Is there a way to fix warped sound from old cassette tapes?

[jerrac]

I have a bunch of old cassette tapes from when I grew up. My family listened to them a LOT. That, plus age, means many/all sound warped.

Is there any way to remove or reduce that warping effect?

I've saved a couple of them as .wav files, but after poking around Audition's menus, I have yet to find anything that looks like it might work. Nor have I been able to find anything via Google. 'Course, I'm a complete newbie when it comes to sound related stuff, so I might not even be searching for the correct terms... I did find Noise reduction techniques for Adobe Audition CC  which sounds like it might be something that would help, but I have no idea how to even guess at what settings to try and see if it can fix anything...

My setup is a RCA boombox connected to my computer's line in port via the boombox's headphone jack. I've then told Audition to record what the boombox outputs.

I have Adobe Audition CS6 version 5.0.2 Build 7 running on Windows 10.

Any suggestions on what I should search for?

Any solutions?

Any suggestions on background information I should learn that would help me know what to look for?

[emmrecs]

There's really nothing in Audition CS6 that will "automagically" do what you need I'm afraid.  Intensive manual use of the Pitch Stretch tool on short sections of each file in Audition might go some way towards what you need, but the keyword there is "intensive"!

I don't have any of the (later) CC versions of Audition but my impression is that none of them will offer a substantially easier workflow.

However, if you have lots of money to spend you might care to look at http://www.celemony.com/en/capstan.  I understand that its success in restoring old recordings which have suffered degradation (increasing wow and flutter) over time, is second to none.  I think you can rent the software for a given number of days so you can try it out on your tapes.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_ · Accepted solution]

Capstan is good, but as emmrecs says, it's seriously expensive - even to rent for five days. But, just listening to tapes a lot doesn't alter the wow and flutter performance. What's far more likely to be happening is that your cassette player is causing most, if not all, of this rather than the cassettes themselves.

There are cassette recorders around that use dual-capstan drives which are far better with old cassettes than any single-capstan drive in a boom-box. Boom-boxes were in fact notorious for having crap drives in them, and as far as I'm concerned should all be scrapped immediately - they can potentially damage tapes beyond any reasonable repair. And since they are now all old, their behaviour will be even worse...

If you really want the best you can get from a cassette, you need a Nakamitchi deck - they are amazing when it comes to replaying cassettes. Like, you almost wouldn't believe it. And yes you can still pick them up on ebay, and some for less than it will cost you to rent Capstan for a week... I have an old LX-5, but there are several other suitable ones as well. Yes there are other dual-capstan machines available, but none that replay quite as well as the Naks.

There are other things that will help as well - whatever you play the tapes on. Spooling them from one end to the other before playing them at all will reduce print-through, and also reactivate the internal lubrication. And if you are forced to use a single-capstan machine, you need to check the little felt pad that presses the tape onto the head - these harden up or fall off, and that screws up everything. This isn't generally an issue with a dual-capstan machine, as this system automatically tensions the tape across the heads, making the pad redundant.

So before spending a lot of money on software, I'd get the hardware sorted first - you might not need the software at all.

[jerrac]

emmrecs​ What should I try to do if I go the "intensive" route? Is there a good guide out there for someone who doesn't know much at all on the subject? (From your post, I likely won't do that, but I'm still curious to see what it would actually take.)

I will look at Captstan, though, you're right, it's a LOT of money.

@SteveG My boombox is basically brand new. I bought it new from walmart a couple years ago and it hasn't been put through anything that would damage it.

Still, what should I look for in a Nakamitchi deck? Or another brand, if I saw something in a pawn shop or craigslist...

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

jerrac wrote:

My boombox is basically brand new. I bought it new from walmart a couple years ago and it hasn't been put through anything that would damage it.

Still, what should I look for in a Nakamitchi deck? Or another brand, if I saw something in a pawn shop or craigslist...

It's still a boombox. Their problems are inherent; none of them ever had good decks in them in the first place! The other machines that were notoriously bad were the 'double' cassette decks intended for copying. In order to make them affordable, they had to put cheap decks in.

As for the Naks, well - most of them are pretty good, but I'd avoid the more basic ones, and any of the single-capstan ones. Unfortunately these are the ones that are more often 'affordable'. But I think that any of the dual-capstan microprocessor-controlled ones should be fine. If you find a 700 or 1000 series machine that's affordable, then buy it. I think that this will be unlikely - most people know exactly what they've got, and if you find a cheap one then the chances are that it will need servicing. They are, though, the Rolls Royce of cassette machines. As for alternatives - well Technics and Denon made some decent dual-capstan machines, and Aiwa's AD-F770 always performs well. Yes it's a bit of a minefield, but if you get a good deck, you'd be amazed how much difference it can make.