37 replies to this topic

[sunrat]

1. Tascam or Nakamichi for top quality, and price. Otherwise any decent brand should give acceptable results.
2. Audacity has a Noise removal function. Try a few settings to get best results. Usually mild settings are best. You select a section of tape with no content and use that as a profile to remove noise from the whole recording. It's not the best but can be useful, and it's free. Audacity is also good to do the initial recording.
Waves noise removal plugins are great but not Linux and expensive. If you have a spare 3 grand you can get Cedar which is one of the best, but you need ProTools to run it. Their website has a nice writeup of the concepts under the "About audio restoration" section.
3. Results should be acceptable with most soundcards. I have an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 which is great. Just make sure you don't peak the record level (ie. over 0dB)
4. Record to .wav then convert to FLAC and keep the FLAC files. Only convert to mp3, aac, m4a, or preferably ogg vorbis if you need for a particular device. I use ogg for my netbook and FLAC on my desktop.
5.Yep, LAME is OK for mp3. Only use mp3 if you have to for a particular device. Ogg is better quality at the same bitrate, as are aac/m4a.

I have over 100 old cassettes from live shows I've been meaning to digitise for ages. Just acquired an old Teac deck, which hopefully works OK. It's winter here in Melbourne, so I have no excuse not to sit inside and get it done.

[Temmu]

super - thx for responding!
i'll let you know in a week or so what setup i setup.

[ross549]

I think the rackmount tape deck we have at church is a Tascam. It's worked fin the two times I used it.

"You brought your song on what?" "Yeah, I can play it...."

Adam

[sunrat]

ross549, on 06 June 2012 - 04:39 AM, said:

I think the rackmount tape deck we have at church is a Tascam.

Tascam 122 was a standard fixture in recording studios before the era of CD burners. Artists and producers would often take home a rough mix of the day's session, or the final mix, to listen on different equipment. You can get them on ebay for $50-350. Tascam still make professional cassette decks today.
Nakamichi made the top-end audiophile decks often with a price to match. I think some were over $1000 which was a fortune in the 70s and 80s. Some of my more wealthy friends wouldn't touch anything else. They did sound great; with good noise reduction systems it was hard to distinguish them from vinyl!

[Temmu]

thx, i shall scour ebay for a tascam 122, as $1k is a bit out of my league for this project.

[ross549]

Ordering this for my home studio.....



More info... http://www.allen-hea...oductId=ZED10FX



Adam

[sunrat]

Looks nice, Adam. I have a little Soundcraft at home, very similar to that one. It's excellent.

[ross549]

I have  a Peavey RQ200 right now, but I am looking for the better EQ, routing options, and USB interface for recording.

It shipped today, so I should see it Monday or Tuesday.

Adam

[Temmu]

sweet, adam!

[ross549]

https://www.facebook...=1&l=7b095d8e16



This mixer is crystal clear so far, and I have not even started playing with the EQ or EFX!

This is gonna be fun!

Adam

[kamicota]

Boy oh Boy

So MUCH CREATIVE abilities on the go here

Way to go ALL of you

Cheers for Years
Colin

[LilBambi]

That looks awesome Adam!

Can't wait to hear it on the show.

[ross549]

kamicota, on 19 June 2012 - 11:59 PM, said:

Boy oh Boy

So MUCH CREATIVE abilities on the go here

Way to go ALL of you

I guess I never really considered this hobby a creative effort.... but it is FUN, and I've been doing it for a while!

LilBambi, on 20 June 2012 - 08:49 AM, said:

That looks awesome Adam!

Can't wait to hear it on the show.

Yep! The recording is crystal clear too! I will not need to filter 80Hz and below out ever again! And the Mics have a HPF too! And a sweepable mid-EQ too! I have not even gotten to the EFX yet. So many possibilities!

I can also have three co-hosts!

Adam