THIS WAS POSTED BY dianebonjovi :: Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2003 4:56 pm

I SIMPLY COPIED IT AS ITS FROM THE FILE SHARE FORUM AND THAT IS NOT OPEN TO EVERYONE NOW....

Frequently Asked Question (FAQ):
Transferring Audio cassettes to a CD-R disc

=====

Cassettes can be transferred to a CD-R disc using a PC with a
CD-writer and
a sound card. The general process can be described:

1) Connect your Cassette deck to your PC's sound card.
2) Using sound-editing software, play the record and tape into the
computer.
3) Split the sound files up into smaller files, one for each CD
track, if
necessary.
4) Burn these files onto a CD-R disc using a CD writer and CD
burning
software.

I will now explain each of these points individually:

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1) Connect your Cassette deck to your PC's sound card.
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Compared with even Vinyl, the sound quality of audio cassettes
leaves a lot to be desired, so it pays to give some attention to
the quality of the cassette deck you are using. The best type of
cassette deck to use are hifi-seperate cassette decks (the good
old fashioned "stack" hifi tape deck, a black or grey box about
40cm wide.) If you have one of these, then brilliant. What you
need to connect it to your PC is a lead with two RCA/phono
connectors on one end and a 3.5mm stereo jack plug on the other
(the same kind of jack that is often used on personal stereo
headphones.) The RCA/phono ends go into the tape deck's "play out"
connectors. The red is the right hand stereo channel, the white
(or sometimes black) is the left. The other end goes into your
PC's sound card's "line in" connector. On colour coded systems,
this is pale blue coloured.

If you do not have a hifi-separate type hifi, then the next best
way is using a mini or micro-sized hifi system. These will
normally have a "line out" connector on them somewhere, and the
leads and connections will be the same as for the above. However
if you do not have a "line out" you will need to use the
headphones connector, so you will need a lead with 3.5mm stereo
connectors on both ends. If your hifi has one of the larger style
headphones jack, you will need an adaptor as well to convert it to
3.5mm. Then, one end into the headphones jack and one end in the
PC's sound card's line in plug.

If you do not have a hifi of any description, then you will need
to use a portable machine. Try to avoid battery-powered machines
if you can. The connection will be the same as above: a lead with
3.5mm stereo connectors on both ends.

Your local hifi store or electronics store should be able to sort
you out with all the leads, or if not, try www.maplin.co.uk . I
would suggest that you do not just buy the cheapest leads: Better
quality leads will make a subtle improvement to the quality of the
recording and are less easily damaged.

Once you've connected everything up, it's worth giving the
cassette deck a once-over before you use it. When was the last
time you ran a head cleaning or demagnatising tape through it, for
instance? If you give the answer most people give (err, I cannot
remember) then it might be a good idea to do this now. If the tape
deck has a speed control, make sure it is in the central (normal)
position. If your tape deck has any noise reduction buttons such
as Dolby B, C or HX pro, make sure they are set according to what
it says on the tape (if it does not say, then turn them all off.)
Similary, if the deck has a tape type selector, set it to Type 1
or normal or ferric tapes, or type 2 or high for metal tapes.

Before recording, with your finger or a pen or pencil, wind the
cassettes past the "lead-in" bit at the start of the tape, so that
you do not get 10 seconds of blankness at the beginning of each of
your recordings. The "lead-in" is the "dummy" bit at the start of
the tape that is a different colour, often pink.

__________________________________________________
2) Using sound-editing software, play the record and record into
the computer.
__________________________________________________

You will need some wave sound editing software to do this. I find
that the Creative Recorder utility that comes bundled with the
Sound Blaster Live! series of sound cards is pretty good for this,
as are Goldwave and Polderbits; trial versions available from
www.download.com. The wave editor that comes with some versions of
Nero Burning ROM is pretty good as well. Or alternatively you may
have another program that came with your sound card. First, you
need to tell your computer to record from the line-in. To do this:

a.Double click the yellow speaker in your task bar;
b.Goto options/properties;
c.Click "recording";
d.Make sure "line in" is ticked in the box below;
e.Click OK.
f.Make sure the "line in" slider is selected and slid up (I
normally find it needs to go right the way up, but this will
depend on you rsound card), and everything else is slid right down
and muted, except, if you have one, a slider called "recording
control", which is the master slider that governs them all.
g.Minimise but do not close the mixer: you may need it later.

Now, start up your sound editing software. You need to insure you
record in the correct format, and this is PCM, 16-bit, stereo, at
a sample rate of 44100Hz. In most software this is found either in
the options menu or by going to file/new.

Now, click record, and start playing the tape. I would recommend
that you just do it for a minute or so to test the connection. If
you find it is distorting, then go into the mixer again and lower
the recording volume. Similarly, if it sounds hissy and
wishy-washy, you may need to increase the recording volume. Note
that if you've connected the tape deck up using a headphones jack,
then the volume control on the tape deck will also affect the
recording. It is a good idea to experiment with which volume
control combinations give the best results. For example, I've
noticed that some cheap portable machines emit a slight humming
sound in the background, that the volume control does not affect.
If you have the cassette deck's volume up high, it will not affect
it, but if you put the PC's volume control up high, it will
magnify it.

Once you've done this for the whole tape at the correct volume,
save the file.

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3) Split the sound files up into smaller files, one for each CD
track.
__________________________________________________

This will vary from one sound editing suite to the next, so you
will need to refer to the documentation for your sound editing
software for this. At this stage, if you've got a suitable
program, you could also "de-hiss" it, to remove some of the horrid
hiss-like sounds that cassettes always have. I know Goldwave is
pretty good at doing this. If you don't mind your CDs being
written as all one track, you can leave this stage out.

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4) Burn these files onto a CD-R disc using a CD writer and CD
burning software.
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This will also vary depending on your CD burning software, but the
two most common ones, Nero Burning ROM and Easy CD Creator, it is
simply a case of (a) creating a new audio CD and (b) dragging and
dropping the .wav files onto the new CD window in the order you
wish them to be played. Refer to your CD Burning software
instructions for more information on this.

I am indebted to Karl Davis for hosting all my FAQ responses on
his website. You can view this message, all my other FAQ answers
and many others from other members of the Lineone PC help group at
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/karldavis/faq_index.htm .



--
Tom Cumming
tcumminguk@yahoo.delete-this.co.uk