Tips on converting old mix tapes to MP3...

[AlexHall74]

Hey everyone,

I just cleaned my garage and found a bunch of old mix tapes that I made when I was in college.

Amazingly enough they still play!

For the most part the sound quality is good because I made them from CD-> Tape transfers on TDK 60s but there is the typical tape background hiss that one hears after being used to CD quality for so long.

I would love to convert these to MP3 format so that I can hang on to them as they are my "audio heirlooms."

I plan to play them from my boom box (my only remaining tape player) and feed the signal into my M-Audio 2496 to convert to digital.

I do have a few quick questions:

(1) Should I just open up a track in Cubase and let it rip?

(2) What type of VST plugin(s) can I use to clean up the signal a little bit?

I have scoured KVR's free VST forum and grabbed VSTs of every type and color but must confess that outside of reverbs, delays, and a few compressors, I have not experimented with many of them.

Thank you for any input that you can offer to help me preserve my old tunes.

Regards,

-Alex

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Originally Posted by AlexHall74

Hey everyone,

I just cleaned my garage and found a bunch of old mix tapes that I made when I was in college.

Amazingly enough they still play!-Alex

Hey man...these arent the tapes you tried to flog me for $10,000 are they? Muhahahahhahaha

DS

[Hollowcell]

Steinberg's Denoiser works really well for this type of thing. There maybe are better plugs out there, but for the stuff I've had to clean up Denoiser worked fine.

[jasedee]

Basically......I would give your tape heads a bit of a clean with some Isopropyl alcohol (Dont use it on anything rubber!)

Then, you can either apply a denoiser/de-clicker. I use a VST bundle from TC Works, which includes some nice plugs for removing hiss etc.

Make sure your levels into the digital domain are nice and hot, and then, ummm......yeah, convert to MP3.

Good luck!



Edit: I have to do some tape-CD transfers too! I swapped a crate of vinyl for doing about 8 x 60min tape-CD transfers. I scored some Led Zeppelin, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, ELP, Beatles.......awesome!

[AlexHall74]

DS wrote:
Hey man...these arent the tapes you tried to flog me for $10,000 are they? Muhahahahhahaha

DS, the tapes I tried to flog you $10,000 for are the ones of you doing the nasty with a billy goat. That offer is still good. I have not published them on web server...yet.

HC wrote:
Steinberg's Denoiser works really well for this type of thing. There maybe are better plugs out there, but for the stuff I've had to clean up Denoiser worked fine.

Thanks for the tip, HC. I will check that out. Does the Steinberg Denoiser come with SX or is it a separate plugin???

Jase wrote:
Basically......I would give your tape heads a bit of a clean with some Isopropyl alcohol (Dont use it on anything rubber!)

Then, you can either apply a denoiser/de-clicker. I use a VST bundle from TC Works, which includes some nice plugs for removing hiss etc.

Make sure your levels into the digital domain are nice and hot, and then, ummm......yeah, convert to MP3.

Good luck!

Edit: I have to do some tape-CD transfers too! I swapped a crate of vinyl for doing about 8 x 60min tape-CD transfers. I scored some Led Zeppelin, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, ELP, Beatles.......awesome!

That's a kick-ass swap deal you got into there, Jasedee! Good job Bro!

As far as getting the levels hot before going into the digital domain, should I run the line out of my tape deck through my Studio Projects VTB-1 Mic Pre-amp and then into my mixer? Or, is that a totally back ass, redneck idea?

THANKS FOR THE IDEAS, GENTLEMEN!!!

[Hollowcell]

Originally Posted by AlexHall74

Thanks for the tip, HC. I will check that out. Does the Steinberg Denoiser come with SX or is it a separate plugin???

Seperate I think. I don't use SX though.

Beefing the signal up with a stereo pre isn't a bad idea, but just running it from a desk would be fine - depending on the tape deck of course.

That is an unbeleivable deal you got there Jase! [/quote]

[Gopal]

WAVES does a restoration suite that is specifically designed for this sort of thing.

Works well in my experience too.

[harrystainer]

Waves Diamond Bundle

[jasedee]

Originally Posted by AlexHall74

As far as getting the levels hot before going into the digital domain, should I run the line out of my tape deck through my Studio Projects VTB-1 Mic Pre-amp and then into my mixer? Or, is that a totally back ass, redneck idea?

I would go the cleanest, simplest route ie straight from your tape deck into your soundcard. You can get those cables that are RCA--->jack(L/R)

Also, recording at a higher sampling rate might help somewhat, if you can afford the space.

Good luck mate!

Originally Posted by Hollowcell

That is an unbeleivable deal you got there Jase!

Damn straight! And they are in real good condition too. The guy was wanting to get rid of his collection, and I was offering money, but he was real cool, and just decided that converting his old tapes was a good enough deal.