cassette tapes are dying out

[gentlegreen]

2.5mm-phono

3.5mm
and don't bother with gold

 

[gentlegreen]

its £105 which is expensive if you already have a tape deck and no how to do it, it may be less expensive if you sleep on pillows of 20 pound notes.... i dunno!...

Yep - would be different if it ran at high speed - though that isn't a sensible thing to try when it's music - unless it's very expensive kit ...

As you say - just get a half decent hifi deck

I do this all day every day at work.

 

[gentlegreen]

download Audacity and play your music through it - if your not hearing anything come back here for further details - but its pretty straight forward... and hit the big red record button....

Almost the single most important aspect of getting a good recording - whether analogue or digital, is making maximum use of the available dynamic range.

When recording onto tape from whatever source you need to keep the level high to keep the music above the noise floor of the tape. (without slamming too hard into the red)

With tape to PC there is much less noise but you need to avoid clipping which can sound really nasty so aim to keep the peak indices at -3db.

That's what I find anyway ....

.

 

[newbie]

Almost the single most important aspect of getting a good recording - whether analogue or digital, is making maximum use of the available dynamic range.

When recording onto tape from whatever source you need to keep the level high to keep the music above the noise floor of the tape. (without slamming too hard into the red)

With tape to PC there is much less noise but you need to avoid clipping which can sound really nasty so aim to keep the peak indices at -3db.

That's what I find anyway ....

.

Signal to noise ratio is a relatively minor factor in digital recordings, as the digital noise floor is around -80dB or lower.

You suggest 3dB headroom above peak but this depends on precisely determining transient peaks. A standard VU meter averages levels and doesn't display peaks, so how do you know exactly what the programme peak really is?

Most digital tape decks default to a reference level of -18dBFS (or -20). Allowing for programme peak at standard 8dB above reference that gives 10dB headroom for transients, and a dynamic range of around 60dB.

A greater dynamic range increases the possibility of digital clip, which sounds horrible, with no improvement in sound quality.

 

[gentlegreen]

Signal to noise ratio is a relatively minor factor in digital recordings, as the digital noise floor is around -80dB or lower.

You suggest 3dB headroom above peak but this depends on precisely determining transient peaks. A standard VU meter averages levels and doesn't display peaks, so how do you know exactly what the programme peak really is?

Most digital tape decks default to a reference level of -18dBFS (or -20). Allowing for programme peak at standard 8dB above reference that gives 10dB headroom for transients, and a dynamic range of around 60dB.

A greater dynamic range increases the possibility of digital clip, which sounds horrible, with no improvement in sound quality.

OK - you say 10db, with the material I handle (speech), 3 to 6db headroom seems to work. CoolEdit has peak indices.
I'm talking extremes here - I get people presenting me with material they've invested hours in recording where the VU meter hardly moves -

 

[gentlegreen]

"USB/MP3/iPod/DvD/Cd Player & Car Stereo FM Modulator PLAYS MP3's & WMA's"
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Flash-USB-MP3...824601959QQcategoryZ58350QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I've just speculated 21 quid (inc postage) on one of these
I'll try to remember to call back when I've thoroughly tested it

Perversely, since the lights on my bike are 12 volts I will now be fitting a lighter socket on the handlebar and buy a cheap mini FM radio
(I'll have to use a plastic bag if it rains )

 

[gentlegreen]

Modulator update

I thought I was buying this from Wiltshire but it arrived by airmail from the 'States

Much smaller than I imagined ...it works quite well - half-decent sound quality ... a lot better than my rather poor semi-direct connection - just need to find out how to stop the radio re-scanning whenever the thing pops out of the lighter socket.

The MP3 player is very basic - MP3 only and <128kbps, no display, no built-in memory. Starts playing from beginnining if there's been a power interuption .. it's only worthwhile because I already have a half gig flash pen drive.

Didn't try connecting my usual MP3 player to the line in socket ...

Overall almost worth the 21 quid - if only to be able to inflict my own music on others when given a lift

 

[marty21]

I've got tapes from 1979 that still work okay! It's still the formula in which I have most of my music collection.

The thing about cassette tapes is that unless they are pretty new most cars have cassette, rather than CD players, and the car is one of the places where I've got to have music. I don't play cassette tapes much outside the car but they are great company on a long drive.

the only place i play tapes is in the car, i have a plastic bag with about 50 of them in there, the last survivors of my taper collection, no longer have all the cases of course

and making tapes for girlfriends or mates was a lot more fun then

 

[audiotech]

"Record to your computer.
Convert, save, and edit sounds from tape to your PC. Transfer to CD, DVD, or MP3 player. Build your audio collection."

this is just what i want - a friend who's ill has hundreds of tapes and i'd love to get them on cd for her.

is it hugely expensive? is there another way of getting music from tapes on to cd?

http://www.d-a-l.com/help/archive/index.php/t-14240.html

 

[poet]

Signal to noise ratio is a relatively minor factor in digital recordings, as the digital noise floor is around -80dB or lower.

Yes, but bit depth is crucial. If you're not providing a signal to your converters that's close to clipping then you're not using the full resolution of your converters. If you're only providing a signal loud enough to use 12 bits of a 16 bit converter then you're effectively using 12-bit converters, quadrupling your noise floor and slashing your dynamic range by 24db as your converters run out of resolution at the quiet end. Quieter sounds will disappear into distorted glitchiness. Because each additional bit doubles the range of amplitudes that can be represented, even a small amount of surplus headroom will do major damage. The effects of creeping within a couple of db of clipping, compressing the last 2-3db and slapping on a brick-wall limiter within a hair's breadth of clipping are far more minor than undersupplying your ADCs by the margins you're suggesting.