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CeeBee2

CeeBee2

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I'm am old man & the world has passed me by. BUT... I have a bunch of songs, that I wrote yesteryear, in the 80s & 90s. They were demoed by a man in Tennessee, but they need modified. They are on 8 track ADATs (VHS tapes). I'm trying to find a way to get them on some software, so I can modify the volumes of each track... & maybe get a few do-overs on the vocals & start pitchin' these masterpieces to Nashville... Anybody have any ideas...?
 
Transferring ADATs to a computer isn't too hard, but you'll have to find someone with working machines and the right interface. Once done, you can use any of several programs to mix the tracks as desired, edit them or replace them with new ones.
 
There is bound to be somebody local to you who can do it? Are you active on facebook? That's certainly a good way here in the UK to find people local, rather than worldwide and anonymous on forums?

To be honest - and I'm old too - it involves spending. The software varies from free to expensive, but assumes you have a decent computer (i.e. modern and plenty of memory, storage etc etc) and decent speakers, or very good headphones.

Worse - the learning curve is very steep if you are new to music technology, as opposed to music. If you get the tapes transferred to a USB drive - then all the software will be able to read it - add effects and processing and give you a stereo recording you can do things with. The snag of course is you have to learn how to do it - or find a 16-18 year old college person who can do it for you.

My experience with people coming back to music is that one of two things happens. You embrace the learning opportunity and settle into electronic production happily - or - it will make your brain explode and you give up. Rarely any middle ground, so you really will love it or hate it. I hope you love it.

People here will help if they can, and are always willing to listen to work in progress and suggest things you may have missed. Nobody is proud - most of us have stuck up excellent stuff, but also real rubbish too! Nobody minds.
 
Hi C eeBee2 and welcome. The very first thing I think you should do is make sure that tape is safe. Make sure it is not exposed to extremes of temperature or magnetic fields, e.g. hulking great magnets on old Hi Fi speakers!

Next, there are many people on the forum who will have experience of old ADAT machines and probably working models which can be used to transcribe the tracks. Just two names of many...Rob Aylestone and James Perrett.

I don't know if you intend to go it alone with the songs but if so you can buy an ADAT machine online for around £100 to £150 BUT! There is quite a risk that the machine won't work. Well or at all and might just chew the tape up! If you do get one, buy a blank SVHS tape to test it with, better to chomp on that than your treasure.

Best overall to just send the tape to a transcribing service. Those chaps above will know who.

Dave.
 
Hi Rob, I had assumed the OP had some experience of computer music production? Your post has made me think again.

Yes, if you are coming to this stone cold CB then you have a mountain to climb. Assuming you can get the tracks transcribed as 8 discrete tracks on a USB stick then you will need some recording software with which to process it. I can save you a lot of time asking, thinking and searching. Just download Cockos Reaper (such software is called a "Digital Audio Workstation" i.e. "DAW" by the way) Reaper is effectively free but if you keep it only fair to stump the very reasonable $60.

Your next question might be "Will my computer be powerful enough?" Easy this one! If it is running Windows 10, yes.
Now, you could just plug headphones into the laptop (I bet) but an Audio Interface will give vastly better and more versatile results. They are legion but there really are no bad ones about.

Come back and talk, don't know how old Rob is but I am 78 next month.

Dave.
 
Thanks to all.... I know this much.... XXX

Next, I think I may have found an Alesis 8 Track... Do I need the snake? I do have a drawer full of stereo cables . I'm not planning any optical transfers or anything too tekkie...

The VHS tape must be good, Video Rev was able to transfer the songs to CD. The music is too loud & no balance in that. I'm not selling the music, I'm selling the song (lyrics by songwriter). The artist will put their own music to the song ot at the very least have an idea for my song....

Will my Sony Radio System Receiver work for this transfer system (This is an amazing sounding amplifier. It puts out a whopping 120 watts per channel into 8 ohms)..

What I think I want to do.... is re-set the volumes for each track & re-record the song to CD.... Then I can do some do-overs with vocals (can you spell Karaoke, Or just be done with that song. That's my project, but I have 20 songs... The old boy in Washington State, who I paid to do it, just took my money...

Any ideas...? How do we contact each other by phone or Skype or ??? I'm in the Pool N Billiards business. I developed a Training Tool for the Break Shot, been selling it for 24 years, around the world... I also wrote a book on the Break Shot in the games of Pool... Charley Bond is my name...
 
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Oh boy! You missed trick there! You should have written "my name is Bond, Charles Bond... "

You have me TOTALLY confused Charley and you seem to be running at the speed of light.
So, you have 20 songs, in what format? Each as a complete mix on a CD? If you want to 'modify' the songs in any way, change loudness, change tonal qualities you need something to play them into a computer, an Audio Interface and since it seems you are just dealing with stereo tracks a basic 2 in 2 out AI will serve. Yes that can feed the Sony receiver and you can listen to the results on the speakers...which are what? Not many 'rockyrolly' high power speakers are a lot of good for music monitoring.

On the computer you will need some software. The "DAW" and with that you will have access to $1000s worth of software versions of excellent 'outboard' gear such as EQ (tone) compression/limiters and other tricks. Reaper might even have a Karaoke generator in it?

Dave.
 
The stereo you have will have nothing to do with helping you transfer the songs other than being able to listen to them either from the adat or your PC...Think of the stereo as your monitor system.

You don't need a snake just the adat cable.

You will need an interface of some sort ( at least this is what I believe) that takes the 8 ADAT tracks in and delivers them to the PC digitally via usb. The two cheapest interfaces I saw at Sweetwater were the Behringer 1820 and the Audient iD24 ( the 14 only converts 6 ADAT tracks at a time)

You will then need to choose a DAW (Digital audio workstation) Here at HR,com Reaper is the most popular but there are many . What is great about reaper is you can use it for free as long as you want ( But you are encouraged to buy it at currently $60) Also a ton of instructional videos on youtube and then the Cocko's forums which are amazing.
Protools is the "Industry" standard but Reaper is taking more and more market share. There is also Apple's Logic...a ton of others. of which Audacity ( free) is also a great one for newbs but not near as much community support as reaper.

With regard to CD's these days they are not used all that much...usb sticks or hosted in the cloud for digital download is the way we share and sell audio.



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Gotta say this guy looks legit to just have someone else transfer them for you...

Here's the google search...actually several companies that look very legit...Let's go hunt that asshat rip off down in Washington. Knock on his door and then kick him in the nuts...I hate thieves :unsure:
 
My name is Bond, Charley Bond. I'm James Bond's little brother. I know what he knows, plus what I know.

I can't believe its so hard to get a few (20) songs remixed & put on separate CDs. The songs are DEMOs. The problem is they were not mixed correctly, the music drowns out the words... (more later)
 
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So.... once I have the ADAT & it comes on... I put the VHS tape in & what... I connect the output to my receiver ... Can I listen to my songs or am I still missing some gear...?

Anybody here, do this kind of thing...? Maybe I can send my "gear money" to you , for remixing my stuff & that will be that... Since I'm a nobody, a Producer won't invest nickel one, but they'll be sorry...
 
Ok, I think I have it (shut TFUp you lot! I is old and on a lot of meds!) You have an ADAT machine coming to play the tape...PLEASE take my advice and try another tape in it first!!! Then you need an interface with an ADAT optical input and, AFAIK you will then be able to open the tracks in the PC and then with the software we have mentioned, mix them and transfer to CD if that is your intention.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Oh boy! You missed trick there! You should have written "my name is Bond, Charles Bond... "

You have me TOTALLY confused Charley and you seem to be running at the speed of light.
So, you have 20 songs, in what format? Each as a complete mix on a CD? If you want to 'modify' the songs in any way, change loudness, change tonal qualities you need something to play them into a computer, an Audio Interface and since it seems you are just dealing with stereo tracks a basic 2 in 2 out AI will serve. Yes that can feed the Sony receiver and you can listen to the results on the speakers...which are what? Not many 'rockyrolly' high power speakers are a lot of good for music monitoring.

On the computer you will need some software. The "DAW" and with that you will have access to $1000s worth of software versions of excellent 'outboard' gear such as EQ (tone) compression/limiters and other tricks. Reaper might even have a Karaoke generator in it?

Dave.
Click to expand...
REVISED 10/21/23 Here is what I have. "10" 8 Track songs on Tape A (SVHS ADAT) &"10" 8 track songs on Tape B (SVHS ADAT). They were just recently transferred (downloaded) to CD, my first time to hear them. They were done by someone who was paid, to do just that. The ADATs aren't useless, because the data can be modified & the modification becomes usable, maybe even modifiable. The CDs are useless for any wanted modification. I actually set them aside for ...???

I have a gaming computer, that will do anything, but I'm not a gamer... I bought it used to work Video Instruction on... I would like to find someone who likes country music to do this for me. They would get a few bucks & I wouldn't have to fool with this unknown world. The problem is the music drowns out the vocals. I'm not selling the music, I'm selling the lyrics & the idea... I'm a songwriter who has decided to try it one more time. I am a published writer, but I'm old & only have the "want to".... not the "can do"...
 
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Is the CD playable like a normal audio CD or is it a data disc with the separate tracks? If the latter, then you just need to copy the data to a folder in your computer (assuming it has a drive that can read the CD) and then you can drop them into the audio mixing software of your choice.
 
It is just a stereo disc...
bouldersoundguy said:
Is the CD playable like a normal audio CD or is it a data disc with the separate tracks? If the latter, then you just need to copy the data to a folder in your computer (assuming it has a drive that can read the CD) and then you can drop them into the audio mixing software of your choice.
Click to expand...
I found you on the web. I actually called, but no answer...
 
How about ripping one of the songs to an mp3 and posting it. We are all getting pretty curious as to what you have
Guy
 
Should be able to click on attach files button ( below left ) find the mp3 file and click it. Might have to click ok and it should load on.
 
Here's one, where one of the tracks is too loud... Who wants to here that gong, going bang, bang, bang...? For awhile, here in America, there was a joke going around, about: What do you get, when you play country music backwards...? you get your bills back, your ex wife back, your old car back & so on... so I wrote a song... The song just needs a little balance.. It is on a CD with 2 channels, I need to go upstream & modify the data on the ADAT Tapes....
 

Attachments

  • Turntable TroubleOK.mp3
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CeeBee2 said:
It is just a stereo disc...
Click to expand...
I'm surprised nobody has said this yet, but you're not going to be able to change much in these recordings since they're just stereo tracks. You can't re-mix a stereo recording. You can do things to make the stereo recording sound better, but you're not going to be able to bring up the vocals if they're too low, etc...It just doesn't work that way.

I mean, you can run them through SPLEETER to separate the instruments, but the sound quality will degrade quite a bit.
 
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