imperfect copy of tape

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shinnen
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:43 pm
Operating System: Windows XP

imperfect copy of tape

Post by shinnen » Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:35 pm

Hi All,
I've moved from my vinyl collection to cassettes. On the tape I'm copying there's a voice speaking through a megaphone (sp?). On the tape it is quite audible, but on the copy it's barely discernible (the voice). It just doesn't come through, for some reason. The recording sounds fine otherwise. Any suggestions on how I might fix this?
Thanks,
John

kozikowski
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Re: imperfect copy of tape

Post by kozikowski » Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:10 am

Can you listen on headphones? Is the capture in mono instead of stereo? Listen to the original tape and see that it's in stereo, that there are instruments on the left and right.

Now listen to the digital copy. Still in stereo, or does it sound flat?

If the performer with the megaphone is in the dead center of the show and he was recorded out of phase, he will vanish in a mono copy of the show. Also, if you're listening to the show in stereo speakers wired wrong, he will vanish, too.

Download and play the Left-Right stereo test and play it.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/soundtests.html

Does my voice end up in the right place at the right time? Does the last segment sound wacky?

Koz

shinnen
Posts: 212
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:43 pm
Operating System: Windows XP

Re: imperfect copy of tape

Post by shinnen » Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:28 pm

Hi Koz,
The original is in Stereo. The guy with the megaphone comes out of the left speaker, but he disappears in the digital copy. The copy doesn't sound flat but the waveform shows absolutely no differnce between the left and right channels, and it does say stereo, so I'm assuming that Audacities settings are right. That leaves my sound card or its settings, I think. What do you think?
....... john

shinnen
Posts: 212
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:43 pm
Operating System: Windows XP

Re: imperfect copy of tape

Post by shinnen » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:58 pm

Hi Koz,
I downloaded the file your suggested, LRMono....., and played it, with both media player and Audacity. It sounded the same in both. Yes, left is left, and right is right. At the count of three your voice changed, I can't really describe how, it just sounded different, but still very clear. I've changed which jack (in my computer) that the signal goes into. That seemed to help. (They're not marked, so I wasn't sure which was which.)
....... john

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