Sound Conversion

[Dhar]

I'm trying to convert some of my old cassette tapes/LPs into my hard drive for future animation projects. I googled and stumbled on this http://www.dak.com/Reviews/2020Story.cfm

 

The price is within my reach, but before I invest I wanted to know if anybody uses this product. If not, what product do you use? How much? How do you rate it?

 

Thanks for your time.

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Dahr,

 

There are several products out there that 'claim' to remove the scrachiness, noise from LPs and cassette tapes.

 

I have a few on hand, I'll try them out and let you know how good they are.

[Stuart Rogers]

The iMic from Griffin Technology is pretty handy (US$40). They're geared up mostly for Mac users, but they do supply drivers for PCs, so you'll need some recording software to go with it. (e.g. Audacity? (US$0) I know someone who's used one with his PC for a couple of years now to get his vinyl/tape collections onto CD without problems.

 

The one time I tried Audacity's hiss removal I was quite impressed. (That said, the last time I played with hiss removal software was many years ago when the technology wasn't so good.) Getting rid of clicks will be harder.

[Fishman]

I use Polder Bits to record my vinyl albums (yes I'm that old) to CD. It works pretty well and is quite affordable at about $20. It has hiss and click filters and you can adjust them and preview the results. It can record from a variety of sources.

I also have tried Audacity, but not extensively enought to recommend it or not.

 

Good luck,

Scott

[robcat2075]

Almost all PCs have a "Line-Level" input that should handle your cassette line-level output without any other box.

 

Not sure if the output from a LP turntable will work, but you can try.

[Ganthofer]

I concur with Robcat. I have patched the line out from a Cassette Deck into the Line in on a sound card with very good results.

 

I haven't played with recording my vinyl, but I assume you have a turntable connected to your stereo amp, and most Amps have a line out also.

 

As for the Tape hiss, unless it's an old (OLD) tape, it's probably was recored in some noise reduction format and you Tape deck should take care of most of it. As was mentioned Audacity and I believe Easy CD Creators audio software has both hiss and pop/click removal. Haven't played with them in a looooong time.

[Dhar]

Thanks folks for all your insights, they were very helpful. Please keep them coming. Sound is one of the least talked about subject in this forum. I guess because most of us are at the "silent movies" stage or just beginning to learn basic animation.

 

I just recently watched The Incredibles again on DVD, and realized how little anticipation was used in some of the animation of the characters, but the sound made the movement look alive. However, anticipation was used on mechanical things, like the machine guns coming down from the ceiling at Edna's home. is it maybe they have different animators, a group for the characters and a group for the mechanical stuff?

 

Anywa, I just wanted to have some focus on one of the most important aspects of animation.