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Recording Audio Tapes to CDs...???
- Thread starter vja4Him
- Start date
steve30
Well-known member
I did this once using SimpleSound in OS9 on a PowerMac G4. Just connected the output of the tape recorder to the line input on the Macintosh and set all the levels correctly, and recorded it. Then i just saved it and copied each file into Toast and recorded a CD.
Was quite a lot of hassle though, and that was only for one tape, so it is not something I will do again. I will be leaving my tapes as they are.
There are probably better methods.
Was quite a lot of hassle though, and that was only for one tape, so it is not something I will do again. I will be leaving my tapes as they are.
There are probably better methods.
tomlee59
Well-known member
You have lots of option in OS X. I recommend giving Audacity a try. It records, processes, edits and transcodes. And it's free. There are also a zillion VST plug-ins for it, so if Audacity doesn't natively perform the particular kind of filtering/effects generation you're looking for, chances are that someone has already written a plug-in for it.
More info and D/L links at http://www.pure-mac.com/audio.html#audacity
More info and D/L links at http://www.pure-mac.com/audio.html#audacity
~tl
68kMLA Admin Emeritus
The G4 iBook doesn't have an audio input port, so you're going to need some sort of external audio interface. There are many different ones available with all sorts of different features. Probably the simplest one is the Griffin iMic:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/
Which should work just fine for what you're wanting to do. Then you can use GarageBand to record the line input and then burn it to a CD with iTunes. Other than iTunes, Audacity is a good bet (and best of all, it's free!):
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/
Which should work just fine for what you're wanting to do. Then you can use GarageBand to record the line input and then burn it to a CD with iTunes. Other than iTunes, Audacity is a good bet (and best of all, it's free!):
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Christopher
Well-known member
I have a Behringer UCA-200. pretty neat little device.
equill
Well-known member
As a generality, an external sound card is to be preferred in any case, given the frenetic digital activity going on inside a computer. Digital emissions from the Mac are nominally minimized according to regulations and RF shielding, but it is still a violent environment within, able to play merry Hell with entering analogue signals. Therefore, Griffin iMic, Onkyo, ESI U2x and other cards with USB connection to the Mac are potentially a great advantage in terms of separation from noise pickup. Digitizing with a PCI card, even a superbly competent card such as a MOTU or ESI's Juli@, has one base at least loaded against it because the card is internal. It comes down to how fanatical you are about giving your sound the best possible chance in life.
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Charlieman
Well-known member
If you are thinking about transferring professionally recorded music from tape to CD, consider hard. As Equill says, computers are internally noisy, so use an external device for best results. I've used the Griffin iMic (a USB device) and had to play with hubs, cables and connections to get satisfactory results.
Other downsides are one-to-one recording time, tape noise (you get used to it if you only listen to cassettes, but drives you mad otherwise) and track tagging. Tape to CD is hard work, and (having tried it for many hours) I would only use it for irreplaceable recordings.
Other downsides are one-to-one recording time, tape noise (you get used to it if you only listen to cassettes, but drives you mad otherwise) and track tagging. Tape to CD is hard work, and (having tried it for many hours) I would only use it for irreplaceable recordings.
Mac128
Well-known member
Since you have no choice but to go with an external box, the decision is how much and what to spend your money on. The Griffin iMike is a good option for audio only. I do this all the time with My Canopus ADVC series video digitizer: http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC110/index.php It is compatible with the software already on your Mac and gives you the option of importing video as well as audio only, which may ultimately be a better investment even though it's more expensive. MOTO offers a great little digitizer, but it requires you to use ProTools. Fortunately, Garage Band allows you to minimize a lot of the noise artifacts that are inherent in analogue tape recordings and introduced in the D/A conversion and by the Mac itself. My old cassette tapes have actually never sounded better. The same is true for my old vinyl recordings. But as Charlieman points out, it is a time consuming business that requires constant monitoring. One pop or click and it's back to square one.
Christopher
Well-known member
It is a RCA in, out sound card that has really good quality. It goes for around $30 bucks. I seem to see it at Guitar Center only. But online it's everywhere.
Bunsen
Admin-Witchfinder-General
I would also budget $30 to $50 for a second hand, high-end cassette deck if you don't already have one. An early to mid 80s brand name like Marantz, NAD or Luxman, with Dolby and chrome/metal tape settings. A separate hi fi component rather that one built in to a cheap boombox or whatever. That will give you the best possible analogue signal to digitise. And clean the heads after every ten hours of tape. You might also want to chuck in $10 for a tape head demagnetiser.
Only use Dolby where the tape has been recorded with Dolby.
Only use Dolby where the tape has been recorded with Dolby.
equill
Well-known member
I have resuscitated several hundred hours-worth of 0.25-in open-reel 15ips and 30ips tapes up to 30 years old for broadcast, not only by using external USB connected sound cards, but by using the whole rigmarole:
1) 'baking' tapes at 50°C for several hours to encourage the magnetic material to stay attached to the tape;
2) holding a cotton bud wetted with isopropyl alcohol to the business-side of the tape before the read head throughout the whole playback, to overcome squeal, sticking and shedding of the magnetic coating;
3) recording to beta video through a PCM, or straight to DAT, so as to be able to eliminate stop-starts in the analogue sound capture;
4) digitizing through an ESI U2A sound-card directly.
It helps greatly if the analogue tapes were properly set up for level (0dB) with several tones from 500Hz to 10kHz or so, but this is not alterable if it wasn't done in the first place, or unless you have a good and experienced ear. Commercial LPs, unless extremely worn, should need only de-correction of RIAA emphasis. It also helps if you have an analogue mixer in the path for frequency and level correction before digitizing. None of this may be of concern to you, and be assured that a good wave editor in your Mac can be invaluable for some corrections: filtering, normalizing, even various FX if that is your aim, and especially to remove a few adventitious pops or clicks, but vile quality analogue sound in can rarely be turned into more than even-more-vile digitally recorded sound. A wave editor can often be used to hand-redraw as little as 0.0001sec sections of waveform, but this has limited value in a piece of music from 3min to 1hr long. There is no substitute for the best quality analogue input that you can arrange, or care to arrange.
Dear as I hold many of my LPs dating back to the mono era of the 50s, I still only remaster them to CD when I am convinced that there will never be a commercially-remastered reissue. Life is too short to do otherwise.
de
1) 'baking' tapes at 50°C for several hours to encourage the magnetic material to stay attached to the tape;
2) holding a cotton bud wetted with isopropyl alcohol to the business-side of the tape before the read head throughout the whole playback, to overcome squeal, sticking and shedding of the magnetic coating;
3) recording to beta video through a PCM, or straight to DAT, so as to be able to eliminate stop-starts in the analogue sound capture;
4) digitizing through an ESI U2A sound-card directly.
It helps greatly if the analogue tapes were properly set up for level (0dB) with several tones from 500Hz to 10kHz or so, but this is not alterable if it wasn't done in the first place, or unless you have a good and experienced ear. Commercial LPs, unless extremely worn, should need only de-correction of RIAA emphasis. It also helps if you have an analogue mixer in the path for frequency and level correction before digitizing. None of this may be of concern to you, and be assured that a good wave editor in your Mac can be invaluable for some corrections: filtering, normalizing, even various FX if that is your aim, and especially to remove a few adventitious pops or clicks, but vile quality analogue sound in can rarely be turned into more than even-more-vile digitally recorded sound. A wave editor can often be used to hand-redraw as little as 0.0001sec sections of waveform, but this has limited value in a piece of music from 3min to 1hr long. There is no substitute for the best quality analogue input that you can arrange, or care to arrange.
Dear as I hold many of my LPs dating back to the mono era of the 50s, I still only remaster them to CD when I am convinced that there will never be a commercially-remastered reissue. Life is too short to do otherwise.
de
equill
Well-known member
The first FM station in Australia (15 Dec 1974 to air, with an experimental licence offered by the then PostMaster General's Dept), 2MBS-FM, first in Crows Nest, and then in St Leonards from 1978. It is an all-music, mostly classical station, entirely set up by (and operated in the broadcasting and recording [studio, concert, LP/CD] part of its activities by) volunteers, and financed by subscribers. Its genesis was the alienation of NSW musiclovers by the ABC's failure to broadcast music at the time, and by the Federal Government's diversion of the international FM band for TV in Australia.
de
de
When I installed Tiger (erased HD) I didn't know that Tiger doesn't have Garage Band, so now I don't have Garage Band. Seems like the only way to get it back is to erase the HD, then reinstall Panther, then reinstall Tiger .... Can't do that ....
Is there any way to get back Garage Band without having to pay for it again? I already paid for OS X 10.0, then paid for OS X Panther, then paid for OS X Tiger ... Do I have to buy OS X Leopard, just to get Garage Band? Also need iMovie, and probably several other applications ....
Is there any way to get back Garage Band without having to pay for it again? I already paid for OS X 10.0, then paid for OS X Panther, then paid for OS X Tiger ... Do I have to buy OS X Leopard, just to get Garage Band? Also need iMovie, and probably several other applications ....
Mac128
Well-known member
Pacifist will extract just the packages you need.
http://versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12743
Really, Tiger doesn't come with Garage Band?
QuadSix50
Well-known member
GarageBand, which is part of iLife, doesn't come with the retail version of OS X. It's a separate package. The only reason it comes with the OEM discs is because those discs are meant to be shipped with their respective Macs especially since they have other software that isn't vital to the OS.
So if you were to buy Mac OS X retail for a Mac that didn't have any discs, then you would have to purchase iLife separately in order to get GarageBand and the other iLife applications.
But as mentioned by Mac128, if you're upgrading to Leopard and still have the OEM discs that came with the Mac, you can use Pacifist to extract that one application. However, I think you can already do that through the regular installation for Tiger if you select to do a Custom Install (assuming you were going to install Tiger). I think there's even an installer for the apps only if you're upgrading to something else.
So if you were to buy Mac OS X retail for a Mac that didn't have any discs, then you would have to purchase iLife separately in order to get GarageBand and the other iLife applications.
But as mentioned by Mac128, if you're upgrading to Leopard and still have the OEM discs that came with the Mac, you can use Pacifist to extract that one application. However, I think you can already do that through the regular installation for Tiger if you select to do a Custom Install (assuming you were going to install Tiger). I think there's even an installer for the apps only if you're upgrading to something else.
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