Sampling from cassettes?

[Takedown]

I have a bit of a problem. I found my grandpa's old cassette player so I figured I'd start sampling the tapes that him and my dad played when I was a kid. Problem is, when I record it into a DAW or any other recording program, it's stupid loud. Everything sounds distorted and shitty. The cassette player is hooked up to my computer through the analog mic input using a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cord, then a 1/4 inch to 3.5 mm adapter that goes directly into the cassette player.

[Gecko Infinite]

Your problem probably lies in the fact that you are using your mic input. You want to use your "line" input for Turntables, CD Players and Tape decks.

[Takedown]

It's a laptop with 2 regular audio jacks though. One input is an analog mic input, the other one is a headphone output.

[Gecko Infinite]

Alright, then you have 2 options. Turn the volume on the tape deck, or you computers mic sensitivity way down. Or you could buy a USB soundcard, with the proper audio inputs. I recommend doing this, as having a line in jack is essential for sampling. The response is lower, and the quality is greater.

[Takedown]

Where would I get a decent USB soundcard and for how much?

[Gecko Infinite]

Pretty much any website man.
Try going to amazon.com and searching "PPA International 1455 USB 6 Channel External Sound". (Sorry I can't post links yet, so you'll just have to go there yourself)

file_23_17.jpg
It will look like this.

That one there is 20 dollars. It's a cheap and cheerful solution, but that's probably for the best, since all you need it for is one audio jack (of which the raw component is worth less than a dollar). You could pay hundreds of dollars on some top notch gear, but I don't think that's necessary, for something this basic.
The device also has S/PDIF ports, which is high quality digital sound, so you could find yourself sampling movies from DVD and Blu Ray players, if they have S/PDIF outputs on them.

[Xabiton]

The heads on your cassette deck are probably dirty as hell. Honestly I love the cassette format but I grew up listening to cassettes in the late 80s and early 90s

[hollandturbine]

It might be possible to go into settings and simply switch your input from mic to line level.

---------- Post added at 12:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 PM ----------

Pretty much any website man.
Try going to amazon.com and searching "PPA International 1455 USB 6 Channel External Sound". (Sorry I can't post links yet, so you'll just have to go there yourself)

Attachment 35871
It will look like this.

That one there is 20 dollars. It's a cheap and cheerful solution, but that's probably for the best, since all you need it for is one audio jack (of which the raw component is worth less than a dollar). You could pay hundreds of dollars on some top notch gear, but I don't think that's necessary, for something this basic.
The device also has S/PDIF ports, which is high quality digital sound, so you could find yourself sampling movies from DVD and Blu Ray players, if they have S/PDIF outputs on them.

That shit looks like a cheap and nasty interface for surround sound as opposed to an interface that is suitable for music production.

[Takedown]

I went into the mic setting in the control panel, and found out Windows was adding an extra 24 db to the input -.- thanks though, it works fine now. I've gotta get a new adapter though, mine is really shitty.

Has anyone else ever tried sampling with cassettes?

---------- Post added at 09:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 PM ----------

The heads on your cassette deck are probably dirty as hell. Honestly I love the cassette format but I grew up listening to cassettes in the late 80s and early 90s

Do you know how I'd be able to clean it?

[hollandturbine]

I just recently replaced a belt on my cassette deck so I could archive some old tapes and perhaps record some new ones.

I just use isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip to clean the heads.