Need advice for transferring from a reel-to-reel to computer

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Level 1

40 points

Need advice for transferring from a reel-to-reel to computer

I need a bit of help and some suggestions, please. I have 2 double-sided reel-to-reel tapes of an oral history (my father), which is very old (1970s). I need to copy it over to my computer and ultimately burn it to a CD(s) or DVD to preserve it.

I thought to use garage band to do this, or even microsoft word has a note-taking feature that records.

Can someone tell me the best way to do this to preserve the sound, which is 100% speech (no music), what I will need to do this, and the logistics of it. Do I just turn the reel-to-reel on play with cables going into my comp? How does it start recording to the computer?

I had thought to send the tapes out, but they're my only copy and I would be devastated if they were lost in the mail or screwed up by whomever I sent them to; I just feel better doing it myself.

The tapes are becoming brittle on the ends so I need to do this as soon as possible. Also, will putting them on CD preserve them, or should I reburn them periodically? How long do CDs last, anyhow?

Thanks for all help and suggestions.

Ellen

iMac G5, 250 GB HD, 2 GHz PowerPC G5 Tiger, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 1 GB DDR SDRam, 5.2.5f1, HP deskjet 940C printer

Posted on May 29, 2007 6:35 PM

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Answer 1

Camelot

Level 9

58,563 points

May 30, 2007 2:02 AM in response to Ellen Verni

You need iMic

it comes with everything you need to connect your tape deck to your Mac, including recording/editing software that will capture the audio and let you clean it up.

As for burning to CD, that's entirely possible (and easy). Most CDs should last about 10 years (provided it doesn't get too scratched in between). There are archival disks available that should last longer, or just re-burn them in 10 years time with whatever the media format of the day is.

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Answer 2

Jul 5, 2007 12:16 PM in response to Ellen Verni

One other thing, in addition to what was said above - if the material is particularly important to you, then copy to as many different formats as possible so disaster can be avoided. For instance, if you still have a decent cassette recorder, transfer the tapes to good quality CrO2 (chrome) tapes which will last for decades.

If you have Minidisc, keep a copy on MDs also, and they too will last a very long time, particularly if they are rarely played.

If you keep a copy in iTunes, you can save a lot of space by compressing to quite a low rate (less than 128 AAC say) as it is speech only and the drop in quality will barely be noticeable.

Finally, make sure you spend some time getting the speech into text form (however you do it) for a paper-based backup, with the text files on disk, where they won't take up much room.

Any further doubts or queries - do contact your Local Records Office who will be old hands at this kind of thing. Oral history is very important.

iMac G5 17" 1.5Gb RAM Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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Answer 3

clangwork

Level 4

2,279 points

Jul 16, 2007 6:45 AM in response to Ellen Verni

Your mac can record at 24bits 48Khz (even 96Khz) without any external adapter.
So configure your audio preferences to use this settings (24 bits 48Khz) for audio input.
Patch the reel out to mac ins.
Launch GB, create a stereo audio track (basic with no effects) and start recording then put the tape reel in play.
Lately you will make the editing stuff like cut in shorter files, remove noise, improve S/N ratio with a compressor and so on.
For this job I'd use a more flexible application like Audacity (it's free!)

Let me know if you need more help.

cheers

rob

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Answer 4

tekdust

Level 1

5 points

Sep 23, 2007 11:04 PM in response to Ellen Verni

All these answers are correct. Take this to a Professional Recording Studio and have them transfer and archive this for you.

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Answer 5

pi22-7__

Level 1

60 points

Nov 25, 2007 9:37 AM in response to christopher rigby1

christopher rigby1 wrote:
One other thing, in addition to what was said above - if the material is particularly important to you, then copy to as many different formats as possible......snip

If you keep a copy in iTunes, you can save a lot of space by compressing to quite a low rate (less than 128 AAC say) as it is speech only and the drop in quality will barely be noticeable.

I just saw this thread and am in the same position. Guess that's why one looks through the archives!!!

Quick question/s.

I googled AAC and wikipedia ( I know...not always correct!!) says: "Most lossy compression formats suffer from generation loss: repeatedly compressing and decompressing the file will cause it to progressively lose quality". Now I know Apple would not be using a format that would lead to loss of data...so I am curious if someone could explain the discrepancy.

Second question.

The reel - to - reel I wish to convert contains someone practicing for a concert..so it's not quite speech, but it is in a way. I have iMic ( but do not recall having obtained s/w with it). Does the same recommendation hold ie hook a reel-to-reel tape player ( finding one will be a trick) via iMic to my computer, then using an appropriate AAC rate to do the transfer. Any other tricks/pitfalls to lookout for. ( Not sure how much data there is, but the reel is about 7" diameter)
Thanks in advance.

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Answer 6

Nov 30, 2007 10:54 PM in response to Ellen Verni

Yet another suggestion... practice with some other audio source. With tapes that old, and as you say, getting brittle, at least in parts, I would think it wise to plan to play them as few times as possible.

Assuming your tape deck has a line out, find another audio source that also has line out. A cassette deck, for example. Use it to learn how to do this, and practice enough that you feel confident.

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Answer 7

Nov 30, 2007 10:59 PM in response to pi22-7__

pi22/7 wrote:

christopher rigby1 wrote:

-snip-

The reel - to - reel I wish to convert contains someone practicing for a concert..so it's not quite speech, but it is in a way. I have iMic ( but do not recall having obtained s/w with it). Does the same recommendation hold ie hook a reel-to-reel tape player ( finding one will be a trick) via iMic to my computer, then using an appropriate AAC rate to do the transfer. Any other tricks/pitfalls to lookout for. ( Not sure how much data there is, but the reel is about 7" diameter)
Thanks in advance.

A stereo recording at 44.1 khz (.aiff or .wav format) will use about 10MB per minute of audio. I don't recall how much time a full 7 inch reel contains. I would record to aiff or wav file first, and do any compression or format conversions later.

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Answer 8

ZakWG

Level 1

0 points

Dec 9, 2007 1:56 PM in response to Ellen Verni

Hello Ellen

Unfortunately you've fallen prey to the common misconception that DVD And Rs have a better shelf life than tape. In fact home burned CD and DVD Rs shouldn't be expected to survive a half decade.

I agree with the advise you should take it yourself to a recording studio, then copy the data to as many formats as possible.

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Answer 9

ZakWG

Level 1

0 points

Dec 10, 2007 10:32 AM in response to pi22-7__

pi22/7 - AAC is 'lossy' which means by definition that data is lost. Continual transcoding will mean more data is lost progressively. This will further exacerbate quality loss on old tapes because you will have the disadvantages of both digital and analogue formats. imic isn't going to sound much better than the stock audio input either. You should store the files in AIFF or wav.

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