I'm a newbie to all this recording stuff and would like kinda a simple shove in the right direction on the how to record cassette to cd-r. I am connecting my tape player boom box thingy (not tape deck) through the headphones to the line in on my pc. I have 3 computers with different sound cards.. umm creative soundblaster, soundmax integrated digital.. and sigmatel c-major sound card (so not sure which card is better for recording.)... umm.. I have Cool Edit Pro which i am using to record (unless you pros know a better free one for recording to mp3s.).

So first off i am able to record fine so the connections are all good. got the line in unmuted in the recording section of the volume control.. my overall question is how do i adjust the dB levels and/or volumes to get a good sound quality to then transfer on to cds? Do i need to adjust my line in volume? the volume of the tape player? what are the defult levels suppose to be?and stuff like that.. or what i need to do in order to get the best quality and how to do it?

i know nothing about what db's, or all the buttons and all the stuff... think as me as one of those Recording for Dummies person.. haha:-) i've played around with the program to try and figure out what to do but i have no clue... i know it might seem like a lot to ask... but if you can, I would really appreciate it.

Chris

Hi

It sounds like you have successfully got over what is the hardest bit for many. You also have CoolEdit which is probably one of the best for this procedure.

The problem as I see it is that you are having to use the headphone socket which is directly adjustable from the master volume control and a bit hit and miss with regard to levels.

I always advise getting a tape deck/amplifier setup because that way you have a properly modulated output (amplifier rec out) which is then connected to the soundcard line-in.

In your case this is obviously not available so I would just advise playing the tape, recording via Cooledit and try adjusting the volume so that the red horizontal levels bars at the bottom just pip 99% at the loudest portion of the tape.

If that sounds distorted then reduce the tape volume and increase Cooledit to compensate.

Also don't forget to use the Cooledit tape hiss reduction feature.

You can use the setup as you have it now and it'll be ok, why put more devices into the recording chain the fewer the better.
You need to get the output level from the tape player just right. Set it to about 2 to begin with and the PC record level at about half. Edge the tape volume up till you get full modulation in the pc volume level display, ie so the music peaks barely nudge the red.

So to recap you need just enough volume coming out of the tape to mask its innate noise and just enough gain in the PC so that its innate noise doesn't get obtrusive.

Listen out for distortion if you start hearing it on loud peaks then back off the tape volume and nudge up the PC input vol.

Once you've found this delicate balance keep a note of the settings so you can repeat them.

One last thing though; you'll get a better sound through a line out, just double check as there might be a pair of output phonos round the back.