hardware setup to transfer of old reel to reel to computer

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Want to transfer long dead friend’s county music jambs to my computer.
My current hardware-
Windows 10; Audacity 2.1.1
Tape Player is an AKIA GX4000D with RCA stereo out
Asus ZS97 WS Motherboard with onboard soundcard
Kenwood VR-507 audio-video surround sound receiver with RCA jacks for in and out.

  1. How do I get the recordings from the 4000d into the computer?
  2. My assumption is that the receiver is required between the 4000d and the computer? 4000D does not have powered output.
  3. I have read that onboard sound input is not the best to transfer music to Audacity. Will I need another piece of hardware in the setup?
  4. If yes, what is recommended?
  5. Last question, some of the tapes are 12 hours long, can Audacity record the entire tape to one file? If not, what is the max file size for Audacity.

Any help appreciated.

2

The Kenwood thing looks irrelevant to this task.
If your computer does not have “line-in” capability then you need to obtain a £20 gadget which enables you to do that , e.g. … Behringer UCA202 - Google Zoeken

Then you just connect the “line-out” from the tape-player [RCA sockets] to the “line-in” sockets on the computer and away you go.

light-blue socket is 'line-in'.jpg
light-blue socket is 'line-in'.jpg706×143 31.3 KB

3

I use a Behringer UCA 202 USB sound card (about $30). It has “phono” plugs for stereo in and out. My Sony reel to reel computer (forgot the model number and it’s up in the loft at the moment) has standard “phono” output sockets which can be connected directly to the UCA 202 with a normal “hi-fi” stereo phono lead. The recording sounds virtually identical to the tape.

4

Thanks for help, will give it a try.