Recording Problems & Questions

[flash6859]

I have used Audacity for a couple dozen projects mostly just digitizing records from my USB turntable (which is how I ended up with Audacity as it was the software that came with the turntable). Most records allow me to get a side recorded, titled, saved and converted to MP3 or a WAV file but sometimes during recording the program will just freeze. Or sometimes I'll have less on the right channel than the right so I have to completely shut down and restart to correct that. I have been trying lately to get some of my cassettes digitized and I find that the program almost always will freeze after twenty five minutes or so (which is certainly longer than most record sides) but I have plenty of memory on the file that it is recording to and I have an "audio-tuned" computer that I use for a lot of recording my band as well as editing video using Sony VEGAS. I am operating Windows XP Home which Sonic Labs says is better for audio and video. The computer shouldn't be the issue but I cannot figure out why things work fine to a degree and then stop. One time when a session froze I was able to recover and save the songs that had completely recorded and I was able to edit out the one that it was in the middle of during the freeze but most of the time I have to shut the program down and nothing is saved. Right now I am digitizing one side of the Quadrophenia album so we'll see how that goes after the last few nights of trying to digitize the same cassette over and over with no luck past the twenty five minute mark. Anyone else out there having similar problems?
What's the best way to connect a cassette? I have gone out from the audio (red & white) converted to a mini with poor sound and then I have gone out from the headphone jack down to mini to go into the turntable 1/8" stereo input to much better levels but pretty lame quality. Any ideas there how I can best do this (if I can get past twenty five minutes at all)? Actually when I kept trying after the first part of the tape was saved I could not even get past a couple minutes.

[kozikowski]

<<<Anyone else out there having similar problems?>>>

Everybody out there is having similar problems. The USB connection is unstable. We tell the Mac people to go with their analog Line-In connection instead of USB. The Windows people on deskside machines can do the same thing. It's the fan symbol with the arrow pointing in.

The PC laptop machines usually are stuck with one Mic-In connection which they can't use. They have to put up with the Secret Aural Teachings method. Change something. Anything. Put a different USB cable in. Make the USB cable longer. Make it shorter. Put a wall-powered hub between the computer and the turntable. There's a more comprehensive list here somewhere. Nothing is a Final Solution. Sometimes it changes with humidity.

Are you in a position where you can get your money back, or will one of those work for you? Some laptops have one connection they can switch to analog Line-In. Use that.

Koz

[flash6859]

Thanks for the reply from out there on the other west coast. I hate products that work and then don't and then work again. Tonight I was successful in doing all four sides of Quadrophenia with not one stoppage or audio level glitch. I guess I'll try doing the tape in twenty minute sessions to see if that helps. Any suggestion on connection the cassette to the USB turntable?

[[email protected]]

im having a problem in recording the signal is always have a noise i change already the mic ang the source also the card of my computer ,is there any setting that i should do to eliminate the noise/

[waxcylinder]

flash,

wouldn't it be much easier for readily available items like Quadrophenia just to buy the CD (£6 on UK Amazon - $14 on US Amazon) - rather than spending your valuable time tryng to copy what is probably a poor tape?

I digitize and clean a lot of LPs and tapes, but usually only the ones that are not available as commecial CDs at reasonable prices - I usually figure that it's not worth wasting the time if a good modern copy is available. The exception to this rule is if thge particular item has been "remastered" - you need to treat those carefully - many re-issue CDs have been ruined in the re-mastering process (often made too "loud" in pursuit of the current "loudness wars" being waged by sound engineers and recording companies.).

WC