Grateful Dead Hour Shows: Transferred to CD's??

you really need to eq old bootleg tapes when turning them into cd's. Even though eq causes various artifacts (phase shifts, particularly), it is still a necessity. That eliminates using those one-box cassette-to-cd machines; you really need daw software to make them listenable.

I actually bought (and had rebuilt) a Dragon, an M-audio delta 1010 ADC, and Wavelab software, for this purpose. Works well (ok, I'd rather have the expensive Aire converter, but...), but expensive and very time-consuming, tedious work. Worth the effort for dead blues guys' tapes, but too much work for Dead bootlegs, considering the alternatives.

Raymonda had the best suggestion, just go find those shows online, which most likely someone has already done. or keep playing the tapes.

A friend of mine said he finally got rid of his old Dead bootlegs. But when pressed, he finally admitted that he kept "a few thousand".

ZD542, I mentioned above that Hammeker/Schemmer on line catalogue shows a Teac tape to CD machine to transfer audio cassettes to CD's. I assume this is what you mean by...."audio component CD burner....." The Teac is $500 plus shipping. The H$S catalogue online reviews of this product warn that standard blank CD will not work. Though H&S offers a 30 pack of blank CD's for $19.95.

I really did not want to spend $500 to transfer the tapes of Grateful Dead shows which are available on archive.org. Nevertheless, thanks for the heads up.

SunnyJim-

where are you located?
Perhaps, there is a local radio station (college preferred) or transcriptionist that may be of asssitance?
Keep us posted and Happy Listening!

"ZD542. I am not that computer savvy, but I wish I had known about transferring by using a CD burner to transfer the tapes"

Just to clarify, I was talking about an audio component type CD burner, not the ones that are in a PC. Also, I forgot to mention another possible solution. They make cassette decks specifically designed for what you need to do. Do a search for "digital cassette tape converter", and you'll see what I talking about.

Raymondo and Zd542.... Thank you both for the advice. Ray if I need a particular GD show that I can't find, I will give you a shout.

ZD542. I am not that computer savvy, but I wish I had known about transferring by using a CD burner to transfer the tapes, I still have the tapes, but the Nakamichi LX-3 is gone. I just did not want to ship it with the rest of the load, so I gave it to a young guy who likes to tape local Hawaiian musicians off of FM..... Aloha for now!!!

To me it seems like shipping your cassette player would be the cheapest option. But if that's not doable, I don't see why you can't connect your cassette deck directly to a stand alone CD burner. That's always been a pretty good way to record LP's, so I don't see why Cassettes would be any different. One other things that's very important, is if you do end up getting a new cassette deck after you move, you'll really need to get one that has an azimuth adjustment. If you don't match the position of the heads to the cassette deck that made the recording, playback on a different deck will sound very dull.

I wasn't suggesting that you buy anything to do the transfers yourself. Rather, I was leading you to sources where the shows you have on cassettes are most likely are available in a digital form and from a source of better quality than yours.

Www.archive.org is an online digital depository for live concerts. There are hundreds of bands and tens of thousands of hours of live concerts available there for free. Some are soundboards. Some are professional multitracking mixes and others are audience recordings. The Grateful Dead has the largest collection and most likely what you recorded off fm is available from a source closer to our from the master.

Also, if you can't find it there I may have it and could copy it for you. I've been collecting and taping the Dead for a very long time.

I sold the Mitsubhuhi, and, yes I had mine modified, too. I've also found that radio is of such poor quality that I don't care to listen to it either.

Raymonda, Thanks for the offer of assistance and advice. However, as Lloydc notes it will take a lot of work, and I am not hunting for a used Nak Dragon on AG or E-bay

However, Teac offers a tape to CD transfer player that is available through the H&S catalogue from New York city. They want $500 for the machine, but I am sure it can be had less expensively new, or used. One glitch is the device uses special music/audio blank CD-R. Standard CD-R's will not work. Though, H&S offers a 30 pack for $20

BTW, Ray, I see you have a Mitsubishi Tuner (circa, 1980-1985(?) I used to sell them when I was a audio salesman, and actually bought a used one for about $60. I then got it modded by a guy in upstate Pa. It sounded great.... and also looked great. However, FM blows anymore unless you live in a major metro area.

Thanks to all who responded so far

it's a lot of work to turn a bootleg into a cd. You need a Nak Dragon, A/D converter, and DAW setup to do it right.

Also....if you can't find it there....talk to me. I'm a long time taper and collector

Go to archive.org many if not all of these shows are available there. Enjoy.