Hi,

I am looking to copy audio cassettes to my PC, for which I am using a
JVC tape deck into my soundcard which seems to work fine on my home
PC, but not my laptop which for some silly reason only has
headphone/mic/video inputs! So I guess a need a firewire/USB
soundcard?

I recorded a church service on an old cassette I grabbed from my box
(big mistake) and have discovered that the recording is quite poor,
and it also suffers with bleed from the other side, or tracks I was
recording over, the recording is quite valuable to me so how can I get
rid of the bleed? I notice if I use the recorders left/right volume
controls the bleed diminishes somewhat, but not all.

What can I do about this, I guess I need some recording software with
independent controls?

Then we have the usual pops,clicks his etc.

Budget is a concern, but what software would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Gary wrote:

I recorded a church service on an old cassette I grabbed from my box
(big mistake) and have discovered that the recording is quite poor,
and it also suffers with bleed from the other side, or tracks I was
recording over, the recording is quite valuable to me so how can I get
rid of the bleed? I notice if I use the recorders left/right volume
controls the bleed diminishes somewhat, but not all.

What can I do about this, I guess I need some recording software with
independent controls?

No, you need a cassette deck that allows you to adjust the head alignment to
get as good a match as possible without leakage.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Gary" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I am looking to copy audio cassettes to my PC, for which I am using a
JVC tape deck into my soundcard which seems to work fine on my home
PC, but not my laptop which for some silly reason only has
headphone/mic/video inputs! So I guess a need a firewire/USB
soundcard?

Or a line-level-to-mic-level attenuator. But an external soundcard for a
laptop is highly recommended -- it will be better isolated from the
electrical noise inside the laptop. I hear much better things about
Creative Labs than about the low-end Turtle Beach product.

Then we have the usual pops,clicks his etc.

Budget is a concern, but what software would you recommend?

You can reduce hiss with GoldWave (unlimited free trial). See
www.covingtoninnovations.com/audio/digitizing except that of course you're
working from tape rather than vinyl records.

On 4 Apr 2006 10:22:44 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Gary wrote:

I recorded a church service on an old cassette I grabbed from my box
(big mistake) and have discovered that the recording is quite poor,
and it also suffers with bleed from the other side, or tracks I was
recording over, the recording is quite valuable to me so how can I get
rid of the bleed? I notice if I use the recorders left/right volume
controls the bleed diminishes somewhat, but not all.

What can I do about this, I guess I need some recording software with
independent controls?

No, you need a cassette deck that allows you to adjust the head alignment to
get as good a match as possible without leakage.

I presume its the tape, not the recorder, as the tape plays the same
on different players?

Gary wrote:
On 4 Apr 2006 10:22:44 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Gary wrote:

I recorded a church service on an old cassette I grabbed from my box
(big mistake) and have discovered that the recording is quite poor,
and it also suffers with bleed from the other side, or tracks I was
recording over, the recording is quite valuable to me so how can I get
rid of the bleed? I notice if I use the recorders left/right volume
controls the bleed diminishes somewhat, but not all.

What can I do about this, I guess I need some recording software with
independent controls?

No, you need a cassette deck that allows you to adjust the head alignment to
get as good a match as possible without leakage.

I presume its the tape, not the recorder, as the tape plays the same
on different players?

Right, but you can correct for the tape problems by adjusting the machine
alignment somewhat. It's not going to fix everything (although a transcription
machine with special narrowtrack heads might, at the expense of S/N), but
it will help.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Gary wrote:
On 4 Apr 2006 10:22:44 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Gary wrote:

I recorded a church service on an old cassette I grabbed from my box
(big mistake) and have discovered that the recording is quite poor,
and it also suffers with bleed from the other side, or tracks I was
recording over, the recording is quite valuable to me so how can I get
rid of the bleed? I notice if I use the recorders left/right volume
controls the bleed diminishes somewhat, but not all.

What can I do about this, I guess I need some recording software with
independent controls?

No, you need a cassette deck that allows you to adjust the head
alignment to
get as good a match as possible without leakage.

I presume its the tape, not the recorder, as the tape plays the same
on different players?

Right, but you can correct for the tape problems by adjusting the machine
alignment somewhat. It's not going to fix everything (although a
transcription
machine with special narrowtrack heads might, at the expense of S/N), but
it will help.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I think the Nakamichi Dragon does this.

Animix wrote:

I think the Nakamichi Dragon does this.

The Nak dragon has an automated azimuth adjustment. It is an absolute
wonder for cassette transcription because it constantly rides azimuth so
you don't have to.

BUT, what you want is to adjust azimuth AND height by hand... and the
setting that gets the crosstalk down may not be the "correct" setting for
best audio quality. Most cheap decks will allow you to do this with a
little mechanical cut-and-file work.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Animix wrote:

I think the Nakamichi Dragon does this.

The Nak dragon has an automated azimuth adjustment. It is an absolute
wonder for cassette transcription because it constantly rides azimuth so
you don't have to.

How does it do that? The only way I can think of would be to have 3 heads,
one which is actually playing, and 2 more (tilted in opposite directions) to
which it's constantly being compared.

On Tue, 4 Apr 2006 18:17:25 -0400, "mc"
wrote:

The Nak dragon has an automated azimuth adjustment. It is an absolute
wonder for cassette transcription because it constantly rides azimuth so
you don't have to.

How does it do that? The only way I can think of would be to have 3 heads,
one which is actually playing, and 2 more (tilted in opposite directions) to
which it's constantly being compared.

Couldn't it just look for maximum hf? Like auto-focus on a digital
camera looks for maximum contrast?

mc wrote:

How does it do that? The only way I can think of would be to have 3 heads,
one which is actually playing, and 2 more (tilted in opposite directions) to
which it's constantly being compared.

No, you just need one head, which has two tracks each of which are half
the width of the actual track on the tape. Sum the output of the two
and you get clean audio with almost as good S/N as a standard head,
get the difference between the two and you have an error signal to control
your azimuth servo. I think there was actually an RCA patent on this that
predates the cassette.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Laurence Payne lpayneNOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote:
On Tue, 4 Apr 2006 18:17:25 -0400, "mc"
wrote:

The Nak dragon has an automated azimuth adjustment. It is an absolute
wonder for cassette transcription because it constantly rides azimuth so
you don't have to.

How does it do that? The only way I can think of would be to have 3 heads,
one which is actually playing, and 2 more (tilted in opposite directions) to
which it's constantly being compared.

Couldn't it just look for maximum hf? Like auto-focus on a digital
camera looks for maximum contrast?

You can do that by ear, but the heuristic needed to do that automatically
would be a pain. The amount of high end varies so much from one moment
to another. You and I know what to listen for... machines are not so good
at that.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message

mc wrote:

How does it do that? The only way I can think of would
be to have 3 heads, one which is actually playing, and 2
more (tilted in opposite directions) to which it's
constantly being compared.

No, you just need one head, which has two tracks each of
which are half the width of the actual track on the tape.
Sum the output of the two
and you get clean audio with almost as good S/N as a
standard head,
get the difference between the two and you have an error
signal to control your azimuth servo. I think there was
actually an RCA patent on this that predates the cassette.

Seems like RCA was trying to repatent the wheel.

Radars have long (since WW2) tracked targets based on comparing two signals
from the same source, that arrive via two different paths.

Bascially, pick one signal as the reference and split it up into two signals
that are in quadrature. Use the quadrature signals in a phase detector
circuit to determine whether the second signal is leading, lagging or
matches the reference signal. Adjust azimuth (and in radars elevation)
accordingly in order to minimize the tracking error.

Purchase a USB audio interface with RCA inputs from a company like
M-audio. Hook up RCA cables from tape deck to interface. Get a free
recording software from download.com. Press record on the recording
software and press play on the deck...you're all set.

I think, you try http://www.fleximusic.com/

Daniel

"Gary" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I am looking to copy audio cassettes to my PC, for which I am using a
JVC tape deck into my soundcard which seems to work fine on my home
PC, but not my laptop which for some silly reason only has
headphone/mic/video inputs! So I guess a need a firewire/USB
soundcard?

I recorded a church service on an old cassette I grabbed from my box
(big mistake) and have discovered that the recording is quite poor,
and it also suffers with bleed from the other side, or tracks I was
recording over, the recording is quite valuable to me so how can I get
rid of the bleed? I notice if I use the recorders left/right volume
controls the bleed diminishes somewhat, but not all.

What can I do about this, I guess I need some recording software with
independent controls?

Then we have the usual pops,clicks his etc.

Budget is a concern, but what software would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.


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