Recording cassettes to burn to cds

[susie]

Hello,
I am recording cassettes to cd from my stereo to line in and burning them to cds.  Unfortuantely when I play the cds, it sound like the chipmunks,( recording very fast)  I have slowed down the speed to 2x, but that does not work.  I am not sure what I am doing wrong.  I am using musicmatch jukebox and recording and burning from there.  I, in the past, have recorded old Lps and those turned out fine, but for some reason the cassettes are not.  Does anyone have any suggestions as how to fix this.  What is odd is when I play the songs from the musicmatch library, it sounds fine.
Thankyou

[Dak]

Hi Susie,
If the songs play correctly once in your music match library, thats a good start. Most people dont have the facility to get that far!
Unfortunately, it also means a hardware problem is the most likely cause. Since you are getting the music into your computer, and it plays ok, then the problem is making it leave your computer again.

I can think of 3 most likely possibilities.

There could be a setting in your burning software that you have missed, which is causing the cds to be burnt at a higher speed. Some software does allow you to make small adjustments to this, but usually no more than a few percent faster and slower than the original. Which software are you using to burn with?

Secondly, there may be a problem with your burner thats just developed. Have you burnt any other cd's successfully recently? Try choosing music from a different folder and burning that, just to test.

One more possibility is that its not your computer or the cd at all.. have you tried playing the disc in more than one cd player? I know its stating the obvious but if you havent done so, take the disc that runs too fast and try it in a different cd player instead.

If none of these appear to be the problem, then we'll need more information. I'm not familiar with musicmatch jukebox, so I dont know how it does things.

Are you using a 'direct burn' method at all.. ie. the software is copying the cassette, storing it in a temp file then burning directly to disc?

Or are you using the software to upload the songs onto your computer, and then, in a separate process, burning the music to disc?

If you are storing the music first, what format are you saving the music as.. ie. mp3, wav, m4a, etc?

What CPU, RAM, and operating system are you using?*

*To obtain this information in both XP and Vista, click on Start, then right click on My Computer and select properties. This will bring up a window called System Properties. On the 'General' tab on this window, you'll see all of this information.

[Bear]

Though I have ripped hundreds if not thousands of cd's I have never ripped a tape so please excuse any ignorant comments.

1. Are you just directly ripping the tapes then encoding or are you encoding as you go ?

2. Are you using any type of a sound recorder ?

3. What bit rate ? (128 kbs is probably going to be suitable, unless your a perfectionist)

also on just about every cd I have ever encoded I have always used just to channels

Bear   

[Mitz]

Here's a few more questions to confuse the situation...LOL

Is your computer up to date with Windows Updates?

Is there a problem with your sound driver? If the cd works in other devices or stereos then this might be the problem.

Here's a few things to try:

• Reduce the sound cards hardware acceleration level ..Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Volume tab>Speaker settings area>Advanced button>Then move slider to reduce hardware acceleration.
  
• Download an updated version of your sound cards driver. Something you have installed has caused a problem with it.
• Do a system restore if the sound was working a few days ago.

[susie]

I actually have tried burning again from windows media player, thinking it was musicmatch that was the problem.  No luck.  It still sounds like the chipmunks.  I have 2 cd burners, tried both of them with no luck.
The procedure to burn Lps or cassettes is fairly easy, I just bought a cord and one end fits into the stereo where the phones go (earpiece) and the other goes in the back of computer in line in.  I go to musicmatch, pull up the recorder and hit play on the stereo and start copy on the musicmatch recorder.  It goes to your library and burn from there.  Some of the Lps are somewhat scratchy, but overall it sounded pretty good.  I just cannot figure out why the cassetts are sounding in fast motion.  Like I said what is strange, it plays fine and sounds fine in windows media player. 
 I have tried some of your suggestions but it still is not working.
Thanks,
susie

[Mitz]

Did you install a fresh sound card driver? Let me know if you need help to try this..

[susie]

No I didn't try that, because all my other songs that are in my library, are burning fine.  It is just the ones from the cassettes that sound funny,  which I think is odd.
Oh well, I guess I won't be burning from cassettes.
Thanks,
susie

[Dak]

I convert cassettes to cd regularly. I copy the cassettes into my computer using my line-in via a program called audiograbber, but the principles should be the same. If you'll stick with it, and supply answers to all the questions, I am sure we can work this out for you. We can't help you without sufficient information!

Audio cassettes are analog, not digital. They are converted into a digital file as they are recorded by your software, then saved into a folder.

1. When you look at the converted files in the folder, what extension are they? ie mp3, wav. m4a etc.

2. What bitrate are they? ie 128kps, 192kps, 64kps etc. If you cant work this out, then tell me the approximate average file size of these files.. ie 2000kb (approx. 2MB)  4000kb 6000kb etc.

3. Do the converted files play fine in Windows Media Player when you double click on them?

4. Are you using Musicmatch Jukebox to actually burn the files to CD? Is it able to do this (I have never used this particular program)?    ... or are you only using it to get them in the computer then using a different program to burn them, like Nero or Windows Media Player?

5. When you play the burnt CD, are you just trying to play it in the computer disc drive, or have you tried to play it in (more than one, preferably) other CD players?

6. Tell me about the computer and software you are using.
     a.  What version of Windows (XP or Vista most likely)?
     b. If you are doing the burning with Nero or Windows Media Player or something else.. which version? ie Nero6, 7 or 8, Windows Media Player9, 10 or 11, etc. 
     c. What version of Musicmatch Jukebox are you using (look on the main menu for an 'about' option.. this may be visible on its own or it could be in the 'help' menu.)

7. Are you using the same program to burn the other CD's which are working ok? Have you created CD's from other music since you started doing the cassettes?

Stick with us Susie, provide as much of this information as you can, and we will get this sorted out. If you arent able to find the information on the converted files, you are welcome to email me one of them dak@pctipforum.com and I'll be able to examine it in detail.

We are here to help

[susie]

I looked and when I am recording, it says digital.  Should I change this to analog?
Its is Mp3, 128kps.  When I play the song on windows media player 10, it plays fine.  I can burn from both muscimatch and windows media player and I tried both of them.   They sound good on both, but not when I burn them.  Musicmatch is version 9.  (It is an old version)
I have created other songs and burned them from windows media, and those were good.
I think I will try the analog and see what happens.
Thanks, I will let you know.
susie

[susie]

I changed it to analog and it still sounds like chipmunks?
susie

[Mitz]

If you do find the answer to your problem, please let us know, as we are extremely interested in the solution.

[susie]

No I did not figure this out.  I burned 3 other songs from my library, along with the one from the cassette.  The 3 songs sounded normal, but the cassette sounded like  munchkins.  Very strange!!!  I don't think it has anything to do with my burners.  I tried both, since I have two.  I tried burning on different speeds, with no success.  I even burned some of my old Lps along with the cassette and still did not work.  I think what is really strange, is when I play the songs on my computer from my library, they sound normal.  Its only when I burn them and try them on other cd players.
The cassette is old, its from the play Miss Saigon, but my Lps were even older???  Oh well.
Thankyou though for trying to figure this one out.
susie

[Mara]

I wonder ... if there an option available that shows something like 'Effects'?  I'm groping here but if there is, could you please try a wee something?

Under Effects>Change pitch ... and lower pitch.

(When I mentioned I was groping, I'm sadly not kidding as I'm reversing the steps we used to take with a 'fancy' cassette player we once had that would allow us to increase 'pitch' - much to the delight of the kids as it then caused Chipmunk voices from whatever was playing!).

[susie]

Yeah, I don't have anything like that on my cassette player.  It recorded normal to my library and sounds fine, but not when I burn it.
susie

[Mara]

Am still groping here, susie ...  but even burning at slower speeds may not help if the disc we are using is a 'quickie'.

For instance, I ended up with some that only burned quickly and didn't notice the box didn't say what I usually buy ..."Burns at all speeds from 1X up to ____".  And for whatever reason, they simply didn't work well for me ... if you're not using one already, is it possible to try again using a 'variable speed' disc, I wonder?

[Mara]

Gosh, I hope the below shows the answer ...

"Why does my music sound like chipmunks are singing?" ... http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/mediaadvice/0067.mspx