
You might need to adjust the sound volume of your tape player to hear it on your computer.

New Macs don’t have a recording program natively installed. If you have an older Mac, there was a program called “Simple Sound” which did audio recordings. Select sources until you find the right one. This is under Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Sound -> Recording. You might have to change the sound source to get this to work. In Windows, this is called Sound Recorder and is usually under the Accessories folder of your Start Menu. To make sure everything is connected properly and working, you can start up your computer’s recording program and make a test recording. If your desktop doesn’t have this jack, it means that it doesn’t have a sound card, and you’ll have to get one. On a desktop computer, this jack is often colored pink and will be on the back of your computer and sometimes the front as well.

It should have a microphone symbol next to it. Plug the the other end into your computer’s mic input jack. On a laptop, it is usually next to the headphone jack, which is the same size and shape. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I own this site and the opinions expressed here are mine. This site is not owned by any retailer or manufacturer. I test or research each product or service before endorsing. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Plug the RCA end of the cable into your tape player’s output jacks, sometimes labeled “PLAY”.ĭisclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. If so, you can just get a “stereo RCA to 1/8” stereo adapter” and plug it into your existing cable. Now, if you still have your tape player, you probably have the audio cable that came with it, which is a “stereo RCA to RCA cable”.
#Best cassette to mp3 converter 2017 how to
These might be very valuable to you! Let’s see how to transfer these recordings to your computer. Perhaps they were rare recordings, or recordings that you made yourself. On the other hand, you might have songs on tape that are not available for sale in digital format. So, if you have pre-recorded tapes which have songs that are still sold today, I recommend simply paying the $0.99 per song to get clean digital copies from Amazon, iTunes, or whatever modern digital store you use. And worse, the tape usually stretches so the song gets slightly slower and out of tune from the original recording. After repeated usage, you lose the high frequencies. Here are some ways to transfer those recordings into your computer, iPod, or phone, where they can live again!Ĭompared to modern digital recordings, the sound quality of cassette tapes is actually pretty bad.

If you’ve been around a while, you might have a box of old tapes in your closet or attic somewhere. If the recording did employ NR when it was made, and you disable it during playback, you'll hear an unnaturally brighter-sounding recording.īottom line: use your ears, and use this test-recording process to work things out before you've already committed a few hours of your time.Going through my old cassette tapes brings back memories from high school in a way that MP3’s never can. If the recording didn't employ NR, playing it with NR may result in muffled sound. If the recording was made using the NR setting, then arguably it should be played with it on, as well. Whether to enable Dolby NR is a trickier problem to figure out. Most music tapes are going to use the Type II/IV setting. Typically you'll find settings for tape type (I, II/IV) and settings for Dolby Noise Reduction (NR). If you're recording in mono, check your recording input preferences and make sure the number of channels is set to two, not one.Īlso, if the recording sounds oddly muffled or bright, check your tape-specific settings on the tape deck. Also, make sure you're looking at a stereo recording (two waveforms). We'll give it a little boost at the end, but you don't want it to be too quiet or so loud that the waveform jumps out of the window and distorts the sound. Make sure the recorded volume sounds (and looks) OK. Hit the Stop button in Audacity once you're done and then play the recording back over some connected headphones to check the quality. Before committing to recording a whole side, hit play on your tape deck and record 30 seconds of audio into Audacity using the application's Record button.
