Re: transfer cassette tapes to Vista notebook?

"JoeM" wrote ...
I am trying to transfer some cassette tapes to a vista notebook to be burned to an audio CD. I have a 20+ year old Denon tape deck. I have a y connector running from the output rca jacks on the tape deck to the mic jack on the notebook. I attempted to record using Windows Sound Recorder. It worked, but the quality was bad - sounded distant and a little distorted.

1) The pink mic input jack on compuers is monaural,
so you will get only the left channel of your sound.
If it is a low-quality mono recording (i.e. speech, etc.)
then it might met your needs.

2) The output from your cassette machine is line level
and the input to the pink mic input jack is ~mic level.
The audio levels will almost certainly overload the mic
input circuit and cause significant audible distortion.

3) The ring terminal on the 3-circuit mini-phone jack
of a computer pink mic input jack sends a DC voltage
to power condenser electret microphones. In your lash-
up, that is sending a DC voltage back *into* the right
channel output of the cassette machine. This is not a
good idea, and possibly destsructive to the cassette
machine. I wouldn't try this again if I were you. At the
very least, do NOT plug the right channel RCA jack.

Any advice would be appreciated.

We don't know whether you are transcribing old, scratchy lectures, or pristine stereo music? Lacking that information, it is up to you to make the tradeoff decisions about what the task is worth.

Do I need different software?

You need some way of setting the recording levels in
the computer properly. If Windows Sound Recorder
and your audio drivers support that, then you may not
need any other software. OTOH, for simple recording
a simple application like Total Recorder might be what
you need. (www.highcriteria.com)

My notebook doesn't have an audio line in jack, just the mic jack. Should I have a USB interface of some kind for the line from the cassette deck?

If you are just recording low-quality speech (etc.) then
the mono mic input jack may be sufficient. Radio Shack
in the US (we don't know where you are?) sells a cable
with a built-in attenuator to cut the line-level ouput from
the cassette machine down to mic-level for the computer.

The Denon doesn't seem to have a volume or level control for the output, it has input level and bias fine controls.

Yes, that is typical for consumer audio equipment. Levels
are typically set at the input of the next item in the audio
path.
.