Tape to Mp3 Mac?

stacyd83

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Hey everyone,

I'm currently looking at recording my vinyl onto tape using my hifi and I wondered if anyone knew of a device I could then use to get the contents of my tapes onto my Mac?

I've seen a couple of tape to Mp3 things online but have no idea which one is best/suited to a Mac.

Any advice would be great!
 

MajorFubar

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If your HiFi has a line-out you can get decent results by plugging it into your Mac's input, which confusingly is often just called its microphone socket. I can confirm (because I've used it) that it's a perfectly-adequate stereo line-input with an 80db S/NR, which pretty-easily surpasses that of any record you're ever likely to transfer.
 

stacyd83

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My hifi is absolutely ancient so all it has is AUX which is how I connect my turntable, there are no other line out options I'm afraid.

I've heard it may be possible to purchase a portable cassette player and connect that to the mic socket on the Mac and then open GarageBand and record the tapes onto the Mac that way?
 

MajorFubar

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stacyd83 said:
My hifi is absolutely ancient so all it has is AUX which is how I connect my turntable

What turntable are you using? If you find it's working fine by plugging it into your HiFi's AUX input then it must be 'line level', which is loud enough to be plugged straight into the Mac's line-in.

Also like The_LHC I'm a bit confused as to whether you're wanting to transfer records, tapes or both.
 

stacyd83

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The back of hifi consists solely of an auxilary input, there are no other functions on the hifi whatsoever.

My turntable is the Pro-Ject Carbon & I wish to record my vinyl onto tape & convert the tapes to mp3 so I can then put them on my mp3 player.

There is no way of recording the vinyl directly to the Mac for reasons I have previously mentioned!

Thanks.
 

robjcooper

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You can quite easily and cheaply record your vinyl directly to your mac. Buy a Griffin iMic - £22.00 from My Memory via Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Griffin-GC16031-Quality-Recording-Playback/dp/B000BVV2IC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365371078&sr=8-1&keywords=Griffin+iMic

Download the free FinalVinyl software and plug your Pro-Ject's output into the iMic - if it doesn't come with the phono socket to mini jack converter any more you'll need to buy a Phono L&R to stereo mini jack cable. Switch the iMic to Mic level and plug into a USB port on the Mac. In the Mac preferences, make sure the audio input is selected as iMic, open Final Vinyl and make sure that the mic input has the RIAA eq selected. Then either play some of the album you are recording or select auto level. When you're happy with the levels, record a 16 bit 44.1Khz AIFF file of the recording. You can then down-res this to an MP3 in iTunes or burn the tracks as uncompressed aiff to a CD rather than tape.

Rob
 

robjcooper

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My pleasure. Worth going to the Griffin website and downloading the iMic and Final Vinyl manuals too - enjoy !

http://www.griffintechnology.com/support/imic

Rob
 

The_Lhc

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You could equally buy a better quality phono stage with USB, there's quite a few around now, I've got an older Pro-Ject USB Phono Box. Ok they're not £22 but if you've got a Carbon it's probably worth spending a little more. You'd save (a little) by not needing to get the phono-3.5mm jack cable/adapter as a proper phono stage will have RCA phono connectors.
 

MajorFubar

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I'm not sure we ever established why the OP needs to record their vinyl to tape first, so from that perspective, it's difficult to say if any of the solutions offered will do what they want :?
 

The_Lhc

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Yes, it's because she doesn't think she can connect the deck directly to the Mac, seems quite happy with the Griffin suggestion, so I thought I'd chuck in the idea of a slightly higher quality option (without actually naming one as I've got a lot on at the moment and haven't got time to search through the possibilitiesright now).
 

stacyd83

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Thanks for all these suggestions. I have gone ahead with the iMic option because it seems the simplest and yes, it's slightly cheaper than any other method.

I was given advice from Super-Fi who suggested firstly recording my vinyl onto cassette and then to buy a tape to mp3 converter. I was not aware devices such as the iMic existed (totally out of the loop on this side of things!) & it appears neither were they!
 

The_Lhc

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stacyd83 said:
I was given advice from Super-Fi who suggested firstly recording my vinyl onto cassette and then to buy a tape to mp3 converter. I was not aware devices such as the iMic existed (totally out of the loop on this side of things!) & it appears neither were they!

Well, excuse my language but they bloody well ought to have been! That's poor...
 

MajorFubar

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stacyd83 said:
I was given advice from Super-Fi who suggested firstly recording my vinyl onto cassette and then to buy a tape to mp3 converter. I was not aware devices such as the iMic existed (totally out of the loop on this side of things!) & it appears neither were they!

In the name of all that's holy! What ridiculous advice from people who should know better. Sorry for the confusion and thanks for asking here.
 

stacyd83

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My first question was is there a device that exists to do X, Y & Z and I just got a blank look! :oops:

I got the feeling they meant they THEY didn't stock such a device but low and behold they DID stock tape to Mp3 devices....Hmm!

Thanks again, can't wait to get my treasured vinyl collection onto my iPod for when I'm out & about ;)
 

MajorFubar

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stacyd83 said:
I got the feeling they meant they THEY didn't stock such a device but low and behold they DID stock tape to Mp3 devices....Hmm!

Hah! No comment lol. Hopefully Rob's suggestion will work for you. Now that I understand what you're wanting to do, I would have pointed you towards something like the Alesis USB Phono Preamp:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alesis-PhonoLink-USB-Phono-Preamp-Recording-Cable-/281081825104?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item4171c84750

...or this similar device from Behringer:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Behringer-U-Phono-UFO202-USB-Audio-Interface-Phono-Preamp-/230774305099?pt=UK_MusicalInstruments_Other_Pro_Audio_Equipment&hash=item35bb38714b

Alesis and Behringer are respected names in the semi-pro audio field and some of their electronics tend to be (a lot) cheaper than equivalent products made by HiFi manufacturers, but do the same job.
 

robjcooper

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Assuming that the questions about digitising to MP3 were asked when the turntabale was purchased I'm amazed as to why the dealer didn't offer the option of the Pro-ject Carbon USB, which comes with an in-built usb output as well as the phonos.

Oh and for a good quality reasonably priced cable, a 3.5mm to phono cable from ThatCable would be fine and is £3.99 for a 1 metre length (incl P&P)

http://www.thatcable.com/product/3-5mm-Jack-Plug-to-2-RCA-Male-Cable.

The_Lhc I believe used to have the Pro-ject Phono Box which is now £130, as is the NAD PP3i, the Rega Fono Mini £85 and the Behringer UFO202 £29 - all those prices are from amazon.

Rob
 

MajorFubar

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Many of Pro-Ject's prices have rocketed, not sure if it's tax, exchange-rates, higher costs at their end, or all of the above. You only have to look at the Debut, which was their budget turntable costing about £130, then when its price started to creep-up towards £200 they introduced the Genie which occupied the Debut's old price-point, and even that's passed £200 now.
 

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