ProAudio Review - March 2008 - (Page 35)

editing. If you do and put dead space between your cuts on the CD, you’ll hear the cassette tape hiss stop rather abruptly. Drop flags as you can and set your CD burner for no spaces between cuts. After you record, EZ Audio Converter presents you with a naming screen for the cassette title, artist, and individual cuts. Fill this out as best as you can and, on Macs, the info will be transferred to iTunes. If you entered incorrectly (as I did) you can change the info in iTunes. Before burning your CDs, don’t forget to visit the iTunes preferences burn screen to choose how many seconds you want between each cut. If you want as close to the original experience as possible, choose “none.” You can use the Audacity software included in the package to record both sides without dropping CD IDs and then go back and select each song manually and export it. Audacity uses a proprietary audio file format that’s reminiscent of the AKG DSE-7000 workstation. Audio is recorded in chunks of 1 MB or less. They end up in the project folder for that particular transfer if you set each cassette up as a new folder. As a result, one cassette can have a huge collection of strangely numbered files representing what you have recorded. There are many tweak effects plug-ins. Audacity is a free program. My three-speed Audio-Technica ATPL120 turntable has a little built in preamp There are memories on some cassettes you probably don’t want to remember, but I guarantee there are some you do. For these reasons, a product such as the ION Audio Tape2PC cassette archiving system exists. that allowed me to plug the turntable right into the RCA jacks on the rear of the cassette deck. I grabbed an album off the shelf and effortlessly made a CD from a 1973 live Mickey Newbury LP (something I’m sure a record label won’t be releasing dig- itally anytime soon). If your turntable isn’t turning anymore, ION also sells a turntable with a USB output and one with an iPod socket. In my tests, one quirky thing happened with my G4 Mac; after plugging in Tape2PC’s USB cable, I could not shut down the Mac. I’d turn it off and 20 seconds later it would start up again. Apparently, even when the Tape2PC is turned off, it still communicates with host computer. Part of this communication is a signal the Mac interprets as a start-up command. | SUMMARY Whether you’re doing this for yourself or professionally as a service to your clients, ION Audio’s Tape2PC system offers a pretty painless way of recapturing the sounds of bygone days. Even my wife wants a lesson in how to make it work, which means the Tape2PC may not be leaving here as soon as expected. Ty Ford has been writing for PAR since the first issue. Reach him at www.tyford.com. www.proaudioreview.com March 2008 | ProAudio Review | 35 http://www.tyford.com http://www.jzmic.com http://www.jzmic.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProAudio Review - March 2008

ProAudio Review - March 2008 Contents Publisher's Page Studio News and New Products Sennheiser MKH 8040 Microphone Digidesign Mbox 2 Micro Studio Spotlight Upsampler X/Audio Live News and New Products Touring Gear From the Road Broadcast News and New Products ION Audio Tape2PC Cassette Archiving System Brauner VMA Large-Diaphragm Microphone Audio Ltd. RMS 2040 Series Post News and New Products First Look NAB Showcase Buyers Guide Single Slice

ProAudio Review - March 2008

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