Putting song's on a cd from cassette tape's.

[nate9]

I'm putting some song's onto a cd and they are from cassettes, the client already mastered the song's. I'm using the Maxim plugin to boost the audio levels a little bit, I'm having some trouble. I think when we recorded them into pro tools the level was a little low, I'm remastering using the Maxim plugin to boost levels, what would be a good level for the final mix for the cd?


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[musicman691]

Originally Posted by nate9

I'm putting some song's onto a cd and they are from cassettes, the client already mastered the song's. I'm using the Maxim plugin to boost the audio levels a little bit, I'm having some trouble. I think when we recorded them into pro tools the level was a little low, I'm remastering using the Maxim plugin to boost levels, what would be a good level for the final mix for the cd?


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Maxim is not something I'd use for any kind of mastering but seeing as how you're coming from a cassette to a cd you don't have a whole heck of a lot of quality sound to begin with. I'd probably get a good s/w compressor as well as a good eq to get levels where you want them.

Also remember - for louder just turn up the volume control

[dr_daw]

+1

It sounds like you should re-transfer them at the correct level. If the client already 'mastered' them. Then I would just use clip gain; but only on a healthy transfer.


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[albee1952]

Given how much tape noise you probably have, I would do things in a few steps.
#1-use whatever tools you have for noise reduction and get it as quiet as you can.
#2-EQ as needed(this will be a compromise between clarity and too much hiss) or use a dynamic EQ(Waves F6?) or something that can do multi-band expansion.
#3-Normalize to 95%(ish) to get the level up to where #4 can have a good signal to process.
#4-use a "brick-wall limiter" to get more volume(Maxim is technically the right plugin, but in reality, I've never been happy with it). My "go to" plugins would be Waves L2/L3, or Slate FG-X, or Massey L2007, or iZotope Ozone(have used all and like any of them much better than Maxim)

[musicman691]

Something we're forgetting here is does the op have a clean connection between whatever is being used for the cassette playback and the audio interface of the recording computer. Get that wrong and the rest won't amount to a hill of beans. If it's a typical cassette machine I'd use some kind of di between the cassette and computer like something from Radial. Helps match the levels and impedance as well as take care of ground loops. Been there/done that and have made Radial Engineering stuff my go-to boxes for these kinds of things.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by nate9

what would be a good level for the final mix for the cd?

-2dBFS for radio hits and -1dBFS for almost everything else

[graveleye]

I've done a boatload of cassette to digital transfers, for myself and for some clients.
Waves restoration bundle is awesome for getting the noise out.

[djjazzy41]

Originally Posted by nate9

I'm putting some song's onto a cd and they are from cassettes, the client already mastered the song's. I'm using the Maxim plugin to boost the audio levels a little bit, I'm having some trouble. I think when we recorded them into pro tools the level was a little low, I'm remastering using the Maxim plugin to boost levels, what would be a good level for the final mix for the cd?


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Originally Posted by JFreak

-2dBFS for radio hits and -1dBFS for almost everything else

Janne answered your question correctly. If you are also looking for better ways to manage the whole process, however, I can tell you what I do. I take the original cassette recording out of a Tascam cassette player into a Tascam LM-8ST line mixer to boost the levels and convert the signal to balanced. From the line mixer, I go direct into ProTools where I record the stereo track into a new session at 44.1, 24-bit. Now (with the help of the line mixer) the levels are higher and it is easier to hear the tape noise. Once in ProTools, I can do whatever I need to the track. First step is to run it through SoundSoap (I know there are better noise reducers out there, but this one is cheap and works great for this purpose, so I just stick with it) to take out the tape hiss and noise. Once that is done I make any adjustments to the EQ that enhances the quality of the original recording. Finally, I run it through my favorite simple limiting plugin (the McDSP ML4000 ML1) and boost the level either to the point Janne states, or where I start to hear distortion or artifacts. Basically boost as high as I can so it still sounds great. After that, bounce to disk, import into iTunes, and burn to CD. Pretty simple, and produces great results that are almost always better than the original cassette recording. Don't know if this helps or not, but it made me feel better sharing!

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by djjazzy41

Janne answered your question correctly. If you are also looking for better ways to manage the whole process, however, I can tell you what I do. I take the original cassette recording out of a Tascam cassette player into a Tascam LM-8ST line mixer to boost the levels and convert the signal to balanced. From the line mixer, I go direct into ProTools where I record the stereo track into a new session at 44.1, 24-bit. Now (with the help of the line mixer) the levels are higher and it is easier to hear the tape noise. Once in ProTools, I can do whatever I need to the track. First step is to run it through SoundSoap (I know there are better noise reducers out there, but this one is cheap and works great for this purpose, so I just stick with it) to take out the tape hiss and noise. Once that is done I make any adjustments to the EQ that enhances the quality of the original recording. Finally, I run it through my favorite simple limiting plugin (the McDSP ML4000 ML1) and boost the level either to the point Janne states, or where I start to hear distortion or artifacts. Basically boost as high as I can so it still sounds great. After that, bounce to disk, import into iTunes, and burn to CD. Pretty simple, and produces great results that are almost always better than the original cassette recording. Don't know if this helps or not, but it made me feel better sharing!

If you don't have access to something like the Tascam line mixer there's a number of di's by Radial that can help with the interface between the tape deck and audio interface. Which to use depends on what the op has and that's something we don't know.

I used to love the original Soundsoap for cleaning up all kinds of stuff, especially when transferring vinyl to CD. Thing with SS is to not try and do everything at one pass but several passes.

As to boosting the level until you hear distortion or artifacts that's not a good criteria as not everyone hears the same thing and thinks it's a problem.