Recording cassettes onto laptop

wazza

I have the following : a laptop, a casstte player which is part of a seperate hi-fi system and has a line out two phono sockets; a lead which has two plugs at one end for the line-out on cassette player and on the other end a 3.5mm? jack plug which will fit into a microphone socket of the laptop.

Can i use the above set-up to record the material from the cassette onto laptop? Plan to use audacity which will convert the music to mp3 format.

Thanks to those who replied.

vyseyboy

Yep. You can. connect to the line out of the hi-fi, and the other end to the line in of the laptop. (Most laptops have a line-in as well as a mic input. Line in is much better for this type of line-level recording. Higher quality. Use line-in over mic. if you can.)

Audacity will do the trick. Remember to go to preferences and set the number of channels for recording to 2 for stereo (it's usually 1 by defualt.)

Crank the hifi volume up high and set audacity's line-in recording volume to low for minimum noise. However, you still want a good level for recording. Switch monitoring on, and play back the loudest part that you will record. You want the level to get near the top, but not reach the top. Adjust audacity's recording level until you get there. If it reaches the top, it will clip the recording, and sound nasty.

You will need the LAME dll file to export to mp3. Search engines can help you find it.

shadowdragon

Audacity can be found here

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

the lame dll you need for MP3 export and instructions on how to use it are here

http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/

All safe downloads.

bookduck

I had some old (20 year) tapes that I wanted to record and listen to. Upon playing the tapes, the magnetism had decayed too much especially on the high ends. I ended up ripping them from a cd instead.

You too may find the quality better to rip from cd and it is an easier process.

£$&*"($£&(

vyseyboy wrote: »

Most laptops have a line-in as well as a mic input. Line in is much better for this type of line-level recording. Higher quality. Use line-in over mic. if you can.

These days very few laptops have a line in so you'll have to use the mic in - however as vyseyboy mentioned this is not going to offer great quality. I would recommend a basic external soundcard such as an Edirol UA1ex or a Creative USB Sound blaster Connect.

wazza

Thanks for the replies.

Was hoping to use the laptop but i do have a normal pc with a sound card. Just want to get rid of the collection of cassettes which i don't use anymore.

BonBon_3

Audacity will definately do the job for you - its easy, it works and its free.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Happy recording.