Hi,
I have a recording (as WL12 montage) of some old cassettes (~ 30 - 40 y) and after I did some adjustments and rendering I realized that there is a strong change in volume (which is also present on the non-rendered recording). The volume goes up and down like a sine wave.
I used Yamaha KX-493 (tapedeck) + RX-V800 (AV receiver) with quality cables and a Maya44eX (soundcard).
But it sounds like played back on a speaker powered by a dynamo.
Is there any plugin or tool which could handle that?
We do these types of transfers on a weekly basis for our clients. I have never had this type of problem. We are using a TASCAM 122 cassette deck, a Tascam DA3000SD A to D Converter and an RME sound card. What âafter I did some adjustments and renderingâ did you do? Hoping I can helpâŚ
Is it just the volume or does the sound kind of âspeed upâ in the high or low sections (as in wow/flutter). I have come across that (as I am sure Tom has) with old poorly stored cassettes.
I think what you describe comes pretty close to what I hear.
Would you mind checking the recorded wav file and tell me if Iâm right?
Itâs a 3 minute track on my OneDrive. I would appreciate your efforts.
Should be enough to listen a few seconds to get a picture.
Just my 2c here, you are correct in that the B2x (rendered) version is just emphasizing what is already in the B2 file. The speed is fine, so itâs not tape wow, however the cyclic nature of the effect suggests to me there is something physical (i.e., with the tape itself) causing this.
The low amplitude parts of the tape also seem to lack high-frequency content, and this could be a result of the tape not making correct physical contact with the play head. I have heard this with old cassettes that are simply wound too tightly on the spools â it may be just from the time in storage, but it could also be related to the housing (case) of the tape itself; the spool might be physically catching at one point during its rotation.
One thing I always do before attempting to transcribe a cassette tape is to spool it fully to one end and back again, sometimes several times, just to âloosenâ it up. Try this first, and do a new transcription.
@MrSoundman
Many thanks for your efforts and feedback.
Actually I just inserted the cassettes and started to record right away without even thinking of any precautions.
These recordings are two of my dadâs cassette compilations containing 3 tapes each and I wanted him to be able to listen to them again since he has a CD player, but no cassette deck.
Besides that I wanted them to sound a bit âbetterâ than the original recording so I decided to render some WL effects on them.
Next visit Iâll grab the tapes again and try what you suggested.
Is there anything else I could do?
What do you think about the rendering? I used the âStereoEnhancerâ (to get a wider image), the âMasterRigâ (with âMDA - Rockâ preset) and the âRestoreRigâ (to remove noise).
I am an absolute beginner in audio editing, so I just played around with the settings and the result is âB2xâ for one of the tracks.
Before editing I split the tracks, added markers and applied fade-in and out sequences to the clips.
This is as far as I could get with what I know about WL and audio editing.
I would appreciate any hints and tips you or anyone else has.
Letâs start with capturing the original in the best quality possible. Cassette players are complex electromechanical devices that need a bit of TLC after all these years. That Yamaha KX-493 is at least 25 years old â do you know when it was last professionaly serviced, if at all?
There are some DIY things you can do, but letâs see if spooling the tape back and forth will work first.
In the meantime, as preparation, you could source some cotton buds and a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) from a pharmacist in case you need to clean the tape heads and transport (the pinch roller and the capstan). Hereâs a guide. In this case, listening to the B2 file, I donât think itâll be necessary, as my bet would be on the tape in the cassette being a bit tight. You might also let us know what brand of cassette it is.
As for the tape deck, I think I have a âcleaning cassetteâ buried somewhere in the closet.
But I just did as you wrote: Took a q-tip dipped in isopropanol and carefully cleaned the heads and transport. Saw a slightly dirty cotton after that, not worth to worry about.
The cassettes are similar to the photo I took from discogs (doesnât seem to be high quality anyway):
So, until Iâm at my dadâs next time thereâs nothing I could do until then.
Maybe learn some WL basics from videos and tutorials and experiment with the settings.
Right now the only place I know about is wavelabhelp.com, the WaveLab manual and maybe some stuff on YouTube.
Is there any other way then try & hear?
I mean, if only there was something like a walkthrough of the various plugins like âif you turn this knob left youâll hear thatâ or âclicking this button will make the sound like thatâ (not sure if you got me)
I work with old cassettes all the time. This sounds to me like a problem with the tape movement . If the cassette is pre-recorded like the ones in the picture, then the problem is likely during playback rather than when they were recorded, and so itâs either your deck or the way the tape is moving inside the shell.
The audio sounds like the tension on the tape is changing as the reels spin, which causes the tape to move relative to the playback head, and when the treble frequencies are cutting out, the tape is further from the head or slightly askew relative to it. Another possibility is that the playback deck isnât decoding Dolby properly. I donât remember seeing anything about that, but if you havenât tried playback with Dolby disabled, it would be a useful comparison to try that.
When working with old cassette tapes, winding the tape forward and back once before playback is a good practice, and listen to the mechanical noises as it moves. If the tape is rubbing against the shell or something you may hear a squeal or whine. Or, if the tape is sticking somewhere, the motor noise may suddenly change as the tape passes that point. Those are both hints that the tape isnât neatly wound in the shell.
Cleaning the deck with isopropyl is a good idea, but the heads are probably not causing this. The capstans and pinch rollers are more likely because they allow the tape to slip if they are dirty. Old, caked on tape oxide can take a while to remove. Put some real pressure on the Q-tip until it comes away clean.
This sort of cycling pulsing problem can also be caused or exacerbated by loose belts between the motor and the capstan. Itâs worth taking off the cover and having a look and a gentle tug on the belts. Replacing the belts often helps many problems with old cassette decks.
It is very difficult to fix up these problems using software except manually, which is too tedious to be practical. It seems like it should be effective to do something like boost the high end across the tape and then use a dynamic equalizer to tamp down anything above a certain volume threshold, using a tool that responds slowly and progressively as the audio changes. That is not my strong suit. Others may have better ideas.
I agree totally. That would explain the slow amplitude (and frequency response) modulation.
Terminology:
âshellâ = âcasingâ = âhousingâ â the plastic part you hold in your hands that contains the rest of the bits.
âspoolâ = âreelâ â the circular thing that the actual tape is wound on.
The tape can end up wound unevenly onto the reels and that can be easily rectified by winding fast forward and then fast rewind on a good quality deck, perhaps several times. Youâll be able to verify that through the transparent shell of the cassettes, if they are as depicted in your discogs link above.
My strong advice would be to try getting a better capture of the original tapes before even thinking about trying to correct this digitally.
I hardly do any restoration work anymore (just too busy) but as mgoldy says 99% isopropyl alcohol to lightly clean the head and playback mechanism can help to remove sticky playback surfaces as an issue in the transfer equation. .The guys here that do it all the time might have some other suggestions.
The last few I did were for a label and I had a âtestâ blank cassette to make sure the machine wasnât in a chewing tape kind of mood after cleaning the head and mechanism.
The rubber pinch roller could be âhardâ and not pulling the tape correctly. I would start with cleaning the heads and pinch roller. The heads can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol but I prefer 409 for the pinch roller. Isopropyl alcohol can âdry outâ the pinch roller over time. If the pinch roller is âhardâ then it has to be replaced. Judging how âhardâ it is depends on experience. I ALWAYS FAST FORWARD AND REWIND any cassettes before I transfer them to smooth out the pack and to make sure the cassette tape is not binding. If the tapes are âpre recordedâ they were probably not done on high quality cassette tape and that maybe another problem as some of this âhigh speed duplicatedâ cassette tapes were never quality checked after they were duplicated.
There are lots of tutorials on YouTube about transferring cassette tapes. I would watch a few of them before your next âsessionâ. Getting the cassettes to playback correctly is the biggest hurdle you will face and if the cassettes are not in good shape all the fancy software will not be of any use.
@Thomas_W_Bethel
Many thanks for your explanation. I will follow the instructions on the next recording âattemptâ of my tapes. Iâm very curious of how they will affect the result.
I highly appreciate all of your efforts and responses!
