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Participant
December 9, 2019
Question

Digitizing cassette tapes using Windows 10 and Audition 2020

  • December 9, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 3558 views

How do you digitize cassette tapes using Windows 10 and Audition 2020?  I haven't been able to find any help in Adobe Audition help or anywhere else.  I just need a detailed, step by step instruction for this.

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1 reply

SteveG_AudioMasters_
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 10, 2019

You have to bear in mind that Audition is professional software, and as such its users don't generally need to be told how to do things like this. Mainly because in principle it's incredibly simple to do, and the setup hasn't really got anything to do with Audition as such anyway, which is why you'll find no references to anything like it in the manual.

 

How simple? Connect the line output of your cassette player to the line input on your audio device (or on your laptop if you aren't using an external converter), select that as the input you're using in Audition, press 'record' in Audition and 'play' on the cassette recorder. When it's finished, press stop on both. Save the file. You're done. But details beyond that we can't give, because we have absolutely no idea what equipment you're using.

 

But that's the simple bit. If you actually want to nuance the results, there's a whole load more you need to do, and that gets more complicated. And it's not to do with Audition either - if you want some sort of an idea, read this thread: Importing Audio from cassette tape initially.

Participant
December 16, 2019

Thank you for letting me know how to connect the audio from the cassette player to my computer using Adobe Audition CC.  Using your instructions, it worked.  Adobe technical support for Adobe Audition told me that Audition was absolutely not capable of doing this simple task.  However, you have to bear in mind that many people use Audition and other Adobe products for their own purposes, and don't have to be "professionals" who use the product every day as part of their work.  Digitizing cassette tapes may be "simple" to you, but nobody is born with the innate ability to understand this.  I use Audition because I pay for it, and there is nothing wrong in asking beginner type questions.  Since Audition is an audio software program, digitizing tapes with this software has everything to do with Audition.  I would suggest being less condescending in your answers, because you are very knowledgeable about Adobe Audition.   

SteveG_AudioMasters_
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 16, 2019

You're misreading it - there's nothing condescending there. I used the word 'simple' in its correct context. I'm slightly more concerned about why Adobe help say that Audition is effectively not capable of recording from an external source. I realise that the support people don't actually use the software and are, to all intents and purposes reading from a crib sheet for each product - they have to be able to cover whatever calls they get, and there's a lot of software - but even so, that's a bit much I think.