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Converting tape recordings to digital (1 Viewer)

tomjenner

Well-known member
I need to convert some tape recordings of bird calls to digital format. I checked some old postings here and Audacity was recommended. I connected my jack to the 'Headphones' output and to the 'Microphone' input on my laptop. However, when I converted it the final sound was really poor, with metalic sound quality. The sections where I had done a voice over to give the date etc, were almost unrecognisable. Am I just doing it wrong, such as the wrong settings, or should I be using a different approach entirely?
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks

Tom
 
The problem you have is that the microphone input is designed for much lower input levels than your headphone out is producing.

A few things to try.

Turn down the headphone volume

Adjust the input levels in Audacity, there should be a +/- slider next to a picture of a microphone

I don't know which OS you are using but in Windows you can turn off the "Microphone Boost", http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935309/en-gb

Hope this helps
 
If your computer is a desktop you may find a 'line in' jack socket at the back into your mother board or soundcard that may work a lot better than the mic input. If there one is it may not be active and a trip into Windows Control Panel may be required to configure it.

Otherwise, if you have a Windows or Mac device something along the lines of a Behringer U-Control UCA 222 would be a relatively inexpensive device that is Audacity compatible (they provide a link on the downloads page for the device). You would need a suitable 3.5mm jack to 2x RCA cable to join the two. Generally this will produce a much better result that using the microphone input on a computer.

There are a number of similar devices, primarily designed for music transfer, but this one looks as if it would be OK. I use something similar but it costs a lot more and would be overkill for your needs.

A link so that you can read about it is http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA222.aspx go to downloads and the full manual is available below the pictures. The overview on the product page includes your requirement as one of the devices uses, which inspires confidence.

This device is easily available in the UK from many sources including Amazon, which may not be a lot of use to you, depending on how you source your kit.

The Amazon reviews may be helpful in understanding its uses, don't be put off by all the musical jargon.

There are many cheaper devices that will not improve the quality of your transfer and many others which cost about the same or more as the Behringer, that will, I have just used the UCA222 as an example.

There are a number of tape to USB convertor devices available, read the Amazon reviews, but I would tend to use my own recorder with an external soundcard device such as the UCA 222 for the best chance of preserving the quality of the recording. If nothing else the alignment of your tape heads will match your tape recordings better.

Certainly follow the suggestions of Mono before committing any cash on anything else, there is no point in spending money if you don't have to, but unfortunately many PC mic inputs are generally pretty terrible, not all, but most.
 
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If you happen to own a digital recorder, consider recording them using its line in, then transferring the wav files to the PC. That worked well for me recording LPs.

I recommend Audacity if you need to clean them up.
 
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If you happen to own a digital recorder, consider recording them using its line in, then transferring the wav files to the PC. That worked well for me recording LPs.

I recommend Audacity if you need to clean them up.

In a similar vein, for MP3's
I usually set the sensitivity of my Sony ICD-PX820 low
and use the headphone-line-in to the mic jack. This model makes
MP3 recordings I can copy onto the PC. I just plug the usb line
in and copy the files to a flash or wherever.It does take some fiddling
of the volume, but you can listen in on the headphone-out to make
sure there isn't distortion and it's loud enough.
 
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