A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

"TimW" wrote in message
...
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for archive
purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and the
cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC?

Audio in on the PC.

Could use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:

Havent tried one of those.

Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?

Yep.

On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 09:26:07 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


Could use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:

Havent tried one of those.

Thanks for that most important info, you self-important clinically insane
senile idiot! tsk

--
Norman Wells addressing senile Rot:
"Ah, the voice of scum speaks."
MID:

On Tue, 20 Aug 2019 23:59:47 +0100, TimW wrote:

A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

Just connect a low-level output of the hifi to the microphone input of
the PC. You might need an attenuator to avoid overloading.
--
Dave W

On 20/08/2019 23:59, TimW wrote:
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

2xRCA/phono plugs to 3.5mm stereo cable.

Plug phono plugs into tape deck output, no need for the amplifier(.

3.5mm plug into line input of PC sound card.

Then use audacity+LAME MP3 plug in to do the rest.

Life gets a bit more difficult if you have a laptop and don't have a
line level input.

*(the amp is only needed if ripping vinyl to MP3 and the turntable has
mag/ceramic cartridge level outputs rather than line level outputs. If
this happens, plug the turntable into the amplifier and feed the amp
tape outputs into the PC - so that the amp then does the cartridge
amplification/RIAA compensation for you)

If you don't have a line input on your PC look for a USB adaptor which
has line level inputs - hint: a "VCR to DVD USB converter adaptor" will
usually do the job.

TimW wrote:
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW


Just use an existing machine, assuming it has an Line output and is half
decent. Connect it to the line / aux in of your PC.

I favour Linux and tend to use Audacity for basic sound jobs like this, not
that I do many.

You will need the mp3 extension for Audacity, it is a while since I did an
installation but I dont think it comes as standard.

Dont expect wonderful quality. Cassettes were never brilliant (and Im no
HiFi snob), the conversion process doesnt help, let alone any issues due
to storage.

If you have a decent deck, much better.

Obviously most pcs still have analogue inputs and outputs via 3.5mm jacks,
get a phono to jack adaptor and use a bit of software like Audacity or
Goldwave.
If you do not intend to use the deck for other things equip yourself with a
jewellers screwdriver, turn off all dolby and dbx etc, and adjust the head
azimuth on each tape you play for max top and least phase jitter. Don't
record in mono, use stereo unless one channel is far better than the other.
If it is a dolby tape it may sound OK if you switch it on, but not always.
After you have the final recordings, get the levels correct and then sample
the noise on each and use the noise reduction system on the editor you
like. I use Goldwave and play about with different settings based on the
noise sample as a noiseprint. Often a setting can be found where you can
balance the noise pumping against the watermarking effect that makes it
sound like a mobile phone signal!


Then its up to you what you do with it. You can burn it to cd, you can
divide into tracks for this, or you can make high bit rate mp3 files and
write it to a data cd or DVD, remembering to finalise the disc or it won't
play anywhere but the computer. Either way keep backups if its valuable.

Brian


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The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

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Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"TimW" wrote in message
...
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for archive
purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and the
cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could use a
windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb cassette
player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

crap mechanics crap software cheap price.
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...


"TimW" wrote in message
...
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC?

Audio in on the PC.

Could use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:

Havent tried one of those.

Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?

Yep.

Most pcs seem to offer line ins still.
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Dave W" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 20 Aug 2019 23:59:47 +0100, TimW wrote:

A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

Just connect a low-level output of the hifi to the microphone input of
the PC. You might need an attenuator to avoid overloading.
--
Dave W

In article ,
Brian Reay wrote:
TimW wrote:
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW


Just use an existing machine, assuming it has an Line output and is half
decent. Connect it to the line / aux in of your PC.

I favour Linux and tend to use Audacity for basic sound jobs like this,
not that I do many.

You will need the mp3 extension for Audacity, it is a while since I did
an installation but I don‘t think it comes as standard.

Don‘t expect wonderful quality. Cassettes were never brilliant (and I‘m
no HiFi snob), the conversion process doesn‘t help, let alone any issues
due to storage.

And if you use Audacity, you can EQ the recording for best results.

--
*Being healthy is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 20/08/2019 23:59, TimW wrote:
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

I used a cheap cassette to USB thing (an Ion Tape Express) and it worked
no problem, the software was easy to use. I suspect the fi isn't very
hi, but in this case it was also speech and not great quality in the
first place.

Cheers
--
Clive

On Tuesday, 20 August 2019 23:59:50 UTC+1, TimW wrote:
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

Stay well away from the £20 player. Modern stuff like that is invariably junk.

Line out from hifi goes to line in on pc. Microphone in may work, but will need attentuation setting on the sound.

Align the cassette head for each tape. Easily done, not doing it often results in much worse quality. If it sounds acceptable on the hifi you can skip this step if you wish. Realign the head afterwards.

Record using audacity or similar. Postprocess it with the 1000 band noise gate to eliminate hiss. Tweak the frequency response as desired. Export to mp3. Modest bit rate mono is fine for speech - try samples to see.


NT

On 21/08/2019 06:55, Brian Reay wrote:
TimW wrote:
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW


Just use an existing machine, assuming it has an Line output and is half
decent. Connect it to the line / aux in of your PC.

Asuming the belts haven't gone a bit saggy, which most will have by now

I favour Linux and tend to use Audacity for basic sound jobs like this, not
that I do many.

You will need the mp3 extension for Audacity, it is a while since I did an
installation but I dont think it comes as standard.

Dont expect wonderful quality. Cassettes were never brilliant (and Im no
HiFi snob), the conversion process doesnt help, let alone any issues due
to storage.

In message , Jim GM4DHJ ...
writes
On 21/08/2019 17:55, NY wrote:
"Jim GM4DHJ ..." wrote in message
...
why is it called azimuth and not elevation ? ...never understood that
Azimuth is lateral rotation about a vertical axis perpendicular to
the direction of the tape movement.
Elevation is up/down rotation about a horizontal axis parallel to
the tape direction.
Is the head also rotated about a horizontal axis perpendicular to
the tape direction, or is the head assembly always made so the head
gap is exactly perpendicular to the tape direction, without any
movement being possible.
Is the head tracking (ie making sure that the head gap sits
centrally over the track without scanning an adjacent track) covered
by elevation adjustment, or is there a separate means of moving the
head up and down, as a translation rather than a rotation, to adjust
tracking?
I've sketched the three axes of adjustment - I wonder what the
correct name is for the middle one.
https://i.postimg.cc/gc43PHf2/tape-head.png
Apologies to Brian - I hope I've described in words well enough for
you to be able understand... and to correct me if I'm wrong ;-)
I doubt whether many people would know how to adjust azimuth and
elevation of the head. I remember seeing little adjustment screws,
covered with blue paint to lock them at the manufacturer's settings,
and thinking "do not tinker with this" ;-)


I used to adjust them on my decks...if you don't you lose a lot of treble

In most reorders, you'll need to drill a small hole in the case exactly
above the adjustment screw (when the Play button is pressed). Then use a
small cross-head screwdriver, and tweak the screw it back and forth for
best 'toppiness' on playback. It's usually best to do this when
'screwing in' (against the spring) than when screwing out.
--
Ian

Jim GM4DHJ ... wrote

why is it called azimuth and not elevation ? ...

Because it’s the angle to the tape. There is no elevation involved.

never understood that

"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
...
Thanks for confirming what I said. Its really amazing how good some tapes
can sound if you set things up correctly, as I say in my original reply
azimuth is critical, but if its only dictation quality and has been
recorded using dc bias or permanent magnet erase systems you are going to
have to remove a lot of bass noise.
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, 20 August 2019 23:59:50 UTC+1, TimW wrote:
A half a dozen of old cassettes of speech need to be digitised for
archive purposes. I could maybe get the old hifi out of the cupboard and
the cassette deck might work. How do I then connect that to a PC? Could
use a windows or linux machine. Would that be better than a £20 usb
cassette player from amazon?:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

Stay well away from the £20 player. Modern stuff like that is invariably
junk.

Line out from hifi goes to line in on pc. Microphone in may work, but
will need attentuation setting on the sound.

Align the cassette head for each tape. Easily done, not doing it often
results in much worse quality. If it sounds acceptable on the hifi you
can skip this step if you wish. Realign the head afterwards.

Record using audacity or similar. Postprocess it with the 1000 band noise
gate to eliminate hiss. Tweak the frequency response as desired. Export
to mp3. Modest bit rate mono is fine for speech - try samples to see.


NT

On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 07:30:03 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

why is it called azimuth and not elevation ? ...

Because it¢s the angle to the tape. There is no elevation involved.

NOBODY asked YOU anything, you trolling lonely senile asshole!

--
Richard addressing Rot Speed:
"**** you're thick/pathetic excuse for a troll."
MID:

On Wednesday, 21 August 2019 17:48:16 UTC+1, Theo wrote:
Martin Brown wrote:
On 20/08/2019 23:59, TimW wrote:
Learn mo
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076PFJK..._IOhxDb00BE8TF
When I have an audio file I think I could remove a bit of hiss with
audacity or similar. Would that be 'job done'?
TW

More or less. Depends how bad the wow and flutter on the deck is.

Line out to the microphone input of the PC (possibly with a simple
resistive attenuator) or line in on a video card ought to do it.

There's actually some smart stuff you could do with a USB cassette deck.
For instance, measure the tape/motor speed and compensate the audio
sampling for variations.

you'd need to measure the tape speed. How would you do that? Motor speed does not equal tape speed.

Record multiple signals across the tape head and
pick the strongest one.

I'm not seeing any upside, you'd just get more hiss. But that approach is used for automatic azimuth alignment.

Capture both sides of the tape at the same time.

The £20 deck probably doesn't do anything like this, though.

Theo

And why not do half width tracks too, so your C90 becomes a C180. With decent tape that's entirely workable. If tape were still the medium of choice maybe that's what we'd be using now.

The best cassette deck feature I've seen is computerised noise reduction. Wipes out hiss more or less totally. The decks are of course unobtanium.


NT

On Wednesday, 21 August 2019 21:42:15 UTC+1, Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , Jim GM4DHJ ...
writes
On 21/08/2019 17:55, NY wrote:
"Jim GM4DHJ ..." wrote in message
...
why is it called azimuth and not elevation ? ...never understood that
Azimuth is lateral rotation about a vertical axis perpendicular to
the direction of the tape movement.
Elevation is up/down rotation about a horizontal axis parallel to
the tape direction.
Is the head also rotated about a horizontal axis perpendicular to
the tape direction, or is the head assembly always made so the head
gap is exactly perpendicular to the tape direction, without any
movement being possible.
Is the head tracking (ie making sure that the head gap sits
centrally over the track without scanning an adjacent track) covered
by elevation adjustment, or is there a separate means of moving the
head up and down, as a translation rather than a rotation, to adjust
tracking?
I've sketched the three axes of adjustment - I wonder what the
correct name is for the middle one.
https://i.postimg.cc/gc43PHf2/tape-head.png
Apologies to Brian - I hope I've described in words well enough for
you to be able understand... and to correct me if I'm wrong ;-)
I doubt whether many people would know how to adjust azimuth and
elevation of the head. I remember seeing little adjustment screws,
covered with blue paint to lock them at the manufacturer's settings,
and thinking "do not tinker with this" ;-)


I used to adjust them on my decks...if you don't you lose a lot of treble

In most reorders, you'll need to drill a small hole in the case exactly
above the adjustment screw (when the Play button is pressed). Then use a
small cross-head screwdriver, and tweak the screw it back and forth for
best 'toppiness' on playback. It's usually best to do this when
'screwing in' (against the spring) than when screwing out.

I've never found that necessary. And decent deck permits access while playing. Usually it's done by sliding the door cover off. Less often it's done by inserting the tape behind the open door, the open door providing a usable gap under it. And on junk-fis you may have to just take part of the case off to access the azimuth screw.


NT