[Vintage-Audio] Cassette Audio Quirk?

Tue Jun 2 12:37:02 EDT 2009

My Sony, CDR-W33 has a switch (second from the right, below the name button) 
that has "off, SBM, Limiter+Eq, SBM+Limiter+Eq." as its four positions. The 
Eq parameters are just a band pass I think and is set by some other menu 
item. I never use it so I don't remember.

When you have some eyes over have them see if you are possibly running the 
CDRW at too high a level and running out of bits. Digital stuff is very 
unforgiving if you need more bits.

Bob

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
To: "Vintage home and professional audio equipment from 1975 back" 
<vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Cassette Audio Quirk?

> Hi There My Friend,
>
> Great to hear from you!
>
> Oddly enough, I was thinking about you some yesterday and most of today. I
> know that part of it today was because I played an album on my primary
> stereo and that Nashville sound reminded me of the wonderful moments of
> music that you so lovingly injected into my life Bob.
>
> I generally do not use the SBM - Super Bit Map, on my Sony CDRW deck. I do
> not recall if it has any 'limiters' on it. There are no EQ adjustments on
> it. Does your CDRW deck have adjustable EQ controls?
>
> The cassette tapes I was trying to remaster were those from the 1983 
> Dayton
> Hamvention. Someone, Dr. Max De Henseler, HB9RS, I suspect, recorded the
> tapes using an ordinary portable cassette unit. It was just sitting on a
> table recording whatever its built-in mike could detect. A lot of racket!
> But it did add to the "historic" flavor, audio quality and mood!
>
> I spent about one hundred hours trying to get a good Master CD for two of
> those cassette tapes. If they had not been of historical value, I would 
> have
> pitched them into the trash after about five minutes! However, since they
> were live, authentic and possibly important recordings of Bill Halligan,
> Sr., Fritz Franke, Chuck Dachis, the Hallicrafters produced 45 rpm single
> "The Amazing World Of Short-Wave" etc. I decided to preserve them if at 
> all
> possible.
>
> Did I ever send you the four HHRP packages (Halligan's Hallicrafters Radio
> Project)? If not, and you would like copies, just let me know.
>
> You can check out the contents of the two DVD and six CD's at:
> http://hhrp.w9wze.net
>
> Whatever is causing this sudden distortion is baffling me. The DAT Master
> shows absolutely no signs of any audio problem. If I plug the headphones
> into the CDRW deck and monitor the audio from the DAT source to the CDRW
> unit, I do not hear anything wrong. So I suspect that there is some noise 
> on
> the cassette that is transfered to the DAT and then picked up by the
> electronics of the CDRW.
>
> I have noticed in the past when I was remastering vinyl albums to CD's, 
> that
> sometimes this same distortion would happen. However, in these instances, 
> I
> could hear a sudden "pop", like a stylus hitting some fragment of a snack
> that had dried and stuck to a groove!
>
> The amount of time between tracks is also critical! The DAT to CDRW likes
> exactly three seconds, not 3.1 seconds! Oh well, I'll probably never 
> figure
> it out and even if I do, who else will care?
>
> How are you doing Bob? Have the issues in your life that were troubling 
> you
> the last we corresponded still present or have you been able to tame, slay
> or modify them?
>
> It seems that everyone that I know who was employed, no longer is. One 
> lost
> list job as the head computer engineer at NBC Universal after seventeen
> years. Another lost his job when Chrysler closed their automotive parts
> facilities in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area. On and On.
>
> I have Social Security reviewing my disability. The Flint office is so
> screwed up that it frightens me. Last week I got a call from them, the
> "only" call I have gotten from them since I received the notification by
> mail that my elgibility for benefits as a disabled person was being 
> reviewed
> on April 20th. My termination date was May 7th. I got a call on May 27th 
> to
> do a telephone review! The woman was nobody I had received any letters 
> from.
> Now Bob, this was twenty days after my case was to be closed if this 
> review
> had not been done! This woman had no idea that I had gotten that review 
> done
> by phone on May 7th already! My paperwork had already been sent to 
> Lansing,
> MI for the medical part to be done!
>
> All I know is that I won't know for from ninety to one hundred and twenty
> days as to whether or not I am still disabled and elgible for benefits!
>
> Talk with you soon Bob. Stay well.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "wolfbob" <wolfbob at csnsys.com>
> To: "Vintage home and professional audio equipment from 1975 back"
> <vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 7:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Cassette Audio Quirk?
>
>
>> My Sony CDRW does cassettes good. I set it on SBM/LIMITER/EQ off, 
>> usually,
>> but run SBM somethines.Never noticed any distortion related to hiccups.
>> Don't like limiters or eq in any form.
>>
>> Bob
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
>> To: <vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 3:22 PM
>> Subject: [Vintage-Audio] Cassette Audio Quirk?
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> I keep encountering a problem every time that I remaster the audio on a
>>> cassette tape to a CD format.
>>>
>>> Yes, for those of you who may remember this, I have also recorded the
>>> cassette audio to my Sony DAT deck and converted the mono on the 
>>> cassette
>>> to
>>> stereo on the DAT.
>>>
>>> The Master DAT is perfect, at least to my finely tuned ears. However,
>>> when
>>> I
>>> feed the DAT to the Sony CDRW deck to create a CD, things go a bit 
>>> crazy.
>>>
>>> The CDRW apparently hears a snap or a crackle or a pop or ...? When it
>>> hears
>>> this noise, not audible to me, it causes distortion in the CD recording.
>>>
>>> I have changed all input/output cables from the amplifier to the DAT,
>>> from
>>> the DAT to the amplifier, from the CDRW to the amp etc. All are the Gold
>>> plated heavy audio cables six feet in length.
>>>
>>> I have tripled checked the Yamaha cassette deck and all of the other
>>> hardware that is involved.
>>>
>>> I can not find anything wrong with anything.
>>>
>>> This only happens when I am trying to convert an audio cassette to CD,
>>> makes
>>> no difference if the cassette is in mono or stereo or identical mono on
>>> both
>>> stereo tracks.
>>>
>>> Have any of you encountered any issue like this one involving a cassette
>>> tape?
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> Duane Fischer, W8DBF - WPE8CXO
>>> E-Mail: dfischer at usol.com
>>> Hallicrafters web site: www.w9wze.net
>>> HHRP web site: hhrp.w9wze.net
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________________
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>>>
>>
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>>
>
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