Cassette to Mac - audacity file is faster with lots of signal noise

macOS 10.13.6
Audacity 2.4.1

I’m using Audacity for the first time. I’m using a Sony Walkman Professional with M-AUDIO Fast Track Pro interface.

I recorded a stereo track from the cassette source material. In the Audacity file, the pitch is slightly elevated and vocals are a bit sped up a la The Chipmunks. The quality of the Audacity track has lots of crackling.

Any ideas?

Peter

Did the Fast Track come with software and did you install it?

That’s not necessarily a good thing. The Fast Track should just plug in to the Mac and go. If you configured their software wrong, you could have a mismatch between the Fast Track and Audacity.

Control+Tap or Right-Click the sound file > Get Info. Look down the Info panel to More Info, Sample Rate. What does it say?

Koz

Check in Audio-MIDI Setup that the Fast Track is operating at the same sample rate as Audacity.

This page in the wiki might help.

– Bill

Desktop > Go > Utilities > Audio/MIDI Setup.

Koz