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#21
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
"Mike Rivers" wrote in message ups.com... On Aug 7, 7:11 pm, "Arny Krueger" wrote: The best way to adjust azimuth is to have a mono test tape, and adjust the azimuth until tape heads tracking the top and bottom edges of the recorded track reproduce waves with identical timing. That's the best way to adjust it to a standard, but the cassettes to be played may not have been recorded with the heads set to that standard. Right. Since these are cassettes, the demands for precision are high due to the slow speed, but the hardware is inherently sloppy. And the real problem is with instability of the tape relative to the head, both when recorded and again when played. That's one reason why a system like the Nak's, that adjusted the azimuth on the fly as needed, could improve sound quality so much. For a "better than random" setup, making one adjustment before playing a tape is probably sufficient, but it should be done for each tape. In an ideal world there would be some test tones recorded at the beginning and end of the tape, and between every musical selection. |
#22
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
. .. How do you know how to adjust the azimuth - or how would a device know what the correct setting is? Is there some fail safe way to tell, or do you have to use your own ears? The best way to adjust azimuth is to have a mono test tape, and adjust the azimuth until tape heads tracking the top and bottom edges of the recorded track reproduce waves with identical timing. That gets the player aligned with "standard" azimuth, which is of course best if you're recording and playing back. But if you're playing back cassettes which were probably recorded on a machine with the azimuth misaligned, you need to set it by ear (or use a Nakamichi Dragon with its automatic alignment). Best way to do that by ear is to adjust for maximum high frequencies *with the playback summed to a mono signal*. Makes the proper setting a *lot* easier to find -- yes, even on a signal that's stereo. Ideally you dub through the computer and listen to the computer's output summed to mono, so you can listen as you go and, as Mike says, stop when you hear it getting off. Peace, Paul |
#23
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
On Aug 7, 9:24 pm, Paul MR wrote:
Indeed, the Dragon was an exceedingly high-end consumer machine. But it is expensive overkill for most people's old cassette collections. It depends. If you're really going to transfer 1000 cassettes, you must really care about preserving that collection, and anything that will make the copies better with less effort surely is worth an investment of what amounts to about an extra buck a tape by the time you get the Dragon and a good tune-up job. If you were to have the collection transferred even semi-professionally, it would probably cost $25 or more per tape, a $24,000 saving. |
#24
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
"Paul Stamler" wrote in message ... "Arny Krueger" wrote in message . .. How do you know how to adjust the azimuth - or how would a device know what the correct setting is? Is there some fail safe way to tell, or do you have to use your own ears? The best way to adjust azimuth is to have a mono test tape, and adjust the azimuth until tape heads tracking the top and bottom edges of the recorded track reproduce waves with identical timing. That gets the player aligned with "standard" azimuth, which is of course best if you're recording and playing back. But if you're playing back cassettes which were probably recorded on a machine with the azimuth misaligned, you need to set it by ear (or use a Nakamichi Dragon with its automatic alignment). Right. It's been too long since I seriously transcribed any cassettes. Best way to do that by ear is to adjust for maximum high frequencies *with the playback summed to a mono signal*. Makes the proper setting a *lot* easier to find -- yes, even on a signal that's stereo. Ideally you dub through the computer and listen to the computer's output summed to mono, so you can listen as you go and, as Mike says, stop when you hear it getting off. |
#25
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
Well, recently I got a preamp for my turntable and a new needle, and
have been buying a lot of vinyl lately of music I used to like in my youth that I only had on cassette, and recording records directly to digital. It's nice having the actual record to enjoy the art /etc, even if the music itself is just an mp3 file. However I am finding a lot of these records, especially the ones on independent labels, are out of print or never came out on CD, and cost quite a bit on eBay. So I went back to my tape collection. Yeah I do really care about preserving my collection, I'm an avid record collector. It depends. If you're really going to transfer 1000 cassettes, you must really care about preserving that collection, and anything that will make the copies better with less effort surely is worth an investment of what amounts to about an extra buck a tape by the time you get the Dragon and a good tune-up job. If you were to have the collection transferred even semi-professionally, it would probably cost $25 or more per tape, a $24,000 saving. |
#26
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
wrote in message oups.com... Has anyone had lots of experience with transferring large numbers of cassettes (we're talking 500-1000) to CD or MP3? [snip] Yes. I've had a lot of experience doing that. I wouldn't recommend it unless the only alternative is to buy a new CD. If you feel that you absolutely must have a CD copy of a cassette, and the material is out of print, then use the same tape deck you made the original cassette on as the source and make a .wav file of it on your computer. But honestly, I wouldn't bother if there's a commercial CD available. Norm Strong |
#27
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
Scott Dorsey wrote:
Just go the Nak Dragon route. Might be a bit extreme. Just going to a 3-head deck makes an immense improvement... |
#28
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
Just go the Nak Dragon route.
Might be a bit extreme. Just going to a 3-head deck makes an immense improvement... There are two excellent reasons for using a Dragon. First, Nakamichi playback heads tend to have more HF output than other manufacturers' heads. This introduces its own set of problems, but it means you might get a better transfer of a worn or dull-sounding tape. Second, the asymmetrical diffused-resonance transport produces significantly lower audible modulation noise. |
#29
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transferring cassettes to CD - Plusdeck 2C or other options
dizzy wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote: Just go the Nak Dragon route. Might be a bit extreme. Try it. Just going to a 3-head deck makes an immense improvement... 3-head design is a given. If it's not a 3-head deck, it's nearly impossible even to get the record alignment right. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#30
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Terence Blanchard
On Aug 7, 3:08 pm, Mike Rivers wrote:
On Aug 7, 5:55 pm, wrote: How do you know how to adjust the azimuth - or how would a device know what the correct setting is? Is there some fail safe way to tell, or do you have to use your own ears? You got it! On the bench, you can use a test cassette and an oscilloscope but when ajusting the deck to match an already recorded tape, your ears are the best guide. It's pretty apparent when you have it right, or at least close enough. For routine transfers just for fun, you can probalby get away with adjusting it once, but to to a really good job, you need to listen continuously and when you hear it getting off, stop the tape, stop the recording, re-adjust the azimuth, continue the copying, and then edit the pieces together. The automatic adjustment looks at phase difference between the channels and drives a motor which adjusts the head. Terence Blanchard's latest release, "A Tale of God's Will" is an evocative emotional journey of a city whose spirit lives on through the most devastating of circumstances - as told through the musical genius of one of New Orleans' proudest residents - Terence Blanchard. This marks the 2nd release for Terence on the famed Blue Note Label and was composed for Spike Lee's HBO documentary, "When The Levees Broke." What are people saying about "A Tale of God's Will: A Requiem for Katrina" "With his soulful new album, Blanchard continues his crusade to revitalize his hometown... a purposeful convergence of his film-composer and jazz-musician identities... a melancholy suite that feels both intensely personal and broadly cinematic." -The New York Times "...a triumph, an extended jazz suite that evokes a tragedy without words and inspires emotions worthy of its subject." -Washington Post "Blanchard is a powerful storyteller. He doesn't need words to express anger, frustration, heartbreak, resolve, hope or love-just a trumpet." -NPR "[Blanchard] delivers his compelling and poignant reflections on the catastrophe... In the tunes, there is anger and angst, lush melody and woeful wails, pockets of grace and flood waters of melancholy." -Billboard a href=" http://www.bluenote.com/terenceblanchard/player/" A Tale Of God's Will Ecard/a |
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