Analogue to Digital Audio Transfers

[dayvideo]

I am trying to transfer my 8 track reel to reel to CDR and the current 16 bit sound card set at 44mhz at 178kbps.
The quality of the recording has crackles and hiss, so maybe I need to update my card?
Could it be an earthing problem with the line in jack of the sound card?
Any suggestions appreciated!
I am trying to capture the same audio quality as from the original tape. Is this possible?

 

[drstawl]

Just DO IT! What you learn may be more important than the actual content.
I recently completed a project that was far more 'challenged' from the start. The tape was a mono rendering of a demo tape produced in 1976. Because of the cost of good quality master 1/4" tape at the time, each of the band members got one reel-to-reel copy of the final mix of the original stereo demo through a multiple deck record. Mine got bulked by accident the next day...
So I got a 2nd generation reel to reel copy which I later dubbed to cassette. Years later I dubbed this aging copy to another cassette under some really putrid circumstances. It came out in MONO, which may have helped in some respects but hurt in others. Then this
cassette is used heavily for years playing back my only remaining copy of the band's stuff. Then it's stored in a Honda Civic glove compartment (In Southern CA, no A/C) for 6 years. After which it's transferred to TASCAM double speed format using a really shabby cassette player as the source. Then digitally re-mastered from the TASCAM tapes. It's now on CD and the scars are evident, including many dropouts only one of which was on the original tape. But it still is listenable and overall a worthwhile project.

 

[Dragon]

Hmm...if you had a bad connection of some kind you might well get crackles and hiss. But try the basics first: monitor the output of your tape machine directly (using the cable you plug into the sound card, if possible) and see if you hear the noise there. Then monitor the signal as you record it on the computer, and see if you hear it then.

If you don't hear it either of these two places, then your problem is in the software. If you hear it when monitoring the sound card but not when listening directly, the problem is the soundcard. You also ask:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I am trying to capture the same audio quality as from the original tape. Is this possible?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Absolutely...as long as you have an equivalent sound card. In other words, if you're using a $4000 reel-to-reel tape recorder (or whatever the equivalent is in pounds, ounces, Euros, Oreos, or whatever you're using over there for money this week , don't expect to run it into a $50 sound card and have it sound just as good! You'll need a $600-and-up sound card for true professional results. But whatever you use, you shouldn't be getting crackles and hiss.