[RNLD] Digitizing tapes - what's the current best practice?

[Claire Bowern]

 Hi Mark,
I usually digitise tapes in the field, and for that I use my Edirol R-09
with a Sony cassette player (can't remember the model, sorry, but it was
mid-range (about AU$300?) 14 years ago). The headphone out on the cassette
player goes into the line in on the Edirol, both 1/8" jacks and I digitise
at 44.1 kHz, 16 bit (same as I record my sessions). There are fancier ways
but this works and it has the advantage of not tying up my laptop.
It's worth giving thought to the quality of the cassette player as well as
the sound card.
There are also machines that will digitise at faster than 1:1 playback
rates. They might be worth considering if you have a very big job and if
the budget allows.
Claire

On Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 3:41 AM, Mark W. Post wrote:

Hi All -

We're about to embark on some pretty extensive cassette tape
digitization over here, and I'm wondering what people feel is the
current best practice. We plan to digitize to a PC (not to CD or DAT),
and are prepared to pay for additional storage capacity to record at
48/24, or possibly at 96/24 if it turns out to really be worth it. What
I'm mainly wondering about is hardware. I often hear about getting a
"good sound card", but I'm not exactly sure what variables to keep in
mind. I'm aware that nowadays some people are using external "sound
cards" with USB interfaces, and that they offer different sampling
depths etc. But I'm not sure whether there might be less obvious
variables (for example, might they vary in frequency response, like
microphones? I have no idea). Also, I'm aware that there are units like
the Tape2PC that try to do everything for you, but the units I've seen
are so cheap that it makes me suspicious. And I'm also thinking about
cabling, and wondering whether there's a better way than squeezing
everything through a 3.5mm pin (I've seen that some "external sound
cards" have RCA inputs, which must be better?).

Has anybody been doing this sort of work recently, and if so, would you
mind sharing your strategy?

Thanks very much in advance,

Mark

-- 

Dr. Mark W. Post
Universität Bern
Institut für Sprachwissenschaft
Länggassstrasse 49
3000 Bern 9
Switzerland

Tel +41 31 631 37 07
Eml markwpost at gmail.com
Web unibe-ch.academia.edu/MarkWPost
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