I would like to transfer old reel-to-reel tapes to an iMac. There are different recordings on the left and right channel of the tapes. When I connect the tape deck to the Mac, I get one recording on the left, the other on the right speaker. What to do?

Question

I was about to transfer some music from a reel-to-reel machione to my Mac. There are different sound recordings on the left and right channels. When I connect with RCA cables and Y-connector, I hear one recording from the left speaker, another from the right side. How do I record only one side, but hear it from both speakers?
Detlef

Answer 1

You don't say what end, or connectors are plugged into what. I'm assuming the RCA connectors are on the reel-to-reel end. Since the tape has two different mono recordings, one on each track, you of course only want one at a time during playback. Otherwise, the Mac (or any recording setup) can only treat it as a stereo recording with the standard Left-Right tracks.
1)  There are multiple ways to connect different types of cables to get a mono signal down to a stereo output at the Mac. Here's one way.
2) Plug any RCA cable (single cable or stereo) into only the right or left RCA output of the reel-to-reel.
3) On the other end of the RCA cable, plug in an adapter like this. That will feed the single RCA output into a mono 1/8" plug.
4) Then plug that adapter into this. That turns the 1/8" mono signal into a "stereo" output with the same single track audio being fed to the Mac on both the left and right channels.
5) Record either the left or right output of the reel-to-reel. Rewind the tape and switch the RCA connector on the reel-to-reel to the right channel (if you started with the left) and record that mono signal as stereo.
Or, avoid all of this hardware mumbo-jumbo in the first place and do this:
1) Record the audio just the way you have it. Two different recordings, one on each channel.
2) Copy the audio recording to a new name and open it in your editor.
3) Highlight the left track and copy/paste it into the right track. Presto! Mono recording of the left track on both channels. Save the recording.
4) Repeat, only copy/pasting the right track into the left track and save the second recording.