Saving old cassette tapes

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I have a few very old, very irreplaceable C-90 tapes that I need to save. The audio is already starting to bitrot, as the tapes date back to the early 1970s. The tapes are recordings of my older siblings as children going "goo" and "gah."



What (type of) program would be appropriate to record tape into an iBook (my only computer) so I can burn the sound back to CD?



Move this message if it's in the "wrong" forum, but can anyone also suggest who to contact to do such a thing professionally? I live in southern California.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    rhoqrhoq Posts: 190member
    CDSpinDoctor - which is a part of Roxio's Toast, will do the job. Just connect the cassette deck to your machine's audio in jack and you'll be good to go.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    I've used an iMic from Griffin Technology, along with their Final Vinyl software to record from an old answering machine cassette - a recording of my now deceased parents, singing me Happy Birthday wishes to an MP3 so I'll have it for posterity.



    I connected the iMic to the USB port, and a cable from the headphones jack on my stereo to the iMic, hit play on the cassette deck, and record in Final Vinyl. It's really easy to use, and have also used it to record selected songs off old Vinyl LPs.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    Either of the above two methods will work but with Rhoq's method you don't need to buy an iMic. I use Peak but I think there's free SW out there that will do it. Look on Macupdate or versiontracker.



    Quote:

    Originally posted by wcx000

    can anyone also suggest who to contact to do such a thing professionally? I live in southern California.



    They probably can but don't do this. Maybe it's different in SC but in Oz they charge a fortune for this sort of service. It's so easy to on any Mac with audio in, you'd be mad to pay someone to do it. If you don't have an audio input jack, I'm sure the iMic would work out cheaper than professional copying.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    Quote:

    Originally posted by imarz

    I've used an iMic from Griffin Technology, along with their Final Vinyl software to record from an old answering machine cassette - a recording of my now deceased parents, singing me Happy Birthday wishes to an MP3 so I'll have it for posterity.





    Great story! There is so much bitching around here about problems and when are we going to see... that it is wonderful to hear a good story about how a Mac is being put to good use. I really need to stay away from future hardware more.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    murkmurk Posts: 935member
    I used Amadeus to digitize tapes of my Great Grandfather singing. With it I was able to remove the tape hiss and other imperfections. http://www.hairersoft.com/Amadeus.html
  • Reply 6 of 8
    Thank you all for these great answers! I'll get started soon.



    Another question has come up though: the tapes are C-90, and I've been told such tapes are very fragile even when new.



    Would C-90 tapes from the 70s survive playback in a modern tape player?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    mimacmimac Posts: 872member
    If they've been stored properly (upright in cases like books) and out of heat and humidity then they 'should' be ok. Check for any damage to the tape or cassette shell.

    It would be a very good idea to run the cassettes through a "winder" (cheap to buy at likes of RadioShack etc.) before playing to get the spools of tape conditioned or tensioned before playing.



    Here are some other tips I found...



    Take up the slack in the cassette before you insert it in your player. You can do this with a common 6-sided pencil (not a round one). Turn a few times until you cannot see any loose tape in the cassette window. This step prevents uneven takeup, jamming and snarls. _



    Always press the STOP button before you hit FAST FORWARD or REWIND or when going from REWIND or FAST FOWARD to PLAY. This habit prevents tape snarlups. Snarling most often occurs when the moving tape changes speed or direction quickly and forms a small loop of tape that catches in the player drive mechanism.

    _

    Metal oxides from tapes build up on play heads and muffle the sound quality of even the best tapes. Dirty heads on your player will also cause it to twist, crumple and snarl tapes. Clean/demagnetize the tape heads of your player every 24 hours of playing time. This can be done in less than a minute with a head cleaning and demagnetizing cassette._



    There are some common problems that you can do something about:



    The most common reason that a cassette won't play is that it is ridged. What that means is that the tape has settled to one side of the spindle and binds against a wall of the cassette case. This occurs regularly when tapes are joggled and vibrated as they travel in your vehicle or through the mails. It can happen as easily to brand new tapes as to old ones. If you have a cassette that won't play, starts to drag, or causes your auto-reverse to engage repeatedly or inappropriately, suspect that it is ridged. This problem is very common, but it is also very easily solved. Simply hold the cassette in the palm of your hand and rap it smartly against a hard surface. Flip it over and repeat on the other side. Sometimes one has to do this more than once.

    _

    Occasionally a tape won't budge because it has looped back on itself. You might not be able to see the loop, but manually wind the tape (by sticking a pencil into the spindle hole and twirling) until the loop is visible, then pull it out.

    _

    If your cassette seems to be playing at the correct speed but in an unintelligible language, it might have twisted over on itself and be playing wrong side up. Often you can manually spool the tape to find the twist and straighten it out.

    _

    If a tape speeds up and then sounds garbled STOP IT IMMEDIATELY! It has probably become snarled in the drive mechanism. Carefully remove the cassette from the player and manually spool the tape back into the cassette.

    _
  • Reply 8 of 8
    You cannot record directly to an iBook because it does not have an audio in port. You need an external soundcard or an iMic, just like imarz recommended.





    .h
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