Cassette tape conversion to mp3

[IglooDame]

I've got a tape player, an appropriate cable, and a sound card in my home machine (XP Pro OS) that will accept audio in. Over the past couple weeks, I have successfully pulled songs off cassette tape into mp3 format via AudioLab 3.0 (that I bought a couple years ago). But, the software tells me I have only 20 exports to mp3 before I have to upgrade to the premium/unlimited-use version. I would go out and get the latest version of AudioLab except #1 I'm annoyed at paying for a product that then demands additional money for future use, and #2 on my homebrew tapes I'm finding that there is crackling that gets through the 'cleanup' that the software does automatically, getting worse as the tape goes on.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to software to use for this? I've got about 50 tapes that I'm looking to mp3-ize, and I'm no audiophile - these will be played in my truck stereo and all I ask is that the software does not introduce new unwanted audio to the tracks.

 

[Abaddon]

Oooh, sorry i cant help but i would be very interested in this also. Ive resorted to downloading the tracks or purchasing on CD.. but theres somethings you just cant get on anything but tape is there...especially really old homemade compilation tapes.

 

[handyandy]

have a look at this , i havnt used it to copy from tape but it can be set up to record any sound that goes through the soundcard. it also has cleanup features ect. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

 

[GenMarshall]

I only know how to do this via using a tape player, a wire with two headphone jacks, and a jack for the microphone in the computer .

 

[ultranet]

well I have been recording from tapes (very old ones) in computer and making mp3. Its really feel cool to edit and make the good quality out of it.
I use Techniques HD dolby for playing and Sound forge for edting... which has very satisfying outputs

What softwares do you use for editing.?
cheers

 

[happy_Alex]

I'm trying to do a similar thing, and use this recorder to digitize from a tape recorder:

http://www.polderbits.com/download-sound-recorder-uk.htm

 

[Bartleby]

I can strongly recommend Audacity for recording and cleaning/editing; I used that do do shedloads of my LP's. I don't use it anymore, but that's only because I got a new laptop with a SoundBlaster card that has software that does the same.

 

[happy_Alex]

OK, I'm using Audacity now, its actually really good.

What's the best way to clean up the background hiss from tape conversion?

 

[handyandy]

Audacity has a built in function to clean tape noise but i have never tried it my self so i have no idea how effective it is.

 

[Bartleby]

The noise removal in audacity is fairly good IIRC, but it can take some tweaking to get it exactly right. Some frequencies may suffer though; bass-heavy strings, for example, will start to sound odd if you are too aggressive while quiet sections may have a "whine" in the background if the NR is not enough. I think that if you get a good few seconds for your sample of backgound noise the results will be better that with a short sample.
Trial and error is the way to do it if you have the patience; for me it was a labour of love so I spent a long time on it. Something I learned from doing this is when I get a CD with "rare bonus tracks," I can spot heavy-handed audio cleaning very easily.

 

[happy_Alex]

The noise removal in audacity is fairly good IIRC, but it can take some tweaking to get it exactly right. Some frequencies may suffer though; bass-heavy strings, for example, will start to sound odd if you are too aggressive while quiet sections may have a "whine" in the background if the NR is not enough. I think that if you get a good few seconds for your sample of backgound noise the results will be better that with a short sample.
Trial and error is the way to do it if you have the patience; for me it was a labour of love so I spent a long time on it. Something I learned from doing this is when I get a CD with "rare bonus tracks," I can spot heavy-handed audio cleaning very easily.

Thanks for the advice, I'll try it out!