Equalization/NR before burning?, Reducing treble/boosting bass before burning. Options

I'm happy both with the ability of iTunes to burn CDs and with the ease of transferring even cassette tape files to the iTunes' library. But in the case of the tapes I'd like to be able to reduce the noise in the treble (not just tape hiss, either) as well as boost bass frequencies.

1. What's a program that allows some equalization and in real-time (so you don't have to keep playing it to see if it worked)?

2. Is the equalization best applied before, during, or after the music has been recorded and saved to hard disk as an AIFF file?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Sam

[DigitMus]

SoundEdit16 (if you can still find it) will let you do just about anything to an AIFF file. I just took a look at Peak LE, and it doesn't seem to have EQ - maybe the full version does. If you have a good quality (hardware) equalizer, you can use it on the way into the computer - the Alesis MEQ230 is a stereo 31 band equalizer that sells for a couple hundred $$. I realize I haven't been much help, it's the best I can do without some more research.
Good Luck,
Scott

[Synthetic]

Well, I have heard the freeware app called Coaster allows some adjustments to sound but not sure if it is real time. I would recommend maybe using PEAK and get a EQ plug for it or T-racks is another excellent choice for post recording manipulation. T-racks would let you EQ and use limiter and compression to make your cassette recordings sound as best as possible and you can hear the adjustments as you audition the track before applying the FX. Only downside to T-racks is there is no waveform editor so you have to get tracks trimmed in another app.

[abbie]

Spin doctor which comes with Toast also does this in real-time. Another product called RayGun from Arboretum does the same thing.

Thanks much for the help.  I've been recording with Coaster, which strikes me as every bit as effective as Sound Studio, but neither affords much noise reduction or equalization as far as I can tell.  Saw some negative reviews about Ray Gun, and I don't think it has real time preview.  Spin Doctor is probably worth a try.  I had trouble making Toast work with iTunes, but I see that you can now download Titanium upgrade (from Roxio.com) 5.0.1, which apparently takes care of the problem.

Mac users, incidentally, often seem less appreciative that the competition.  A Time Magazine editor wrote a whole page article last month lamenting that PC users could not burn CD's effectively because they lacked a program like iTunes.