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Note: Some portions of this tutorial were excerpted from the product literature

Many of the newer digital recorders sold today come with a USB cable connection and software that makes it easy to connect the recorder to a computer for the purpose of downloading audio files. However, there are older or less expensive recorders that do not have USB capabilities, including many fine digital recorders as well as most mini cassette and full size cassette recorders. The instructions below will provide basic information on connecting these recorders to a desktop computer via the headphone jack of the recorder. These instructions also apply to most laptop computers.

Note: The instructions are for Windows based computers only. Although I believe this information would also apply to Mac's, I do not use and do not have access to them so I cannot say for sure.

Interfacing A Recorder To A Computer

Here are basic instructions on connecting a recorder to a computer sound card. This is one of two procedures you'll need to perform in order to be able to download EVP recordings to the computer for editing, storing and emailing. Keep in mind that there are a large variety of sound cards on the market, so while these instructions will follow exactly for some computers, others may differ slightly. Once the connections are completed you'll need to check the sound card settings on the computer. See the instructions entitled "Setting Up Your Computer To Record Audio" to configure the computer to record and playback the audio files from the recorder.

Buying The Correct Cable

The first thing needed to connect the recorder to the computer is an audio patch cable. You can find these at any Radio Shack. Almost all digital, mini cassette and full size cassette recorders use the 1/8 mono to 1/8 mono plugs. The Panasonic RR-DR60 and a few others use a sub-mini phone jack (3/32), so if you have such a model you'll also need to purchase the adapter which plugs into the headphone jack of the recorder and is then connected to the cable.

Note: If you are using a stereo recorder and want to download both channels to the computer then you will need to purchase a 1/8 stereo to 1/8 stereo patch cable.

6 foot Audio Patch Cable (1/8 mono plugs)
6 foot Audio Patch Cable (1/8 stereo plugs)
Mono Plug Adapter (1/8 mini phone plug to 3/32 sub-mini phone jack)

Connecting The Cable To The Sound Card

Below is a picture of the rear view of a typical sound card and a listing of the sound card input output symbols.

Pictures taken from Dell Computer literature

One end of the cable connects to the headphone jack of the recorder. Then follow the instructions below to attach the other end of the cable to the sound card.

In this diagram jack (7) is the "Line In" that you will plug the cable into. Your speakers should be plugged into jack (8), and if you have a microphone it should be plugged into jack (9). Your sound card setup may vary slightly but the symbols should be the same.

If connecting to a laptop, the connection information depicted in 7, 8 & 9 will be the same on older models, however, many newer models have done away with the "Line In" jack, leaving users with only the headphone/speaker jack and the microphone jack. If you encounter this situation then your only option is to plug the cable into the microphone jack instead of the line in jack mentioned above. You may have to adjust the recorder volume lower when inputting the audio file but most people I've spoken with have not had a problem using the microphone jack in place of the line in jack.