improving cassette audio transferred to CD

[MarkLaRoi]

I've been playing with different settings and EQing to try and bring the sound of a cassette recording burned to CD up to par with stuff straight from CD, and can't get it for the life of me. I've been able to improve it slightly, but it stays a little flat.

I thought to ask this after reading the post on burning LP audio to CD. Any hints? I use Audition 1.5. <P ID="signature">______________
~Always leave a hole when you go.
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[dualux]

> I've been playing with different settings and EQing to try
> and bring the sound of a cassette recording burned to CD up
> to par with stuff straight from CD, and can't get it for the
> life of me. I've been able to improve it slightly, but it
> stays a little flat.
>
> I thought to ask this after reading the post on burning LP
> audio to CD. Any hints? I use Audition 1.5.
>

Mark, I've had some luck adding some brightness and volume to my casette-to-CD dubs by passing the cassette audio through an Aphex Aural Exciter. I've used both the older Aphex Model 104 Type C2 and the newer Aphex 204. You can find used ones fairly cheap on eBay.

Of course, they don't do much to reduce tape hiss, so you'll need some EQ for that. I've also heard that the BBE Sonic Maximizer is good at brightening up cassettes for CD transfer, but haven't tried it yet.

 

[jefflaurence]

Mark..In addition to the EQ process..before you apply that...capture a few seconds of the tape hiss in the clear, and use the Noise Reduction process in AA 1.5 (but don't reduce the noise by more than 72% otherwise it will add artifacts) THEN apply your EQ..you'll be amazed. The other trick is if it's a mono source (like a talk radio aircheck or audio book etc) just transfer the better of the two tracks in mono..