Hello,

I have several hundred cassette tapes that I need to convert into MP3
files. I would like to make the job as seamless as possible and am
looking for suggestions on what PC (Windows 2000) tools to use. I want
to be able capture about 62 minutes (the length the cassette) at one
time, apply some VST noise reduction, EQ, and compression on the way
in, then after 62 minutes I want the file to get automatically saved to
the hard drive as an MP3. I want to be able to set something recording
before I go to work or to bed and not end up with a 40 gigabyte file,
so setting an audio capture time would be crucial. It would be great if
I could simultaneously save the MP3s to separate files with different
bit depths. Is this possible with any tools available? How would you
accomplish this task? I briefly tried Wavelab and SoundForge, but these
don't appear to let you specify a capture length.

Thank you in advance,
~ L

In article . com,
says...
Hello,


- snip -

I briefly tried Wavelab and SoundForge, but these
don't appear to let you specify a capture length.


Don't know about Wavelab, but SoundForge (at least the Sony vesion) does
permit timed recordings. I don't see a way to automatically save the
file, however.

Jason

----
reverse my name in email address

Lauren the Ravishing wrote:
Hello,


snip

I want the file to get automatically saved to
the hard drive as an MP3. I want to be able to set something recording
before I go to work or to bed and not end up with a 40 gigabyte file,
so setting an audio capture time would be crucial.

snip

You could use the Threshold parameter in Wavelab to have it
automatically stop recording when it detects silence (end of tape).

Hassan

"Lauren the Ravishing" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,

I have several hundred cassette tapes that I need to convert into MP3
files. I would like to make the job as seamless as possible and am
looking for suggestions on what PC (Windows 2000) tools to use. I want
to be able capture about 62 minutes (the length the cassette) at one
time, apply some VST noise reduction, EQ, and compression on the way
in, then after 62 minutes I want the file to get automatically saved to
the hard drive as an MP3. I want to be able to set something recording
before I go to work or to bed and not end up with a 40 gigabyte file,
so setting an audio capture time would be crucial. It would be great if
I could simultaneously save the MP3s to separate files with different
bit depths. Is this possible with any tools available? How would you
accomplish this task? I briefly tried Wavelab and SoundForge, but these
don't appear to let you specify a capture length.

Thank you in advance,
~ L



With Cool Edit Pro you can record a file of the length you want and save it.
Then open it (if you clesed it before) and be sure to select all. Then hit
Record and it overwrites the old data and stops at the end of the file. Then
next morning you can save the new recording under a new name - and of course
directly as mp3


Sune

"Lauren the Ravishing" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,

I have several hundred cassette tapes that I need to convert into MP3
files. I would like to make the job as seamless as possible and am
looking for suggestions on what PC (Windows 2000) tools to use. I want
to be able capture about 62 minutes (the length the cassette) at one
time, apply some VST noise reduction, EQ, and compression on the way
in, then after 62 minutes I want the file to get automatically saved to
the hard drive as an MP3. I want to be able to set something recording
before I go to work or to bed and not end up with a 40 gigabyte file,
so setting an audio capture time would be crucial. It would be great if
I could simultaneously save the MP3s to separate files with different
bit depths. Is this possible with any tools available? How would you
accomplish this task?

1) I'd record each cassette as a .wav file with Goldwave. Goldwave's "new"
option lets you specify the length of the recording. So I'd create a new
file, hit the Goldwave ""record" button, hit the cassette "play" button,
then leave it running. When I come back, I'd use the Goldwave "save"
command to save iot as a .wav file.

2) When I had a bunch of files saved, I'd use the Goldwave batch processing
option to apply a set of noise reduction, EQ and compression processes. I'd
still save the files as .wav

3) I'd write a batch file which involked the LAME command on each .wav file;
I'd issue LAME multiple times per .wav file, each invocation having
different parameters to generate different mp3 rates.

eg

LAME -V 0 song1.wav song1.V0.mp3
LAME -V 1 song1.wav song1.V1.mp3
LAME -V 2 song1.wav song1.V2.mp3

The -V parameter in LAME specifies variable bit-rate encoding, with -V 0
being the highest quality. Alternatively you can also specifiy fixed
bitrates such as -b 128

Tim