the decks I've used the volume control on the tape deck doesn't affect anything. the output is just one fixed level.
so to gain stage the operation wiggle the volumes around in windows mixer (that little speaker in the bottom-right of windows) and wiggle the volume around in yer wav recorder until you find the best sound. [[EARS people!
]. some soundcards have their own volume controls separate from the windows mixer (eg E-MU stuff, M-Audio etc etc) just find it. only audacity has an 'input record volume' setting that I can recall right now, so this one fader is crucial.
standard practice is to set it where the peaks are not far from the top but 100% for sure not touching. this is an analog practice it is worthwhile to also compare some lower-level captures for sound quality... sometimes its a lot less harsh for some reason I can't figure out!!
boosting in post always harms the sound a little bit. moreso in 16bit than 24bit but most traded tapes have the levels set as I described above. distortion is worse, of course.
ps don't overplay the tape if you can help it, it wears off the highs!
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