CDs from old cassettes

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 06:52 PM

I've got to make CD's for old cassettes, old vinyl, and old reel-to-reel tapes. Yes, I have a reel-to-reel tape recorder....

Some of the stuff just isn't available any more. Like "Mass in F Minor" by the Electric Prunes or the various versions of "Hair".

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 05:38 PM

"Next time I'll run cables from the good sound system in the living room to the computer."

You need to have high quality cables to run any distance, or you will have some losses. I'd prefer to have the 2 boxes very close, but that is not always practical I know.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 02:05 PM

I've been wondering what to get Art for St. Swithin's Day.

Jerry

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 01:58 PM

Hey, Stilly: COunt me in... PM your address to me and I'll mail you a check..

I still(no pun intended, but when I think of Art, they come out) think of you as Silly River Stage. I can see it pulling in to town right now..

Jerry

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Cluin
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 12:41 PM

I am trying top figure out if the Dr. is being sarcastic or really recommending the software.

Foolestroupe, I guess I wasn't too clear in my post above.

I have a VHS to DVD-R/DVD-RW machine, which will copy videotapes (without copy protection) to DVD for me, but editing on it is clumsy. So I copy the whole tape (a home movie, etc.) to the DVD-R or DVD-RW, then import it to the PC for editing in the video editing software that came with the Roxio package (VideoWave). While the software for editing is nice, it's the capture software that creates the synch problem.

Because I need an editable digital video file, like an MPEG-2 or AVI file, I have to use Roxio's video capture utility to convert the DVD files to that form. That's when the audio goes out of synch because digital videos employ a separate time code each for audio and video. In the conversion, they lose sight of each other. And it's not a constant gap; it gets worse as the duration goes on, i.e. the gap between video and audio grows wider as it plays (at the beginning, it's negligible, at the end it is several seconds apart after an hour).

So I guess I either need a better capture utility and/or a better video editing program. But Adobe Premier is around a grand, $Can.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 12:29 PM

I started experimenting with transferring cassettes to CD last year (BB--before burglary) and was having modest success. I was using a cassette player on a system in my office that isn't the best, no equalizer abilities. Next time I'll run cables from the good sound system in the living room to the computer. That way I can do the lion's share of the correction (hiss and pop and various levels) on the good equalizer, minimizing what I have to do with software later.

I'll chip in if some folks want to go ahead and buy a copy of the Roxio software to send to Art Thieme. I'd like to see him start getting those tapes of his transferred.

SRS

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: artbrooks
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 12:22 PM

Dear Dr. Quelch...is that different from the one I recommended above?

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Amos
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 12:15 PM

KT,

If you can't get MAGIX for your Mac, you can do just as well with a tape player plugged into a little adapter called an iMic, which then plugs into your USB port. You play the taped song while capturing it on the Mac using, for example, Sound Studio, or any other Mac audio recording program.

For cleaning out hisses, pops and such, nothing out there I've seen beats SoundSoap, made for that very purpose.

A

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: GUEST,Dr.Quelch
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 12:02 PM

Cassettes to cd? Try MAGIX Audio Cleaning lab/10 deluxe. Absolute doddle. Piece of p---.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 08:16 AM

Hmmm, the sound and the picture are offset on film as you need a constant speed for the sound, but the film is pulled thru the gate jerkily for the picture.

I thought that the transfer would handle that properly though - unless something is wrong with the transfer from film - unless it is correct on the DVD made as the transfer, and then screws up when you put it on disk.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Cluin
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 11:19 PM

A bit of drift here...

I've got the Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 package too, and it's great for making CDs, burning discs and the like.

However, I'm less satisfied with the video editing capabilities of the package. The video capture included usually creates synch problems with the soundtrack and video. The sound is often ahead of the video by several seconds when it captures the video data and saves it as editable MPEG-2 files.

I'm talking about home movies that have been transferred from video tape to DVD-R or DVD-RW, then copied to the hard drive for editing. The DVD creation software doesn't work very well either. The final product looks pretty crappy, compared to the source DVD used.

Looks like I'll have to look for more dedicated software for that purpose.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 10:55 PM

Hey, Art: The cost is already posted, which is a considerable drop for when the software came out a few months ago at close to $100. I am still learning how the system works, but it really is pretty simple to use. I had done a CD with 13 songs on and am trying different spacing between songs and fade in and fade outs on recordings that may start out distorted or end oddly. The great thing is that you can listen to the CD and go back and re-edit individual tracks if you're not satisifred.. (satisfied, but I kinda liked satisfred better..) The down side on expense is that you have to use a 48x speed blank CD. The really cheap ones I use for making copies aren't fast enough to keep up with the burning. That requires some shopping around to get the best price. Even then, you may end up having to pay a dollar to a dollar and a half for a CD that can store 80 minutes of music... still a great buy.

Most of all, it's fun to actually be able to make something work right on a computer. I'll send you a copy of this first one when I make a few changes. Many of the songs are ones that I've sent you over the years on cassette.

And thank everyone for other suggested software. It helps a lot to know that someone has used a software package successfully. You also know who to e-mail when you run into a problem :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Effsee
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 09:11 PM

Sorry, Giok.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Effsee
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 09:11 PM

I'll second that giok! Easy Peasy.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 07:25 PM

I too am in the process of doing this with the Magix system which is great, and so simple, I heartily recommend it folks.
Giok

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: wordfella
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 06:57 PM

All of the audio-mix programs will work. It's just time-intensive.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: artbrooks
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 06:50 PM

I am working my way through the vinyl using Magix Audio Cleaning Lab (now $40 at Best Buy, but I got it on sale for about $25). I've also done a few cassettes using the same program, and am very happy with it.    It has features similar to what Jerry describes for the Roxio program.   LPs work best with a cable run from the "record-out" on the tuner to the "mic-in" on the computer, but cassettes don't have quite enough gain that way. I've had good results by running the line directly from the cassette deck's "line-out" instead. The current price from costco.com for Roxio Easy Media Creator is $79.95, with a $15 rebate.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: GUEST,KT
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 06:44 PM

Good on ya Jerry! I've been sitting here looking at about 6 boxes of tapes that have so much goodf stuff on 'em, but have't figured out how to convert to CD. Let me know when you're finished with yours...since you're having FUN doing it, I've got about a zillion you can convert for me!!   Actually, that could be a pretty lucative business for someone!

KT

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: Duane D.
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 05:08 PM

Jerry, I have the same problem, I need to archive my old cassettes onto CDs. Do you have any suggestions for a decent quality, currently available cassette deck with a decent drive system, that I can interface to my computer? All my cassettes are analog, no DAT. Many of my cassettes have deteriorated to the point where interior reels don't turn freely. I figure I'll pry open the case and replace the guts into a case that screws together and then use that case as a master for all the other sticky ones. Thanks.

Duane.

Oh, BTW, I thought you'd like to know, if you hadn't heard this in another earlier post, I've joined up with a yahoo group of collectors of mp3 archives of the Dr. Demento radio shows. I've since received 3 distributions of mp3 DVDs and CDs, such a wealth of old and obscure songs, many to learn. There's enough material to learn to last the remainder of my lifetime. AND, 2 of Art Thieme's songs were played on that show and are somewhere in the archives.

Subject: RE: CDs from old cassettes
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 04:42 PM

Jerry,

How cheap is it?? As you know, that's a major factor for me.

And how easy? As you also know, I know how to get e-mail and that's about it!

Right now I'm sitting here looking at just about a thousand cassettes waiting to be converted. (That is an accurate number.) After all the times I've posted to Mudcat threads before and/or without thinking enough about what I'm saying, it should be apparent to most of you out there in cyberland that I've got WAY too much time on my hands!!

This sounds like just the project I need to keep me occupied and sending the collected things I've saved out to friends, like you, and, maybe, to the Library of Congress Archive Of Folk Culture as well.

AQrt

Subject: CDs from old cassettes
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 03:30 PM

Yes, I know that there are just short of 8 million threads on home recording. This one will be brief and very specific. Like most of us, I have just short of 7 million cassette recordings of stuff I've recorded at home on various tape recorders, and umpty-dozen tapes of concerts that I've done. I've used various computer software through time to burn CDs from cassettes but felt frustrated with the lack of ability to freshen the sound, remove the tape hiss and edit individual tracks.

A couple of months ago I bought Roxio Easy Media Creator 8. Before that, I bought a stupid expletives-deleted Cakewalk Pro for my computer and could never get the stupid expletive-deleted thing to work. The Easy Media Creator is just that... easy. Even for Senor Wences. Better yet, it has a lot of controls for not only eliminating clicks and hiss and editing the start and end of each track, but a ten-bar equalizer. I just finished putting together a CD of my own stuff and it's been great fun. One of the tapes I used is from when I was working with Luke Faust back in the early 60's. It's a tape copied from reel to reel onto a Radio Shack normal bias tape which is in itself close to 40 years old. Radio Shack electronic equipment is just a smidge better than Fischer-Price, so I was very pleased to be able to get a reasonably listenable sound from it.

Now, I'm excited! I have about 6.9 pounds of music cassettes with old performances, tracks never released on my albums, and just messing-around stuff with friends. It's all going on CD.

If you are like me - electronics-challenged, I'd highly recommend this software. It's been reduced in price substantially and is a great investment.

Jerry