Convert Cassettes To Digital Options

[maheshks]

Friends;
I have many musical files downloaded from internet / recorded from cassettes into low bit rates as low as 16 to 64 kbps and later on written on to CDs. Some of the audio/video/DVD players are not able detect these files when these CDs are put into them and therefore not able to play them. Is there any player available in the market which can play such CDs? The other option obviously is converting them into higher bit rates which may result in loss in audio quality as I am told. I require suggestions.

--Balaji

Balaji reduce the burning speed to 16 kbps in case of audio files and 8 kbps
in case of video file. This should solve your problem.

[deewani]

acha ek aur sawal how do you manage to get so clear songs from Cassette. Can you tell in brief abt technical detials......like sound card , software, and cassette player name etc plz

I wrote about it some time back here:
https://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?s=&a...st&p=255775
If you have any questions just ask there. As far as cassette player, the older Aiwa's (mid to late 90s) are my favorite. I think any older Technics/Panasonic decks would be great too. Cassette rippers on the web prefer the high end Onkyo Integra TA-2056 which I have as well, but that unit basically serves as a forwarding/rewinding deck for me, as the Aiwa comes out clearer and crisper. The soundcard that came with my PC is a Realtek and has HD Audio, 5.1 sound.The 3 things you mentioned are important, sound card, software, cass player, but so are the cables, even though many choose not to believe it. Also listening to it on headphones is a must to see how it's coming out. . . Baaqi depends on the source - the condition and quality of the OST (original soundtrack). Software, I use an older program inside Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum called Spin Doctor, part of Soundstream, current Nero programs have a tape to CD wizard, many recommend Audition and Soundforge as well.

Thanks Dewaani for the information.
Acha ek baat batao . I got BPL Sterio system. 200+ watt( dont laugh ok :-( ). got onboard sound card Ac97,(2.1), all cables and will your software also.. Do you think I will be able to get the same Quality of sound like your songs??
( sterioi system in good condition..if req I can borrow from my frd also ?? )
Do you edit/clean your songs after recording ????
( sorry for off topic Q....but mere dimaag technical nehi hai jayda : D )
Please take your time. jayda pareshan nehi karna chhta
Sonu

Sorry Sonu, I don't have any experience with BPL, perhaps someone else can advise you on that. The software should work fine, it just captures the sound card's input. As far as cleaning, I use Adobe Audition, only the NR feature, nothing else, and I apply it fairly lightly. I don't believe in playing with anything like bass, treble, amplifying levels, normalization, cloning channels, etc, etc, because like Omkar, I like to have the best recording of the cassette itself, an organic recording, if you will. Some people may not like that about my recordings, but that's too bad. Bottom line is this: Are you happy with the recording you have made? Because in the end, it's you who recorded the music for your own enjoyment, right?? The complaints I have received about my recordings are miniscule compared to the numer of raves I receive. I am constantly being asked my method, which is why I posted that tutorial here as well. Please go through this thread when you have time, there are links to offline tutorials for various things contained in the posts of this thread too like NR, and recording with Audition. And then, if you have more questions, please post them here, thanks.

Let me tell u guys what I did to convert almost all my cassettes to mp3.

First of all, I totally agree with Deewaniji.. AIWA has has no comparison. I have recorded many things on my AIWA cassette player it has always given me crispy clear sound.... I remember when I recorded Amit Kumar's Harmony show just by keeping the record player in front of my BPL FHR TV speakers.. The recording was awesome....

When I decided to convert my cassettes, I could not find a good AIWA player.. So my second choise was Panasonic but unfortunately I cud not get hold of a the music player (I was not expecting a BIG system, but the traditional GOOD quality player).. I found one fantastic SONY player which was very much traditional and made exclusively for cassettes... It had a Bass and Treble control buttons as well.. I was too happy to hear the sound quality of that player.. Then bought a verrry good sound cable and an external good quality sound card (Disabled the on-board which is generally an ordinary sound card)...... Initially when I tested the recording using Musicmatch software which came with my iPod, i did not get good results; the sound was too loud and crackled a lot ... I tested it in different ways.... Finally I found out that if I control the sound of my tape recorder, I can record the exact recording that I had in my cassettes... If you guys notice, there is always a HISS sound while playing cassettes. I did not even remove that HISS. All my cassettes recordings are having that HISS but still I wanted them to be as it is... One can reduce the treble and reduced the hiss or use software to clean the HISS.. But I am happy with as it is at the moment..

As far as what you have mentioned Omkar, if one's stereo has a true LINE OUT coming from the cassette player (see the picture in my tutorial), then the volume on the cassette player should have NO EFFECT on the recording volume (nor should any settings such as bass, treble, etc on the stereo) - the input level on your PC recording volume alone will determine this. If, on the other hand, one is using another way of getting the sound from the cassette player, such as a microphone jack or headphone jack, then every setting on the cassette player WILL affect the recording. Which is why I choose a true LINE OUT, cuts down all such variables and it's very purpose is served. It's very important to me. Many so called "tech gurus" often lump the line out/headphone jack as the same thing, THEY ARE NOT!! I have all 3 on my stereo: LINE OUT, Microphone Jack, Headphone Jack, each serves a DIFFERENT purpose. And then input levels can be monitored using the recording software such as I've written in the post I referred to. (Musicmatch software came with your iPOD?, that's like impossible, lol. Apple would never have endorsed that). But if one does not have a line out, then the headphone jack becomes a viable option, but as you have said, one has to play with the settings on the player itself in addition to adjustments on the pc to strike the right balance.



Even if one owns an iPod and then connects it to a car stereo via the headphone jack of the iPod, or connects it to their home stereo, the sound quality will differ compared to getting a pure line out sound which can only come from it's docking port, hence the need for an ipod Dock, or for example something like this:
http://www.sendstation.com/us/products/poc...lineout-fw.html Otherwise, you have to play with both the volume on the iPod, and the volume on your car stereo or home stereo to enjoy the sound via speakers.

[OMkar]

acha ek aur sawal how do you manage to get so clear songs from Cassette. Can you tell in brief abt technical detials......like sound card , software, and cassette player name etc plz

I wrote about it some time back here:
https://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?s=&a...st&p=255775
If you have any questions just ask there. As far as cassette player, the older Aiwa's (mid to late 90s) are my favorite. I think any older Technics/Panasonic decks would be great too. Cassette rippers on the web prefer the high end Onkyo Integra TA-2056 which I have as well, but that unit basically serves as a forwarding/rewinding deck for me, as the Aiwa comes out clearer and crisper. The soundcard that came with my PC is a Realtek and has HD Audio, 5.1 sound.The 3 things you mentioned are important, sound card, software, cass player, but so are the cables, even though many choose not to believe it. Also listening to it on headphones is a must to see how it's coming out. . . Baaqi depends on the source - the condition and quality of the OST (original soundtrack). Software, I use an older program inside Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum called Spin Doctor, part of Soundstream, current Nero programs have a tape to CD wizard, many recommend Audition and Soundforge as well.

Thanks Dewaani for the information.
Acha ek baat batao . I got BPL Sterio system. 200+ watt( dont laugh ok :-( ). got onboard sound card Ac97,(2.1), all cables and will your software also.. Do you think I will be able to get the same Quality of sound like your songs??
( sterioi system in good condition..if req I can borrow from my frd also ?? )
Do you edit/clean your songs after recording ????
( sorry for off topic Q....but mere dimaag technical nehi hai jayda : D )
Please take your time. jayda pareshan nehi karna chhta
Sonu

Sorry Sonu, I don't have any experience with BPL, perhaps someone else can advise you on that. The software should work fine, it just captures the sound card's input. As far as cleaning, I use Adobe Audition, only the NR feature, nothing else, and I apply it fairly lightly. I don't believe in playing with anything like bass, treble, amplifying levels, normalization, cloning channels, etc, etc, because like Omkar, I like to have the best recording of the cassette itself, an organic recording, if you will. Some people may not like that about my recordings, but that's too bad. Bottom line is this: Are you happy with the recording you have made? Because in the end, it's you who recorded the music for your own enjoyment, right?? The complaints I have received about my recordings are miniscule compared to the numer of raves I receive. I am constantly being asked my method, which is why I posted that tutorial here as well. Please go through this thread when you have time, there are links to offline tutorials for various things contained in the posts of this thread too like NR, and recording with Audition. And then, if you have more questions, please post them here, thanks.

Let me tell u guys what I did to convert almost all my cassettes to mp3.

First of all, I totally agree with Deewaniji.. AIWA has has no comparison. I have recorded many things on my AIWA cassette player it has always given me crispy clear sound.... I remember when I recorded Amit Kumar's Harmony show just by keeping the record player in front of my BPL FHR TV speakers.. The recording was awesome....

When I decided to convert my cassettes, I could not find a good AIWA player.. So my second choise was Panasonic but unfortunately I cud not get hold of a the music player (I was not expecting a BIG system, but the traditional GOOD quality player).. I found one fantastic SONY player which was very much traditional and made exclusively for cassettes... It had a Bass and Treble control buttons as well.. I was too happy to hear the sound quality of that player.. Then bought a verrry good sound cable and an external good quality sound card (Disabled the on-board which is generally an ordinary sound card)...... Initially when I tested the recording using Musicmatch software which came with my iPod, i did not get good results; the sound was too loud and crackled a lot ... I tested it in different ways.... Finally I found out that if I control the sound of my tape recorder, I can record the exact recording that I had in my cassettes... If you guys notice, there is always a HISS sound while playing cassettes. I did not even remove that HISS. All my cassettes recordings are having that HISS but still I wanted them to be as it is... One can reduce the treble and reduced the hiss or use software to clean the HISS.. But I am happy with as it is at the moment..

As far as what you have mentioned Omkar, if one's stereo has a true LINE OUT coming from the cassette player (see the picture in my tutorial), then the volume on the cassette player should have NO EFFECT on the recording volume (nor should any settings such as bass, treble, etc on the stereo) - the input level on your PC recording volume alone will determine this. If, on the other hand, one is using another way of getting the sound from the cassette player, such as a microphone jack or headphone jack, then every setting on the cassette player WILL affect the recording. Which is why I choose a true LINE OUT, cuts down all such variables and it's very purpose is served. It's very important to me. Many so called "tech gurus" often lump the line out/headphone jack as the same thing, THEY ARE NOT!! I have all 3 on my stereo: LINE OUT, Microphone Jack, Headphone Jack, each serves a DIFFERENT purpose. And then input levels can be monitored using the recording software such as I've written in the post I referred to. (Musicmatch software came with your iPOD?, that's like impossible, lol. Apple would never have endorsed that).

Deewaniji, in my SONY cassette player, I did not have any LINE OUT. So I had no option than to use 'Headphones' jack. Anyways finally I was successful in recording my cassettes.. And Musicmatch surely give you the option to record from different source. I have attached the snapshot of my settings in Musicmatch, u can see by urself the various options in 'Recording Source' I was very lucky to get this software.. Its a wonderful software.. I still use it to rip my CDs now...

Cheers!!!

[deewani]

One thing that I am not seeing in that screenshot, and forgive me, cause I have never used that software, is audio level adjustment lever to control the inputs. Does that show up after you go to the next menu? Just wondering. Thanks for the screenshot. The debate on which software is the best for recording or for ripping CDs is endless, there are entire forums dedicated to this like Hydrogen Audio, there are so many encoders that the softwares use for ripping, lame, fhg, flac, etc, it's never ending, lol. (current personal preference for cd ripping: EAC with lame encoder - probably because it's the most widely used among rippers on the web as I have been told and come to discover after research on my own, be careful though, you may be in danger of becoming an EAC-aholic like many of us already are, lol)

[OMkar]

One thing that I am not seeing in that screenshot, and forgive me, cause I have never used that software, is audio level adjustment lever to control the inputs. Does that show up after you go to the next menu? Just wondering. Thanks for the screenshot. The debate on which software is the best for recording or for ripping CDs is endless, there are entire forums dedicated to this like Hydrogen Audio, there are so many encoders that the softwares use for ripping, lame, fhg, flac, etc, it's never ending, lol. (current personal preference for cd ripping: EAC with lame encoder - probably because it's the most widely used among rippers on the web as I have been told and come to discover after research on my own, be careful though, you may be in danger of becoming an EAC-aholic like many of us already are, lol)

Deewaniji, no need to say 'forgive me'... 'Unknown is always greater than known'.. Here are all the snapshots of the setting applet.. See if it can help u??

[OMkar]

How can I get the EAC software? I dont mind getting EAC-aholic?? lol... Anyways, I am really happy with Musicmatch and also I am emotionally attached with Musicmatch now... It gives me exact result I want.. I am not a music composer who will look at the sound so minutely... I am an ordinary listener, and to me this is enough....

But still you can tell me how I can get EAC encoder...Just to let me have knowledge about it.

Cheers!!!

[deewani]

Thanks Omkar, it's all foreign to me and especially after glancing at this tutorial for musicmatch:
http://www.dak.com/reviews/tutorial_lp_record2.cfm, it seems overcomplicated and also I see no place to adjust the level of the recording. I'll post some screenshots of the software I use later on, have to run for now.


EAC links:
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

related links
Hydrogen Audio wiki EAC http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...xact_Audio_Copy
Hydrogen Audio wiki EAC with Lame http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=EAC_and_Lame
Coaster Factory tutorial for EAC http://users.pandora.be/satcp/eac-qs-en.htm

This program however is a bit complicated at first, to set it up. It's considered one of the best for a number of reasons, one of them being you calibrate to the exact make and model of your cd-rom in your computer. I hope I didn't confuse folks, we are talking about CD ripping only now.

[OMkar]

Thanks Omkar, it's all foreign to me and especially after glancing at this tutorial for musicmatch:
http://www.dak.com/reviews/tutorial_lp_record2.cfm, it seems overcomplicated and also I see no place to adjust the level of the recording. I'll post some screenshots of the software I use later on, have to run for now.


EAC links:
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

related links
Hydrogen Audio wiki EAC http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...xact_Audio_Copy
Hydrogen Audio wiki EAC with Lame http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=EAC_and_Lame
Coaster Factory tutorial for EAC http://users.pandora.be/satcp/eac-qs-en.htm

This program however is a bit complicated at first, to set it up. It's considered one of the best for a number of reasons, one of them being you calibrate to the exact make and model of your cd-rom in your computer. I hope I didn't confuse folks, we are talking about CD ripping only now.

Hey Deewaniji, u know one thing?? I just remembered noww.. The latest versions of Musicmatch does not have this facolity of various recording sources.. I was so much surprised.. You were right in saying that Apple wouldn't endorse these things.... But then I was lucky I got my iPod as a gift when it was JUST introduced in the market..... I am using very first version of iPod.. Since then I have been enjoying iPod.. So may be at that time Apple might have brought this software in the market to push their sales,??? may be, who knows!!

[deewani]

iPod as a gift is the best thing, isn't it? Best gift of my lifetime for sure. But the very first iPod was only for Macs, and did come with iTunes. Beware, OCTS (obsessive compulsive tagger syndrome) goes hand in hand with being an EAC-aholic.

Anyways, here's some screenshots of the software I used as mentioned in the tutorial post:
Spin Doctor main screen:


You can see, it's fairly simple, you choose your source - in other words the sound card's input. Turn on the cassette player, play your cassette, click Preview, you can see the input levels here, there is a slider below it, basically you don't want to see red at all. There is a cassette filter you can apply on the right side, the level of cleaning can be altered to your desire, you never hit record until you are satisfied with levels. Depending on cassette I either use the cleaning filter slid towards the less side, or if the cassette has excellent sound quality, I don't use it at all, and then use Audition to clean if it needs more. Once you hit the record button, you see this:



You can choose to record to a file, and also choose the format to save it in as shown here:



All fairly straightforward and simple to use.

The new Nero has a similar facility, you can find it from this screen, click "Convert Tape to CD":



This is what it looks like:



You can see that there is a place here to change the audio input settings as well. Pretty much a similar program. All very easy to use. I stick with my old program for the reasons I have mentioned countless times to so many folks over this past year: you can PREVIEW what it will sound like before you record and you can apply the built-in filter AS YOU RECORD. If it ain't broke, why fix it? Now the day will come when evil Windows updates will render my old program obsolete, until then I ain't budging.

And screenshots of Adobe Audition can be seen in the link I posted before in this thread:
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/audio/...tion/index.html

[sri]

thanks deewani - for all these screen shots and your views

i have been using Nero wave editor...which seems to have similar possibilities. I check on the preview first before beginning the recording..and prefer to make all sound adjustments later - since any part of the wave file can be chosen for that purpose. Normally, I save the file as a wav file so that all alterations could be made when necessary( volume change, removing hiss, pops, L/R equalisation etc) without reducing the quality of the original recording. Then I convert the final wav file to mp3 at the desired bit rate using Nero Burning ( which has a facility to encode files to mp3 /mp3pro).

Since I got this software with my DVD drive, I started using it and have found it to be quite convenient and effective. As you rightly pointed out - if it is working well then why change ?

sri

[OMkar]

Deewaniji, are you a teacher??? You explain things so nicely!!! Thanks for all this pracious information.. I am even copying into word and saving it to help anyone else.. thanks a lot!!

[deewani]

thanks deewani - for all these screen shots and your views
sri

Thanks sriji, and YW. I think as you said wav is the best, esp if one is going to work on the file.

Deewaniji, are you a teacher???

Guilty

I added some more screenshots to the original tutorial.

[oye_sonu]

Deewaani Deewani Million thanks

Mujhe yaad karna padega ki kab maine 1-2 members ke liye itne efforts kare hain

Thaanks again

My reply is bit short but I have copied all the instructions and iam lookinf forward to practically doing all this soon.

( may be this week)

Infact one more HFM fan wanted help in this regard. I will be forwarding the infor part to him also.

Incase I get any problem I will come back to my Guruni and Guru(omkar)

( dimaag wala kaam hai issliye mujhe khoob sara time chahiye sammjhne ke liye. hehe : D )

Thanks to omkar ji also.


God bless both of you !


Sonu

[deewani]

Well Sonu, even if one person benefitted from the tutorial it would have been worth it, I have linked to this tutorial myself many times b/c I get asked often in private (both from HFers and non-HFers), so it saves me the hassle of explaining it again and again. And as far as helping, that's in my nature, it can't be helped, lol, many times it's unsolicited, haha. Questions are always welcome. Most of the things I have learned about the web and tech I've learned from the internet itself, that's the beauty of the net - to share experience, knowledge, and information. And many people and many different things on the web went into this tutorial so it's nothing but a record of a lot of people's hard work. And we all know that preserving the music is important, especially the albums that have been long since forgotten about, or ones for which the original music company no longer has the masters, etc. Tape has a limited lifetime, digital makes it immortal in a way.

And it's not as hard as I seem to have made it seem. It's all very simple, trust me, if I can do it, anyone can.

[deewani]

What to do with them afterwards.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6634727.stm