Cassette to MP3 transfers for dummies?

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kneelc
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:57 am

Cassette to MP3 transfers for dummies?

Post by kneelc »

I'm transferring old cassettes to MP3 and I'd like to know if anyone has done a step by step for this process.

I'm stuck on two issues:

1. Getting metadata entered for album name, artist, year, track number, track name - so far track number and track are one element in the marker.

2. Transfer levels. The level of background hiss seems to vary from cassette to cassette. Is this a 'trial and error' issue at the transfer stage or a denoising issue prior to 'splitting tracks by markers'?

Many thanks.

Niall

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Martin Hairer
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Cassette to MP3 transfers for dummies?

Post by Martin Hairer »

1. Getting metadata entered for album name, artist, year, track number, track name - so far track number and track are one element in the marker.
The "Spli according to markers" function will automatically create track number
metadata, starting at 1 for the first segment and counting up. The marker is only
used to specify the track name.
2. Transfer levels. The level of background hiss seems to vary from cassette to cassette. Is this a 'trial and error' issue at the transfer stage or a denoising issue prior to 'splitting tracks by markers'?
Pretty much, yes. Ideally, you would want to reduce hiss as much as possible at the
level of the preamplifier. However, if levels are low, the "Analyze noise" / "Suppress noise"
function does a decent job in getting rid of it. If it is high, it will create artefacts, in
which case the raw recording is probably more pleasant. Regards,

Martin

HairerSoft
http://www.hairersoft.com/


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philxm
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:55 pm

Cassette to MP3 transfers for dummies?

Post by philxm »

Martin Hairer wrote:
Pretty much, yes. Ideally, you would want to reduce hiss as much as possible
at the
level of the preamplifier. However, if levels are low, the "Analyze noise" /
"Suppress noise"
function does a decent job in getting rid of it. If it is high, it will create
artefacts, in
which case the raw recording is probably more pleasant. Regards,
Although I've had good success, at least in some cases, with a technique
someone posted here a while back. The point of this technique is to modify
the intensity of the Analyze/Suppress Noise function, by taking a few extra
steps:

* Select a portion of the offending noise.

* Copy that selection to a new file.

* Deamplify the entire signal in this new file. The amount of deamp that
best straddles the line between successfully diminishing the noise without
noticeably adding artefacts will be a matter of trial-and-error, but 50%
seems a good starting point.

* Analyze Noise for this entire file.

* Return to your original file, and select the portion you wish to Suppress
Noise on. Ultimately this will probably be the entire file, but while trying
to determine the best amount of deamp it might be more efficient to test
this on a smaller portion of the file.

* Suppress Noise.

--Phil M.


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kneelc
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:57 am

Martin and Phil M

Post by kneelc »

Many many thanks for your guidance.

With your help and advice I'm making good progress (and, along the way, rediscovering some music that I had long forgotten).

AmadeusPro is an excellent piece of software and, although it has features which are quite beyond me, it is very straightforward in use, even for someone like myself with little specialist knowledge.

Having a helpful forum such as this makes it even better.

Regards and many thanks from Somerset, England.

Niall

philxm
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:55 pm

-2.147e+0

Post by philxm »

I've noticed that a preponderance of soundfiles I work on show, when viewed
in Waveform Statistics, a "minimum RMS power" of -2.147e+0. At the risk of
having my head spun around trying to fathom the concept of RMS, I am
compelled by curiosity to ask what the significance of this oddly-expressed
figure is.

Thanks,
--Phil M.


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CDJonah_alt
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:57 pm

Cassette to MP3 transfers for dummies?

Post by CDJonah_alt »

the one advantage to the digital techniques is that you can try
something and if it doesn't work the way you want it to, a command-z
fixes it. Many options I learned but just trying and seeing what
happens. After a while, you will discover that everything _begins_ to
make sense.

chuck

On 2/27/11 6:36 PM, kneelc wrote:
Many many thanks for your guidance.

With your help and advice I'm making good progress (and, along the way, rediscovering some music that I had long forgotten).

AmadeusPro is an excellent piece of software and, although it has features which are quite beyond me, it is very straightforward in use, even for someone like myself with little specialist knowledge.

Having a helpful forum such as this makes it even better.

Regards and many thanks from Somerset, England.

Niall




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anLD
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Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:29 am

Post by anLD »

I'm not tremendous with computers and I have a short term memory issue (due to concussion) - have difficulty learning new things, but I've been trying to figure this out on my own first.
- running OS10.4.11 & AD Version 1.5.5 (1202) -
However, I'm having same problem as some other posters, checked threw all the forum with no solution that I grasped. I used up my trial period actions over a couple of days attempting to complete all steps required in one transfer of a old Live Record Cassette. Went ahead just now and registered. Then tried again with no success ... When I export to iTunes it winds up as one file and no track separations or track titles. Did the Split According To Markers and the tracks are broke down in my working file but the export to iTunes is one long file with no track titles. Was able to transfer each track individually and they laid in fine in track order but my plan is to transfer all my old live show cassette tapes (something over 100 - 90min tapes). - That will get cumbersome transferring one track at a time ... Is this something to do with setting up separate a batch process? I'll quit for now and hit it again tomorrow ...
Events Man

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