Tape to Computer

Chazinmo

New member
Need advice.

I have been out of the music world for about 25 years and am just getting back into it.

I have some acoustic tracks laid down on a 4-track cassette and I need to get it either to MP3 or onto a CD.

#1 - Should I go from my 4-track to a 2-track tape master, then to CD?
#2 - Should I go directly from the 4-track and mixdown to computer?
#3 - Should I put the 4 tracks onto compuer and mix from there?
#4 - What software would anyone recommend.

I currently have a TASCAM 246 4-track recorder. I also have access to a beefy laptop running either Windows or Linux.

I do not have a 2-track tape machine (but am familiar with using them and can pick a decent one up for about $150).

I do not have any recording or mixing software and am not familiar with what is on the market.

Any advice on the easiest/cheapest way to get my tunes onto MP3 or CD will be appreciated.
 
This being the "Analog Only" forum, I couldn't possibly recommend that you look at Planet CCRMA or The Agnula Project for free Linux software that would do everything that you ask.... That would be rude.

;)

Anyway, you'd also need a sound card. It would be best to get one with four analog inputs, to avoid sync issues when doing the transfer from the 4-track. For a laptop, that would mean Firewire (which, at least for audio interfaces, is not well supported in Linux at this time due to lack of cooperation from vendors) or USB2.0. Not what I would call cheap. You could certainly try transferring two tracks at a time, and hope for the best. You might be able to get away with using your laptop's onboard sound hardware.

The lowest risk approach would probably be to get ahold of a two-track, and do your mixdown in the analog realm. Then transfer your stereo mix to the computer to burn to CD and/or create your MP3's. You'll still need software at that point. I use Nero. Works like a charm.

Don
 
Chazinmo said:
Need advice.

I have been out of the music world for about 25 years and am just getting back into it.

I have some acoustic tracks laid down on a 4-track cassette and I need to get it either to MP3 or onto a CD.

I currently have a TASCAM 246 4-track recorder. I also have access to a beefy laptop running either Windows or Linux.

I do not have any recording or mixing software and am not familiar with what is on the market.

Any advice on the easiest/cheapest way to get my tunes onto MP3 or CD will be appreciated.

I use GoldWave in Windows, which is shareware, and very cheap for what it can do. I'm very happy with it for recording, basic editing and so forth. For capture I've recently been using an M-Audio Transit, which is a 2-channel USB soundcard capable of 24-bit, 96khz.

I record on to a TSR-8, and mix down to 2-track 1/4". When I'm happy with the mix, I then use the Transit to digitize the 2-track masters. It can be a nuisance since the drivers are a bit flakey, but the sound quality is decent and the price is hard to beat for an external device (I get lots of RF inside the PC). The Transit only operates in one direction, however.. for 24/96 it can be switched between input and output, but it won't do both (so you can't monitor the input). I believe it's possible to make it work in Linux but it requires some voodoo since it's not a real USB audio class device.

However, I then use oggenc or LAME in Linux to perform the compression to ogg or mp3, chiefly because that's where I spend most of my time on that system when I'm not recording, so that's where I'll be reviewing the recordings. Both these tools exist for Windows as well.

Recently I've been doing some collaborative voice acting with some other people online. As an experiment, I've been using Audacity in Linux for the whole thing. There isn't much point in doing THAT on tape since other people's contributions come in as mp3s anyway. Audacity is pretty good for this job (assembling dialog and recording new pieces, mixing the music in etc).
Audacity supports multiple tracks, but only records in mono or stereo. It's more intended for multitrack edit/assembly than full multitrack recording. I've also seen it crash a few times when pasting, so you have to save often. Again, Audacity is also available for Windows.

When making audio CDs I have always been using cdrecord in Linux.
 
Alot depends upon how much you have in the way comp skills or how much you want to have...lol

I think I'd just mix down to the computer at this point using the stock soundcard and a free program like Wavepad or something like that.
http://nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html

Yeah, the soundcard probably isn't the best quality and the DA converters might be sub-par, but it'll get the job done adequately for starters.

Then, you can decide just how much comp based work you want to do...the sky's the limit, basically.

Good luck.
 
Given it sounds like you just want to digitalize your memories, and the soundcard in your computer should do fine, then burn to disc. If you want to go balls-out from a direct analog to digital transfer, try either an Alesis Masterlink that will keep your beauty in check, or a good (cough) soundcard for your consumer 'pewter (input digital geeks' advice here). Either or sounds like what you are looking for in a financially-tolerable process. If you are asking about "professionally" transferring your recordings, the guys here will give you an earfull of good information, as well proabably in the digital forums. Both are very knowledgeable no doubt, of course more so in the Analog forum, but Seek where you find what suits your situation. :) :)
 
Thanks for the great info everyone.

I guess I was not really clear. I have been out of music for about 25 years, but I am starting to play again and am recording new stuff. I bought a used tape machine just because it is something I already know how to use.

I play horns and want to record some small group stuff. I hope to slowly build up a really good home recording studio at the house (probably will be some mix of analog and digital). It will take some time financially as well as knowledge-wise. For now I am playing my own keyboards, bass, and percussion just so I can get my tunes down so the real rythmn section players can hear it before I try to talk them into helping me out. :D

But I have discovered that very few people have cassette players any more, so I cannot give copies to anyone to listen to! (I'm only 46 years old but I feel like someone found me frozen in a glacier with my spear in hand).

Anyway, thanks again for all the help.
 
Even if the most die hard of analogers get the sound onto CD, just because it is the common medium. You were clear...you just want to transfer your recordings to CD. I would guess a couple of people that are really set up still may send to vinyl companies. Nonetheless, I don't think transferring to CD is sensitive here, just (and a little more complicated) when you start tracking and mixing digitally with simply a computer (Danger, Will Robinson!). Simply transferring recordings from one medium to the next, all you have to do is go from RCA outs of your 4 track into either RCAs or USB (may take an adaptor) to your computer. First you must make the physical connections to a digital converter, such as found in a CDR or PC. Then you need to physically connect your 4 tracker to the converter. Assuming this converter is attached to a CDR, you then convert your analog files to binary. Once you have a binary file, you can save it in the digital domain in most any place under most any name (except for messing with the file extension) you wish. Not sure the freeware to convert, but I use Jukebox to rip my .wav files to .mp3. Not sure if Jukebox gives the luxury of AD converters(I always have .wav format and only convert to mp3 for internet purposes), but certainly there is freeware that does.
You shouldn't need much if anything. Post in the digital recording section and you'll have a definitive answer shortly, I'm sure, unless anyone else wants to chime in here...
Good Luck! :)
 
Laptop audio in

A few posts here mentioned using the onboard sound. Note that most laptops do not have a line input (except possibly in a docking station).

If you only have mic and headphone jacks (as is the case with my HP Comapq nc8230) you will need to get an external USB or FireWire audio interface. There are a stack of these available. M-Audio have some good ones, and if buget is an issue then you can even get passable results from something cheap like a Griffin iMic.
 
CD's from 8 track Fostex.

Good topic. I am returning to Analogue. I have a decent PC (2 yrs old with XP) Can I record onto my PC (for making a CD) from a Fostex 8 track or similar via a normal 8 or 12 track analogue mixer? Is Nero the software thats easy to use for this?
I tried digital and it made my hair itch. regards, :) Darrell2
 
Darrell2 said:
Good topic. I am returning to Analogue. I have a decent PC (2 yrs old with XP) Can I record onto my PC (for making a CD) from a Fostex 8 track or similar via a normal 8 or 12 track analogue mixer? Is Nero the software thats easy to use for this?
I tried digital and it made my hair itch. regards, :) Darrell2
You can do this, but I don't think Nero ships with a sound recorder, which you'll need to make the recording. Don't even think about using the junk that comes with the OS, get something else. I use GoldWave (shareware) but there are many others. Audacity, for example, is free.

I often do this myself to make a draft mix from the multitrack, which I listen to later on so I can see what needs changing. When I'm happy with the song and have a good idea of how it should be mixed, I'll do the mix to 2-track. This can help, since you don't need to worry about the level quite so much and can concentrate on getting the mix right. Once the mix is perfect and committed to tape, you can then digitize the tape for CD and MP3/Ogg purposes. So you only have to worry about the level (too low vs clipping) rather than that and the mixing.

Once you have a good .WAV file of the mix, then you can use Nero to burn the CD.
 
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