need advice for project

[egw]

I have some old music recorded on reel tapes in the early 1980s. I would like to transfer all of this to the computer so I can do some enhancement (e.g. hiss reduction), editing, mastering, and eventually produce some CDs and mp3s out of the best material. Before now I have never recorded any music on the computer - I use it for CD production, synth editing, and librarian type stuff. (In the studio I record to a hard disk recorder or straight to CD.) So I don't have an audio interface other than the one on the motherboard (It's a fairly recent Intel core 2 duo). So I'm wondering, what is the best way to get the material transferred? The original material is not super high fidelity, so I don't need a gold plated solution, but I also don't want to degrade anything further in the transfer process. My options are:
1. Recording directly from the tape deck to my CD recorder (Philips 765 or Tascam RW700). Then ripping to computer. This has the advantage of automatically archiving everything to CD as I go, but will take a bit longer.
2. Recording into the audio inputs on the motherboard. I don't know if I would be sacrificing quality in any noticeable way by doing this.
3. Purchasing a USB audio interface for my computer. Any recommendations? I think I just need something very simple, no bundled software. Should I plan to capture everything in 24/96? Will it make a difference? I think I have about 20-30 hours of music.

When I'm finished, I will sell off the old tape deck and tapes. So I want to be sure to capture and archive everything properly.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[elektro80]

Do you have laptop or a box?

PCI slots? You could try to pick up a high end but older 2 channel 24/something interface of good quality. Something semipro/pro would be the best. Check out the line levels from the r2r deck? Balanced or line? Prosumer r2r line levels can vary a bit. The preferred way is to connect directly to the soundcard. You should go for a 2 or 4 x of CD 44.1khz. I reckon 88.2 khz would do just fine. There is no need for lotsa SRC shit later on. Stay away from 96khz and 192 khz samplerates unless you have a very good reason for using those.

[elektro80]

This is digital so you should set the recording level at say -12 to -6 dB ( after you have checked all the peaks from the tapes). What I mean is that peaks should not go in higher than say -12 to -6 dB.
Then you make some proper backups of the recordings before you start to process these for noise. There are many pretty good sound restoration plugins out there. When you do the processing, always A/B with the unprocessed original quite often so you know what you are doing.

[velva]

Hey Greg,
I use a MOTU 896. It works great for me. There are several plugins you can use to de-hum or de-hiss.
Before you buy.... If you have XP 64bit or Vista you'll want to check to see if the unit you get is compatible with a 64-bit operating system. I was shocked to see there were no drivers for a M-Audio MIDIsport on 64 bit operating systems when I upgraded. Most brand new devices should work. Recording technology is getting so good that there are options as low as $150 that will transfer music to the computer in real time. Best, -LL-

[mtvic]

Greg
Here may be the solution to your query


http://www.novamusik.com/search.aspx?type=Model&keyword=2390&mid=208


m

---

FTPro_UG_EN01_V3.PDF
Description:		Download (listen)
Filename:	FTPro_UG_EN01_V3.PDF
Filesize:	565.93 KB
Downloaded:	352 Time(s)

---

[egw]

This project is on a desktop. But I also have a laptop and a shuttle, and if I get an interface, it would be nice to be able to use it with all three. The desktop does not have firewire. So that is why I am looking at usb interfaces.
What features should I look for?

Why do you suggest keeping the peaks at -12 to -6 db? Just to be safe, or to allow some headroom for further processing after it is recorded? I will do some compression and possibly eq after the noise reduction.

[elektro80]

Headroom... yes..

You could consider a PCI card instead of a USB interface. That usually means better performance/quality and it might be cheaper. You intend to do some serious archiving here and then to process the lot of recordings. You need something better than a low end USB interface.

[blue hell]

[egw]

What features should I look for in a PCI interface?

[Kassen]