Reel to Reel to CD

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johnr9q

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If this should be posted in a different forum, let me know. I have a bunch of Reel to Reel tapes from the 1960's that I want to preserve on CD's. I went to Best Buy yesterday to purchase the adaptors to be able to hook my reel to reel to my computer. My computer has an "Audio In" 3.5 jack. The output on my reel to reel is 1/4 in plug. The fellow at Best Buy (He seems very knowledgable) told me the best way to do this is by using their audio recorder: http://www.bestbuy.c...3&skuId=3345338 He said If I hook my reel to reel directly to my computer sometimes there is too much volume coming out of the reel to reel and this causes problems. Their product has a processor that apparently eliminates this issue and facilitates making the connection from the reel to reel to the computer. It has usb out of their processor and usb into my computer. If you all don't think I need this processor, I'd like to find a cord that will take the output of my tape recorder (two Mono 1/4" Jacks) to the input on my computer (one mono female 3.5mm jack) Can someone suggest where I can get that. They didn't have it at Best Buy.

I'm not at all computer literate so want to keep this very simple. Someone suggest I should use a Wav file vs MP3 file but the reel to reel recordings are not very high quality and mostly voice. I recorded with not so good microphone. Probably the only editing I will want to do is is create tracks on the final audio CD. The fellow at Best Buy said, unless the hiss is very bad, which it isn't, I shouldn't even edit out the hiss cause I would destroy some of the sound quality. So what would be the easiest way to do what I am describing?
 
I wouldn't think you would need any hardware interface. You could likely just use a dual mono 1/4" to stereo 1/8" cable to your computer's mic input. You will need software to record your 2 tracks - you can get Reaper for free. Then from there just export the tracks to wav files and burn... voila!

Reaper link - REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits It is free to try, but you are encouraged to buy if you are going to use it a lot.
 
Hi,
If the input mic on the computer is fixed for microphone level, which it most likely is since it's mono, then you probably will run into level issues as the best buy guy said.
If, however, it has a stereo line input it should be adequate for the job.
Whether you use the built in sound card (line-in) or an external device to replace it, it's still pretty simple.
Get audacity or reaper for free, select your inputs, hit record arm, do a test play to set your volumes properly on the r2r, then rewind and start recording. :)

If the hiss isn't too bad I agree with the best buy chap. It's probably best to just leave it alone. The only editing required is topping and tailing, then bouncing to wav.
If you're going to CD then do go with wav. I know the reels aren't great quality but why compound that by using a compressed digital format? You don't want to make it worse. :)
 
Steenamaroo: I said the input into my computer is mono but now I am not sure. How would I be able to tell? When I plug my headphones into the output on my tape deck I get sound out of both sides but when I plug the output from my tape deck into my computer, and I make a recording from my tape deck and play it back on my computer, sound only comes out one computer speaker. Maybe the jack on the computer is only mono? If so is there someway I can end up burning the CD's and when I play the CD on a DVD player the sound will come out both speakers? Also, the only "editing" I want to do when I get to burning the sounds onto the CD I want to be able to have tracks on the CD like on a music CD that you can select a track and get a particular song.
 
Hi,
Even if you were recording a mono source/signal, like a voice via one microphone for example, it should still play out of both speakers.

If you're hearing sound out of one speaker it would suggest that you're recording a mono input to a stereo track.
Stereo tracks would generally have left panned left and right panned right, by default, whereas a mono track will default to being panned down the middle.

What kind of cable are you using? Is it like the left one or right one?
If left, that's the problem.

jacks.webp

I'm not sure how you should check your computer input. I guess maybe in control panel/device manager/whatever you should be able to find some reference to tell you whether it's a mic input or line input.
If it's line it'll almost certainly be stereo.

If it isn't I'd really recommend a basic USB interface for stereo line input.
 
Steenamarro: Thanks for the great help. I am using the stereo jack the one on the right. I looked thru a bunch of my computer literature to see if the input jack on my computer is mono or stereo but couldn't find anything. I think I have the connection figured out: I plugged two 1/4" mono jacks into my tape deck (Left and Right Line Output) and on the end of this pigtail is a 1/4" female jack. I plugged a adapter into the the 1/4" female jack. On one end of this adapter is a 1/4 " male stereo jack and the other end is 3.5mm stereo female. To this I attached a cord with a 3.5mm stereo jacks on each end, one end into the adapter and the other end into my "Line-in connector" on my computer. The description for the "Line-in connector" is: "Connects to recording or playback devices such as a microphone, cassette player, CD player, or VCR". I used the "sound recorder" that comes with Windows 7 and made a recording of a tape and when I played it back it only played back in one of my computer speakers. I don't know if my "Line-in connector" is Mono or Stereo. I put a set of headphones on the 3.5mm output of the adapter I just described and sound came out of both ear pieces which means I am getting sound out of both channels. I checked the voltage on the stereo plug that goes into the computer and got voltage on both channels. I want the final product (a CD) to have both channels operating so sound comes out both speakers when I play the CD in a DVD player. What do you think of me just using the "sound recorder" that is included with Windows 7. The only editing that I want to do is divide segments up on the CD so that I can select specific tracks to play back like in a music CD where you can choose the song you want to listen to. Thanks again, John R
 
If you're just looking to record to CD, the easiest way might be to pick up a stand alone CD recorder from eBay. Not sure if anyone is making them currently, but plenty are available at fairly low prices. Just make sure to read the manual, and you'll need to buy CD-R Audio discs, which are still readily available.
 
The fact that you're getting audio on one side would suggest that the input is stereo and a stereo input on a computer would suggest that it's line input capable rather than/as well as mic, so that's the good news.

johnr9q said:
on the end of this pigtail is a 1/4" female jack.
Click to expand...

Have you any way to prove that this is a stereo adapter/converter? If it's mono, the damage is done at that point in the chain. Right channel gets grounded there and then.

You could prove by starting a recording with the setup as above.
Whilst recording, unplug the r2r left output and put it back in again.
Now unplug right and put it back in again.

If your recording has no interruptions then the pigtail you describe is just summing both outputs together. L+R into L.


Simpler than that, just buy or make one of these and lose any adapters or extensions.
jack.webp

Lonewhitefly's idea is solid too, if you can get one cheap enough.
 
Are you sure your tape deck doesn't have a stereo RCA line out anywhere on it?
 
I got all my reel to reel tapes on CD now (Thanks to all of your help) Now I want to transfer my cassette tapes to CD. I hooked my old cassette deck to the computer just like I hooked up the reel to reel. I try to record the sound on my computer using Windows Sound Recorder and get nothing. When I hook headphones into the output of the cassette deck I can hardly hear the sound. I cleaned the record head and tried a number of tapes and the end result was the same. I would think that Sound Recorder would be able to pick up the weak signal but it doesn't. Is my Cassette deck bad? When I put my headphones inline with my reel to reel output I got plenty of volume.
 
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