Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD


Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
open reel tapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 Open Reel Recorder
and a Dell Latitude D810 Notebook.

Somehow I thought this would be easy!! :-) However, at present the
notebook does not recognize an analogue signal at the line in.
Moreover, the only piece of software that seems to have an audio
record option is Windows Sound Recorder with a time limit of 60
seconds. I need to record several hours!

So, what hardware do I need? and, what software? Audio quality is
moderately important, given that the source material is not perfect.

Many thanks

Adrian

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD


"Adrian" <adrian_h_hudson@yahoo,com > wrote in message
news:1181498989.012776.118210@i38g2000prf.googlegroups,com ...
>
> Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
> open reel tapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 Open Reel Recorder
> and a Dell Latitude D810 Notebook.
>
Here`s a startng point A.

http :// www .videointerchange,com /vintage_video1.htm
http :// en.allexperts,com /q/Home-Recording-2858/Analog-Tape-P-C.htm

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

On Jun 10, 11:37 am, "meerkat" <m...@cov,com > wrote:
> "Adrian" <adrian_h_hud...@yahoo,com > wrote in message
>
> news:1181498989.012776.118210@i38g2000prf.googlegroups,com ...
>
> > Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
> > openreeltapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 OpenReelRecorder
> > and a DellLatitudeD810 Notebook.
>
> Here`s a startng point A.
>
> http :// www .videointerchange,com /vintage_video1.htm http :// en.allexperts,com /q/Home-Recording-2858/Analog-Tape-P-C.htm

Thank you. That at least tells me I am going in the right
direction. :-)

Adrian

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

Adrian wrote:
> Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
> open reel tapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 Open Reel Recorder
> and a Dell Latitude D810 Notebook.
> Somehow I thought this would be easy!! :-) However, at present the
> notebook does not recognize an analogue signal at the line in.
> Moreover, the only piece of software that seems to have an audio
> record option is Windows Sound Recorder with a time limit of 60
> seconds. I need to record several hours!
> So, what hardware do I need? and, what software? Audio quality is
> moderately important, given that the source material is not perfect.

(a) check your sound card manual, Control Panel, or start up Windows
Volume Control and make sure the right input device is selected

(b) google Audacity

Owain

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

Owain wrote:

> (b) google Audacity

It's Pricelessware ("The best of the best in Freeware - selected by
alt,com p,fr eeware participants").

Program: Audacity
Author: Dominic Mazzoni
Ware: (Donationware) (free) (open source: GNU GPL)
http :// sourceforge,net /projects/audacity/
http :// audacity.sourceforge,net /

More free audio editors that have been mentioned in alt,com p,fr eeware
are listed here:
http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_MULTIMEDIA.php#2.01AudioEditor

Wavosaur is fairly new and has gotten some good reviews from ACF
participants. . .

Susan
--
Posted to alt,com p,fr eeware
Search alt,com p,fr eeware (or read it online):
http :// www .google,com /advanced_group_search?q=+group:alt,com p,fr eeware
Pricelessware & ACF: http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org
Pricelessware: http :// www .pricelessware.org (not maintained)

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

On Jun 10, 1:08 pm, Susan Bugher <sebug...@yahoo,com > wrote:
> Owain wrote:
> > (b) google Audacity
>
> It's Pricelessware ("The best of the best in Freeware - selected by
> alt,com p,fr eeware participants").
>
> Program: Audacity
> Author: Dominic Mazzoni
> Ware: (Donationware) (free) (open source: GNU GPL) http :// sourceforge,net /projects/audacity/ http :// audacity.sourceforge,net /
>
> More free audio editors that have been mentioned in alt,com p,fr eeware
> are listed here: http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_MULTIMEDIA.php#2.01AudioEditor
>
> Wavosaur is fairly new and has gotten some good reviews from ACF
> participants. . .
>
> Susan
> --
> Posted to alt,com p,fr eeware
> Search alt,com p,fr eeware (or read it online): http :// www .google,com /advanced_group_search?q=+group:alt,com p,fr eeware
> Pricelessware & ACF: http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org
> Pricelessware: http :// www .pricelessware.org(not maintained)

Susan,

Thank you for the link to http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org/ It makes
very interesting reading.

Adrian

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

On Jun 10, 12:07 pm, Owain <owain47...@stirlingcity.coo.uk> wrote:
> Adrianwrote:
> > Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
> > openreeltapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 OpenReelRecorder
> > and a DellLatitudeD810 Notebook.
> > Somehow I thought this would be easy!! :-) However, at present the
> > notebook does not recognize an analogue signal at the line in.
> > Moreover, the only piece of software that seems to have an audio
> > record option is Windows Sound Recorder with a time limit of 60
> > seconds. I need to record several hours!
> > So, what hardware do I need? and, what software? Audio quality is
> > moderately important, given that the source material is not perfect.
>
> (a) check your sound card manual, Control Panel, or start up Windows
> Volume Control and make sure the right input device is selected
>
> (b) google Audacity
>
> Owain

Thanks Owain. The sound 'card' is actually part of the motherboard.
I have found and tweaked the Volume control and its related input and
output controls. I mistook the microphone input for a line in.

When I have located an "iMic", I will chack out Audacity.

Adrian

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

In rec.audio.tech Owain <owain47125@stirlingcity.coo.uk> wrote:
> Adrian wrote:
>> Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
>> open reel tapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 Open Reel Recorder
>> and a Dell Latitude D810 Notebook.
>> Somehow I thought this would be easy!! :-) However, at present the
>> notebook does not recognize an analogue signal at the line in.
>> Moreover, the only piece of software that seems to have an audio
>> record option is Windows Sound Recorder with a time limit of 60
>> seconds. I need to record several hours!
>> So, what hardware do I need? and, what software? Audio quality is
>> moderately important, given that the source material is not perfect.
>
> (a) check your sound card manual, Control Panel, or start up Windows
> Volume Control and make sure the right input device is selected
>
> (b) google Audacity

...then run away screaming. :-)

I'd highly recommend not using Audacity. It's a well-designed program
plagued by bugs and bad coding. After spending weeks learning the ins
and outs of it, I finally gave up and resolved to buy Goldwave.

Colin

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

I've been really happy with Real Encoder (from the hated Real Audio
people) in a 1997 version on my win95 desktop (look at the header on
this message).

There's an old 11 kbs music codec that's just fine for me, and it
produces about 6MB/hr of file ; and an 8.5 kbs codec for voice, at
4MB/hr.

http :// rhhardin.home.mindspring,com /faure.ram sample music. Not
hi-fi but a pleasant sound, at least on my PC.

The chief thing that keeps me running this faithful old PC is that
Real Encoder is now gone. There's a Real Producer, but I don't know
if it has all the codecs, can run from batch mode, and so forth.

Its GUI is completely undecipherable. I run it from the command line.

Radio Shack has an audio cable, I think, that alleges it converts
line level to mic level ; you could do the same thing with a 500k
resistor, probably; adjust value for best sound, if that doesn't work.

Probably you'll need an isolation transformer in any case, as well.
They also have one of those. It's too bad there isn't an isolation
transformer that also does the line to mic level conversion.

--
Ron Hardin
rhhardin@mindspring,com

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

Adrian wrote:

> Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
> open reel tapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 Open Reel Recorder
> and a Dell Latitude D810 Notebook.
>
> Somehow I thought this would be easy!! :-) However, at present the
> notebook does not recognize an analogue signal at the line in.
> Moreover, the only piece of software that seems to have an audio
> record option is Windows Sound Recorder with a time limit of 60
> seconds. I need to record several hours!
>
> So, what hardware do I need? and, what software? Audio quality is
> moderately important, given that the source material is not perfect.

There's a work-around for that limitation (it's been posted in ACF many
times) but quite a few free recorders have also been mentioned in ACF.
Some of them are listed here:
http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_MULTIMEDIA.php#3.00Recorder:Audio

I use, like an recommend Wave Repair.

Program: Wave Repair
Author: Clive Backham
Ware: (Liteware) (Nagware) (free) recording and track splitting
functions are free
http :// www .delback.co.uk/wavrep/

Note: it has a very unobtrusive nag.

Susan
--
Posted to alt,com p,fr eeware
Search alt,com p,fr eeware (or read it online):
http :// www .google,com /advanced_group_search?q=+group:alt,com p,fr eeware
Pricelessware & ACF: http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org
Pricelessware: http :// www .pricelessware.org (not maintained)

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

On Jun 10, 12:21 pm, Susan Bugher <sebug...@yahoo,com > wrote:
> Adrianwrote:
> > Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
> > openreeltapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 OpenReelRecorder
> > and a DellLatitudeD810 Notebook.
>
> > Somehow I thought this would be easy!! :-) However, at present the
> > notebook does not recognize an analogue signal at the line in.
> > Moreover, the only piece of software that seems to have an audio
> > record option is Windows Sound Recorder with a time limit of 60
> > seconds. I need to record several hours!
>
> > So, what hardware do I need? and, what software? Audio quality is
> > moderately important, given that the source material is not perfect.
>
> There's a work-around for that limitation (it's been posted in ACF many
> times) but quite a few free recorders have also been mentioned in ACF.
> Some of them are listed here: http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_MULTIMEDIA.php#3.00Recorder:Audio
>
> I use, like an recommend Wave Repair.
>
> Program: Wave Repair
> Author: Clive Backham
> Ware: (Liteware) (Nagware) (free) recording and track splitting
> functions are free http :// www .delback.co.uk/wavrep/
>
> Note: it has a very unobtrusive nag.
>
> Susan
> --
> Posted to alt,com p,fr eeware
> Search alt,com p,fr eeware (or read it online): http :// www .google,com /advanced_group_search?q=+group:alt,com p,fr eeware
> Pricelessware & ACF: http :// www .pricelesswarehome.org
> Pricelessware: http :// www .pricelessware.org(not maintained)

Thank you Susan. When I have sorted out the hardware side, I will
look at Wave repair. My main concern is the ability to write regular
CDs not MP3s. Wave repair seems to cover that issue.

Adrian

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

"Adrian" wrote...
> Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
> open reel tapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 Open Reel Recorder
> and a Dell Latitude D810 Notebook.

Does the recorder still run? All the rubber parts still intact,
etc? Should be able to play tapes without involving any
other equipment.

> Somehow I thought this would be easy!! :-) However, at present the
> notebook does not recognize an analogue signal at the line in.

There are a series of windows that control the sound features.
On my Dell notebook running XP, I can right-click on the little
speaker in the tool-tray and select "Open Volume Control".
Then click on "Options" in the menu bar, and click "Properites"
then I can select to see the "Recording" control panel (rather
than the "Playback" which is normally displayed. Be sure that
your desired input is checked so that it appears in the window.
You can then select the desired input, and turn up the volume,
etc. This assumes that you really have a line input. Most
notebook computers (including mine) have only mono mic
input.

> Moreover, the only piece of software that seems to have an audio
> record option is Windows Sound Recorder with a time limit of 60
> seconds. I need to record several hours!

There is a way to hack Windows Sound Recorder to run longer,
but IMHO, its not worth the trouble.

> So, what hardware do I need?

If you *really* have a stereo line input on your notebook compuer,
then you don't need anything but a cable to connect between the
recorder output and the PC input.

> and, what software? Audio quality is moderately important,
> given that the source material is not perfect.

A couple of possibilities are (free) Audacity
and (very cheap) TotalRecorder.

http :// audacity.sourceforge,net / (free, but somewhat fiddly)
http :// www .highcriteria,com / ($18US, but straightforward)
(see also their "Primer on PC Audio")

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

On Jun 10, 12:27 pm, "Richard Crowley" <rcrow...@xp7rt,net > wrote:
> "Adrian" wrote...
> > Can someone advise me please? I plan to copy some very old (38 years)
> > openreeltapes to CD. I have an aging Sony TC366 OpenReelRecorder
> > and a DellLatitudeD810 Notebook.
>
> Does the recorder still run? All the rubber parts still intact,
> etc? Should be able to play tapes without involving any
> other equipment.
>
> > Somehow I thought this would be easy!! :-) However, at present the
> > notebook does not recognize an analogue signal at the line in.
>
> There are a series of windows that control the sound features.
> On my Dell notebook running XP, I can right-click on the little
> speaker in the tool-tray and select "Open Volume Control".
> Then click on "Options" in the menu bar, and click "Properites"
> then I can select to see the "Recording" control panel (rather
> than the "Playback" which is normally displayed. Be sure that
> your desired input is checked so that it appears in the window.
> You can then select the desired input, and turn up the volume,
> etc. This assumes that you really have a line input. Most
> notebook computers (including mine) have only mono mic
> input.
>
> > Moreover, the only piece of software that seems to have an audio
> > record option is Windows Sound Recorder with a time limit of 60
> > seconds. I need to record several hours!
>
> There is a way to hack Windows Sound Recorder to run longer,
> but IMHO, its not worth the trouble.
>
> > So, what hardware do I need?
>
> If you *really* have a stereo line input on your notebook compuer,
> then you don't need anything but a cable to connect between the
> recorder output and the PC input.
>
> > and, what software? Audio quality is moderately important,
> > given that the source material is not perfect.
>
> A couple of possibilities are (free) Audacity
> and (very cheap) TotalRecorder.
>
> http :// audacity.sourceforge,net / (free, but somewhat fiddly) http :// www .highcriteria,com / ($18US, but straightforward)
> (see also their "Primer on PC Audio")

Thanks Richard.

Closer inspection tells me that I only have a microphone input. I did
find the windows screens that allow me to change the "audio mix".
But, without a line input they don't help a whole lot.

My next step is to find an "iMic". :-) Then I will check out the
software option you suggest.

Adrian

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

"Adrian" <adrian_h_hudson@yahoo,com > wrote in message
news:1181587569.172994.181680@q19g2000prn.googlegroups,com

> Closer inspection tells me that I only have a microphone
> input. I did find the windows screens that allow me to
> change the "audio mix". But, without a line input they
> don't help a whole lot.

> My next step is to find an "iMic". :-) Then I will
> check out the software option you suggest.

iMics are not bad for playback, but they are poor for recording.

Instead, see if you can find one of these:

Behringer UCA202

Re: Dubbing Reel-to-Reel to CD

On Jun 11, 11:59 am, "Arny Krueger" <a...@hotpop,com > wrote:
> "Adrian" <adrian_h_hud...@yahoo,com > wrote in message
>
> news:1181587569.172994.181680@q19g2000prn.googlegroups,com
>
> > Closer inspection tells me that I only have a microphone
> > input. I did find the windows screens that allow me to
> > change the "audio mix". But, without a line input they
> > don't help a whole lot.
> > My next step is to find an "iMic". :-) Then I will
> > check out the software option you suggest.
>
> iMics are not bad for playback, but they are poor for recording.
>
> Instead, see if you can find one of these:
>
> Behringer UCA202

Thanks for that. I hadn't purchased an iMic yet. So, I am now
looking for a Behringer UCA202. I am watching ebay. If that route
fails there are several web outlets with units for well under
USD40.00.

It is hard to believe that sound quality that was unafordable twenty
years back is now easily attained.

Adrian