2. tech-talk
  3. 1412203630

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

I have about 50 Grateful Dead Hour shows on tape recorded off of FM. They were all recorded on a Nakamichi LX-3, and many shows were recorded using Dolby "B" Unfortunately, the LX-3 is too bulky to transport, and also too expensive to ship (30 lbs boxed) I could buy either a used a Nakamichi BX-1 or BX-2 after I move and settle in, but I would have to find one in good condition

Therefore, my question is: could these tapes be tranferred to CD's, possibly even cleaned up or even re-equalized. BTW, many of the tapes offer some of the Dead's best performance over the years; some are just OK.

Unfortunately, it may be very expensive to professionally transfer the tapes. And I don't know if there are any quality "tape to CD" machines out there for sale. I really don't want to buy a transcription component that I will use only for a short period. ANY SUGGESTIONS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED' Thanks, Jim

sunnyjim

Showing 2 responses by lloydc

lloydc's avatar
lloydc
734 posts
 
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.
lloydc's avatar
lloydc
734 posts
 
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".
More to discover