I’ve just downloaded the 2.1.3 Version of Audacity (for Windows 10 on my PC) in order to record treasured cassette tapes of my deceased grandparents. I am using the ION Tape Express (microphone by the USB port) for this purpose, and have found Audacity immensely helpful in this.
I am a real novice at the app, so please don’t assume I am familiar with any technical words or aspects of the program.
My question concerns some Chrome cassette tapes that I recorded on which seem to have extra ambient noise to them. Is there a setting on Audacity in which I could switch Normal to Chrome (Metal) in order to reduce the residual noise? I am hoping that there is some easy way to address this.
Thanks so much in advance for any help you could give me.
Normally you would do that on the cassette player.
If your cassette player does not have a Chrome tape setting, you can approximate by applying the Bass and Treble effect (http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/bass_and_treble.html) with Bass set to zero, Treble set to about -5 dB and Volume set to 0.
However, if these are old tapes, then that may make them sound a bit dull as tapes tend to lose a bit of their high frequency content, so I’d suggest that you first try applying a little “Noise Reduction” (http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/noise_reduction.html) using the default settings. Ensure that you select only noise (hiss) when you make the noise profile.
If it still sounds a bit hissy after noise reduction, then you could try adding the Bass and Treble effect as described above.