Eye of newt.....

[chris h]

I've recently received a bunch of audio cassettes for an Open University course I'm doing. With my past experience of audio tape reliability I want to put the contents of the tapes on the hard drive of my computer. I've got the hardware required cassette player, lead etc but what software is required or will Microsoft Media player handle it.

Thanks...

[BigAl]

Get some kind of sound editor such as WaveLab Lite. At least you'll be able to chop your wav up into tracks if you want to burn it to CD. I like WaveLabe Lite as it has level controls built into the record dialog.

You should check your Nero s/w. I'm sure it will have sound recording capabilities.

[G. Couch]

I have been using a program called Media Jukebox to help my brother record his music. It's pretty basic but works well. We just plug his 4 track into the line in port and start recording.

I'm going to have to check out WaveLab Lite...sounds a little better!

[chris h]

I've got my hands on a prehistoric copy of Cool Edit Pro and managed to pull the audio off the cassette. The audio quality off the hard drive is a bit harsh but I assume thats my inept configuration of the software. Cool Edit Pro is still available in an updated form but this ancient version (1997) seems to do the job.

[d_kendal]

hey chris,

actually, I was going to recommend cool edt anyway. it's a good program. if the quality isn't great there's filters in cool edit pro to get rid of noise / clicks and pops etc. Another thing that can affect sound quality is the Windows sound settings. under Volume control, then Microphone, disable the Mic Boost. if it's on and you're using you're mic line in to record from, it can really mess up your recordings.

- David

[chris h]

Thanks for the insight David I'll check the settings. Essentially I want to burn the stuff onto CDr so I can listen to the content in the car and at the same time have the data on something more stable than cassette.

[BigAl]

Chris, what are you using as a playback device? An amp or a portable cassette player? An amp would be better, using it's tape deck's out ports to the line-in on your sound card. Make sure the inut levels aren't to high (double click on the speaker icon in the task tray). There's nothing worse than digital clipping, and it sounds like that's what you're hitting. If you are using the mic-in, David's advice is good but again, check those levels.

Greg, you should maybe check out Diamond Cut ver 5 for audio restoration (you can check out the specs on the Tracertek site). WaveLab is made by Steinberg, but I can't find it on their site anymore (very painful site to use - probably made by a professional ). I got WaveLab Lite with my soundcard and with Clean! software which I bought, but don't use.

[chris h]

Al, The input to the soundcard is a recording Sony Walkman WM-D6C considered exotic in its day, prehistoric now! I’m afraid using a connection from my hi-fi isn’t probably worth the effort as both are in separate rooms.

I’ve burned the tape contents onto CDr and I’ll see what the results are like. The contents are spoken word so whether that will make any difference I’ll soon find out.

10 minutes later....

Alas my car cd player doesn’t recognise .wav or mp3 versions so I’m looking for something to convert the files to .cda.

This ‘simple’ job is turning into an epic !!!

[BigAl]

cda is a microsoft (or plextor - can't remember) invention so that you could "look" at audio tracks from the windows explorer. They don't really exist.

Go into Nero and create an audio CD (I think you've created a data CD). You then just drag the wav(s) into the audio CD layout and burn the CD.

If I'm wrong, it could also be that your car player doesn't like CD-R discs. Mine is happy with CD-R, but not CD-RW.

[chris h]

Thanks Al I recall getting a CDr full of MP3 files and burning a disc that my in car player was happy with. My in car player is an Alpine and it happily plays CDr's. I only got it when burning became common I'd never leave 20 or 30 master copies in the car as if stolen it would be £500 gone whereas value of burned blanks is about 15pence each.

[chris h]

Hallelujah we have lift off Al !

Followed your suggestion with Nero and no problems although the converted file only shows as 1k presumably a product of the conversion. Plays fine on the Alpine but the volume level is very un-linear i.e. quiet on level 4 deafening on 5 but apart from that the audio quality is good enough for the car.
I don’t think I’ll be applying for the job of record producer just yet !