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Digitizing tapes with Audacity, part I | ||
Tags: Audio-lingual | Software | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Zwlth Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 5022 days ago 154 posts - 320 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, French, Persian, Greek | Message 1 of 13 10 August 2011 at 9:30am | IP Logged |
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I have seen rather expensive dedicated devices for digitizing tapes, as well as expensive services advertized for doing this. So, I was very happy to discover that it is actually extremely easy and cheap to do it yourself.
All you need are four things: A sound editing program, such as freeware Audacity, a computer, a tape deck, and a dubbing cable for connecting these two. A dubbing cable has two identical "male" plugs on each end; one goes into the headphone jack of the tape player, the other into the microphone jack of the computer. You can get one easily and cheaply at most audio/electronics stores – I paid $6 for mine. Connect them, play the tape, and record on the computer. And voila, it really is just about that simple. Naturally if frustratingly, however, the program works differently on each computer depending on the hardware sound card, so I can't give more specific advice other than to say that you will probably have to go to edit --> preferences --> and play around with the settings to get it to work just right. Doing this no more than this, I successfully digitized a major portion of my rather large collection of language learning cassettes without a hitch. I didn't know what to do with my old tapes for the longest time, so I was happy to learn how to do this, and so I also hope this information can help some other people who didn't know how they could listen to theirs. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5807 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 2 of 13 10 August 2011 at 10:50am | IP Logged |
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Warning: the headphone output on most tape decks is stereo, but the mic input on a PC is mono. If you're recording a stereo recording, you're only going to get the left channel -- the right will be lost.
If your soundcard has a line-in socket, it's a much better choice. I use an off-board sound device (a Zoom field recorder), but most people won't need something as sophisticated. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Zwlth Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 5022 days ago 154 posts - 320 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, French, Persian, Greek | Message 3 of 13 10 August 2011 at 11:23am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for pointing that out, Cainntear, but I think that while it would be a problem with music tapes, it is not an issue with older language learning cassettes. If it is, then as I wrote above, you can change the settings from mono to stereo in the preferences. When I was reading up on this, I also found recommendations to use the line-in socket, but I've gotten better results with the microphone jack.
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 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6175 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 13 18 October 2011 at 5:44am | IP Logged |
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I'm using Audiograbber through the microphone jack. (I couldn't get Audacity to work for some reason.) Any suggestions on how to make the recording clearer at louder volumes? I have the tape player at a low volume to keep the distortion low, but then if I play the MP3 at higher volumes on my iPod there is hissing. I have the wave volume at 3 and the microphone volume at 3 when I record.
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| Slmndr13 Newbie United States Joined 4676 days ago 21 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin Studies: Vietnamese | Message 5 of 13 18 October 2011 at 6:12am | IP Logged |
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I wonder if the hissing is on the original tape.
I went through this exercise a few months back and could only make successful recordings with a VERY low volume setting. Anything above a low level resulted in severe distortion and a strange echo effect. Everything turned out well in the end. What a great thing to be able to do in case one stumbles upon an old assimil or linguaphone set. Edited by Slmndr13 on 18 October 2011 at 6:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6175 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 13 18 October 2011 at 6:24am | IP Logged |
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Yes, there is some hiss on the original tape. OK will stick to recording at a low volume and just be happy that I am to enjoy this program at all. (Linguaphone Malay which is quite hard to find.)
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| Slmndr13 Newbie United States Joined 4676 days ago 21 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin Studies: Vietnamese | Message 7 of 13 18 October 2011 at 6:45am | IP Logged |
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For what it's worth....
I listen to my DLI stuff using noise isolation ear buds. Those things that block off your whole ear canal in order to make it easier to hear your music or whatever. I tried listening to the same material using a standard ear bud the other day and it sounded very distorted. Back to the noise isolation ear buds and all was well again. I don't know if you would have a similar experience or not, but I thought it worth mentioning. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ericounet Senior Member France yojik.euRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5231 days ago 157 posts - 414 votes Studies: English, German, Russian | Message 8 of 13 18 October 2011 at 7:42am | IP Logged |
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Hi,
you can correct the audio file with audacity: noise reduction, track spliting, increase the volume etc ... There is a FLOSS manual for audacity here: audacity. Look at the left menu: epub and pdf available. Hope this help, Eric 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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