Making audio CD's from Cassettes??

[cardiac]

I would like to hook up my Teac cassette deck to my sound card and record all of my old cassette tapes and then burn them into audio CD's. How do I do this? I can hook my deck up to my soundcard input and record the tapes into Windows "Sound Recorder". That much I know how to do. But how do I go about changing them into the format for audio CD's and then burning them? I have a Lite-on 16x10x40 burner and use the latest registered version of Nero. This is in an AMD 1.4ghz system with 512megs ram, and uses aDiamond MX-300 soundcard.

I sure would like to get the 100 or so of old cassettes onto CD's....

Thanks a bunch,

Bob

 

[ojai00]

Musicmatch Jukebox and CoolEdit can do this for you also. But to get good quality, you have to buy the full version. Take your tape deck and plug it into your line in connector on your sound card, and just click record, and it converts it into MP3 format. Then you would go about your regular routine for creating audio CDs from MP3s. Hope this helps.

 

[Stutz]

Hi!
When I make an MP3 from an analog source I run a 6-ft. RCA stereo to mini-plug patch cable to the line-in jack on the back of my Diamond MX-300 sound card. I record the WAV file using the recording facility in Exact Audio Copy (EAC, primarily a CD audio ripper, available for download at r3mix.net). Once the WAV is captured, I use EAC to process the file. By that I mean I first normalize the file, then trim the beginning and end of a song and clean up any obvious clicks or pops in the file using the built-in sound editor in EAC. When I'm satisfied with the recording I, save it as a WAV and close EAC. I then use RazorLame to encode the WAV to MP3 using the --r3mix parameter (the r3mix switch gives the best compromise between file size and quality). You can compress to MP3 directly through EAC. Elite member Workin' has a detailed FAQ on the various aspects of high quality MP3 compression here at AnandTech and is well worth your time to read.

Best,

Stutz

 

[cardiac]

Great info guys. This is what I needed to know. I think I even have a d/l'ed sharewhere copy of EAC somewhere around here. Now to see if I can get this to work

Bob

 

[cardiac]

OK, went and got the latest version of EAC, and it will not run under XP. Says it's missing a .dll file. Anyone getting it to run under XP?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Zenmervolt]

Using EAC 0.9 Prebeta on XP Pro here without any problems. Try downloading the newest version of EAC, Here.

ZV

 

[cardiac]

Thanks, Zenmervolt. Thought that the 8.5 was the latest, and then saw the pre-beta. Must be the XP update

Runs fine now.

Bob

 

[millsy]

Interesting read.
I am also going to convert tapes to CD and will try tommorow - let you know how it went.
I have got MusicMatch Full Version - 6.1 (not latest) but do you think for better quality it is better to use EAC like Stutz suggested?

 

[BigNeko]

Do the programs you guys (or gals) are using have an option for reducing the hiss from the tapes??

 

[ojai00]

<< Do the programs you guys (or gals) are using have an option for reducing the hiss from the tapes?? >>



If your tape deck has DolbyNR, I think that would take away the hiss...give it a show. Hope this helps.

 

[4824guy]

<< Do the programs you guys (or gals) are using have an option for reducing the hiss from the tapes?? >>



Nero version 5.5 has a hiss reduction filter that seems to work ok for me.

I just want to add, that after you copy an entire side of a LP or cassette, you will have to cut and paste each indivitual song in order to make each song seperate, then burn them. Otherwise your cd player will only detect one long track per side.

 

[cardiac]

4824guy, crap! I didn't think about that. I used EAC and copied the tape, and then went and used Lame (RazorLame-Thanks Stutz) to encode them into MP3's. Now I have to go back and chop them into individual songs. Glad you said something.

Now that this old man has gotten this far, can I just drag and drop these MP3's in Nero (Version 5.5 is what I have) and after burning they will play fine in any audio cd player? I have looked at other audio cd's and they are in .cda format? Do I need to convert to .cda somehow?

Thanks a bunch guys,

Bob

 

[4824guy]

I use the free EAC to record an entire side of a casette as a wav file. On the tool bar click on Tools-record wave. Then record the entire side. THen after that is done, go back and click on process wave. You can then select and crop the each song. High light each song and click on Save As. You will then have ach song as a wave file. If burning to CD, DO NOT convert the to MP3 file type. Just use Nero and drag the to the cd. Converting them to MP3 format will slightly degrade the data, plus Nero will have to take time and convert them back to wave inorder to burn them.

Another tip I have found and other have said, make sure the Dolby on the cassette deck is on, to reduce tape hiss.

 

[4824guy]

<< I have got MusicMatch Full Version - 6.1 (not latest) but do you think for better quality it is better to use EAC like Stutz suggested? >>



That software is not that good, Stutz's reply has some excellent info. Read the FAQ he said and you will get the info on which software is better to use.