleaning-up") LPs, take a look at this web page. Some of this information applies to cassettes too.

After recording, I almost always check for clipping, and then I normalize. I check the peak level in the file, and if the peak is 0dB I assume the file is clipped* and I start-over and re-record at a lower level. ...Normalizing means adjusting the volume level of the already-recorded file so that the peaks are at (or near) the digital maximum of 0dB.

After that, I'll usually try some noise reduction or (or noisegate). You can sometimes get artifacts (side effects) from noise reduction, so sometimes it's best just to leave it alone.

Many older recordings sound "dull", and I'll often use an equalizer (part of your audio editing software) to add some high-end boost. However, this will also boost the noise.

Since this process is time-consuming (especially if you do much processing to "fix-up" the sound) and since MP3 is lossy compression, I would strongly recommend that you make an archive CD while you are at it.

If you do a lot of processing, you might want to make an unprocessed (or minimally processed) CD in addition to a processed archive CD. You can sometimes get artifacts that you don't notice right away, or you might realize later that you over-did it.

Note that some processing can increase the volume and cause clipping. For example, boosting the bass will often cause clipping. If this happens, you may have to reduce the level before processing, but your particular audio editing software may have different ways of dealing with this.


* Clipping is flat-topped waves (overload distortion) that come from trying to exceed the digital maximum. It gets a bit tricky, because decibels (dB) is a relative measure, and 0dB is not always the digital maximum. In 16-bit software, 0dB is almost always maximum. But, if you have professional 24-bit hardware and software, you may have headroom above 0dB. Sometimes you'll see "0dBFS", which means 0dB Full Scale. This is a more precise way to say it.

A peak level of 0dB doesn't mean there has definitely been clipping, although I agree that the chances are fairly unlikely that the peak recording level managed to hit exactly 0dB.

Also, a quick warning that this technique won't work with all soundcards. There are plenty around which exhibit some sort of analogue clipping or saturation well below 0dB (eg. most Creative cards based on the Ensoniq 137x chipset clip somewhere around the -2dB mark).

As always when doing recordings, whether analogue or digital: know your equipment and work to its capabilities/limitations.

look on this site http://www.difitec.de/wavepurity/eng/index.htm

Dear cowpoke,
You must have understood by now the general procedure for transfering the data on the tape to the computer. The major difficulty is the adjustment of levels. If you can reduce the recording level very fast at high sound levels and slowly increase the volume level during quiet times, it will be good. There is a program that can do this automatically: Harddiskogg, from http://www.fridgesoft.de . Try that program if you want to record at as high a level as possible without overloading.
--Rigapada

With all due respect, I very strongly disagree with this advice. Gain riding like this destroys the dynamics of the music. Just set a proper level where the loudest part peaks close to (but not at) 0dB and leave it alone. (Or, if you have a soundcard with an analogue saturation problem, set peak levels somewhere around -3dB).

I would also argue against recording with any kind of automatic gain control. This is something you can easily do AFTER you have your audio in digital format. Here's a few other things you should do:

1) Use the best tape deck you can get your hands on. There is no way to restore high frequencies that the tape head never picked up.

2) Consider tweaking the head azimuth to suit the tape. In theory there should be just one perfect setting but I've found variations in azimuth between different pre-recorded tapes. Be sure you can put it back afterwards.

3) CLEAN THE HEAD!

Yes. I have used EAC to record an album that years ago I had recorded onto VHS. Eac with my Lynx card, recorded the whole album flawlessly. I have also used EAC to record voice mail from the hands free output of my Blackberry.

It is easy: tools/ record wav.