Analog Newbie-Fostex A2-Easy Questions

[PHILANDDON]

Hey,

So I've recorded a song on the Fostex A2, I picked up on ebay and I gotta say it sounds pretty good (considering I was just experimenting with the deck and paid no attention to mic placement or performance). A couple of quick questions:

I'm coming out of a preamp (and not a mixer) into the recorder. What should I do with the input levels on the recorder? Should I put them at 12 o'clock? Turn the up (or down)? Where should I try to be metering on the recorder? I'm recording voice and guitar...live, no overdubs. Thanks.

Oh, and when I make a digital copy of my recording to make a CD, I'm guessing I press the "repro" buttons on the recorder and just hit play. Am I right? I noticed that when I made a digital copy with the tape-recorder's input buttons pressed in, I gotta kinda a 50'sish echoey effect. Kinda cool. Kinda slap-backy. What's that about?

THANKS

 

[jpmorris]

No-one else has offered yet, so I'll try to help.

I'm coming out of a preamp (and not a mixer) into the recorder. What should I do with the input levels on the recorder? Should I put them at 12 o'clock? Turn the up (or down)? Where should I try to be metering on the recorder? I'm recording voice and guitar...live, no overdubs. Thanks.

Generally you'll want to have the meters hovering around 0. Some people like to slam them into the red. Try both approaches and see which works best..

Oh, and when I make a digital copy of my recording to make a CD, I'm guessing I press the "repro" buttons on the recorder and just hit play. Am I right? I noticed that when I made a digital copy with the tape-recorder's input buttons pressed in, I gotta kinda a 50'sish echoey effect. Kinda cool. Kinda slap-backy. What's that about?

Alas, this is only an easy question for people who have an A2. The A8 is similar, but not similar enough in this regard. I would have thought that what you're doing was correct.

I don't know how you're getting the echo. How many heads does the A2 have? Is it two or three? I assumed it was two, but you can only get echo on a three-head machine. If there are three heads, it is possible to switch it into 'sync' mode, and take the input off the record head?
Are you absolutely sure that you aren't somehow taking the feed off both the record and repro heads?

 

[PHILANDDON]

Well maybe the A2 is a three-head machine cause it appears to have a couple "sync" buttons. So maybe I hit the snyc button on playback and got the echo effect. Sounds kinda good though, I think.

Thanks for the help.