Volume fading

[ValleyWebNet]

Hi all,

I have an old cassette, ~1993, and when I play -and subsequently record with Audacity- it seems that the sound fades and then comes back several times throughout the tape. The volume doesn't seem to be decreasing by watching the waveform during recording but there is definitely some decrease in the volume when you listen.

Anyone heard of anything similar to this before and is there any way to fix it?

Thanks in advance!
Jim

[waxcylinder]

This is most likely to be down to poor adjustment of the tape transport mechanism or poor head alignment - either on the machine you are playing on or the one you are recording from. Generally it is probably better to use the same machine for both, but I'm guessing that as you say this is an "old tape" then this may not be the case.

To fix it try using the Envelope tool (icon is two white triangles pointing in to a white dot between them, with a blue line passing through). You can set the dots as a set of reference points and use them to drag the blue line up and down - this controls the volume level, the closer the blue lines the quieter it gets - higher goes louder.

WC

[ValleyWebNet]

Thanks for the info will give it a shot.

Jim

[steve]

The other possibility is that if you are recording into a microphone socket of an on-board sound card, there could be some kind of "noise cancellation" effect that is interfering. If this scenario looks likely, search thoroughly through all of the sound card settings and turn all effects off.

[ValleyWebNet]

I knew about the effects there, made sure they were all off before starting this.

Thanks,
Jim