jcland - Posted - 10/29/2024:  05:25:01

I have about 55 cassette tapes that I transferred to computer years ago of which I still have the old mechanical drive on the shelf. The transferred files are the complete album in full, which back then I did not have the capability to separate the songs into separate files.

I remember around 15 years ago there was a program that would "listen for the gap between the songs" for a predetermined amount of time you could set and it would somehow either mark the gap between songs or separate the file so that the end result would be x number of separate audio files. If there were 10 songs on side A, you would wind up with10 separate audio files.

I don't remember the name of the program and of course it probably is not even available today.

Does anyone know of a current program, either freeware or commercial that would analyze the audio file and do the separation?

Another alternative I was looking at was to have a program that would insert CD Cue markers (Track Markers) in the file and then you could somehow separate them using that method. I know that Adobe Audition has the ability to do that manually but you have to actually burn that to a real CD. My laptop does not have a CD burner so I don't even want to do go down that road.

In this day and age with all the technological advances there might be a way that I could use.

Anyone have any ideas or information on what I want to accomplish?

Thanks.

RB3 - Posted - 10/29/2024:  06:56:40

If I were faced with this dilemma, I would probably try to use the free, Audacity audio software.

You would open the digital file in Audacity that consists of the multiple songs. Then, you would select the portion of that file that represents any of those individual songs. You would then use the Export function to save that section as the individual song. You then repeat the same process for each, individual song.

jcland - Posted - 10/29/2024:  09:15:53

I downloaded Audacity and gave it a try. Looks like it takes me about 15 min per recording to do the following:

1. Mark the tracks using CTRL B
2. Normalize stereo channels independently.
3. Export the tracks to a chosen directory.

I then use a program i already have to edit the MP3 tags and get that all cleaned up and then the project is done.

I tried using the Analyze-Label Sounds but with the tape and vinyl noise between the tracks it was a no go. Way too many false tracks identified. Much simpler to do it manually.

Not a bad system but it is what it is.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Old Hickory - Posted - 10/29/2024:  09:45:48

quote:

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Originally posted by jcland

I remember around 15 years ago there was a program that would "listen for the gap between the songs" for a predetermined amount of time you could set and it would somehow either mark the gap between songs or separate the file so that the end result would be x number of separate audio files. If there were 10 songs on side A, you would wind up with10 separate audio files.



I don't remember the name of the program and of course it probably is not even available today.



Does anyone know of a current program, either freeware or commercial that would analyze the audio file and do the separation?

---

CD Spin Doctor did what you're describing. It was included with Roxio Toast (CD burning software). It went defunct many years ago. Roxio stopped upgrading it and it stopped working with newer Macs and later operating systems.

But, yes, you could record a full cassette or vinyl album side into your computer, and it recognized the gaps between songs. I think it went the extra step of breaking them into separate files that you then named and saved.

Wayne described the relatively easy manual process for doing this today.

Edited by - Old Hickory on 10/29/2024 09:47:57