How to Properly Transfer Your Old Cassette Tapes To CD Or MP3 (HQ)

Check Out ErikEspangberg:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ErikEspan...

Things you will need:

1). A Computer with a line in or microphone port ( both work the same).
2). Either a Portable cassette player ( I use a sony walkman).
3). Or a Cassette Deck ( Im using an old Sanyo deck).
4). Male to Male 3.5mm audio jack ( If your using a portabe cassette player).
5). RCA to Male 3.5mm audio jack ( if your using a cassette deck).

6). NCH Wavepad Software: (When the free trail runs out go to your computers controll pannel and click uninstall when they offer you the free version accept all of the features shown in the video will still be functional)

http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html

EDIT: 2/1/16
If the Wave Pad software isn't working for you try Audacity:
http://www.audacityteam.org

Please don't forget to:

╔═╦╗╔╦╗╔═╦═╦╦╦╦╗╔═╗
║╚╣║║║╚╣╚╣╔╣╔╣║╚╣═╣
╠╗║╚╝║║╠╗║╚╣║║║║║═╣
╚═╩══╩═╩═╩═╩╝╚╩═╩═╝
╔═╦══╦══╦══╦═╦═╦╦══╦╗
║╔╣║║║║║║║║║═╣║║╠╗╔╣║
║╚╣║║║║║║║║║═╣║║║║║╠╣
╚═╩══╩╩╩╩╩╩╩═╩╩═╝╚╝╚╝
╔╦╦══╦══╦═╦╗
║╔╣║║╠╗╔╣═╣║
║║║╔╗║║║║═╬╣
╚╝╚╝╚╝╚╝╚═╩╝

---

Closed Caption:

hey whats up guys a strike and today I'm
going to be doing a tutorial on how to
put your cassette tapes on your computer
so you guys can transfer them to a CD
and even to your ipods and iphones
so I'm obviously things are going to
need a computer with a line in or a
microphone port a pre-recorded cassette
tape now here we're going to be using
the police
that's the actual tape this is empty
right now you're going to need a
cassette deck or you guys can use a
portable cassette player this is a sony
walkman
and then the cassette deck is a San do
not a cable you're going to be needing
if you're going to be using the portable
cassette player now you don't have to
have a sony walkman just any portable
cassette player will do
you're gonna need a male to male audio
jack you can get these from radio shack
to go check them out
now we're going to be using a tape deck
because these have usually these have
rca's in the back
you need an RCA so that would be the red
and white cables to an audio jack
the little things are going to need not
going to get into the program we're
going to be using all rights are back on
my laptop computer and i'm going to
download a program called nch wavepad
sound editor now I found this program to
be that the easiest to use the easiest
to edit your files you can get them on
your CDs or your ipods quickly now there
are other programs such as you know
audacity
that was a little bit more complicated
and i recommend just using the way pad
software but in this review i'm just
going to be showing you guys the wave
pad software because that is so easy to
use
so to download it you guys going to
check in the video description i'll put
the link in there are you going to do is
come down here the download now hit
download now
a dialog box will pop up and then it's
going to hit run
I already have it downloaded so we're
not going to hit run I'm so now we get
into the program going to hook up our
portable cassette player to the computer
alright so early I told you guys you
you guys are going to need a computer
with a microphone jack or a line in
Jack now most desktop computers will
have both but the most laptop computers
will only have one and that will usually
be the microphone jack
so what you're going to do is plug this
end of your audio jack into your
microphone jack like this and then have
here we have our portable cassette
player
we're going to plug the other end into
the headphone jack of the portable
cassette player
now we're gonna get into the program
all right we just plug in our portable
cassette player to the computer now i'm
going to open up wavepad sound editor
program open i'm going to maximize this
I come down to the bottom left hand
corner and hit record now dialog box
will pop up in the middle of the screen
you're gonna make sure this says 44100
you're going to make sure this is stereo
not mono stereo and then hit OK not
going to make sure that says default
playback device
make sure this is line and or if you
plug it into your microphone port makes
sure that says digital Mike they were
going to hit record
just make sure my portable cassette
players we winded first come down here
to a portable cassette player
make sure that we winded
that's all we are we to the beginning
seems so going to record all right so
things are going to make sure is that
your volume on your portable cassette
player is in the middle and it doesn't
have to be exactly in the middle but
somewhere in the middle you don't want
it to be at max you don't want it to be
at minimum but you want to be in the
middle somewhere so you know get it to a
good point where you think it's gonna be
too loud it's not gonna be too
you know quiet but now that we have it
I'm so it's you know I had a good volume
level we're going to hit play on our
portable cassette player
we're going to see that our computer is
starting to receive the sound
you know from the portable cassette
player due to our male to male audio
jack
that is in the microphone port right now
so to show you that that is really
recording on its top here and when
you're done recording
she's gonna hit the X in the corner
you'll see that your profile is here so
it's going to click here
this is the cassette player that I just
recorded
it's still playing I'm going to keep
playing
you don't want to play that for too long
because that some under copyright and i
don't own this stuff but that is the
police are going to record again i'm
going to show you guys how to record
this in times of our volume level now
you're not going to want this to go
above zero
I'm so you know to make sure that it
does not go above zero you can use the
slider here
now you make it quieter and you know you
can come over here and make it really
quiet but you where you want it is to be
where it will almost touch it you know
and that's all right you can touch it
like once or twice maybe he does it
can't go above it for too long that's a
thing you can have like this is what I
mean
so you can have it like that but if we
come back down like this
mmm
i would say about 13 or 12 would do it
so you know that sound good you know you
don't want it to be too quiet
you don't want to be too loud if you
have it too loud it will be distorted
and actually you'll see it when i hit
the X and a little bit but if I go like
this
it'll be really really distorted when I
hit you know it's a pretty you know good
part of the music where it gets really
loud as you can see it's getting pretty
loud
you guys will see it so things popping
up and come back down here the 13 I
think I said right
right now I'm gonna have the X now as
you can see where it got really loud
right turn it up really loud you guys
can see where changed on this is what
this is how you want to look you know
like around this point you don't want to
look like this where it's clipping at
the top because you want it will be very
distorted and you won't be able to hear
everything
so you want it to look like this so I
play it in that that positions you guys
can hear that
yeah
all right
so that's how you want to sound you do
not want to be very very allowed because
like I said you have allowed it will be
distorted and you will be able to use it
so you don't want like that you want it
to be like this
you can hear every note it's easier you
know
tell what they're saying and so what's
you know happening
so you know that's how to record your
cassettes from your portable cassette
player on your computer now we're going
to start using a cassette deck which we
have seen right here
we're going to be back really soon all
right i just showed you guys how to
record a cassette tapes from your
portable cassette player
now I want to show you guys how to do it
from your cassette deck
now as you can see this is line out now
I want to find your line out
now this is an older cassette player so
they didn't color code them like they
really should have
as you can see one is red and one is
white
now the white one is supposed to be your
left so going to plug that into left
output sort of hard to do this with one
hand sorry guys
probably should use a tripod and then
going to plug you're ready to hear
look right we can actually do this
it seems it's pretty stable in there all
right I'm gonna come back over here if I
showed you in the beginning of the the
other end of this cable is a audio jacks
we're going to plug this directly in the
same place we plugged our portable
cassette player
we put into my microphone port on my
laptop computer and that's how you plug
your said that directly into your
computer
so now i'm going to edit the audio file
get off of the cassette deck
all rights are back in our program and
CH wavepad sound editor just like we did
with the portable cassette player going
to come down to record everything should
be the same if you follow the directions
and beginning this video so it's going
to keep hitting next
and i'm going to record and now that our
tape deck is already plugged in directly
to our computer when I come over here to
our tape deck
make sure it is all the way you wanted
like I showed you this already is we
wanted and it's going to hit play
as you can see that's turning so it is
playing and our computer is picking up
signal
so like I just showed you guys with the
portable cassette player
you guys are going to want to make sure
it does not clip too much
now it's all right if it goes up there
sometimes but it is very very bad if it
goes up there all the time just like
this like you do not want it to be up
there like this
that's not good you know you guys wanted
to be you know quiet at some points and
that allowed what it needs to be a lot
of course
so I come down here to win it looks good
just want to give you guys an example
so you guys know what to look for when
you're recording
I think for this cassette 23 will do
just five
so like I said you know I make it look
like this so it's not up there all the
time it hits zero once in a while that's
all right
you know that it's just natural but you
do not want to hit zero all the time you
know you wanted to hit just went past
two
so that's what you should really really
be looking you know at when you're
recording don't want that is gonna hit
the X if you ever do that on accident
you don't need the dialog box gonna hit
the X here i'm gonna show you guys what
I just recorded this is what I you know
I said is bad
you do not want to get this you guys
want to have this when you guys want to
be looking you know like this when you
record off your cassette tapes you want
it to look like this you don't want to
be clipping at the top so much give you
guys an example of both and I can't play
this for too long because you know i do
not own this content but i want to give
you guys an example so I'm going to play
this real cool
rocks
all right so you don't want to sound
like that you don't want to sound really
really loud all the time you want to be
like when it has to be loud
so when i come back over here to play
and now I'm playing it right there right
in front of where I started recording it
right so all right you want to sound
more like this
I think this is where i turned it up a
little bit but no this will be fine
like I said that's the police are now
and that's how you gonna want to have to
do it now i'm going to record for a
little while so i get i can show you
guys how to put it on CD and then I'm
you know ultimately to your iPod so I'm
I'll be right back after i'm done
recording a little bit
alright guys i'm back and i recorded the
album proved the police every breath you
take the singles that's the cover
I mean this is the first two songs on
rock saying and can't stand losing you
so the first two songs i'm going to show
you guys how to arm you know the cord
and then ultimately put on your CD or
you can put them on your ipod now
now this is how you gonna want to look
you know when you have your finished
product i feel after you record your
first side of the cassette tape like
obviously you're gonna record the whole
first side of your cassette tape don't
do one song at a time please don't do
that
I'm do a whole side and then you're
going to edit it you know so you'll have
all in front of you you don't have to
come back and keep hitting play stop
please stop
you know it's going to really get you
know repetitive so I you know encourage
you guys to just record the whole you
know first side of the tape and then
after you're done with that you guys can
be called the second side of the tape
and then edit all that and then you know
i'll show you guys how to do that but
ultimately you know this how you're
gonna want to look when you have your
product you know right in front of you
so you know you do you guys do not want
to look like this i want to show you
guys an example of what you guys do not
want to look like you guys do not want
to look like this
as you can see it's clipping the top and
you do you do not want to be like that
because it will be distorted
it will be really really distorted and
it will not sound good
you guys want to look like this for sure
you guys want to look like this i'm
telling you guys you know from my
experience I figured out how to do this
all myself um I told me taught me how to
you know i do this all myself and be
honest with you
you guys seriously have a low battery
here
it's unfortunate anyway should have
plugged it in but you guys want to look
like this
that's what we had before my battery
dies we're going to I'm copy this first
song and that's rock saying of the album
the police every breath you take the
second song will be can't stand losing
you
what was going to copy this copy may
want to open in a new file so we're
gonna hit new file and then ok i'm going
to paste
now you can maximize that if you wish
then zoom out using this in the corner
at the bottom right hand corner
don't know if you can see that but I'm
just gonna move that out
no just so you guys know where it is so
if it pops up looking like that you know
you guys know what to do so again it's a
file now you can save this as multiple
files
you know most of these are you guys are
never going to use anyway so the ones
you guys going to be want to be you know
focused on our the WAV file and mp3 and
i want to show you guys the mp3 file
first
so it's going to hit rock saying it's
called rock saying it was over right
whatever we have fine
320 you know if you guys wanted to say
students and twenty kilobytes per second
and then you guys want to make me get a
stereo do not make sure this is not safe
mono bees when I first opened this up
it said mono so do not have it at my
know it will sound no sound good but it
won't sound as good as stereo of course
monster that's a completely different
topic but you guys gonna want it ok
after donating stereo
it will save your file to your hard
drive and boom rocks same song number
one is done
so when i come back in here and then
right away was going to hit delete
so we know that we are done with Roxanne
and we need to move on to the next song
so let's say that this is the second
song you know you would just keep going
you know just keep you know copying and
pasting these into new files
just keep hitting new file up here and
then just keep copying pasting these but
this is the last
song you know in this scenario I only
recorded two of them but at the last
song you guys going to come up and say
file then save file as so this 1 i'm
going to show you guys how to do a wave
file
so this song is called can't stand
losing you will overwrite what I already
have
now you have this dialogue box pop up
now you guys are gonna want to make sure
you have it saying exactly this
PCM I'm compressed and then you guys
gonna wanna look to this huge list i
know it's a pretty large list but you
guys are gonna want to search for 14
44100 hurts
16 bits stereo that's exactly what you
guys are going to want to find you know
because if you do it any higher than
that it will not play on any iPod in the
highest you know an ipod can take is
going to be forty four thousand Hertz 16
bits and stereo
obviously you can go a lot higher than
that thing goes all the way up just some
36 bits if I'm no 32 bits actually goes
all the way up to 32 bits at the bottom
there but you guys are going to use
exactly this because if you don't use
this it won't play on your ipod simple
as that
easy is that so use exactly this and
make it say exactly this thing it's okay
now let me show you guys how to put this
on your ipod and ultimately your mp3
player ipod you know cds or whatever
going to be using them for
I don't know but I'm gonna show you both
when I come back
alright guys so we have our two files
can't stand losing you and rach saying
so all we're going to do is drag and
drop both of these files into our iTunes
window
I've already done that so you know we're
not going to go there but just know that
you're gonna drag and drop those in your
iTunes window obviously if you have more
songs on your album which you most
likely will I only recorded the first
two songs off this album but you know
just copy paste both of Homer drag and
drop them into itunes window
now I come up here to win music I'm i
know this is a older version of itunes
but you know both working is pretty much
exactly the same way
I'm i know the new version looks a
little different but I'm here we have
rock saying
and then here i just put can't stand
losing you
in this folder right here on an album
imaginary album there's no album called
a snake HD by the way but gonna hit get
info as you can see the name of the
songs can't stand losing you
you're going to type in the police you
know John would be rock or pop I'm year
what's the year on this cassette 1981
so you know you going to type that in
there and boom you're done you know to
get your album artwork is going to right
click and then get album artwork
it will fetch it from itunes I'm if you
named it the correct thing obviously if
you named it something completely
different it's not going to get the
album artwork for you gonna have to go
on itunes and fine
you know what the album is called and
then type it in here and then boom you
know you guys are gonna be able to get
your artwork - so you know obviously
after it's on iTunes or you know easily
going to be able to put it on your ipod
you know I iPad your iPhone
you know just has to be on your itunes
I'm library which she knows you can see
it on my itunes library now whether it's
a WAV file or a mp3 file it will matter
because it will be a bigger file as you
can see this is a WAV file this is
twenty eight megabytes
then I'll see how big are other file is
going back you
so for sure you guys a white screen
they're gonna rock saying this is the
mp3 file i recorded for you guys
so get info you can see it's only seven
eggs
so the difference you know it's pretty
big and this song is three minutes and
the other one is
this mystery time this two minute song
so you know this one is bigger than you
know our longest song but the difference
is the only difference is that they're
you know obviously two different songs
and you know what they're different
formats you know this is mp3 and this is
a WAV file so you know obviously if
using an iphone or ipod you know touch
usually you know they coming like a gimp
increments
you know if you have like an ipod
classic in it you know you have like a
hundred sixty gigs of space you guys can
use obviously by any means use your arm
you know I way father the way five
actually I'm user wav file but if you're
gonna be using a gig ipod touch or
something lower you know I know they
made like four or five
you know four or five gigs and six gigs
you know ipod nanos and stuff so I'm you
know obviously you don't want to use an
mp3 if you're going to be using those
kind of things
now time to put them on a CD you guys
are just going to make a new playlist so
it's going to hit actually texted down
here on this version of itunes new
playlist called anything you want just
randomly type in something so and then
you're just going to drag and drop song
you want
so rock sane we want that in our blah
blah blah
playlist and boom in there is going to
right-click your playlist over here in
the cool thing
itunes let you burn burn the playlist to
your disk
so if i had a blank disc in there you
will burn you know easily
so that's how you put it on CD you know
I hope you guys enjoy I know what's
really scattered all over the place but
I tried my best
seriously I've been having really bad
luck with these videos so far
I swear I tried so many times and I've
been sitting here for a little while
trying to get it right and this is the
best I've got it you know so far so I'm
gonna keep this version anyway what do
you guys have enjoyed this tutorial I'm
for the comment subscribe check out some
of my other videos you know they're a
lot better than this one this one was
just kind of
don't know what happened you know i'm
going to do another one of these not you
know obviously on the set tape some of
it
you know we do this exact topic but i
will do
vinyl records and you know the process
is pretty much exactly the same so you
know please
you know do try to come back you know
subscribe and maybe you catch that video
you know because I do plan on making
better videos this one was just kind of
I'm just trying to get this out there i
don't have a ton of time right now I
have some stuff to do around the house
but anyway hope you guys enjoyed the HD
and I am
yeah
yeah