I have some homemade cassette tapes that were made about
20 to 30 years ago on a Radio Shack recorder.
The tapes haven't been played in about 20 years and
haven't been kept in any special storage.

Would like to transfer them to digital. Should I expect
any type changes to the tapes or the audio?

Also, I don't have a cassette player. What about the idea of just
getting a player at Radio Shack and transferring them through
the player's headphone out? My sound card has a breakout box
with "Phono" in so I don't think I'd need to get a line
level signal from the cassette player.

Any type of digital clean up or EQing that might be
recommended? (I do have a program for cleaning up
old record transfers but don't know if it would apply at
all for this.)

Any thoughts about what might be typical to expect would
be appreciated.

wrote:
I have some homemade cassette tapes that were made about
20 to 30 years ago on a Radio Shack recorder.
The tapes haven't been played in about 20 years and
haven't been kept in any special storage.

Would like to transfer them to digital. Should I expect
any type changes to the tapes or the audio?

Well, they probably weren't very good to begin with, and they may have
deteriorated somewhat with age. But then do you know, now, how they
sounded 20 or 30 years ago? I don't think so. By today's standards,
you'll think they sound awful, but you might enjoy what's recorded on
them. That's why people do this exercise.

Also, I don't have a cassette player. What about the idea of just
getting a player at Radio Shack and transferring them through
the player's headphone out? My sound card has a breakout box
with "Phono" in so I don't think I'd need to get a line
level signal from the cassette player.

Better read what your sound card's inputs really are. If it's a
phonograph input it might be RIAA-equalized for a magnetic cartridge
and that's completelly wrong for recording a headphone output. What you
want to find on your sound card is a LINE input. You can record the
headphone output from that, but it would probably be better to recorde
from the casette deck's LINE outputs (usually RCA jacks, unless you're
talking about a cheap boom box). You might need a cable with different
connectors on each end. You can get that at Radio Shack, too.

There are all sorts of things that you can do to get the best sound off
a cassette, but you're not ready for that. Just get a deck, play th
tapes, and record them to your computer as best you can. Experiment a
little rather than asking here for step-by-step directions. Nobody can
tell you where to set all the knobs.

wrote:
I have some homemade cassette tapes that were made about
20 to 30 years ago on a Radio Shack recorder.
The tapes haven't been played in about 20 years and
haven't been kept in any special storage.

Mono or stereo? What is on them?
Was NR used?

Would like to transfer them to digital. Should I expect
any type changes to the tapes or the audio?

Type changes? You can expect that the azimuth will be off, and it is
possible the pressure pads are bad after so long. Occasionally you will
find tape that has lost lubrication and sequeals.

Also, I don't have a cassette player. What about the idea of just
getting a player at Radio Shack and transferring them through
the player's headphone out? My sound card has a breakout box
with "Phono" in so I don't think I'd need to get a line
level signal from the cassette player.

"Phono" is not a line-level input.

I suggest if you care about sound quality that you get a good quality
cassette deck.... also you will want to tweak the azimuth control on
the deck (which may just be a screw on the side of the headstack) to
get the best high end. Monitor in mono because it will exaggerate the
treble problems.

If you used Dolby NR, there is another set of nightmare issues with
getting the Dolby to track.

Any type of digital clean up or EQing that might be
recommended? (I do have a program for cleaning up
old record transfers but don't know if it would apply at
all for this.)

Well, that depends on what, if anything, is wrong with them.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

wrote:

I have some homemade cassette tapes that were made about
20 to 30 years ago on a Radio Shack recorder.
The tapes haven't been played in about 20 years and
haven't been kept in any special storage.

What's on them? If it's your daughter's first clarinet recital, or
something else that's irreplacable, it's worth the time and effort to do
it right. If it's just a bunch of Van Halen records, throw the tapes
out and buy CDs of the stuff you want to listen to again.

To get the best sound quality, you'll need to adjust the playback head
geometry to as closely match the machine on which the tapes were
recorded. If you miss this, a bunch of fiddling in the digital domain
ofter the fact won't help.


//Walt