Records to Tape

  • Thread starter Thread starter analog aaron
  • Start date Start date
A

analog aaron

Swami King of Poppers
Does anyone have any sort of advice or suggestions when transfering LPs (Records) to Cassette? I recently bought a cassette deck for my car and I've been transfering some of my more rare records to tape lately and although the transfers sound moderately good, in my opinion they sound a tiny bit thin. Keep in mind, I don't have any kind of crazy set up for this... Just an older Technics Direct drive turntable and standard Sony (and Technics) dual stereo cassette deck. Any Suggestions? Thanks guys,
Aaron:p
 
Make sure you have a fresh (or at least not severely worn) stylus. Adjust your counter-weight and anti-skate to match the requirements of your stylus. Sometimes adjusting a little above or below the specified gram(s) can yield better results.;)

If all else fails, put an EQ inline to help out with the "thin" areas.:p

All of this may be common knowledge to you, but sometimes the basics get overlooked.
 
preamp?

What phono preamp are you using? It was not clear if you were going direct from the phono cartridge to tape. For those who don't know records were recorded with RIAA specified EQ and you will need the RIAA phono preamp to get the proper "flat" EQ off of the record.

regards
 
evm1024 said:
What phono preamp are you using? It was not clear if you were going direct from the phono cartridge to tape. For those who don't know records were recorded with RIAA specified EQ and you will need the RIAA phono preamp to get the proper "flat" EQ off of the record.

regards
Click to expand...

Didn't think about that one.:o:p I "assumed" that part would be a non-issue.:D Silly me.
 
The pre-amp I'm using is nothing fancy... "Recoton SP-2". This preamp is super cheap,Like $15 bucks or so, though it sounds fine for just playing the records through the speakers. I haven't used any kind of EQ on the transfers though. I was playing the tapes through my girlfriends car stereo (it's an Acura with a Built in Bose system) The tapes sounded better, but only when I adjusted the treble and turned it up louder. I've actually heard some peoples car stereos (Cassette deck headunits, like in the early to mid 90's) that sounded better and just as clear as a cd. I wanna get my car cassette stereo to sound like that! I guess the best way for me to describe how the transfers are turning out (as of how I've got everything set up now) are: The treble seems not super crisp, the bass seems alright, I think the mid feq needs to be a little louder/clearer. The overall tone seems a tiny bit muffled/muddy and the volume is not all that loud, though I have the recording level set where it should be. Maybe it's the records. Seriously, The records I've been transfering are like these early punk bands and early obscure glam rock stuff. Seriously, maybe I need to try transfering something a little more modern and see how it sounds????:confused:

I remember a friend making me mixed tapes/complilations of all these bands using a cheapy turntable with built in tape player (back in high school, Ekk.. a long time ago, ha) I remember the tapes sounding great! Or maybe I thought they did, because I liked the songs, and didn't have any other recordings of the same songs to compare them to? I Dunno.. Ha
 
Last edited:
quality phono preamp, quality turntable, decent cassette deck with clean heads (on both the record and playback system), use high bias tape like maxell XL-II if the playback systems supports it (I think these cassettes are still pretty easy to find, no??)... just like any other audio recording, there is no secret formula, just the basic stuff.
 
I think the biggy for you to look at is the phono pre. Like any amplifier (which is what they are even though it's at small signal levels) they can sound very different and at $15, it's entirely possible that the prob comes from that.
Now, you're not gonna want to spend a couple hundred dollars (or more) on a pre just to transfer records so try seeing if anyone you know has an older stereo with a phono input and a tape loop or output. Then you can run the turntable thru that units' phonopre and see if it sounds better.
Quite a few older, even if cheap, stereo amps had fairly decent sounding phono-pres.
 
If you aren't recording the tape with noise reduction (Dolby B/C), make sure the car stereo isn't trying to default to having Dolby NR on.:eek::D
 
Hi_Flyer said:
use high bias tape like maxell XL-II if the playback systems supports it (I think these cassettes are still pretty easy to find, no??)... just like any other audio recording, there is no secret formula, just the basic stuff.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the tape type is a biggie. If you're using a normal bias tape it's going to sound like crap.
 
SteveM said:
Yeah, the tape type is a biggie. If you're using a normal bias tape it's going to sound like crap.
Click to expand...

I'm NOT using normal bias..........Come on! I know better than that! Ha. I recorded the first tape with Dolby B on and the bose system in the acura has Dolby B. But that's when I thought it didn't sound so hot. I just recorded another tape without any NR on and I think it sounds better!:confused:
 
analog aaron said:
I'm NOT using normal bias..........Come on! I know better than that! Ha. I recorded the first tape with Dolby B on and the bose system in the acura has Dolby B. But that's when I thought it didn't sound so hot. I just recorded another tape without any NR on and I think it sounds better!:confused:
Click to expand...

Sorry didn't meant to insult you aaron, :o You never know! :D
 
analog aaron said:
I'm NOT using normal bias..........Come on! I know better than that! Ha. I recorded the first tape with Dolby B on and the bose system in the acura has Dolby B. But that's when I thought it didn't sound so hot. I just recorded another tape without any NR on and I think it sounds better!:confused:
Click to expand...

I can definitely agree there. I never cared for Dolby NR. Maybe Dolby C is better? Too bad cars didn't have dbx noise reduction systems.:o:p
 
I usually preferred no dolby on my recordings although sometimes I'd use it to record but not use it on playback and turn down the highs in effect setting my own desired amount of decoding ..... take the noise out without getting that dull dead sound that you usually get when using Dolby on playback.
 
Ok, just for the "Record".....(uh, sorry, I know it's too early for bad jokes) I am now recording with the signal slightly peaking to the max red and I am finally pleased with the results.No Dolby or NR whatsoever. I'm surprised I'm not getting any distortion because I'm pushin' it pretty hard.:confused: Maybe the meters on the cassette deck are peaking early? Dunno, either way i'm getting a strong clear signal now. Oh yeah, My father brought over this huge box of cassettes I left at their house from moons ago, and I'm finding some gems in there!!! Like stuff I recorded when I was like 14!...ugggg....I better hide those hidious documentations! Ha, Cheers and thanks to all for the Input!
A
 
It's pretty common for meters on a cassette deck to not be calibrated right so they might indeed be peaking too soon.
But that's also one of the key things about tape in the first place ..... you can push it and depending on the material ..... you can sometimes push it hard with no bad distortion and often it'll sound best that way.
Glad you've got it working for you.
 
I've pushed the crap out of my XLIIs with no problems. I recorded them years ago and recently played some of them. I saw hot they were on the meters and couldn't believe they weren't distorting.:eek::D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top