MP3 to Cassette recording

S

shynd

New member
I know this sounds a bit strange, but I have been trying to record MP3 songs onto cassettes. I will be buying a vintage portable cassette tape recorder with a mic input slot. I was wondering if connecting a jack to jack cable from my headphone output on my pc to the microphone input on the cassette recorder, if the sound would come out clear and in stereo?

Thanks.
 
Mic inputs are for microphones. Connect to the line input of the cassette deck. Use the computer's line output instead of the headphone output. If your computer lacks a true line out a better option than the headphone output would be something like a Behringer UCA222.

Yes, it sounds more than a bit strange, recording one crappy format onto another crappy format. Do you hate good sound?
 
Yes ^, the best way would be to keep it all line level.
The mic input is most likely mono and not ideal at all in terms of the signal level it expects.

Portable 'walkman' type players generally won't have a stereo line input, but consumer home-hifi tape decks are likely to.


bouldersoundguy said:
Yes, it sounds more than a bit strange, recording one crappy format onto another crappy format. Do you hate good sound?
Click to expand...

Did you take a wrong turn?
 
Maybe he has a car with a cassette player. It happens. I know i do. I have a 60s 2 seater sports car with an alpine cassette deck. The ride is too stiff for a cd player so cassette works just fine.

Besides @ 70 mph down the road with the top off, my audio fidelity isn't that crucial.

Voodoo child cranked up still brings a smile to my face.:-)

Now, are we here to tear everyone down that doesn't conform to our standards of "acceptable sound", or to help people? ?

:-)

Edit: Now I realize for a 66, to be period correct, i should have an 8 track, but I'm not that backwards. Lol
 
RFR said:
Maybe he has a car with a cassette player. It happens. I know i do. I have a 60s 2 seater sports car with an alpine cassette deck. The ride is too stiff for a cd player so cassette works just fine.

Besides @ 70 mph down the road with the top off, my audio fidelity isn't that crucial.

Voodoo child cranked up still brings a smile to my face.:-)
Click to expand...

I would get an FM adapter and an mp3 player.

RFR said:
Now, are we here to tear everyone down that doesn't conform to our standards of "acceptable sound", or to help people? ?
Click to expand...

How about some of each? Seriously, I don't care what he does to his sound and I'm happy to help, but I am curious about his purpose.
 
If you still need to buy a cassette deck, buy a home stereo one with line inputs. They are dirt cheap at this point, since no one uses them.

A mic input will have three problems:

1. it will be too sensitive, so it will be really easy to distort and will be really noisy if you feed it the correct signal level.

2. it will probably have 'autogain', which is like a really slow compressor. This will ruin any surviving sound quality.

3. It will be mono, so you it will sound strange (bad) and some of the instruments might get cancelled out, depending on what you are listening to.

If the computer doesn't have a line out, using the headphone out isn't the end of the world, considering what you are doing.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
I would get an FM adapter and an mp3 player.
Click to expand...

That may be illegal in some places. IIRC in the UK it breaks at least two separate laws, one for transmitting on a licensed band, but may also violate copyright laws about rebroadcasting material you don't own.

I don't know whether you can still get them, but there used to be fake cassettes which used a record head to magnetically couple with the playback head in the deck, and took a line input so you could attach an MP3 player.

However this is a solution for a car setup, I don't think we know what the OP is actually trying to do yet.
 
jpmorris said:
That may be illegal in some places. IIRC in the UK it breaks at least two separate laws, one for transmitting on a licensed band, but may also violate copyright laws about rebroadcasting material you don't own.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that. In the US certain low power broadcast band transmitters are legal. The car adapters have a range of little more than a meter so it's pretty much limited to personal use.

jpmorris said:
I don't know whether you can still get them, but there used to be fake cassettes which used a record head to magnetically couple with the playback head in the deck, and took a line input so you could attach an MP3 player.
Click to expand...

That was my first thought before I remembered the FM adapters. The cassette adapters don't sound as good as the FM adapters.
 
jpmorris said:
That may be illegal in some places. IIRC in the UK it breaks at least two separate laws, one for transmitting on a licensed band, but may also violate copyright laws about rebroadcasting material you don't own.

I don't know whether you can still get them, but there used to be fake cassettes which used a record head to magnetically couple with the playback head in the deck, and took a line input so you could attach an MP3 player.

However this is a solution for a car setup, I don't think we know what the OP is actually trying to do yet.
Click to expand...

Small transmitters are allowed for personal use in most of th EU ;)
 
Thanks, but the cassette recorders I'm looking at don't have any line in besides microphone input, so I just reckon that the sound would record roughly much the same using a stereo jack to jack cable.

But no I do not hate good sound, I have a vinyl collection and set up to rival most. But I do have a classic car, and honestly I just prefer the novelty of cassettes compared to MP3 anyway.
 
shynd said:
Thanks, but the cassette recorders I'm looking at don't have any line in besides microphone input, so I just reckon that the sound would record roughly much the same using a stereo jack to jack cable.
Click to expand...

So you might just reckon that, but you might be a bit off the mark. The microphone input is likely to be mono, and furthermore might have trouble accepting the line-level output. You may end up with a whole mess of mono distortion.

On the other hand, you've got nothing to lose by trying it.
 
Yeah that's a good point distortion may end up being a big problem. But after asking around I found this that belongs to my parents WIN_20150803_144219.JPGWIN_20150803_144137.JPG

My computer does not have a line out so headphone out is the best I can do. So I was wondering if I would have to use an adapter and get 2 separate jack to twin phono cables, or is there an available cable that has 4 phono outs/in's to jack.
I am not very experienced in recording as you can probably tell :o
 
shynd said:
I know this sounds a bit strange, but I have been trying to record MP3 songs onto cassettes. I will be buying a vintage portable cassette tape recorder with a mic input slot. I was wondering if connecting a jack to jack cable from my headphone output on my pc to the microphone input on the cassette recorder, if the sound would come out clear and in stereo?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

shynd said:
Thanks, but the cassette recorders I'm looking at don't have any line in besides microphone input, so I just reckon that the sound would record roughly much the same using a stereo jack to jack cable.

But no I do not hate good sound, I have a vinyl collection and set up to rival most. But I do have a classic car, and honestly I just prefer the novelty of cassettes compared to MP3 anyway.
Click to expand...

With respect, are you asking or telling?


The advice you're getting here is good.
There's a reason for the different levels of signal and for different gain stages.

Headphone output into mic input is kinda like shouting in the ear of someone who was already listening very carefully. :p
Ok, you might be able to meet half way by keeping the headphone level down and the mic input gain down, if there is a gain control, but it's still far from ideal and the chances are you'll get a noisy recording.


The variable here is expectation.
What isn't good enough for me might be good enough for you.


Bottom line : Try it. You won't break anything. Just keep the headphone volume at half way, maximum!
If it sucks, in your opinion, you'd be better looking for a tape deck with line inputs which, as said, should cost you buttons on eBay.
You probably know someone who has one in their attic!
 
shynd said:
Yeah that's a good point distortion may end up being a big problem. But after asking around I found this that belongs to my parents

My computer does not have a line out so headphone out is the best I can do. So I was wondering if I would have to use an adapter and get 2 separate jack to twin phono cables, or is there an available cable that has 4 phono outs/in's to jack.
I am not very experienced in recording as you can probably tell :o
Click to expand...

Oh, this reply came in as I was typing.


OK, so....first things first. I'm not certain that this unit will record to tape from aux inputs, but it seems reasonable to assume.
I guess we'll find out.

You're concerned with aux input L+R which is two phono plugs, not four.

If your computer only has a headphone output that'll have to do, but still observe the advice above.
A headphone output at full tilt will most likely be hotter than line level, so do your testing with the headphone output at about half way.

Assuming your computer has a 3.5mm headphone output, you'll want a cable like this.
 
I tried recording using auxiliary inputs from my headphone output. While the sound on the cassette has turned out very clear compared to what I was expecting, and 'good' sound for being a cassette. My problem is that the music is only playing from the left speaker, I have tried several different speakers so I can only assume its the recording.
I only have 1 twin phono plug so I guess I need 2 to record to in and out, but I'm wondering if I need an adapter or if there's even one that exists so I can still connect both twins to my 1 headphone output.

Thanks.
 
shynd said:
I only have 1 twin phono plug so I guess I need 2 to record to in and out, but I'm wondering if I need an adapter or if there's even one that exists so I can still connect both twins to my 1 headphone output.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi,
Again....Asking or telling?

The best reply I can give you is already there....re-read post 16. :)


In addition, be sure that you are plugging into the two inputs.
Those are the bottom two sockets. One red and one white.
 
Sorry, it was a question.

I will give it another go, maybe I was just using the wrong sockets.

Thanks.
 
shynd said:
Sorry, it was a question.

I will give it another go, maybe I was just using the wrong sockets.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Most likely.

If that's not it, your cable is probably unbalanced at the 3.5mm end.
Check the photo I linked against yours. :)



Explanation:
The 3.5mm end should have a silver tip, black band, silver ring, black band, silver sleeve.
The black bands are insulators.
The three silver parts are conductors. Shield is ground and is common to left and right.
Tip carries left audio and ring carries right audio.

On the other end you'll have two phono plugs which break out to tip/sleeve + ring/sleeve.
If your 3.5mm was unbalanced, ring and ground would be shorted together which would mean you'd drop audio on one side.
 
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