Recording in a Vac

Question

Hi,
I am new to this board. I am trying to record some old audio cassettes into mp3 format. The problem I'm having is that is sounds like I am recording it into a vacuum. The louder the volume gets, the louder this hirrid sound it makes get.
My configuration is like this: RCA Tape Deck to Numark DM200 mixer. Mixer to Sound Card the card is the first edition of the Audigy. I have everything going into the Line-in selection for that which needs to go there, but the output sounds awful. I'm really frustrated. The feature is working the way it should it's just that it sounds like you are playing in a vacuum upon output. That tells me it's being recorded that way.
Can somebody help walk me through this to try to get it to sound right?

Answer 1

I do this with a kenwood dual cassette deck. Its old, i would say late 90's, but it has a left and right output. I go out from that and into my li've! dri've's l/r aux. Everything sounds good.
Only thing i can say is, make sure the tapedeck isnt blasting, set it to around 80% volume, and also make sure that the line in, aux, or whatever you use, arent set all the way up in your recording properties. Just making sure of this, will improve the sound. And of course you should check about the volume settings on the mixer as well. I would say to bipass the mixer just to see how it goes.
Hope all goes well.
One more thing i thought of, how old is the tape deck? I know theyre "out of date" so maybe if it hasnt been used in a long time, it could need a demagnetizing and cleanning kit cassette, just to get the head cleaned and fresh. Both those problems cause a lot of extra hissing in the audio.