Audacity Forum

Hello I am converting cassettes to MP3 using audacity on a windows vista basic. I have been succesfull in installing, recording, and transfering those songs to Itunes. Unfortunately when playing back the recorded song the volume is way too loud and distorted. Volume meters are displayed reaching the maximum even though i have turned down all the meters available to me. The input volume is down to 0.1 my tape deck recording volume is down to almost 0 and the Mixer on the computer is down as well. There must be something im overlooking. The tapes i am recording are not in poor condition. In fact they are live recordings of Rock n Roll Revival concerts dating back from the late 60's to early 90's. These are tapes made direct from the soundboard during the how and shouldn't be this distorted when recorded. If there is anyone out there that can help me i would appreciate it. I have over a 100 tapes to convert of concerts and live interviews and i have waisted so much time in purchasing various units... ie ION tape 2 PC(that thing was awful). I am almost ready to start i just need to tweak this volume problem. Thank you.

Matt

We need to know a bit more about your setup to be able to help you.

All we know so far is that you are using Windows Vista.
What model tape player are you using? (I assume it's not the ION)
What type of computer have you, and how is the tape player connected to the computer? (line-out sockets? USB?)
Which version of Audacity?

BTW, this section of the forum is for problems with the forum itself, not with Audacity.
Once we know which version of Audacity you are using, one of the moderators can move your post to the right place.

PO'L

Sorry didn't know i was posted in the wrong forum. Im using audacity Beta 1.3 The computer i have is a Dell Laptop. The tape deck is connected by a Y connector Line in Its connected to the microphone jack. No usb. Im at work right now when i get home tonight i can check what model tape deck i have. Hope this helps thanks for responding.
Matt

Irish wrote:We need to know a bit more about your setup to be able to help you.

All we know so far is that you are using Windows Vista.
What model tape player are you using? (I assume it's not the ION)
What type of computer have you, and how is the tape player connected to the computer? (line-out sockets? USB?)
Which version of Audacity?

BTW, this section of the forum is for problems with the forum itself, not with Audacity.
Once we know which version of Audacity you are using, one of the moderators can move your post to the right place.

PO'L

Matt937161 wrote:The tape deck is connected by a Y connector Line in Its connected to the microphone jack.

That's where the problem is.

The mic jack is intended for a tiny, mono, microphone signal and you are sending it a big powerful stereo line-level signal from the tape deck.
Unless you are one of the lucky few whose laptop input jack can actually switch between mic and line-in (look in your user manual and in Control Panel > Sounds and Audio) you will need an external USB sound card to get the signal into the computer.

Look at this thread
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9477
for sound cards that work well with Audacity.

PO'L