Cassette tape audiophile needed

[Zario]

Hey all,

I could use a hand and I think a few of you are pro's in this realm.  My grandma-in-law is asking me if I can copy something like 40+ hours of her husband's piano performances from cassette tape to CD.  He was a fairly accomplished pianist and is pretty close to passing, so this is really a major part of his legacy. 

I think most of the tapes are from the 80's and 90's but I can't speak to the quality of the tapes or the recordings.  The computer I have should be capable of capturing an audio feed as I have a decent dual core processor, a Soundblaster X-Fi titanium sound card and around a terabyte of available storage. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on tape decks, cables, tape prep & cleaning, sound editing software and websites with some guidance?  I have a budget of about $200-$300.    Any help you could offer would be appreciated.  I want to make sure I can come as close as possible to doing this right to pay tribute to his work. 

[Shadowwolf]

http://www.buy.com/prod/plusdeck-2c-pc-cassette-deck-tape-to-mp3-sound-converter/q/sellerid/13770897/loc/111/210663763.html

simplifies it i think with this

[Docsamson]

http://www.buy.com/prod/plusdeck-2c-pc-cassette-deck-tape-to-mp3-sound-converter/q/sellerid/13770897/loc/111/210663763.html

simplifies it i think with this

We had one of those at the TV station I interned with, you had to hook it all up internally (line in, mic in, all your transfer/control feeds, and IIRC it needed some weird power connection we had to hack together).  If these aren't going to be studio-remastered by a professional with some serious equipment, I'd get something like http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=pc+cassette+deck&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9913534325627960858&sa=X&ei=gNltTZvqLsGRgQePpNyGBA&ved=0CEQQ8wIwAw#

The USB connection alone makes it worth it, no mucking about with Creative's weirdo audio drivers.

[fiere redfern]

I'll give a phone call to my dad in regards to copying equipment - he's an on-a-budget audiophile and might have an idea or two. As far as editing software goes, there's a free program called Audacity that I like to use. It may not be professional studio-quality, but it does a decent job of cleaning up the waveforms. plus, it's easy for a first timer to learn how to use.

[Oilslick]

As a former mastering engineer with a collection of over 200 discs of cultural indian field recordings from the 60's, 70's, and early 80's sitting in the smithsonian that a linguistics professor from Tulane contracted me for several years ago...which was a very similar project to yours - transfers from cassettes and reels to digital, but with substantial forensic audio processing for noise reduction and clarity.


The gear I used for the project would run in the ballpark of 20 to 30k today.  That being said, if you want good solid transfers that could be revisited another day for proper mastering, I'd try this:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CDA750/

If you want to go into your computer to make putting together the albums a bit more professionally than an on-the-fly system like that one (I'd still use that tape deck, but instead of going to CD take the outputs to your DAW interface), take a look at some of the USB audio systems from M-Audio that run pro tools.  The systems might have been all rebranded as AVID by now with the parent company's recent re-org.  Pick up a "tone-plug" or signal generator.  Record a 1 kHz line level signal to tape (same type and bias as the source tapes if possible), set the VU meter on the tape deck 0dBu with the tone.  Then check the specs of your digital equipment inputs to determine if it's a -10 or +4 setup (that tape deck should be +4...if you use something else, try to match your DAW interface inputs to the outputs of your tape deck).  If it's -10, play the casette with the tone on it and adjust your gain/trim/level adjustment at the input of the A/D converter until the peak meter inside the software reads -24 dbFS.  If it's +4, the typical correct spot is -12 dbFS.

Coming from cassette into a DAW, do not concern yourself with getting the levels loud, especially with classical.  The goal is to simply capture the full dynamic range of the original recording from peak to noise floor.  For cassettes, this will typically be around a 50dB dynamic range if it's an incredible recording.  16 bit digital (cd quality) can capture 96 db of dynamic range without issue - so there's no reason whatsoever to try and push it into the red while capturing digitally.  Your peaks could theoretically hit -46 dBFS (which would barely register on most DAW meters) and you'd still have caught every ounce of fidelity possible from the cassette.  If you track in 24 bit, you can be even less worried about levels - as it has a 144 dB dynamic range.  If you get your levels set properly as mentioned with the signal generator, your loudest peaks will probably hit the -12 to -3 dBFS range.

Record the entire thing at one time, then use a program such as WaveLab to apply any overall processing and leveling you want to do, some least bit dithering (if you tracked at 24 bit dither to 16, if you tracked at 16 don't dither it as you'll just be adding to noise that the A to D converter already put in the last couple of bits for you), and drop your track markers in place and burn the final disc.

If you've got any questions, just shoot me message.

Cheers!

[fiere redfern]

I spoke to my dad, and the Zoom H4N is what he recommended. The link I posted is a fairly in-depth overview of the equipment. It runs about $299.

You'll also need a couple of adapters - the input is XLR (3-pin audio cable), so depending on the tape deck you're using you'll either need to go from RCA or 1/4" to XLR. Once you're there and recording, the audio files will be saved to an SD card. Pop the card in the computer, open it with Audacity, and go nuts. Edit the waves, separate everything into tracks, save to CD and you're done.

Hope this helps!

[Zario]

Awesome info!  You guys are amazing as always and thanks for the great starting points.  It'll probably take me a while to make much progress, but I'll see if I can post a few snippets of work for some feedback.  Thanks!!!

[Shadowwolf]

I may be able to procure you software if you are nice to me for no cost if you dont ask where it came from and forget who gave it to you as well.

[Oilslick]

This post is mainly if a shadowy source feels like hooking Zar up with some goodies, this would be the shopping list.

In terms of DAW's, there's really only two:
Pro Tools and Nuendo.  Out of all the others the free GNU licensed Audacity comes in third.  Pro tools has the best coded bussing.  Nuendo has the best coded non destructive editor.  Audacity is simply solid as a rock.  The latest version of pro tools works with any hardware now, not just Avid/Digidesign gear any more - though you'd still need an Accel system if you planned on using TDM plugins.

For disc authoring there's also only two:
WaveLab and CD Architect.  Nothing else (unfortunately...not even in the linux world yet) would ever be considered close to professional.

In terms of plugins, look at VST format and get the VST wrapper if you have pro tools.  If you do get a pro tools setup, and use it frequently, it would be a good idea to eventually get the RTAS version of the plugins.  Don't bother with the TDM versions as they will not work without the correct DSP hardware which is more than likely well out of your budget unless you do this sort of thing for a living.  For your particular project, I'd recommend any of the Waves bundles that include the restoration plugins (if you plan on cleaning the recordings up) as well as a lookahead brick wall limiter like the L2 or L3 (though I wouldn't let it limit any more than 3 dB maximum on the loudest peaks for classical).  (The "mercury" bundle has pretty much every plugin under the sun from waves - and would normally cost over 6k in VST format, upwards of 10k in TDM format...that's a hint to shadowy sources: search for "waves mercury".)

You can get away with just WaveLab and the VST format plugins, but processing the audio to clean it up and make levels consistent, any sample rate conversion, and dithering would all be best done in Pro Tools or Nuendo first, then use the authoring software purely for authoring the master discs.

If you're on the uber budget and want to do all the software for free without relying on shadowy sources...there are a ton of legally free VST plugins and audacity is free as well.  The SDK for vst plugins is also free if you felt like writing exactly what you need.

To recap the shadowy sourced shopping list:
Pro Tools 9 or Nuendo 5
Waves Mercury ("native" or "VST")
FXpansion VST to RTAS adapter 2.0 (often called a VST to RTAS wrapper - only useful if running pro tools without the RTAS versions)
Steinberg Wavelab 7
Sony CD Architect 5.2