Trying to copy cassette to PC using Audacity - why won't it work?

usignuolo

I am trying to copy some cassettes (compilations) onto my pc. I have installed Audacity. I have a personal cassette player and have plugged one end of a standard jack into its "earphones" socket and the other end (a matching standard jack) into the line-in port on my dell. The player works fine on its own but when I turn on Audacity and press record and turn the player on, nothing records. Anyone got any suggestions.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

don't think you will need the earphones connected, try it without.

neilwoods

Do think the OP means he has used a 3.5mm jack to jack lead not headphones. Have you tried the player with a set of headphones to see if player is actually playing.

Also check the sound setting, may have something set to mute or too low

usignuolo

I meant I have connected the earphones socket in the cassette player to the line in socket on mypc using 3.5mm jack-jack cable. Tape plays OK when I am not trying to copy it.

rrf494g

that you could check.

Ensure that "sounds and audio devices/audio tab" (in control panel) has "sound recording" set to the device that you have plugged into.

Under the "volume" tab, click "advanced" to get the "volume control" panel and ensure "line in" has its settings as you want them.

Ensure audacity is set to your device for recording (to the right of the microphone symbol in the audacity panel)

good luck

usignuolo

I don't have a Sounds and Audio devices tab only Sound. I have checked that and it is showing under Recording /LineIn Realtek High Definition Audio/ Ready. Similarly on the Win7 CP I do not have a Volume tab. Just the Sound one as above and a Realtek tab which shows me that my PCs speakers are set up OK.

Is the CP listing of contents different for Win7?

There are three mic symbols on my audacity screen - one is in right hand side of screen next to a sound bar slider, another is on left hand side of screen in row below with a down arrow next to it (nothing on the drop down the arrow uses the word recording) and the remaining one is in the cetnre of the screen and next to a box which says LineIn (Realtek High definition).

EchoLocation

Have a look here http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Windows_7_OS#Audacity_and_Windows_7

rrf494g

The microphone and slider on the Right Hand Side (RHS) allows you to set the recording level. The drop down menu next to the mic in the middle allows you to monitor the recording level (in a number of optional ways) these levels show in the two bars (labelled L & R above the mic sysmbol), the drop down menu right of the mic on the Left hand side (LHS) lets you set the source you are recording from.

the LHS menu should have a range of sources depending on your computer/laptop; perhaps CD, microphone and line-in.

windows settings . . .

Yup- I've been describing XP settings and your Win7 settings may be spread out differently BUT I'm pretty sure there should be a volumes panel somewhere so that you can Mute/ Level set the various ins/outs in win7. I think there is a "sound" panel in win7 which has a "recording" tab on it for the controls.

any joy?

googler

Man, you're not having ANY luck with technology at the moment, are you?

Do you have any other audio devices that you could connect to the Line Input on the PC? If you connect something else and it still doesn't work, then you know the problem is in the PC.

Does the PC have more than one Line Input? One on front panel, one on rear, maybe? If so, try both, or try all of them.

st999

when all is connected can you actually hear the tape being played through your PC speakers?

Redvee

When you do have success with the settings, bear in mind the sound quality will be low unless you play around with the recording later.