How to save music from DAT Files

[TJtennispro]

My favorite band had a reunion show this past weekend and I was given 50 DAT tapes and a Sony DAT player to listen and transfer the DATS which are full shows to external storage or CD. Anybody got any helpful hints for me? 

[mansr]

Does the DAT player have S/PDIF or some other digital output?

[marioed]

Hi TJ,

I've transferred some DAT's to hard drive a number of few years ago. As mansr asked what type of digital connection does it have?  As I remember the Sony DAT recorders had a maximum resolution of 24/48 in digital but could use the analog outputs for 16/44.1.

 

When I transferred the DAT's I used the digital output from the DAT recorder into an AD/DA interface and then usb from the AD/DA into the computer using Audacity software to convert to wav. If your computer soundcard has digital or analog inputs you wouldn't need a separate interface. The DAT recorder I had did not allow for high speed downloading to the computer so the transfers had to be done in real time. I'd download an entire DAT tape as a wav file and then use the DAW software to create individual tracks.

 

If you have the right DDS drive I believe you can transfer the DAT file directly from tape to hard drive and then use software to convert from .dat to wav or flac. The DDS drive has to have audio dat firmware on it which most don't.

 

Regards,

Mario

[TJtennispro]

14 hours ago, mansr said:

Does the DAT player have S/PDIF or some other digital output?

 

Yes the DAT has an S/PDIF which I’ve currently got hooked up to my 2015 MacBook Pro. 

[TJtennispro]

5 hours ago, marioed said:

Hi TJ,

I've transferred some DAT's to hard drive a number of few years ago. As mansr asked what type of digital connection does it have?  As I remember the Sony DAT recorders had a maximum resolution of 24/48 in digital but could use the analog outputs for 16/44.1.

 

When I transferred the DAT's I used the digital output from the DAT recorder into an AD/DA interface and then usb from the AD/DA into the computer using Audacity software to convert to wav. If your computer soundcard has digital or analog inputs you wouldn't need a separate interface. The DAT recorder I had did not allow for high speed downloading to the computer so the transfers had to be done in real time. I'd download an entire DAT tape as a wav file and then use the DAW software to create individual tracks.

 

If you have the right DDS drive I believe you can transfer the DAT file directly from tape to hard drive and then use software to convert from .dat to wav or flac. The DDS drive has to have audio dat firmware on it which most don't.

 

Regards,

Mario

 

The Sony is an DTC A6 that my friend gave me Sunday for the project I just don’t know where to begin. 

[Patrick Cleasby]

DAT is 16bit. You need to know if the individual tapes were recorded at 48kHz or 44.1kHz. The Sony SHOULD indicate which. Use S/PDIF and set Interface/computer/software accordingly.

[mansr]

3 hours ago, TJtennispro said:

Yes the DAT has an S/PDIF which I’ve currently got hooked up to my 2015 MacBook Pro. 

Good. Now you just need to fire up Audacity, select the S/PDIF input, and press record. Once the transfer is done, you'll have to manually split the recording into tracks if you want them as separate files.

[marioed]

Hi TJ,

Have you used Audacity before? Do you need help getting it setup? Like mansr said record the entire tape as one big file, save that and then go back and manually split into tracks if you want to. Unless you're planning to monitor your input sound levels throughout the entire transfer I'd suggest finding a particularly loud section on each tape and set the input levels for that with a little safety margin so you're not red lining the input levels and clipping.

Regards,

Mario

 

[mansr]

7 minutes ago, marioed said:

Unless you're planning to monitor your input sound levels throughout the entire transfer I'd suggest finding a particularly loud section on each tape and set the input levels for that with a little safety margin so you're not red lining the input levels and clipping.

There's no need for that. This is a pure digital transfer.

[TJtennispro]

5 hours ago, Patrick Cleasby said:

DAT is 16bit. You need to know if the individual tapes were recorded at 48kHz or 44.1kHz. The Sony SHOULD indicate which. Use S/PDIF and set Interface/computer/software accordingly.

Under project rate of Audacity it says 44.100

[TJtennispro]

1 hour ago, marioed said:

Hi TJ,

Have you used Audacity before? Do you need help getting it setup? Like mansr said record the entire tape as one big file, save that and then go back and manually split into tracks if you want to. Unless you're planning to monitor your input sound levels throughout the entire transfer I'd suggest finding a particularly loud section on each tape and set the input levels for that with a little safety margin so you're not red lining the input levels and clipping.

Regards,

Mario

 

I’ve never used Audacity before but besides the band I’m the only person who knows what songs are what and can separate the files from one another so I guess that’s how I volunteered. Should I just insert a DAT tape in and record? 

[mansr]

3 minutes ago, TJtennispro said:

Under project rate of Audacity it says 44.100

You need to set that to match the rate on the tape. The DAT player should indicate this somehow.

[TJtennispro]

1 minute ago, mansr said:

You need to set that to match the rate on the tape. The DAT player should indicate this somehow.

 

The Dat deck has a little silver slider for 44.1, 48.1. 

[marioed]

55 minutes ago, mansr said:

There's no need for that. This is a pure digital transfer.

Thanks mansr I'd completely forgotten that. TJ, yep set the rate and record.

Regards,

Mario

[TJtennispro]

So when I insert a DAT and it reads it I should then set to the correct setting. I just want to make sure I get that part correct. 

[Patrick Cleasby]

12 minutes ago, TJtennispro said:

So when I insert a DAT and it reads it I should then set to the correct setting. I just want to make sure I get that part correct. 

 

Yep. Should we get into Sector Boundary Errors on the cutting yet... 😉

 

[new_media]

You can also use GarageBand to capture a digital stream and then export to WAV.

 

I had some problems with dropouts using Audacity, but I have found GarageBand to be rock solid.

[TJtennispro]

On 4/30/2019 at 1:23 PM, new_media said:

You can also use GarageBand to capture a digital stream and then export to WAV.

 

I had some problems with dropouts using Audacity, but I have found GarageBand to be rock solid.

 

Im having major Audacity problems too. I might try GarageBand. 

[Patrick Cleasby]

You can just record straight into Quicktime TBH

[TJtennispro]

I can hook the DAT deck up to my AV receiver and play straight through my speakers but I’ve got a problem with my audio setup. Anytime I try to record into my Mac it’s recording my cough instead of the music. 

 

Im not sure why? 

[mansr]

2 minutes ago, TJtennispro said:

I can hook the DAT deck up to my AV receiver and play straight through my speakers but I’ve got a problem with my audio setup. Anytime I try to record into my Mac it’s recording my cough instead of the music. 

 

Im not sure why? 

You need to select the right input. The default is probably the built-in microphone.

[TJtennispro]

What would the correct input be called? Should I list my options? 

[TJtennispro]

Output is Optical Digital out port 

 

input is microphone but I don’t see another option? 

[marioed]

Hi TJ,

If your still using Audacity, use the Edit drop down menu & select Preferences. In Devices it should show your Host, Playback & Recording Interfaces. In the Recording part there should be a drop down menu to select which device you want to use.

Regards,

Mario

[marioed]

If your DAT is still connected to the computer via spdif you should see that as one of your options in Recording devices.