Digitising old cassette recordings: Advice on how to do this

[Born 2B Mild]

I've got live recordings of old bands that I was in, on cassette tape, and I'd like to convert them to digital.

 

Advice on how to do this myself is welcomed!

 

I'm not very clever about these things, but here's what equipment that I already have:

 

• Technics cassette deck with phono outputs (recently serviced and working well) - also Technics amp if it's needed
• Focusrite Scarlett Solo interface

 

 

[pete.young]

Easiest way I found to do this was to get a pair of phono - jack leads and connect the output from the cassette player into my Zoom H4N.

 

You could do a similer thing with the Focusrite if it has two mic/line inputs, and record / edit it with Audacity.

[pineweasel]

The Scarlett Solo has a one mic input and one instrument/line input, so you'll need to connect your L & R tape deck outputs to those inputs using suitable cables or adaptors. The two tracks will  be going through separate input circuits so there might be slight differences in the levels and EQ, though maybe unnoticable when the source is an old cassette.

 

Record onto two audio tracks in your favourite DAW, ensuring you don't have any processing set up on the inputs. From there you can edit into individual tracks, process if desired and export to whatever stereo format you like.

[BigRedX]

36 minutes ago, pete.young said:

Easiest way I found to do this was to get a pair of phono - jack leads and connect the output from the cassette player into my Zoom H4N.

 

You could do a similer thing with the Focusrite if it has two mic/line inputs, and record / edit it with Audacity.

 

That's pretty much it.

 

For splitting into individual tracks use whatever audio editor or audio editor in your DAW that you are most familiar and comfortable with. 

 

IME digitising tapes and vinyl is only worth the effort if the music hasn't already been released in a digital format. So if it is old band demos then crack on. For everything else it's simpler to track down a version that has already been digitised. 

[Born 2B Mild]

7 minutes ago, pineweasel said:

The Scarlett Solo has a one mic input and one instrument/line input, so you'll need to connect your L & R tape deck outputs to those inputs using suitable cables or adaptors. The two tracks will  be going through separate input circuits so there might be slight differences in the levels and EQ, though maybe unnoticable when the source is an old cassette.

 

Record onto two audio tracks in your favourite DAW, ensuring you don't have any processing set up on the inputs. From there you can edit into individual tracks, process if desired and export to whatever stereo format you like.

Thanks.  Do you mean that the mic input (XLR) becomes one stereo channel, and the 1/4" jack socket becomes the other stereo channel?  Or do I need the L&R phono wires to converge into some sort of adaptor to go into either the XLR input or the jack socket? 

[Doctor J]

Think of them as two mono signals, the mic interface as L and the instrument interface as R. You'll record them as two separate mono tracks at the same time and pan them hard left and hard right in your DAW for playback.

 

You'll need to convert your L phono output to an XLR input and your R phono output to a 1/4" input.

[pineweasel]

You need to connect the L tape deck output to the XLR and R to the instrument/line input (or vice versa), so a different cable or adaptor for each. 

 

 

[BigRedX]

If the two inputs are on separate Mic and line connectors, there's likely to be a level mis-match between the two and you'll need a way to calibrate and compensate for the differences.

[Born 2B Mild]

27 minutes ago, pineweasel said:

You need to connect the L tape deck output to the XLR and R to the instrument/line input (or vice versa), so a different cable or adaptor for each. 

 

 

Thanks for making that clearer

[TheGreek]

This.

 

Let me know if you want to borrow it. 

 

[TimR]

You might be better using your PC on board soundboard an stereo line-in. 

 

You'll have problems using a mic input and a line input for the stereo signal.

 

Assuming the Focus is a mono line in. If its a stereo then use that for both channels.