Archiving Cassettes and LPs to CD

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jstanko

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OK, I admit it I'm a newbie; and worse yet, I have a question that may be off topic for this site. I have some regular stereo analog cassette tapes of a group I used to play in, and I would like to convert to CD format. I just go a Dell 4300 with a CD burner and a Soundblaster Live card. I have a cable with 1/8" stereo phone jack to RCA phono plugs and my cassette deck. I have the latest MS Media player version 8.0; Roxio (Adaptec Easy CD 5.0, and even Jukebox by MusicMatch. But none of these seems to offer any help on how to archive cassettes or LPs to CD.

I hate to seem dumb, but could anyone tell me if i have what I need and how to do it? Or send me to the right URL to read tutorials. So far, I haven't found any thing written like a cook book procedure for newbies. I have looked at ads for Cakewalk Pyro 1.5 that says it can do this, for about $30. I'm OK with that if it will really work. I'd like to have some filters available too so I clean up old LPs and tapes.

Thanks for any light you can shine my way!
Jim the Fiddler
 
cassette to cd

I am currently doing this same thing with old band tapes. I have almost a complete arrangement ready on music match. You can plug into the headphones out jack on your tape player and into the line-in on your computer. make sure it is not muted on the sound blater mixer. If you can hear it playing through your speakers it should be fine. Then, record on music match. If you have the most recent version 7 you can level volumes and improve the mix as wel. After you get it mixed on music match you can burn the cd. I have not burned a cd yet but am almost ready to try it.

Good luck, hope this helps.
 
If you have SB live there are recording and editing software included in the driver bundle. There are options in the play center for recording .wav files and some filters Music Match has a help file and you will find the setup under recording it should help you get started. With Music Match open go to the options then settings you will see a screen that comes up then you select .wav as the recording format and select your line in on your sb live you may have to open the sb mixer to select the line in on it also. You can also do this with the dropdown's in Music Match you will see one that says source and quality.
 
Re: cassette to cd

tjb said:
I am currently doing this same thing with old band tapes. I have almost a complete arrangement ready on music match. You can plug into the headphones out jack on your tape player and into the line-in on your computer. make sure it is not muted on the sound blater mixer. If you can hear it playing through your speakers it should be fine. Then, record on music match. If you have the most recent version 7 you can level volumes and improve the mix as wel. After you get it mixed on music match you can burn the cd. I have not burned a cd yet but am almost ready to try it.

Good luck, hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks TJB. Looks like I have version 6.0 of Musicmatch. THey are trying to get me to upgrade, but I was hesitant to do it until I found out if it would work for me. Let me know please how your band project works out. (What kind of bands? Jazz, Swing, School, other?)
JimtheFiddler
 
mapeterson said:
If you have SB live there are recording and editing software included in the driver bundle. There are options in the play center for recording .wav files and some filters Music Match has a help file and you will find the setup under recording it should help you get started. With Music Match open go to the options then settings you will see a screen that comes up then you select .wav as the recording format and select your line in on your sb live you may have to open the sb mixer to select the line in on it also. You can also do this with the dropdown's in Music Match you will see one that says source and quality.
Click to expand...

Thanks m.a. I appreciate the suggestions. I didn't realize what was available in the sound blaster file, and didn't realize it was callled Creative! Duhhh... Between that which explained about monitoring the sound levels, and the musicmatch which both you and TJB mentioned, I should be able to make it work. I'll give it a try and post shortly to let you know how it turns out.
JimtheFiddler
 
If you want to clean stuff up you might want to look at CoolEditPro or SoundForge. They can help remove tape hiss and any pops or clicks.
 
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