Hello guys I am just about to embark on recording all my tape packs onto my pc, I have got around 50 packs to go through so I’m trying to make sure I make it as painless as possible.
I’m using my Technics RS-TR474 through the main in on my Traktor Audio 10 interface.
After a quick test with the volume maxed on the input on audacity the recording looks visualy small, before when I did similar years ago the waves on the recording were much taller they almost filled the channel. I’m not sure how well I have worded that I’m not sure on the correct terminology but previous recordings may have been to loud.
Any tips on settings for this type of recording would be great, I have read through the wiki but I’m still not that clear.
I was also wondering if there was a quick way to chop the recording into for example 3:00 tracks, it is live music with no gaps so I need a fuss free way of just chopping it into equal tracks so they shuffle into my other music better.
I’m not sure how well I have worded that I’m not sure on the correct terminology but previous recordings may have been to loud.
We got that. You need to be careful about having sound too loud because if you screw up the digitizing process, you will get permanently damaged recordings and sound files.
Gaze at the sound meters on the cassette machine while you play the tapes. Forget Audacity for a minute. A normal tape should make the meters bounce in the middle third of the range. Tape machines tend to control sound during the recording but not the playback. So if you have old tapes, what you got is what you got. Pray for good recordings.
If you have any Audacity blue waves on the timeline at all, that’s probably good enough. The blue waves measure about the top third of normal show volume. If you have no blue waves and the Audacity bouncing sound meters bounce in the lower third, then, yes, that may not be useable. The tape hiss will kill you and no, you can’t get rid of it with Noise Removal.
I was also wondering if there was a quick way to chop the recording into for example 3:00 tracks, it is live music with no gaps so I need a fuss free way of just chopping it into equal tracks so they shuffle into my other music better.
Try Effect > Normalize to make it a bit louder (a peak of -1 dB or -2 dB is good). To make the channels the same peak amplitude, enable “Normalize stereo channels independently” in the Normalize effect.
Yes if you want stereo.
It will be exported as separate files if you use File > Export Multiple… . But the MP3 format adds silence padding at the start and end of each file, so you won’t get a continuous performance unless your player can play MP3’s gaplessly.