I got a Reshow cassette player so I can save my mom’s old cassettes as .mp3 files. The recording seems to work fine but playback of .mp3 or .wav has no sound anywhere, even though the music file has some size to it (it’s not 0 byte which is what I would expect if there actually was no sound.) I probably have a setting wrong as this software is way more complicated than I thought it would be. Can someone help troubleshoot? I found some posts about basic settings for cassette recording but the most detailed one was for a Mac which I don’t have.
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Meaning what? Are you seeing a waveform?
Does it play in Audacity before you make an MP3 or do anything?
Make sure that Audacity is NOT trying to use the USB cassette player as the Playback Device.
It’s possible to have a big-long silent file just like you could have a document with many blank pages. With VBR (variable bitrate), MP3 is “smart enough” to use less space with silence (or simple sounds) but it won’t be zero bytes. A silent WAV file will be the same size as one with sound (with the same settings).
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To clarify: A WAV of silence would be the same size as a WAV file of sounds. An MP3 file of silence would be smaller than an MP3 file of sounds, but it still would not be empty.
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No, no waveform. I didn’t know I should see that but I just tried again and the line in the middle is straight. So it’s not recording, but I think I have my settings right. The only one in the instruction book that I can’t find is - the book says to check the box at “Software play through of input” and that selection is no longer in the Audacity Recording Preferences list. Is it somewhere else or called something else now? Thanks for the info on the empty files still showing size. That makes sense.
OK… You’re recording silence. You should see the waveform created as you record and you should see activity on the recording meters. The recording meters are indicated with a microphone icon, even if you’re not actually recording from a microphone.
Check the recording volume slider which (if you have the current version) is “hidden” under the recording meters.
BTW - The playback and monitoring volume is similarly hidden under the playback meters, indicated with a speaker icon.
Try Listen To This Device to make sure Windows is getting a signal. Windows has to get the signal first.
the book says to check the box at “Software play through of input”
The name has been changed- Edit → Preferences → Recording → Audible Input Monitoring. It allows you to listen while recording (with the above Windows setting) but it doesn’t affect what’s being recorded. … Unless you are using “loopback” to record whatever is coming OUT of the soundcard (which is not what you want to) and then it can create a feedback loop that messes everything up.
Thank you so much! I haven’t been able to get back to try your tips yet - my mom went into the hospital (again) so I’ve been a bit busy with other stuff. I hope to try again to record this weekend and I appreciate the help!