Cassette transfer to Protools

M

mountainking

New member
Hi there, just needed some advice about doing a cassette transfer to my Protools. I have a Yamaha tape deck and an Mbox. I need to use a dual RCA to dual 1/4 inch jack cable to connect the two devices. I want to do the cleanest sounding transfer possible so before I buy a cable, I just wondered if the length of the cable will have any effect on the sound quality/background noise etc? Should I go for the shortest available, which seems to be 1m, or should I go for something longer? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
 
Hi,
Dual rca means unbalanced analog audio so any noise/interference picked up along the way is not going to be cancelled.

That shouldn't necessarily be a problem as long as you avoid running the cables near devices which could interfere,
such as mains powered studio gear, wall-plug transformers; Anything like that.

I'd do a test record with a quiet section of tape and listen back on high-ish volume.
If you hear a harsh buzz (not hiss) then your cables might be too close to something like that.
Florescent lighting and nearby fridges/AC etc can interfere too. Something to keep in mind.

I don't expect there should be a difference between 1/3/5m cable. It's more about where it's going and what it's near.
 
Hey Paul! I wasn't sure if you'd still be about on here- it's been a while. I don't know if you remember me- you kindly sent me a copy of PT LE 5.2.1 a couple years back? How are things? Nice to see you're still as helpful as ever! Thanks for the advice. While I'm here, I was wondering about getting the most neutral sound possible. What I mean is, the tape deck has its own basic EQ dials, but I don't want the transfer to be "coloured" by these. So should I turn them all the way down or turn them all up halfway?
 
I agree, try it and see. You don't even have to play a tape, just have the machine on.

To get the absolute most out of cassette transfer I will tweak the head alignment so that the azimuth of the playback deck exactly matches the the record deck. I usually do this by turning off any NR, turning up the HF and listening on headphones. By going back and forth I can hear where the clarity peaks. That will coincide with phase alignment which is audible via precedence effect. Sometimes I do other things like inverting polarity on one channel and summing them or using a phase meter.

[Edit] If you're using the same deck for playback that you used for recording, don't adjust the head.
 
mountainking said:
Hey Paul! I wasn't sure if you'd still be about on here- it's been a while. I don't know if you remember me- you kindly sent me a copy of PT LE 5.2.1 a couple years back? How are things? Nice to see you're still as helpful as ever! Thanks for the advice. While I'm here, I was wondering about getting the most neutral sound possible. What I mean is, the tape deck has its own basic EQ dials, but I don't want the transfer to be "coloured" by these. So should I turn them all the way down or turn them all up halfway?
Click to expand...

Ah, yes; I remember! I thought your name was familiar.
Going well, thanks for asking. Yourself?

What model is the Yamaha deck? Usually, or often, eq controls are marked with a 0 and +/- either side of that.
If the tapes are home recordings I'd probably play them back and adjust eq to taste before recording but if you're going for do-no-harm, unity or 0 should be clearly marked.
 
I'm good thanks Paul! Yes I can see the 0 on the eq controls. It's only a few songs so I might try both ways and see which sounds better. Thanks to both you and Bouldersoundguy.
 
The only cable property that is likely to affect the sound quality is capacitance and, counter-intuitively, very expensive "audiophool" cables often have higher capacitances than basic stuff.

Capacitance is rarely a problem for "pro" gear because it has a low output impedance, often 100 ohms or so but consumer kit can be higher, 1k even 10k in some cases. 1k is not a problem* but 10k and a 5mtr cable could start to lose you HF at as low as 10-12kHz.

*But a 1k opz will not be as good as 100R when it comes to hum pickup though that is unlikely to be a problem if you steer clear of mains leads and especially line lump power supplies!
IF it is a problem you could make the output of the Yammy "impedance balanced" but to do that properly we would need a schematic. Model number chap?
I am also assuming the cassette deck is earth free, i.e 2 core mains cable?

A quick Google found me the map of the K-1020 and that has an opz of about 1.5k, pretty good. As it is likely Yamaha kept the same output topology across their range of quality decks I think you should be fine.

Dave.
 
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Thanks Dave, unbelievably that's exactly the model I'm using! I'm sure it will be fine, and even if it not, I'm getting the tracks mastered once I've done the transfer, so hopefully they'll be able to remove any noise etc. THanks again!
 
mountainking said:
Thanks Dave, unbelievably that's exactly the model I'm using! I'm sure it will be fine, and even if it not, I'm getting the tracks mastered once I've done the transfer, so hopefully they'll be able to remove any noise etc. THanks again!
Click to expand...

Grannies and eggs notwithstanding, if you are going to hand the dupes over to a pro "think" they would like them at 24 bits and 44.1kHz and peaking no higher than -6dB fs? 24 bits is of course a complete overkill for tape but I think everyone just runs 24 all the time?

Mr Massive will I reckon soon put me in my place if I am spouting bllx!

Dave.
 
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