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Topic: Old Cassette Tapes |
Sonny Jenkins
From:
Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
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Posted 12 Apr 2021 10:17 am |
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| Like a lot of us "old guys" I'm sure, I have a lot of old cassette tapes,,,is there anyway I can get those onto my computer (technologically challenged to say the least,,LOL),,,and then of course possibly onto a CD. Well actually if I can get them onto my computer I can get burn them to CD if need be. |
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Jim Kennedy
From:
Brentwood California, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2021 11:24 am
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You can use Audacity, a free program, to record the tape and then save it in whatever format you want. Use an RCA cable to to 1/8 inch mini stereo plug to get from the tape player to your computer. Plug into mic in on your computer and you should be good to go.
_________________
ShoBud Pro 1, 75 Tele, 85 Yamaha SA 2000, Fender Cybertwin, |
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Steven Pearce
From:
Port Orchard Washington, USA
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David Ball
From:
North Carolina High Country
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Posted 12 Apr 2021 3:18 pm
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Thanks for that link--I have a bunch of old cassettes I'd like to convert, but don't have a decent cassette player any more. They were originally recorded on walkman type rigs, so this looks like just the ticket!
Dave |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Sonny Jenkins
From:
Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
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Posted 13 Apr 2021 9:31 am
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| Hey Steven,,,yes, I had looked at those and wondered if they worked,,,,now with your confirmation I'll get one and try it,,,thanks my friend,,, |
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Scott Denniston
From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2021 2:10 pm
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| I bought one of those converters recently. I listened to an Old Herby Wallace course and it sounded so bad I just decided to get an old cassette player and run it into an interface and onto Reaper or audacity & convert to mp3 there. I was in a hurry though and didn't have time to try more tapes and see if the problem was the cassette. That so called cassette converter gizmo is really just a cheap player and a cheap digi interface. Then you convert it to mp3 or wav or whatever with a drop-down in Reaper or Audacity (free program). A Walkman or something into a decent interface would be a lot more faithful to the original. |
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Steven Pearce
From:
Port Orchard Washington, USA
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David Ball
From:
North Carolina High Country
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Posted 15 Apr 2021 4:54 am
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I got one in the mail yesterday. It works like a champ--there's no need to convert anything after recording, since it saves the files as MP3s.
The only downsides that I see so far are: It is built lightly, as would be expected for the price. It's not going to take a lot of abuse, but I don't plan to abuse the thing and it has a one year warranty.
The controls are really small and hard for an old guy like me to see without a magnifier.
The instructions are only marginal.
But the sound quality is good, and it's very simple to use once you figure it out. I like it.
Dave |
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Scott Denniston
From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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David Ball
From:
North Carolina High Country
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Posted 16 Apr 2021 1:34 am
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Yeah--it looks virtually identical to the one I got (Pyle brand), but apparently the electronics are different. The Pyle doesn't require a computer at all.
Dave |
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Scott Denniston
From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2021 6:30 am
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| I've got a couple of great interfaces. An Appogee and a little Focusrite. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Just play any cassette player into one of those into any daw that will convert to wav,mp3 or anything. I usually have to get scammed before my brain wakes up. |
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Pete Burak
From:
Portland, OR USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2021 9:20 am
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Jim Palanscar has a stand alone unit that records Cassettes to CD, at his shop.
It is a Tascam CC-222MKII. |
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David Ball
From:
North Carolina High Country
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Posted 26 Apr 2021 1:53 pm
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I've spent the past couple of days converting ancient fiddlers convention cassettes over to MP3 using the little Pyle unit. It's working out great! I've hit a few tapes that haven't quite survived the ages, and the C90s definitely are not as good as the C60s. But I knew that at the time.
The Pyle is a really cheaply built little unit that is also cheap. But it works very well for my purposes (the originals were recorded on cheap portable cassette recorders after all). It has a one year warranty--I figure I can get all of my tapes converted within a year. After that, who cares!
Anyway, a thumbs up for the Pyle after having converted a whole bunch of cassettes on it.
As an added bonus--the headphone jack doubles as an external input jack (tells me a lot about what's going on under the hood between the cassette drive and the MP3 recorder...), so I should be able to convert mini discs, reel to reel tapes and whatever else through the same device. Pretty cool. And all for thirty bucks.
Dave |
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Jan Dunn
From:
Union, NJ USA
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Posted 5 May 2021 5:41 pm Cassette to MP3-one thing to watch out for
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Because the original analog players were mechanical, the speed of the motor effects the pitch of the music being played. If you were to convert an old Jeff Newman tape with a tuning note, you'll probably find it is slightly off, simply because his player was at a slightly different speed than yours. If you digitize like that, the MP3 will also be slightly off (or worse or just right-depends on the speed of your playback deck). You guys that are talented (and I don't include myself in that group!) will simply adjust the bar placement to play in tune. The musically challenged like me might want to run the new MP3 through a program that allows you to alter pitch (there's many out there) and save the altered MP3 to a new file. This will put your tuning note (and your backing track) right where you want it to be so you can continue to fake that you know what your doing with the bar.
My apologies if this is already common knowledge. I admit to being a coward and not being more open to moving the bar a bit to play in tune. Someday I'll learn. Just not today it seems. EVERYONE should learn to put the bar where it should be to be in tune. I just haven't got there quite yet! I don't mean to open a can of worms or a discussion on playing in tune. |
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Sonny Jenkins
From:
Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
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Posted 6 May 2021 10:10 am
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| I received the little PYLE unit,,less than 30 bucks,,,works great for what I want to do,,,I even found an old cassette that Hal Ketcham gave me of some songs he wrote when he was here in New Braunfels and wanted me to play bass for him. He was doing acoustic solo gigs and thought some bass would help mellow out his sound. Anyway,,this little converter does what I wanted,,no other software needed. |
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