Digitize audio cassette with Audacity

This practical tip shows you step by step how to digitize your audio cassette with "Audacity". This is particularly useful when you want to transfer the audio file from the cassette to other devices.

Digitize audio cassettes with Audacity: the materials

The era of magnetic tapes, of music and audio cassettes, is coming to an end. In particular, new music systems no longer have a cassette compartment, so you can only use your cassettes on older players. The free audio software "Audacity", however, enables you to digitize your audio cassettes. In order to digitize your music and audio cassettes with "Audacity", you need some materials in advance:

• a pre-recorded audio cassette
• a cassette player (Walkman or tapedeck)
• an audio loop cable
• a computer with a sound card
• the software "Audacity"
• headphones or an external speaker.

Instructions: Digitize audio cassettes

1. First prepare your Walkman or tapedeck by inserting the audio cassette and connecting the headphones or speakers if necessary. Make sure that you insert the cassette with the correct side and rewind it completely.
2. Then configure "Audacity" on your computer. Once you have installed the program, start the program and go to the configuration via "Edit"> "Settings".
3. Under "Playback and recording" (menu item: "Audio I / O") select the current sound card on your computer. Under "Channels" you can set whether you want to record mono or stero. If you record pure speech, "mono" is usually sufficient. If you digitize pieces of music, you should use "stereo".
4. In "Audacity" first click on "File Formats" in the navigation bar. If you want to save the file as MP3, you need the right plug-in to convert the file from WAV to MP3. To do this, select the "Search library" button. You will now be asked to download the LAME MP3 library.
5. Unzip the "lame_end.dll" file in the same folder where "Audacity" is installed and select it as a library. Under "Bitrate" you can also set the quality of the MP3 file. The higher the bit rate, the better the quality and the more space is required.
6. Via the navigation bar you get to "Directories". Check here whether there is enough storage space and select the desired storage location. If you have changed the settings, save the changes with the "OK" button at the bottom right.
7. You now connect your Walkman or your tapedeck to the computer. Plug a cinch plug of the audio loop cable into the headphone socket of the Walkman or into the "Line Out" output on the back of the cassette player. Connect the other 3.5 mm jack plug to the "Line In" output of your sound card on the computer. If your computer does not have a "Line In" socket, use the microphone output as an alternative.
8. Now start recording: In the "Audacity" program, click the red record button in the menu bar or simply press the "R" key.
9. Then press "Play" on your cassette player to play the cassette. The cassette is now picked up by your computer. You can recognize this from the fact that a sound track is created in "Audacity".
10. If the audio signals are cut off at the top and bottom, the recording will be overloaded. To get a correct recording, you have to use the volume control in the Windows audio settings to reduce the volume until the recording is no longer overdriven.
11. When the entire side of the cassette has been played back, click on the yellow stop button in "Audacity" to end the recording and to save or edit the file. Finally, repeat the steps after turning the cassette in the Walkman or tape deck.

• If you are satisfied with the recording, save the file in a lossless format by saving the recording as an AUP project file using "File", "Save project ...". Alternatively, you can save the recording directly in "MP3" or "WAV" format. To do this, select "File", "Export as ..." and "MP3 ..." / "WAV" in the storage options.

If you are not yet able to find your way in "Audacity", you should watch our "Audacity Tutorial". There we will show you how to use the basic functions of "Audacity" and what you need to consider.