Re: Question about recording Cassettes to CD
- From: jester@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 31 Aug 2005 10:37:04 -0700
Inyo wrote:
> sound-quality is invariably on the trebly side, requiring digital
> manipulations with my Goldwave equalizer program to increase the bass
> levels; this naturally suggests that digital samplings tend to
> accentuate quite noticeably the treble--an identical phenomenon I've
> noted on any number of professionally digitalized remasterings of
> "oldies" songs on the radio, wherein the bass components seem to be
> subdued, or even lacking altogether, when compared with the original
> analogue, vinyl recordings.
You are mis-attributing what you're hearing to the digital recording
process. A good digital recording system is generally ruler flat in
frequency response, within its design parameters (for 16 bit 44.1k -
that is, "CD quality" it is flat within a fraction of a dB from 20-20k
Hz). Even my $100 sound card is of this level, where the $6000 open
reel 16 track recorder I had 10 years ago wasn't even close. A card of
this level will NOT subtract any bass or add any treble.
You simply cannot compare different iterations of a song to conclude
anything. First, if you're comparing a radio broadcast to vinyl played
on your home system, you are way off base. You CAN'T do that! There
are dozens of signal processing steps in the broadcast chain that will
affect the sound, not to mention the low fidelity of FM
broadcast/reception itself.
Even if comparing a CD to vinyl, the song could have had treble added
and/or bass subtracted when remastered - that's a choice some mastering
guy makes, not something intrinsic to digital recording. Many CDs
(especially of old catalog material) was improperly mastered for CD to
get it out quickly to flesh out the new CD rosters. I've even heard of
some getting out that had RIAA turntable EQ applied - that would sound
exceedingly bright and bass deficient (though I've never gotten one of
those myself). Of course, these issues would show up on a broadcast of
such a CD as well.
> On the other hand, most of my cassette music was recorded with very
> inexpensive, rather sub-par machines--and the "hiss-factor" is indeed
> intensified, accentuated greatly when that cassette music is eventually
> transferred to digital format. And note, too, that I have been using
> the same cassette player for transferring both the Teac reel to reel
> material and the original cassette-recorded music. Therefore, the
> "individual sound card" and "player" have, in my view, nothing to do
> with the obvious, irritating, accentuated hiss-factor. That leaves, as
> the ultimate culprit, in my opinion, the digital sampling process
> itself, combined with the quality of the original cassette recordings.
> Just a personal observation, of course. There's plenty of room for
> technical disagreements here, I am certainly willing to acknowledge.
OK, but you really should narrow down what's going on before making
such a claim, because it's not generally encountered, and I suspect
there's a mis-attribution going on similar to above. Have you tried a
different sound card? I know that with my sound card, input=output,
audibly speaking.
jes
.
- References:
- Question about recording Cassettes to CD
- From: certtaker
- Re: Question about recording Cassettes to CD
- From: jester
- Question about recording Cassettes to CD
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