I have a lot of analog audio cassettes which I would like to listen to
but they have too much noise.  Noise means the sound which comes out
of the tape player even when there is nothing on the tape.  The
recordings are fairly low quality so they must be played loudly which
increases the noise.  I am willing to use software or hardware. 
Please give me both cheap (<$30) and moderately (<$60) priced
solutions.

Hi solar12123~

First, you'll need to connect a tape player to your computer. To do
this, you'll need a 1/8 inch mini-jack, which will connect to your
computer's sound card. Look at your computer manual to find the sound
card's line-in terminal, and plug the jack directly into it. (You'll
need a cassette player with an RCA output.) You should then be able to
hear the cassette play through your computer's speakers.
	
Next, you'll need to record whatever is on the cassette into a
computer file. Windows comes with a sound recorder; you may have other
recording software on your computer if you have a music-related
program. Or you can use MusicMatch, which offers free software. You
can download it at:
http://musicmatch.com/download/free/index.cgi?DID=999990876

Play your cassette, and record it with the computer's recorder
program, creating a WAV file.

To clean up the sound of the recording, there are many, many programs
available. Professionals use ProTools, and now a free, downloadable
version is available. Novices may find it difficult to use, but to
check it out, visit:
http://www.digidesign.com/ptfree

You can also download a free demo version of DeNoise:
http://www.mtu.com/basics/noiseremove.htm

For a good list of sound editing products, with reviews, visit CNET
at:
http://www.cnet.com/software/1,11066,0-3227898-1202-0,00.html?tag=dir-se

Once you've edited the files, you may either store them on your hard
drive, or burn them onto CDs using a CD burner and it's accompanying
software.

For an article on transferring cassettes to CD, visit:
http://web.singnet.com.sg/~lion4/articles/diy/cassette.html

For a related article on transferring LPs to CD, go to:
http://www.idiotsguides.com/Quick-Guides/MG_Trans_Albums_Comp/file.htm

Here's an Internet article on transferring cassettes to CD:
http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/howto/story/0,24330,2458726,00.html
	

Keywords Used:
"how to" cassette transfer CD
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22how+to%22+cassette+transfer+CD&btnG=Google+Search

Hope this helps!
kriswrite

---

Request for Answer Clarification by solar12123-ga on 14 Nov 2002 20:58 PST

Good idea but i need a real time solution.  In other words, I play the
tape and it comes out of speakers sounding better.

---

Clarification of Answer by kriswrite-ga on 14 Nov 2002 22:24 PST

Hi again solar12123~

Ah! Your original question didn't mention real time at all! :)

As Clouseau has already pointed out, there is no way to listen to your
tapes in real time and get the sort of sound clarity you desire
without going *way* out of the "moderate" category and into pro,
extremely expensive equipment.


So if your question had been posed this way: "How can I clean up--in
real time--the noise on my old cassette tapes either cheaply (for
under <$30) or moderately (<$60)>?" The answer would have been: I hate
to say this, but you can't.

Getting your tapes onto computer is really the most viable option.
It's cheap, too! And while cassette tapes will eventually rot away,
their contents on a CD are much, much more safe.

kriswrite

---

Request for Answer Clarification by solar12123-ga on 19 Nov 2002 21:26 PST

I have now had a chance to look at your answer in detail and
unfortunatly it does not even answer the question i posted.  you
provided two tools but neither one is usable.  The pro tools is for
windows 98 and me only and the denoise demo only produces a 2 minute
clip.

---

Clarification of Answer by kriswrite-ga on 20 Nov 2002 11:30 PST

Hi solar12123~

Your question didn't specify what version of Windows (or other
software) you were using; if you let me know what it is, I'm sure
there's plenty of software out there that will work :)

Kriswrite

---

Request for Answer Clarification by solar12123-ga on 20 Nov 2002 12:56 PST

I am running windows xp

---

Clarification of Answer by kriswrite-ga on 20 Nov 2002 14:27 PST

Alrighty. Here are a few programs that work with Windows XP.

Rosoft Audio Recorder:
http://www.dasound.com/programs/819

Wave Corrector:
http://www.dasound.com/programs/155/

LP Recorder:
http://www.dasound.com/programs/901
(only good for 5 minutes recording at a time)

WAV Clean:
http://www.dasound.com/programs/651

Keywords Used:
"windows XP" edit* hiss* software
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22windows+XP%22+edit*+hiss*+software

kriswrite

Not the answer I was looking for but it was my fault for a poorly worded question.

Hello solar12123,

I noted your question and hoped I would have an opportunity to answer
it as I have 25 years experience in pro audio and have built over 400
studios.

I'm pleased to see how kriswrite responded with an excellent answer.
The advice above is very good ( I was about to say "sound", but bit my
tongue) and by far the least exepensive way to clean up tape noise and
gain signal to noise ratio. Believe me when I say there is NO solution
in hardware for $30-60.00 and any real time solution would run you in
the many thousands of dollars. And then the gear you would need would
most likely be incompatible with your home audio equipment as home
gear operates at -10dB and pro gear at +4dB and is generally balanced.

This may be Greek to you, and I won't explain it all in detail in this
comment, however, trust me, there is no acceptible real time solution.
If these tapes are valuable to you, take the time, learn a bit about
software such as ProTools free package and enjoy the new skills you
will learn and the vastly enhanced music you will listen to.

-=clouseau=-
Google Researcher

here's something that may or may not help to give u a little bit of
improvement over the noise you are now hearing....

Clean your tapes (and your tape recorder head as well), they are
probably starting to rust over. the longer u wait more degradation
would occur.

But agree, to try and preserve the tape contents, cutting over to a
sound processing device (at this moment PCs are the cheaper albeit
more tedious option) and then re-recording it to some more permanent
storage media is the best solution at this juncture.