A Blast from the Past -- Cassettes

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Freddo
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#1 A Blast from the Past -- Cassettes

Post by Freddo »

Hi,

I've located some old cassettes I haven't played for about 15 or so years but which have great sentimental value (music recordings from an old flame).

They were recorded using TDK Metal Type IV MA-XG90 tape on a Nakamachi recorder using Dolby B.

Sad to say, the high frequencies have rolled off over time with the result that Dolby B playback sounds a bit muffled.

I'm not all that up-to-date with computer audio so I'm enquiring as a newbie.

If I was to somehow get the cassettes onto my computer (WIndows 7.0 and using a top-quality SONY WM-D6C cassette player), is there any way to recover those rolled-off high frequencies and then record onto a CD?

Thanks for any suggestions.
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Mike H
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#2

Post by Mike H »

Dolby B was always pants IMO. Dolby C could be a good deal better but often just straight plain old Dolby-less recording and playback gave the clearest treble even if it meant a bit of tape hiss.

A. what machine are you playing them on now;

B. has play head been properly cleaned? With proper cleaning fluid and a Q-tip etc.

C. is play head azimuth angle correct for the tape being played? (needs small screwdriver to adjust). This is usually commonest reason for poor treble. And adjust without Dolby enabled. ADDENDUM: and listen for the best brightness and correct balance with headphones while doing it.

HTH

EDIT: oh wait SONY WM-D6C ?
Last edited by Mike H on Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
"No matter how fast light travels it finds that the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
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Mike H
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#3

Post by Mike H »

Appendix ~ will need to play into the PC (the better the sound card, the better the quality), and a sound file recorder & editor kind of prog. I still use a very old copy of Cool Edit Pro not sure what else there is. I now use iTunes to organize the playlist and do the CD burning.

HTH
 
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Neal
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#4

Post by Neal »

Unless the music is rare one off type recordings or not obtainable commercially then it probably isn't worth bothering about...however, you could use something like Audacity to recover some of the HF loss and also kill some of the tape noise at the same time...
Freddo
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#5

Post by Freddo »

Thanks everyone.


I'll investigate all your suggestions and see what happens.
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