MP3 Recording...

[5-90]

All -
Since we seem to have the most amazing collection of esoterica here, I thought I'd ask something that's been driving me NVTS for the last three days...

I'm trying to help me mum copy some books on tape over to CD before the tapes wear out, and the intermediate step is recording them onto the computer for data conversion. I've been trying both .wav and .mp3 formats...

The problem I'm having - at about three minutes in, the playback speed seems to zip up to 2-3x normal, and the files (apparently, I haven't listened yet) get cut off at around 15 minutes or so. There is no time limitation on the recording software I've tried, and the level indicator doesn't give any indication of stopping.

I've backchecked this on my own laptop, and I get much the same results.

Playback -
(Old, I'll admit) "compact bookshelf" stereo w/cassette deck. Tapes are "repacked" before playing, since they tend to snag at times. Audio is piped into the computer via a 1/8" headphone patch cable, with a Wye adapter for monitor speakers.

Environment 1 -
Desktop Celeron 2.4 w/512Mb, WinXP Home SP2. SB PCI playback, ADS Tech Instant Music USB record input. Sound Blaster input does not seem to function.

Environment 2 -
ThinkPad T30 1.8 w/1Gb, Win2K Pro SP4. SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio in/out function OK.

Problem -
Normal recording (using Pro MP3 Recorder, et. al.) and playback until ~3:00 playback, then going to 2x or 3x playback speed. No indication given that record fault exists. Recording at realtime 1:1 rate. Listening to record setup over monitor speakers, plugged in at source (not after recording.)

Any ideas? Any questions?

5-90

[RichP]

I have not done any cassete transfers in a long time but for my ripping I use a freeware called 'audiograbber', my sound card is a turtle beach in this unit and I have used audiograbber to rip alot of cd's to mp's with no issues. It actually has a setting tab for analog, I would just use the mic input on the card. Actually I don't even have a cass deck I could try it with anymore.

[anodyne33]

What software and interface are you using? Sounds like a clock issue if the speed changes. Are you recording at 16/44.1?


Personally I like Audacity. It's freeware for PC. It has a lot of decent built in editing features, but is not so good for track splits as it doesn't align on sector boundries. That might not make a difference for books on tape (just means that the first few and very last samples of each track will not align correctly, leaving you with a slight glitch between tracks in continuous playback), but I'd suggest doing the tracking (assuming that you are going to break it down into tracks) in another freeware program called CD Wave.

[djblade311]

playback speed seems to zip up to 2-3x normal? That also sounds like the cassette player having issues to me but it could be possible that the software is going berserker. Are you monitoring the recording process and is the speed normal the whole time you record?

Audacity is good for being free. I use Sound Forge to edit / record single tracks of audio but primarily use Sonar for multi-track.

I would first try different software in case there are any limitations on what you are using.

[5-90]

I'll see about those software/freeware packages.

Yes, I'm monitoring the playback, and the speed remains normal. The tapes are a bit old (they sag sometimes, but it's only really noticeable if you listen for it,) and I've not had any trouble with playback speed otherwise.

I am recording to digital at standard rates (16/44.1 stereo) - which seems to be the default anyhow. Since this is just spoken word, I don't see any need to get silly with the sampling rates - think it might help if I turn them down somewhat?

I just find this odd because it's not the whole track that gets "jumped up" - just recording after three minutes or so (within a few seconds) gets consistently silly - and recording on two machines! I used my own laptop to build a baseline, since I know the Hx and maintenance of it - and because I know W2K rather better than I know WXP.

Good ideas - I'll try them. Keep them coming!

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[5-90]

OK - now trying Audacity. I do like stuff available from SourceForge - don't know why I didn't look there before...

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[casm]

I'll see about those software/freeware packages.

I'll cast another vote for Audiograbber. Having used it in the past to do exactly what you're trying to accomplish, it should be fine for your needs. It does require an external MP3 codec, however; LAME (http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php) has worked out brilliantly for me over the years.

I am recording to digital at standard rates (16/44.1 stereo) - which seems to be the default anyhow. Since this is just spoken word, I don't see any need to get silly with the sampling rates - think it might help if I turn them down somewhat?

Doubtful this would help. From the way you're describing the behaviour, I'd almost call this a software issue - either the codec used to capture the analogue input is going haywire during recording, or the MP3 codec isn't properly encoding or playing back the MP3. I'd also stick with 16-bit sampling at 44.1KHz and encoding the MP3 at 320Kbps; if you ever decide to burn these to CD as regular audio tracks, you'll hate yourself for having dropped the initial sampling or encoding rates. Point taken that it's only spoken word, but the space you'll save isn't worth the sacrifice in quality IMHO.

I just find this odd because it's not the whole track that gets "jumped up" - just recording after three minutes or so (within a few seconds) gets consistently silly - and recording on two machines! I used my own laptop to build a baseline, since I know the Hx and maintenance of it - and because I know W2K rather better than I know WXP.

OS shouldn't really be a factor in this. From the way you've described the issue, I believe you've used the same MP3 software on both OSes and hardware platforms. Since that software seems to be the common factor in all of this, I'd look to it as being the culprit before delving deeper.

[92DripCherokee]

It sounds like your'e encountering a software limit or bug if you're using "soundrec" in windows.

im a fan of "wavepad", gives me no troubles at all. It's free and does'nt nag or expire. It records uncompressed stereo wave files by default so you'll need plenty of drive space!

http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/masters.html
it automatically adjusts input gain to the highest peak to avoid clipping, and automatically starts and stops recording when the input signal starts and stops. All you need to do is hit record in Wavepad, and start playback on tape deck, it does the rest.

a good idea is to first turn off ALL of your windows sound effects so your clicking doesnt trigger the auto-recording. Just go into your control panel, and under "Sounds and Audio Devices" switch your "sound scheme" to "No sounds". This effectively mutes all your clicking, so the only sound card input will come from the tape deck.

Wavepad is very stable, hasnt crashed yet, even after I edited a 48 minute wave file.

After you finish a recording, I can explain editing in Wavepad, which is incredibly easy.

[5-90]

Well, I do appreciate the advice. I'm running my "test track" that I acquired in Audacity, and it seems to be stable.

Yes, I used the same software on both machines - even tho they run different OSes, I figured I'd be able to build a baseline anyhow.

However, the Audacity track seems to be running find now at 09:40:00, so maybe that was it? It's amazing not only the questions I've seen asked here, but the answers (that work!) that people have gotten!

Looks good so far - I've got plenty of drive space, and I do plan to burn these to CD after recording (both as CD-Audio and backup copy as data files,) so I did want to keep some quality.

We may have this licked! I'll let you all know...

5-90

[Matthew Currie]

I've done a bunch of CDs from cassettes and LP's with very good results using a program called "Cakewalk Pyro." It's not free, about 40 bucks from Staples as I recall, and there may well be freeware programs that do as well, but this one is very stable, and does exactly what I need, and no more. It takes the audio and turns it into a huge wav. file, which you then can process in various ways and then chop up into tracks, using a graphic wave display that can be expanded. It also has some simple noise, click and pop removers, etc. and burns directly from within the program. Both the recording and the post processing are in real time, though, meaning that it will take two hours to finish a one hour recording if you do the clicks and pops or tape hiss, but it doesn't have to be attended. You can also use the program to capture any sound that passes through the audio system of the computer, so for example, you can make a wave file from streaming audio, or the soundtrack from a DVD, even if there are no direct ways available for downloading it.