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Headphone out to line in
When connecting a headphone out (which of course has volume control) from a portable cassette player to the line of something like the Marantz PMD661, how do you suggesting keeping the distortion at a minimum?
Many thanks in advance.
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14 Replies
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Well if you really MUST do this, and a proper cassette machine with correct line out connections cant be found anywhere, then Id strongly suggest having headphones / speakers on the recorder. Find the loudest part of the recording and set the level for that transient using your ears and the meters on the recorder.
Im surprised you have a cassette. Ive not seen or touched one in over 10 years and I spend every day in the sound industry.
NB be aware that your azimuth may well be miles out on the player and so mono compatibility could be goosed.
Peter
Peter
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Thanks for the tip on the azimuth. I might look for a cassette player that has an adjustible azimuth. You mentioned mono compatibility in connection with azimuth. Why is that.
As far as the levels go, for a given aggregate level, is it better to have have the cassette low and the recorder high, or the other way around?
And yes, I have lots of cassettes. Some of them have pretty irreplaceable stuff. Dialogue, recorded on so so equipment to begin with.
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Azimuth.
If the azimuth is out, then the relationship between left and right is non coherent. In stereo this shouldnt have too great an effect (remembering theory form a dark and distant part of my mind) but if a listener listens in mono then losses may occur / phasing may occur.
If youre adjusting azimuth, then you must listen in mono to get it right.Levels wise. Having either one too high or low would be a problem. If the cassette is too high, the output amp on the cassette may not be able to cope and cause distortion. Or the input on the recorder could do the same. But having any 1 too low will increase hiss as the noise floor on cassettes was never great. id go for an inbetween value where everything is sensible and adjust from there.
Youll also have to get the dolby sorted. Things have probably got dolby B on them. If recorded dolby b then you need to enable dolby on playback as dolby encoding on a recorder increased the hf on recordings. non dolby pb would make things over bright and hissy. BUT if there is no dolby on the recording then switch off the dolby on pb as this will turn down the hf value on pb significantly.
Youngsters dont know theyre born these days with everything so simple.
PeterPeter
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Hello Tony,
Why are you trying to connect the two? They are of very different electrical characteristics.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field GuideWatch Ty play guitar -
Could you give us the make/model of the gear you are using? A “headphone out” is usually stereo (2 channels) and uses unbalanced circuitry, whereas a [true] “line input” is mono and uses balanced circuitry.
Interfacing them can be a bit tricky depending on what you are using and the parameters you have control over.
Wolf
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The only cassette player I have access to is a portable player, similar to a Sony Walkman (if you remember those), but made by Panasonic. It has a 1/8″ stereo headphone jack. The Marantz recorder has XLR inputs and a digital input, but I was looking to use the 1/8″ line in.
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Tony, Again, please. What are you trying to do?
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field GuideWatch Ty play guitar -
Alrighty – now we’re getting somewhere! 🙂
First, you’ll really want to use the XLR inputs (yes, both of them).
Second: Interfacing…
The best option is to balance the signal coming out of the tape player. This can be achieved by using a direct box of sorts (both Whirlwind and ProCo make good units). Using this method will allow for longer cables runs with less interference from external sources. You can then use the XLR inputs without fear of overload. You could also use the box’s “sum to mono” function, buy/make a XLR to 1/8″ TRS cable, and run that into the Line Input of the recorder.
The next best way would be to buy/make a 1/8″ TRS to dual-XLR cable (about 3ft. long would probably be fine). That will keep the signals separate, although unbalanced, so a conservative estimate for cables run lengths would be no more than 15ft.
Hope that helps. Please report back on your decision.
Wolf
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Ty,
I am trying to transfer cassette tapes to digital format.
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Jordan,
Does that solve the issue of the outputs being headphone and not line level?
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