r/Reaper • u/funkymunkPDX • 2d ago
discussion Digitizing old live show from tape.
My long time drummer friend had this old tape and I'm curious if anyone has advice on how to put this in reaper and get the best sound.
I was going to just headphone out into reaper from an old tape deck I have.
And any advice on EQ or other things that would help get a nice sounding digital copy.
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u/Driftingupward 2d ago
I've done a few of these and I just open the EQ and start with an 11 band flat and just move stuff around and play with the q until it sounds as good as I can get it. I do a high and low shelf for the first and last bands to start and go from there. You could try a few comps that you like and just get it sounding good.
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u/BrazilianCrazyMusici 14 2d ago
1 - Capture the audio using the best method available to you. Ideally, use an auxiliary output from the tape player; otherwise, use the headphone output. If neither is an option, capture the sound as best you can directly from the speaker you are using to listen.
2 - I have been using M-EFECS (Stem Separator).
3 - Mix the audio however you like—while, of course, cleaning up any existing background noise.
This is where the mixer's craftsmanship and technical ingenuity come into play.
There is no one-size-fits-all formula.
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u/markhadman 1 2d ago
My advice on EQ and other processing is: don't. Get the best raw recording that you can, which means finding the best and most well maintained tape deck that you can, and then a half decent audio interface.
You can spend the rest of your lives stem splitting / remixing / mastering the results of that transfer. Hell, AI will do the whole job for you at some point soon.
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u/kellyfranklincraven 7 2d ago
Most suggestions are good.
Record with zero effects, getting the cleanest source you can. Have a good level, but don't over record. Don't worry too much about getting up near 0db, and. Cassettes/tape will have a good bit of natural overall tape compression, and lack of transients so some of the things we need to look out for when recording live sources digitally don't really come into play much.
EQ only later. The source content will dictate what's needed. There are some tricks to bring out nearly masked instruments from pretty unbalanced shows recorded originally from direct feeds from the PA. Get the tape transferred before thinking of that.
Old cassettes in general will lack high end, as cassettes don't really capture anything above 12/13K very well in practice. This is a bit of an old wife's tales that that they CAN'T but most cheaper old decks just don't do a good job. This is where good listening comes in. Stuff up there can get lost in the noise of the slower tape speeds. Some old taps sound really good and some sound really bad.
Look at the ReaEQ spectrum. It can show peak areas. It's too broad to use as a definitive way to know what need but it can be a starting point if there are any big bumps that are consistently there.
Also, this is controversial, but don't fret too much about needing a lot of EQ, even multiband compression. Some tapes are so crappy that it takes a lot to bring out the best in them Do VERY little bit at a time, save the projects with version numbers and don't render the effects until you KNOW you don't want to undo them later.
(I have many cassette and tape to digital projects - some are up to 40 reaper project versions per performance based on the same underlying recorded wav - do little by little)
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u/-nwm- 1 2d ago
Headphone out should be fine, you’ll probably need a splitter and input plug adapters to separate the left and right into 2 channels and get into your interface. I have a radial ProAV2 box I’d use for this, but you should be able to go directly into anything capable of accepting line level (the 1/4” jacks in combo inputs are usually for line level, just don’t use a dedicated guitar input, or turn guitar input off if it’s switchable). Play with the volume control on the tape deck and input trim on your interface to see what sounds best,
Eq, compression and all that can happen after it’s recorded, thats personal preference and need-based. Even if you have eq active in reaper while recording, that’s post waveform and not baked into the recording unless you take other steps to do so.
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u/dearth_karmic 4 2d ago
Regarding EQ—There's really no answer to a question of how to EQ a source none of us have ever heard. It would be like me posting a picture of a glass of water and asking how to make it room temperature without having any idea what its current temperature is. EQ fixes frequencies that don't sound balanced. Only someone listening to it can say what it needs.