Topic: Tape to CD conversion

[sunjan]

Bascially azimuth adjustment is possible with any deck (not just Naks) if you remove the cassette door and adjust the adjustment screw on the head block using a screwdriver.

One more thing worth noting: use a plastic/non-magnetic screwdriver when messing with the head: http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,44898.0.html
Any steel/magnetic screwdriver will risk ruining the head permanently.

/Jan

[tilomagnet]

I would use almost any other deck than the d6... That has a dc brush motor and has noise that the 24/96 will pick up on playback... 

Thanks for the input, that is good to know, but bad for my bottom line

I own one of these too, Onkyo TA-RW544, just a generic Circuit City deck, anyone know anything about these worth noting?

Guess I never realized this would be a pain in the butt... but to get it right is better IMHO

Well, the playback deck in your transferring chain is about the equivalent to what the mics are in a taping rig. It's the most important part. You want to get as much "quality" as possible out of the source, i.e. the tape, because the information that's lost here cannot be regained even with a $ 1k ADC.
Seriously the ADC, sample rate and word lenghts aren't all that important, but you'll only get a nice clean, low noise transfer if you use a high quality, properly calibrated and adjust the azimuth.

If you don't want to or can't afford a good deck, why not ask someone else who has some experience with tape transferring to digitize your masters? You will certainly find someone trustworthy here on this board.

[taosmay]

Thanks for all of the good info, I am still looking and researching, so feel free to keep adding 2 cents

If you have an extra ~$899.00 lying around, with nothing better to do with it, you can buy this Nak Dragon for sale at audiogon.com:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?misccass&1206899272

[gmm6797]

If you don't want to or can't afford a good deck, why not ask someone else who has some experience with tape transferring to digitize your masters? You will certainly find someone trustworthy here on this board.

Oh, I want, just not able to afford at the moment (or few months)... I have 11 years of master cassette tapes made with a little bit of everything (deck wise) and only the last 3 years with decent (not excellent) gear.  Many of the recordings were made with RS, Sony or Awia walkmen and their included tie-clip style mics (if only TS was around when I was 16 and trying out this hobby I have been messing with for 22 years).

The Dragon is a nice deck, but unless I unload my Schoeps, that deck is out of reach for a while.

[aegert]

look at something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nakamichi-CR-3A-Single-Cassette-Deck-Tape-Player-3-Head_W0QQitemZ140206361386QQihZ004QQcategoryZ4784QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem they sell for about $100

3heads

Have it serviced!

or something like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/TASCAM-112-MK-II-PRODUCTION-CASSETTE-DECK_W0QQitemZ220199728680QQihZ012QQcategoryZ41480QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



This you can mod with a drill to make the azimuth control screw accessible through the front...

But again setting azimuth is tough to do without tones...

A

[darby]

after my last Sony D5 crapped out
I got a Tascam 112 MKII to do my tape transfers
I am still using it now to do some of my better masters at 24 Bit
that machine is built like a tank
one of the best investments I ever made

[gmm6797]

Thanks +T