Importing LPs/Cassettes

WaveLab
1

Hello everyone;

I am new to Wavelab 7, and the forum, and am afraid I am a bit overwhelmed.

My initial project is simply to import LPs and cassettes into Wavelab,
split them into individual tracks, and burn to CD and/or MP3.

However, I am a bit lost as to how to go about doing this.

Is Wavelab perhaps overkill? Would I be better off with Protools or Garage Band for this?

Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

  • Joe
2

WL is definitely the weapon of choice for this sort of thing IMHO.

3

Have you already bought Wavelab? If not you should look at Wavelab Elements, which will almost certainly provide far more features than you will ever need for your purpose.

And you might not even need that depending on your level of ambition in terms of restoration, the quality of your audio setup (turntable, pre-amp, audio interface , etc), and critically the amount of time you can devote to your task.

4

@plutoC: I bought Wavelab 6 for PC a while back, and wound up never using it.
I now use a Mac, and have downloaded the trial version of Wavelab 7.

The tapes are mostly live concert bootlegs, so the recording quality is not great to begin with.
I’d rather prioritize ease of use.

Thanks;

  • Joe
5

@Rat: Is this best done within the Audio Montage section?

Thanks;

  • Joe
6

Hi Joe …

Only just saw your post.

Well, I guess we all have different ways of working.

The only time I touch cassettes personally is where the client has no other viable master sources.

FWIW, an efficient way of doing these things is to set up your cassette player … first properly cleaning the heads and running a test tape through for a short while to make sure it doesn’t eat the client’s master … and then setting the appropriate gain levels through your capture path.

Then, record into WL.

Then, open the recorded track as a montage, do the track markers, top and tail (fades) for each track. This is a good place to adjust any plugs (limiter,EQ etc) as well. Remember to save the settings for a recall.

You can edit the file in the edit window to remove unwanted artefacts.

Once all tracks are done, you can adjust the tracks for your final CD … maybe save this as a new montage (‘Reference CD’ or something like that).

I am in the habit of individually rendering each track as well to generate separate files or delivery.

I’m sure others have different ways of doing things. It’s finding a method that works for you.

Good luck.

7

Thank you Paul!