Thread #6: Digitizing

An ongoing project is turning cassette tapes into CD's. This is a very time-consuming project; there is no way to do it quickly. The most recent project was a two-cassette recording of a performance of the Handel Oratorio, Judas Maccabaeus by the Brattleboro Community Chorus back in May of 1994. I play the tape on a little tape recorder that is patched into my computer. I have to stay right there with it because I am editing the tape - eliminating the dead spots, creating bands. which each contain one or two movements, etc. So it takes a lot of time. I use the app Garage Band on the computer to do this. Once I have recorded a movement in Garage Band, I send it to iTunes and create a folder there where I can collect all the movements. In this case there were 50 movements which made  32 bands, which fit on 2 discs, about an hour and a half all together. Then I have to create a case for the discs, and make a cover, liner notes, etc. It's a project!

The original cassette tapes

The tape recorder I use - it is an old Optimus Vox, It is probably 40 years old at least, but it still works well.

The CD cover I created. The picture is by the French artist,Gustave Doré (1832-1883) and it depicts Judas Maccabaeus confronting the vast army of the Seleucid general, Nicanor, and all his elephants!