audio record question

I know the answer is here someplace. I'm trying to get music off of an old reel to reel tape player and into the computer so I can put it on a CD. I have an external speaker jack on the player, and an attenuator of sorts, and hooked into the blue jack on the sound card. How to make a file that I can record from? What special software do I need? Thanks

 

I did try that, but it only recorded a minute's worth. And I didn't hear any audio when I played it in Media player.

 

I use Audacity. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Also download the optional downloads. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

 

After further checking, in Sound Recorder, under Edit, Audio Properties, Sound Recording, there are options that I didn't see. I should change that to Line In if I'm using the blue connection? Do you think that Mic In will work as well? That'll let me know if the process will even work for me using the parts I have connected between the tape deck and the computer. Not too technical, but the tapes are 60 yrs old, and I'm not looking for any quality, I'm just looking for a way to get them on a CD. The input going into the computer as measured on the AC range of a cheapie digital meter is .1 volt. I haven't been able to find what the maximum voltage on the input of the sound card might be, and my input might be too small. Any ideas? Thanks to Pete C. and Russ for their replies.

 

Thanks for your help; maybe a fellow member will chime in. I'm hoping that I don't take out the sound card or worse!

 

From my limited details, does the input seem OK? Sufficient, yet not enough to hurt the sound card? I saw Audacity, but was looking as WavePad 3.01 as another option. Thanks

 

As info, it appears that the sound card is doing OK, and I've got the basics in order. Now it's just playing with Audacity to get a suitable final product. I'll still listen to any more tips. Thanks

 

For about the last 15 years I've had VCR tapes that I recorded vinyl LP's to and have used those to listen. I've been lucky in that these audio VCR tapes have weathered the time and playing well.

So finally got around to looking for software to transfer them to the HD.

Tried Audacity - nice and free but too elaborate to do the initial copying with. I've done the editing to my tapes when I created them. All I needed was straight copying and the ability to create tracks.

Found RipVinyl, far easier to use: http://www.ripvinyl.com/trynow.shtml

Creates the file in .wav format to begin with instead of in a proprietary format such as Audacity does - no file conversion afterwards, unless to.mp3 or another widspread file type such as .wma.

Two ways to create tracks:

Allow the program to do so by setting the silence level, if the input falls below the level, a new track is created. That level is user adjustable.

Manually - set the silence level to the minimum and in my case, pause the tape deck where I want to create the track. - the program then finalizes the current track and cues up for the next track. If a record player, lift up the tone arm.

Each .wav track is playable by itself (WMP plays it - my case v9.0) without having to have any "header" info.

Plugged the VCR's RCA audio outputs directly into the Audio Card's input - didn't need the amplifier. With a record player probably would have to go thru the amp.

I'm enclosing an image of the control panel.

Regards - Charles

 

Another one you can use is CDex (free). You can use it to rip cds and make analog recordings like you're doing here. CDex will output whatever type of file you want. MP3, wav, ogg, etc. If you decide to check it out, first select line-in in the windows record control then in CDex, click tools>record from analog input.

CDex

 

Thanks for all the replies. I tried Audacity first, and it seemed to do the trick. Saved the files as .wav, and the final product was acceptable. Considering that they were 50yr old mono tapes, I'm quite pleased with the results. Now I just need an answer to my MovieMaker question in the Windows XP forum!