Converting Analog to anything else

B

BlindTraffic

New member
Alright this is gonna be a cumbersome post and maybe posted in the wrong section so I apologize in advance, not trying to be a tool bag it just covers both analog and digital territory… So our band recorded a 4 song demo pretty much just gonna be 3 songs. Pretty rough demo all recorded to tape because that's the only setup the guy we used had… So we live recorded w/ a mic on each side of the room at about the middle of everything (2 guitars, keyboard, vocals, drums, and bass set up accordingly and a well equipped PA system w/ sound at all four corners of the room) and those two mics pointed towards the Speakers… this was all run into an 80s setup … So we have our Cassette tapes w/ 2 versions of 2 songs and one version of another and we need to find a way to get it on a cd or mp3 anything at all that can be taken to a club and not get us laughed at…we were wanting to also find out if there is any way to do any EQing at all in any programs like audacity as far as adding slight reverb to vocals or bringing vocals up a bit… anyway, sorry about the trouble and hope to hear from anybody soon.

-Taylor
 
Well....you're mostly SOL with all that.

I mean, transferring the tape to a CD/computer ain't no big deal, but with the other stuff, you already have it a mix....so adjusting vocals or doing any individual EQ, whatever is virtually impossible at this point.
You can EQ the whole mix a bit, and that might help things (depends on how it sounds now)...and AFA adding reverb at this point, again, it will be equally applied to everything, so less is more, and it may or may not work....just something you can mess with, bu don't expect miracles.
Most of that should/would have been done during tracking, especially if you were recording the whole band live like that.
Had it been individual tracks for vocals, drums, guitars, etc....then you would be able to adjust things more specifically.


Good luck.
 
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Awesome man that's kind of what we were thinking… sounds pretty good except on one of the covers we were looking to add a little slap back delay to a part where there are only vocals and no instruments… anyways I appreciate the reply.. any suggestions on the best way to get it to digital?
 
You will need an AI (audio interface) that takes the stereo line outs from your tape machine and converts them to digital that is then transferred to your computer via a USB cable. You will need some software in your computer that "talks" to the AI, and also lets you do things to the two audio tracks that get imported. A lot of interfaces come with at least a rudimentary DAW, which is what this type of software is called. If you have a mac, then bonus, it has a DAW software on it called GarageBand. It will be more than adequate for what you want to do. This is the stage you would add your reverb etc. Then it is an export to CD which your computer does for you.
 
Awesome guys really appreciate the input thanks a ton!… also after I get this Audio Interface wouldn't it be a lot easier and quicker to record our next set of stuff straight to the comp.. and circumvent the the analog stuff for now since all we need is some quick way for exposure? … what relatively inexpensive AI's would you guys suggest?
 
BlindTraffic said:
Awesome guys really appreciate the input thanks a ton!… also after I get this Audio Interface wouldn't it be a lot easier and quicker to record our next set of stuff straight to the comp.. and circumvent the the analog stuff for now since all we need is some quick way for exposure? … what relatively inexpensive AI's would you guys suggest?
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Absolutely bypass the analog recording stuff. You have to spend quite a bit for analog to be worth the trouble. Probably any decent 2-channel interface will be adequate for the transfer, but if you want to record a band with drums etc. you might look for something with 8 or more inputs.
 
My advice. Use the money, time and trouble it will take to do what you propose and invest that in some gear and software and rerecord the songs, or use it to go to a small studio.
 
I hear you Geriko.. But W/ four songs the going rate here in dallas it seems to record mix and master is like 200 dollars a song and we don't have the 800 for just a demo to get a foot in the door … these were "mom and pop" joints it seemed to and they were still competing at like 200 a song
 
You could get one of these. They're surprisingly not so terribly bad for quick transfers.

For recording, you could probably pair it with one of these plugged into the headphone out of some cheap mixer.

I'm only half kidding, I kinda wanna hear what happens. Heck, I've got both, I should try it!
 
Hi Taylor,
I get that you are bit cash poor but are you "time rich"? If the latter, read on...

Do you have any kind of player for the tapes? If not borrow one or you will probably find a hi fi deck at whatever passes for a Cash Generator store in your parts $50?

For a converter you really don't need anything better than this...
Behringer: U-CONTROL UCA202
for cassette tape (no snobs! They really are quite good enough.) of course a better AI would be future proof but I promise even $1000 would not make the tapes sound any better!

Buy the converter first because once so equipped you will only need the tape deck for a day tops. (if you are mooching one).

Hook it all up then use Audacity to record the takes. Watch the levels! I doubt the deck will drive the 202 too hard but if it does we shall have to re think things.
Are the tapes "Dolbied"? If so they might sound better with Dolby off but in any case you can record them twice, on and off.

Once the tapes are recorded "export as .wav" (more info as and when) and I would stick them on the desktop pro tem. THEN! Immediately copy them off to a USB stick or three and give a stick to a band mate to take home and tell him to copy the stick to HIS hard drive...Now you can sleep!

Re processing? This is where the time factor comes in. All the major DAW softwareS are available as 30 day trials so dldd say Cubase and have a shufty. No? Ok, try Samplitude ProX (I would love that!) Sony Soundforge has some excellent cleaners in it. The list goes on and you can fork about with the tapes forever (never modifying the .wav masters of course!).

Once you have a version you are happy with you can burn it to CD or convert to MP3.


Dave.
 
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