How to Use a Computer to Transfer Audiotapes to CDs

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By eHow Contributing Writer

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You can use your CD burner to make a complete transition from tape to CD, or to make CDs to play in your car. You'll need a sound card with a "line in" jack (other than a microphone jack).

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

CD-R Burners
CD-R Discs
CD-RW Burners
CD-RW Discs
CD Recorder Software

Record to Hard Disk, Then CD

Step 1

Open CD recorder application.
Step 2

Select "line in" as the source or input.
Step 3

Open the File menu and select New or whatever command is used for beginning a recording.
Step 4

Sample a track to set a recording level. Set the level to peak at 0 dB, 80 VU, or as high as possible without going into the red portion of the meter display.
Step 5

Put tape deck in Play/Pause mode before beginning the desired track. If your source unit lacks a pause button, start Play a few seconds before end of preceding track.
Step 6

Look for the command that begins recording: probably Record, Save, or Extract to File. Start the recording process before the song starts.
Step 7

Click Stop at end of track or side.
Step 8

Save the recording as a WAV file to desktop. Save individual tracks as separate WAV files, or save entire side of tape if your software allows.
Step 9

Open the WAV file in your recorder program (drag it into CD-R window in some applications).
Step 10

Select the recording speed.
Step 11

Find the command that will record to CD: probably Record, Create, or Save.

Connect Source to Computer

Step 1

Plug in your tape deck or portable player near your computer.
Step 2

Connect the tape deck or player to the Line In jack on the sound card.
Step 3

Use the jacks labeled Tape Out, Line Out or Playback on the deck, or use a headphone jack. Proceed to step 4, 5 or 6, depending on what you will connect to the computer.
Step 4

If you're using a tape deck with a Tape Out, Line Out, or Playback jack, connect a cable with two RCA plugs on one end to the back of the deck. Connect the stereo miniplug on the other end to the sound card.
Step 5

If you're using a deck with a headphone jack, connect a cable with a 1 /4-inch plug on one end to the headphone jack. Connect the stereo mini-plug on the other end to the sound card.
Step 6

If you're using a portable player, connect a cable with stereo miniplugs on each end from the unit to the sound card.
Step 7

Open the CD recorder application.
Step 8

Select Line In as the source or input.
Step 9

Open the File menu and select New or whatever command is used for beginning a recording.
Step 10

Sample a track to set a recording level. Set the level to peak at 0 dB, 80 VU, or as high as possible without going into the red portion of the meter display.
Step 11

Put the tape deck in Play/Pause mode before starting the track. If your source unit lacks a pause button, click Play a few seconds before the end of the preceding track.
Step 12

Look for the command that begins recording: probably Record, Save or Extract to File. Start the recording process before the song starts.
Step 13

Click Stop at the end of the track or side.
Step 14

Save the recording as a WAV file to the desktop. Save individual tracks as separate WAV files, or save the entire side of the tape if your software allows it.
Step 15

Open the WAV file in your recorder program (drag it into the CD-R window in some applications).
Step 16

Select the recording speed.
Step 17

Find the command that will record the file to CD: probably Record, Create or Save.

Comments

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Two types of recordable CD-R discs are sold. To record a music CD, you must buy a CD-R disc marked for Audio or Music use (this has a copyright royalty paid on it, so costs more). You can't record audio (ie music) onto a CD-R marked for Data use, because these discs are encoded to prevent them being used to store music on and the burn process will fail.