Transferring my old band tapes to the PC...

J

jet460

New member
Howdy folks.
Kind of a newbie on here.

I just picked up an Akai M9 r2r deck in near perfect condition last night.
Works great!
Paid $10 for the thing.

I got it so I could revive old band tapes from the 80's, and hopefully put them on the PC and share some stuff.

Problem is, I have no clue how to get this stuff on the computer, and how to convert stuff to MP3 or whatever.

Do I need special hardware?
What program(s) do I use to copy it, and how do I edit a 45 minute recording into individual songs.

I realize the average 15 year old probably knows how to do this, but I do not.
Digital recording software is utterly baffling to me.
I had cakewalk, and Protools, and could not get to step 1 with that stuff.
Returned it and gave up.

Is there a simple way a bonehead can do this?
 
I'm rather fond of Audacity for basic recording and editing. Goldwave is also decent, but only works in windows. Audacity is freeware, Goldwave is something like $50, but has a trial version. ($50 buys a license code that unlocks it)

If you're just doing a straight 2-track recording, that's fairly straightforward. Getting a sound card or USB interface is recommended - you could use the PC's onboard sound, but it's often too noisy to be usable.

Something like this would probably be adequate:
UA-1EX :: Products :: Roland

...it does get more complicated if you're trying to digitize more than two tracks at once - you would need a multi-channel soundcard for that, and audacity and goldwave wouldn't cut it either.

With Goldwave, it's fairly straightforward - you might need to poke around to make sure it's recording off the soundcard you want, but by and large it's a matter of hitting RECORD and STOP, and after that you can just select the songs you want and copy them into new files to save.

Audacity is a little more complex in that it can have more than two tracks at once, and it also tends to save into its own special format unless you make sure to choose 'EXPORT' in the menu.

Hope this is some help...
 
Check out the Yamaha Audiogram 3.. it is a USB soundcard with a set of stereo inputs to allow you to connect your M9 to your computer. The Audiogram series is a great line or products. Also, Audacity is a great interface for simple recordings, and can allow you to modify the audio once you have it recorded (noise removal, EQ, etc).

jraff213
 
Ok, I'll check that stuff out.
It all sounds very frustrating and confusing.
I'll probably end up having these tapes transferred at a studio or something.
I can't deal with all the computer terminology.
Those software programs for recording are just a big mess to me.
I always click the wrong thing and screw it all up.
 
hey, you could always just buy a regular stand-alone CD burner -- they go pretty cheap on eBay these days. they function very analog-like; just plug right into the recorder from the tape deck and press record!
 
I just ordered the Yamaha Audiogram 3.
It looks pretty idiot proof, and has great reviews.
Plus, I can use it to plug my guitar into the computer.
I have to wrap my brain around this some way, somehow, so I'll start there and see where I get.
Thanks for the recommendation jraff.
 
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