Easiest way to convert audio tape to mp3?

Question

I have a few hundred of audiotapes; I am looking for an easiest way to convert them to mp3; I would like to find a software which would

1) adjust recording level automatically (and do it gradually - i.e. if input volume is getting low, recording software would slowly adjust the level)

2) split recording into smaller files (if silence between songs is longer that X seconds), pause recording if silence is longer that Y seconds (to allow tape to reverse and stop at the end of the tape)

3) Output result as mp3 files (224kbs, stereo)

So in ideal situation I wouldn't have to do anything other than insert the next tape, enter the tape name name (which will be used while generating mp3 file names) and start the program; the rest would be done automatically

Thank you for help.

Answer 1

The usual tool of choice here is Audacity - it does points 2) and 3) pretty much automatically.

It also does normalisation, (your point 1) but usually across an entire track or collection, so you may have to manually do it if you want it to be a slow adjustment.

Answer 2

I personally have used Sony's Sound Forge to convert analog audio (from ANY source) to MP3 or other formats. You have to connect your device/deck via the line input or through various scrubbing decks if you want to get crazy. and then start recording in Sound Forge, then hit play on your tape deck. Once the tape is done or what you want recorded is done, simply stop the recording in Sound Forge and then you can edit out the parts you don't want as well as do some normalizing/remastering, etc...

Answer 3

Perhaps try and old version of donar mp3 recorder from old apps website. you can record as wav and it does pretty advanced silence track splitting detection. there are so many solutions you should research yourself a while, the question is very common online. it will be not easy to find a program that splits the audio and does normalization and mp3 in one go. may as well just record the entire length normalized and split manualy or navigate the file afterwards. aslong as it's saved.