Newbie help to transfer reel to cd

I'm a newbie with digital recording I need some recommendations on transfering some reel tapes to cd. I will be using either a Nagra 4SJ or Stellavox SP-7 to a HP Pavillion 7000 laptop which has a 3.4 gig processor, I'm looking for straight transfer with the least coloration to the sound as possible. What hardware for the laptop would be recommended and software, the decks both have RCA outputs
Thanks

 

You will need a long "Y" adapter. You can get one at any Radio Shack. It's a 1/8" stereo jack to 2-RCA.

Not sure that laptop would have a bonifide line-level input though. Compaqs and HP's of today only have line-level output and Mic. Neither are useable for input recording.

You would have to pony up for a USB sound card of some sort, or better yet, use a desktop with a half-decent card....

 

How is the quality of the M-Audio interfaces with USB or Firewire?

 

First, as Sckott says, you need a soundcard. Laptop ones that do what desktop ones do are generally more expensive due to form factor. You could always get a Firewire/USB 2.0 PCMCIA and get an external box, too. That could work. Make sure, especially with a laptop and possibly slow I/O, you have low latency. The breakout box should cover you in the RCA input/outputs.

Make sure you get an input device/card that supports what you want and what bitrate you want. I transfer reels at 96/24. That is a lot of hard drive room, but worth it to me. I use a separate internal HD, but it's a desktop.

Then you need a decent program (I use WaveLab or Cubase SL). A basic WAV editor will suffice but you may want something more.

 

I have the Audiophile USB and it's made some really fine recordings for me. Absolutely no problems with latency, and no glitches in my files either. I always run it at 24/96 since my files are eventually destined for a DVD-Audio disc. As long as you're running USB 2.0 on your laptop, it would probably work fine. Older USB is too slow, IMHO.

 

Just an opinion...

The option to use the laptop wouldn't be my 1st consideration unless it is a must. Options for the same job using a desktop tend to be less expensive and easier.

There's a lot of hang-boxes you can buy to do what you want to do, but not without a sizable investment. Is the job worth it?

 

I was thinking of Adobe Audition. Would this fit the bill? Also you say you record at 24/96, do you draw this down to 16/44 or do you burn this on Audio DVD
Thanks

 

Bob, I use the Echo Indigo i/o PCMCIA sound card with my two-and-one-half-year-old IBM ThinkPad; it plugs into the card bus slot, not a USB port. It lists for $229 IIRC, but many places offer it for around $179. If you use the Echo Indigo, you will also need a mixer or some other external device to adjust the recording level. At an Echo tech's recommendation, I bought a Behringer 805 (I think that's the model number) mixer for $40 or $50. Both items are probably available from Guitar Center. I have little to compare this setup with, but it gets the job done for me. Both units have received good reviews.

For software, I use Sony's SoundForge 7.0 for recording and processing, and Stomp's Click 'N' Burn 2.0 for burning CDs. Many other people here use Adobe Audition (formerly known as Cool Edit) for recording and processing.

Paul