Are my audacity wave forms supposed to be even?

grh

Member
I have a Marantaz dual cassette deck, that I run through my interface, and use with my pc to convert cassettes to digital format. I use audacity recording software, and for the first time, one of the cassette decks from the Marantaz did not record as normal. The audacity I had recording in stereo showed one normal healthy looking wave, and one thin looking wave under neath. The end result was the sound recording was lower, so I put the tape into the other cassette deck, and I am trying to figure out if the cassette deck is recording into audacity normal now. After I started recording in the second deck the audaicty wave recorded in stereo looks noticeably smaller than the wave above, but is shaped the same. Is this normal? The cassette recording is not of the best quality. Most of the sample pics of audacity waves, I have found online show the two audacity wave forms recorded in stereo looking almost identical.
 
I'm not quite sure I understand you, but it sounds like you tried playing the same cassette tape back on each of the Marantz's transports and you had similar, uneven results in both cases?

First, make sure the heads are clean. It could also be an alignment problem either on the Marantz, or where/how the tape was originally recorded. If you're seeing essentially the same thing on both transports, and it's a new problem with this tape, I'd tend to blame the tape. You can always balance the LR channels in Audacity before you export, though you can expect more noise in the channel that you boost.
 
I'm not quite sure I understand you, but it sounds like you tried playing the same cassette tape back on each of the Marantz's transports and you had similar, uneven results in both cases?

First, make sure the heads are clean. It could also be an alignment problem either on the Marantz, or where/how the tape was originally recorded. If you're seeing essentially the same thing on both transports, I'd tend to think the problem is in the tape. You can always balance the LR channels in Audacity before you export, though you can expect more noise in the channel that you boost.

No, one of the tape decks I know is not right, and the second may be okay, but I am not sure. The tape is 100% fine. I wanted to know if the way the wave form looks in audacity when using the second deck I described is normal, for a healthy recording.
 
No, one of the tape decks I know is not right, and the second may be okay, but I am not sure. The tape is 100% fine. I wanted to know if the way the wave form looks in audacity when using the second deck I described is normal, for a healthy recording.
I would expect both the Left and Right channels in most stereo recordings to display similar amplitude. Why don't you post a picture of what you are talking about, and even an MP3 clip of it?
 
I would expect both the Left and Right channels in most stereo recordings to display similar amplitude. Why don't you post a picture of what you are talking about, and even an MP3 clip of it?

I found a youtube clip of someone who's recording waves looks similar to what I described, but I can't find the video anymore. I am going to keep looking. I don't know if this will help, but check out the link below, and scroll down a little to where it says step 3, and look at the wave form example. My waveforms are shaped the same, but my lower wave is a more narrow version of the top wave through out the recording. Could that be normal, and would balancing the lr channels in audacity mess the sound up?


Audacity Download free software for windows 10 -
 
Just to clarify, post a clip of your audio file. That's all that matters - not a picture/video of something else.
 
You mention "interface" but we are not told what Ghr? Does the interface have ASIO drivers? (check mnfctrs website) If so I strongly suggest you elbow Audacity and download a trial of a 'proper' DAW. I like Samplitude. ASIO you see takes the recording system, levels, balance etc out of the cold, dead hand of Windows.

If you are stuck with Windows it is possible that some settings have been borked. Look in Windows Sounds and Audio Devices (think you are on W10, can't help much with that.) there will be a setting for channel balance and much else.

I see you have plenty of posts under your belt. If you don't know how to do a screen grab and attach it, I and many others here can walk you through that.

Dave.
 
If I understand you correctly, you are looking at a waveform with a pair of stereo tracks. The one on the bottom looks weaker than the one on the top. It sounds like your right stereo channel isn't recording at same level as the left. Either there is something wrong with the right output from your cassette player, or something is wrong with the same input to your DAW.

If that's correct, then troubleshoot it. Isolate the problem. Is it in the cassette player? Try monitoring the output and see if you can hear a difference. If the problem isn't the player, is it your interface? Or is it in the input or record settings of your DAW?
 
I have a Marantaz dual cassette deck, that I run through my interface, and use with my pc to convert cassettes to digital format. I use audacity recording software, and for the first time, one of the cassette decks from the Marantaz did not record as normal. The audacity I had recording in stereo showed one normal healthy looking wave, and one thin looking wave under neath. The end result was the sound recording was lower, so I put the tape into the other cassette deck, and I am trying to figure out if the cassette deck is recording into audacity normal now. After I started recording in the second deck the audaicty wave recorded in stereo looks noticeably smaller than the wave above, but is shaped the same. Is this normal? The cassette recording is not of the best quality. Most of the sample pics of audacity waves, I have found online show the two audacity wave forms recorded in stereo looking almost identical.

If your setting in Audacity looks like the one in my picture, then I am pretty sure it is your tape player crapping out. If you are trying to do multi track recording, this will also give the results you are getting. Like others have mentioned, you really need to show us a pic.

View attachment 100999
 
Uneven levels [tend to] indicate uneven levels out of the first deck.
Two equal but smaller tracks would [tend] to say lower level from the second deck into the DAW.
Two conflicting results.
Trouble shoot.
Isolate/collect/control the variables.

Swap L/R leads would be another thing to try to add in that.
 
I very much appreciate everyone's response. I have had a chance to play and a record a number of different tapes, and I believe the first cassette deck is not working right, but the second deck is playing and recording okay.
 
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