Converting cassette tape recording to MP3

By Wesley Fryer On December 15, 2004 · · Add Comment

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A few short steps on the computer, a giant leap for analog recordings….

This Christmas season a good friend asked me to convert a recording he had made (several years ago) from the radio onto a cassette tape, into digital format. This is for his personal use, not for redistribution on the web (of course).

The process I used for this analog audio to MP3 digital format conversion was:

1. Connect a DV camcorder to the left/right audio out RCA (red and white) plugs in the back of a stereo cassette player.
2. Put a blank tape in the DV camcorder and press record.
3. Play the cassette tape from the stereo cassette player.
4. Connect the DV camcorder to my home Mac and import the tape (video and audio tracks come together) into iMovie.
5. Drag imported clips from the shelf down too the timeline, use the EDIT – SPLIT VIDEO CLIP menu command to trim extra silence off the front and back ends of the recording.
6. Export the movie as an audio-only, AIFF file (in iMovie 4, choose FILE – SHARE – QUICKTIME – EXPERT SETTINGS and select SOUND TO AIFF.
7. Drag the exported AIFF file into the iTunes Library window (to import it into iTunes)
8. Use the free QuickConvert v2.3 Applescript (www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/scripts/scripts02.php?page=1#quickconvert ) to convert the selected AIFF file to MP3 format.
9. Drag the converted MP3 file from the iTunes Library window to the desktop.
10. Share the file via a burned CD or USB keydrive/thumbdrive.

Why convert AIFF to MP3? File size. This audio recording is just less than 15 minutes, in AIFF format it takes up 107 MB, in MP3 format it takes up just under 17 MB. And the sound quality (to my admittedly untrained ear and non-professional audio playback equipment) sounds just great!

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