cassette tapes to garage band

I have set up my cassette tape with my Line-in on my PowerBook G4 as directed. I checked in System Preferences > Sound > Input > Line in indicates that while the tape is playing, the sound is detected. The input level shows sounds are being detected.

But when I press RECORD in Garageband, no sound is detected. Is there something else I should check?

One thing I forgot to mention previously is the setting in Garageband's preferences Audio/MIDI for the Audio input is Built-in Audio 2. (My only other choice is Built-in Audio.) It is optimized for Minimum delay.

I recall that with the iSight connected, I think my options here were different. Could it be that the input from my cassette is not being detected by Garageband because the Audio Input choices are not allowing the sound from the cassette player to be recorded?

Any ideas?
Thank you.

I would suggest using AmadeusPro to capture the audio. It has a tremendous "sample denoiser" that will take out tape hiss with very little effect on the actual sound. You can then save as an AIFF file and import into GarageBand, or just go straight to MP3.

is it free?????? i need something like that! ive got so many old tapes i need to do but they have the tape hiss, nad my tape player is finiky and plays tapes muffeld if played in a differnt player mostly in Crysler car stereos

You can try it for free. But it is shareware, and the price is $40, and worth it! You will not believe how well it will remove the hiss of tape. (if you get it, let me know and I will give you a quick tutorial on how to do this)

I would recommend borrowing a good cassette deck. If you do not get a good recording to digital in the first place, all the work afterward would not be satisfactory.

http://www.hairersoft.com/AmadeusPro/AmadeusPro.html

i have a Technics M225. i garbage picked it and it works like nobody's busness. but its finicky about tapes. my dad has a Teac tape deck that looks pretty close to mine but its got needle volume readers instead of the flourescent. can i get the software on cd incase my hard drive crashes or i get a new mac or something. i dont have an external yet. but im getting there!

heres what my tape deck looks like
http://cgi.ebay.com/Technics-Cassette-Tape-Deck-RS-M225-2-head-1-motor-NR_W0QQit emZ150052132969QQihZ005QQcategoryZ71574QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i get the software on cd incase my hard drive crashes or i get a new mac...

Even if you can't get it on CD, why would that matter? Just D/L it again if you need to do so (Write the registration info on a piece of paper for future use)

With audacity, in the noise removal "effect" you choose a silent part of the recording as a sample for the filter. The software will then remove these frequency bands at a threshold chosen by you at the slider control. With home PC software you will never get rid of tape hiss without loosing significant audio quality. Even in the best studio remasters from 1950's tape source it is still there, often very cleverly edited so that you are not aware of it - but it is there!! Trial and error until you get a good compromise sound is needed. Different levels of filter for loud/soft tracks or sections may be needed. Best to play your PC output via the hi fi you intend to listen to the final product on for best results.

I had not used Audacity in quite a while and had no idea that it had been improved so much as to include a sample noise remover filter. This is most excellent for a freeware offering. Although not as elegant and easy to use as Amadeus, if you are just doing a few tapes here and there, this would be the way to go to keep expenses down.

Forget overdubbing. You just need to get one good original from your tapes. How you do that depends on the equipment available. The Technics deck would be fine, IF it plays the tapes well. Make sure the heads, rollers and capstans are clean. Plug the output RCAs into the Mac and record the music accordingly. Make sure to save this as your master recording and burn the files to CD. Never do any noise reduction on your original!

Once you have a duplicate copy, start the noise reduction process with Amadeus or Audacity to remove tape hiss. If you want more bass or need to bring out some highs, use the EQ filters, but do not OVER EQ. Use your Normalize filter to make sure the audio level is appropriate.

This should result in a good archive of precious tapes.

You misunderstood what they were doing with the Black Sabbath tapes. What they mean by overdub is that, say there was something wrong with the bass track (because of age or damage). The studio can pot down the track with the bass, and the origianl bass player can come in to the studio and "overdub" the damaged area in order to repair it. They can then add reverb to simulate the arena and it should sound almost exactly like the damaged portion.

You are not doing anything near this. If you try to overdub your stereo tapes, you will get what is called "phasing". That is, two identical tracks with slight variation causing audio conflict.

Audacity is GREAT! I am doing the same type of project, preserving old cassette tapes before the oxide falls off, and it has saved me a ton of time and expense.

Power mac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

If it's not recording with audio 2 option try the other option. Also make sure the track is enabled and turn monitoring on see if you can hear it.

Hi

I would abandon Garageband for this one - it wasn't designed primarily to do this job. I use Audacity - it was, it's free and works a treat.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Iain

i use it on my AGP G4 and i have issues with. does the reduce noise effect get rid of tape hiss?