convert old cassette tapes to digital format

littlerock

I have recently found a small cache of cassette "mix" tapes in a drawer whi,le having a spring clean. I should like to convert them to digital format. what's simplest way? I see Maplin has something called an Ion player which will play them but it says you need iPlayer to convert them to MP3 format on your computer and I have a pc - I am not an Apple user.

what does anyone suggest?

A.Penny.Saved

You could use Audacity (freeware) and hook a cassette player up to your PC line in or Mic input depending upon the cassette output level.

Audacity can use other output plugins such as Lame Mp3 encoder but it does already come with a Mp3 encoder. Ffmpeg addon also allows extra supported audio formats.

There is a sound activated recording option. You might get some noise when the tape starts so it might be best to begin recording after starting the tape to help avoid any unwanted noises.

Audacity does also have lots of effects which might help remove the typical analogue tape noise.

It shouldn't cost you anything to try it providing you have a suitable lead to connect your tape player to your PC. A 3.5mm jack plug lead should be sufficient.

eddddy

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

There is a sound activated recording option.

...which probably wouldn't be so good for music tapes.

The 'gap' between tracks would be lost - tracks would run into each other (which would probably make editing into single tracks more difficult). Also, any 'dramatic pauses' in a music track would be lost.

After recording a side of a cassette, you'd probably want to split the single long recording into a series of individual tracks - so you can access and play them individually on your pc.


Edit to add...

If you do want to split a long recording into multiple tracks using Audacity, here's some info: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/splitting_a_recording_into_separate_tracks.html

tonyh66

why bother, the sound quality from tape to digital will be terrible. Find out what is on the tapes and then find the digital equivalent, chances are you probably already have all the tunes on CD.

esuhl

tonyh66 wrote: »

why bother, the sound quality from tape to digital will be terrible. Find out what is on the tapes and then find the digital equivalent, chances are you probably already have all the tunes on CD.

As they are mix tapes, they might have been "one offs" that are otherwise irreplaceable. I digitised some old tapes with Audacity, and the results have been disappointing as the tapes has warped and started to disintegrate. But at least I have digital copies for posterity. The ones in my collection were the last in (known) existence.

Otherwise, it would save a lot of hassle and give much more pleasure to just buy a decent recording of the mixes if they're commercially available.

Gloomendoom

I use one of these for converting digital to analogue but it works the other way round too...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-UCA202-U-Control-low-latency-Interface/dp/B000KW2YEI

littlerock

No some of them are tracks from imported cassettes and not available also I should like the mix tapes in the pre existing sequence. Do you think the Behringer device would work for analogue tapes to digital?
How would I connect it up?

littlerock

No some of them are tracks from imported cassettes and not available also I should like the mix tapes in the pre existing sequence. Do you think the Behringer device would work for analogue tapes to digital?
How would I connect it up?

Browntoa

I've used this

http://www.magix.com/gb/audio-cleaning-lab/

It reduces noise and re equalises the sound , you can also "tag" the individual tracks so you can jump forward like normal even on a mix tape

I was greatly impressed by the finished product , some of my tapes were from the early 1970's

tonyh66

littlerock wrote: »

No some of them are tracks from imported cassettes and not available also I should like the mix tapes in the pre existing sequence. Do you think the Behringer device would work for analogue tapes to digital?
How would I connect it up?

Fair enough, if the tracks are unobtainable elsewhere, then go for it, the tapes might be degraded though as mentioned above.

emptybox

littlerock wrote: »

No some of them are tracks from imported cassettes and not available also I should like the mix tapes in the pre existing sequence. Do you think the Behringer device would work for analogue tapes to digital?
How would I connect it up?

I don't see how that Behringer device would be useful to you? It's more for mixing two different sources together, or for if your PC doesn't have an audio line in or mic socket.
You'd still need to buy a cassette player, if you haven't already got one.

That Ion cassette player doesn't need itunes, It connects to the PC via USB, and the included software records the album as a .wav file/files
You could then use any software such as Audacity to turn it into .mp3 files.

But TBH if you can just pick up a second hand or cheap cassette player and connect it with a 3.5mm lead from the headphone socket on the player to the line-in or mic socket on the PC, then Audacity is the only software you need. It'll record as well as convert.
Bit of a learning curve with it, that's all.