Re: Audio cassette to mp3

crap mechanics crap software cheap price. Brian

Most pcs seem to offer line ins still. Brian

Thanks for confirming what I said. Its really amazing how good some tapes can sound if you set things up correctly, as I say in my original reply azimuth is critical, but if its only dictation quality and has been recorded using dc bias or permanent magnet erase systems you are going to have to remove a lot of bass noise. Brian

Azimuth is lateral rotation about a vertical axis perpendicular to the direction of the tape movement.

Elevation is up/down rotation about a horizontal axis parallel to the tape direction.

Is the head also rotated about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the tape direction, or is the head assembly always made so the head gap is exactly perpendicular to the tape direction, without any movement being possible.

Is the head tracking (ie making sure that the head gap sits centrally over the track without scanning an adjacent track) covered by elevation adjustment, or is there a separate means of moving the head up and down, as a translation rather than a rotation, to adjust tracking?

I've sketched the three axes of adjustment - I wonder what the correct name is for the middle one.

I doubt whether many people would know how to adjust azimuth and elevation of the head. I remember seeing little adjustment screws, covered with blue paint to lock them at the manufacturer's settings, and thinking "do not tinker with this" ;-)

The problem is more compensating for variations in recording speed on an old, battery-powered tape recorder (or a mains one with crap regulation in the power supply), which needs the playback machine to be varied in sync (or more likely, some fancy pitch/speed shifting in sympathy with the variation in recording speed).

I recorded some music from the telly on my little cassette recorder, by putting the mike to the telly speaker. There is fairly prominent 10 kHz line-oscillator whistle (it was recorded from a 405-line telly) and also

In theory I could use that 10 kHz pilot tone and adjust the pitch second by second to keep that constant. And I'm sure people who recover recordings that have been wiped by the broadcaster and who have to rely on an amateur recording would have a fancy bit of software to do that.

Presumably you only needed to adjust them when you were playing tapes that were recorded on a different deck with different head alignment.

In most reorders, you'll need to drill a small hole in the case exactly above the adjustment screw (when the Play button is pressed). Then use a small cross-head screwdriver, and tweak the screw it back and forth for best 'toppiness' on playback. It's usually best to do this when 'screwing in' (against the spring) than when screwing out.

I've never found that necessary. And decent deck permits access while playing. Usually it's done by sliding the door cover off. Less often it's done by inserting the tape behind the open door, the open door providing a usable gap under it. And on junk-fis you may have to just take part of the case off to access the azimuth screw.

NT