Cassette to CD conversion

This was a S.I.G. (Special Interest Group) of the Channel Islands PC Users Group led by Michael Shalkey on November 1, 2004

Making CDs from your old Cassette tapes (or LPs)

This is a subject that has been taught in much greater detail by our club's former president Andy Toth. Although I was unable to attend his many SIGs on the subject, I have had to learn this on my own. Let me share with you what I have learned.

1) Connect your sound source (cassette deck) to your computer
2) Create files on your computer of the songs you want
3) Create a music CD or music MP3 CP (see below)

Step 1
Tonight, my source is a cassette deck. Find the line out jacks on the back of the machine as seen here. You should be able to do this with any device that has a line out, including a turntable for LPs, even record the sound from your VCR..

 

You will need a cord from Radio Shack or other electronics shop that has 2 RCA male plugs on one end and a single stereo Mini plug on the other. The 2 RCA plugs go into back of tape deck as seen here in the line out holes...

 

The mini plug goes into the back of your computer sound card. Some sound cards only have 2 holes. Speaker out and Mic in

 

 

This photo shows 4. Speaker Out (1 and 2), Mic In and Line In. The LINE IN is the best to use.

 

Also, my cord is not right. I have 2 RCA to 1/4" Phone jack that I put a mini adapter on

If your computer is up and running, and you have music playing on your cassette deck, then you should be hearing it out of your computer speakers. You may have to keep unplugging and trying again at both ends until you have success.

Do you hear sound yet? If so, we are ready for step 2

STEP 2

Now we go to the software side of this project.

 

My computer, still running Windows 98se, came with a CDRW drive and software. I use the following 2 programs for all my conversions. Creative Recorder and Roxio Easy CD Creator.

THERE is much software out there that you can buy that will combine the next 2 steps and even offer many more features to “massage” your sound file including cleaning it up, getting rid of tape hiss, or pops and click on LPs, but since I don't use them, I can't comment on them.

For this step – creating music files - we will be using Creative Recorder to record the songs on my computer. Clicking on the icon brings this little window.

You might find yours under Programs - Accessories. Or you might have to do a search (windows logo key + F) to find it.

Clicking on the icon brings this little window.
Before you record, you want to check two things. One is your source for the sound. For creating a file from an external source like a cassette deck, you'll want to be sure it is on LINE. By clicking the arrow here you will see the other choices you have.

 

 

CD is to record from the Computer's CD player.
Microphone is from the hole in your sound card that is dedicated to a microphone.
Line is the Line In hole which we are using today.

Mixed output is ANYTHING that is coming out of your speakers. The bad news means that if you are recording this way - all the clicks and dings that Windows makes will also be recorded on your file. The good news is that you can record any sound from any website you go to and have a file of it. Internet Radio, speeches, comedy clips, anything you can hear.

The next thing to check is where you are going to save the file. Clicking on the round button to the right of the word MONITOR brings up this window.

Before you start any of this, you may want to double check that you have enough hard drive space. You will need between 30 and 40 MB of hard drive space for each song. It really helps to be organized, so you may want to create a new sub-directory (or folder) for each album. I created one using Windows Explorer that I called C:\converted album. It is important to know where you put the files so that you can find them later to create your CD. Just click on the Browse button and navigate your way to the folder you have dedicated to this project.

 

Now to the recording process.

You'll want to check your levels. Play your tape so that you can hear the music through your speakers. Go ahead and click on the REC button and the green bars will appear. To increase the volume, click on the bar as shown here and drag up. My experience tells me to leave the levels at about half. Play the loudest part of the song and watch the 2 graphic bars here go from the green to the yellow. The sound will distort a bit if it gets to the red, so you may want the levels bouncing mostly in the green and only occasionally into the yellow. The level by the speaker icon is the volume YOU HEAR and is only for your convenience while recording and has no effect on the file you are creating.

 

When you are finished, clicking on the play button you should be able to hear what you just recorded and the quality of it. If everything is fine, cue your tape up to the beginning and press play on your cassette deck and click on the REC button.

Make sure you stick around. If you're not there to hit the stop button, the file will continue to record and you will have a lot of blank space after a song – or two songs in one file. This only becomes a problem when you go to play your new CD and want to skip a song to go to a certain song. Special store-bought software designed for conversion may help here. I understand that some automatically listen for silence and create the separate files.

Don't worry that the files are named Untitled001 and Unititled002, etc. The next step will rename them. Once you have finished recording all the songs you want, you are now ready for

STEP 3

This time we click on Easy CD Creator Icon - or just put a blank CD in your CDR

 

Click on Make a Music CD and then MUSIC CD PROJECT

 

 

 

This is where you'll have to navigate to get to your folder with the new files in it. When you find the folder (in this case named Converted Album)

then click on the blue ADD arrow

 

 

 

Here you will see, in pretty colors no less, your files - Untitled001 - whatever you have.
Assuming you want them in the same order on your new CD, then just rename them by S L O W L Y double clicking on the Untitled001 and when you see the cursor, backspace and name the song what it is.

 

 

YOU DON'T HAVE TO do this step, but if you have a new CD player in your car with a display screen, it is awfully convenient to see the title of the song as it starts. Also the CD title and Artist will scroll by when you first put your CD in the player.

This step is useless for home stereo CD players without a digital display.

 

 

Once you see all your titles (spelled right, of course), then you're READY TO BURN.

 

 

Clicking on the RED button will start you.

 

 

 

 

The only thing you need to know about this screen is the Disc-At-Once option at the bottom. You will most probably want this option as it "Finishes" the CD (meaning the CD can not be added to again and also will have the titles imbedded on the CD for those fancy CD players.

 

Then click on the START RECORDING BUTTON.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you screen tells you that you are finished, take out the CD and label it.
The BEST way is using a Sharpie permanent marker. Labels that stick on, CAN cause problem in CD drives due to slightly uneven balance or even wrinkles that can happen when you stick them on.

and WOE to you when the label loses it stickiness.

 

 

Good luck and happy burning!

 

 

 


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