Just trying to do simple recording from cassettes to computer. Used to be able to do it with old computer, but now with Windows 11, I can’t hear anything back on playback and I don’t see hardly anything on the wave meter during recording. I see the recording levels fine. I just use the cassette player that was sent with the software hooked up with usb cable to the computer. Nothing fancy but just simple. What settings do I need to change. Thanks for any help. I am not too techy, just want thing to work easily.
These 2 YouTube videos might help with your use case:
- How to transfer a Cassette Tape to MP3 on your computer using Audacity
- Use Audacity to title and export songs from an audio file using labels and multiple export
Being a fan of Iron Maiden is not necessary 
Thanks but it doesn’t work. I just have the simple cassette walkman type tape player that came with the software. It used to work with my old computer. I don’t understand what is wrong.
Check the recording volume level slider which is now “hidden” under the recording meters (and the playback volume hidden under the playback meters).
And/or try Listen To This Device to make sure Windows is getting a signal.
You can also try plugging headphones into the cassette player to make sure the tape is playing OK, etc. If the analog isn’t working first, the digital won’t work,
I can hear the music in the headphone and I see the recording levels in the recording meter. There is hardly any wave showing at all during recording.
I am not sure what settings need to be adjusted or turned off in the new windows.
Did you try the Normalize (or Amplify) effect as Wreks0 suggested?
Also, make sure Windows “Enhancements” are turned OFF. They can foul-up recording in all kinds of strange ways.
When I bought Audacity, it came with a cassette player like a sony walkman.
Audacity is open source and FREE. You bought the hardware, not the software.
1 Can you be more precise about your “old computer”? And what type? Years back now there was a shift in laptop sound cards which (IIRC) didn’t let external sources pass through to the recording software without other software bits and pieces. It took me a while to find the right set-up.
2 I’m intrigued by “the cassette player that came with the software”. Forgive my ignorance but which software? Audacity? or something else?
3 Sort of of following on from 1, how confident are you that the output from the cassette player is compatible with the new computer’s input? I’m not thinking software compatibility but more the old fashioned issues of line-in, aux, phono etc from the days of analog audio. It might not be a simple as plugging a cable between the two: I also recall having to have some sort of matching device between my vinyl deck and my laptop’s audio input - and that was years ago.
My previous laptop was probably Windows 7. When I bought Audacity, it came with a cassette player like a sony walkman. All I had to do previously, was plug in the usb cable and record.
I can see the levels that it is recording, but the waves are not showing hardly anything at all. I am not sure what settings need to be adjusted or turned off in the new windows.
Has a privacy setting that old windows did not have …
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-on-app-permissions-for-your-microphone-in-windows
As far as Windows is concerned any audio input could be a microphone, even when it’s a cassette.
I had it set up the way you said, but it still does not work properly.