How to hear all the tracks

RJMJ87

New member
Hey, guys

I'm sorry; this is gonna be a REALLY stupid question. :facepalm:
Here it is: How can I hear ALL the tracks I had recorded on my cassette??
So I took the original cassette I had recorded many moons ago on (song has 4 tracks total) and went to play it on my Tascam so I could listen to it and adjust levels so I can eventually remix/remaster it (btw, haven't used the 4-track Portastudio in YEARS). I'm only hearing tracks 3 and 4. Other side has tracks 1 and 2 all gurgling. I know it's normal for one side to be gurgling. But how can I hear all 4 tracks in the Tascam so I can adjust? I mean, I had to have been able to hear all 4 simultaneously at some point to even record the darn thing, haha, and I don't recall having used anything else other than the recorder itself and headphones; I only used a cassette deck when creating my master.
So then I also tried hooking it up to a cassette deck, and this gives me the opposite result: I hear tracks 1 and 2, but no 3 and 4. My sister and brother (who used to record w/Tascam) don't remember how this works either, and I tried looking in the manual and online but to no avail.
Thank you
 
If it was recorded on the 4 track recorder, it should play back on all 4 tracks provided you have the mixer set for playback.
There should be no gurgling.
If you are trying to play it back on a 2 track cassette, your gonna have issues.
 
Yep, this is what it was recorded on. As far as playback, I just make sure output levels aren't set at 0. If it's at 0 I won't hear 3 and 4, but when I put it up I hear them. I'd think should work for the others too, but it doesn't. There are very few buttons/knobs to play with. So not sure what else to try.
Also, gurgling is only on the unrecorded side. The recorded side is clear but missing tracks 1 and 2.
 
It's a Tascam Ministudio Porta02 MKII. When you say "channels," do you mean if in stereo or mono? I'm very layman, so when I recorded w/this thing years ago, I remember just undoing the "safe" and hitting record; didn't do much setting up other than making sure volume levels were good.
If it helps, the recorder has levels and pans for each track (4 total), 2 guitar gains, 2 input faders, headphone level knob, mono button, and 2 recording function switches that change from "safe" to whichever track # you want to record to. And that's it; not a whole lot on it. When I recorded, I recorded guitar to track 1, main vocal track 2, backing vocal track 3, and drums track 4.
 
I was finally able to get through to Tascam and they think either something is wrong with the tape or with the unit itself. Sounds like I'm doing everything right 'cause they don't see a reason for it to not be playing all the tracks. Who knows; it's so old, and maybe if my cat sneaked and walked on it at any point in time she could have done something too (you know how cats are; can't keep them away from anything no matter where you put it). Oh wells :( Just my luck. Thank you though to everybody who tried to help; I appreciate it immensely. :)
 
The only thing that I would suggest is to flip the tape over to see if you can at least hear the "gurglie" tracks clearer but backward at least. If you can, it means the tape is OK and there's something amiss with the Portastudio unit. If it just comes out low and gurglie and backward, I'd suspect somewhere along the way that tape got reused to record something different. You might also try fast forwarding to a different spot in that same tape to see if the issue shows up everywhere on the tape or not. The basic idea here is to do a bit of basic detective work and eliminate as many possible suspects as possible to zero in the exact issue.

Cheers! :)
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I tried what you said, and also tried it with a different song's master tape. Same problem; not hearing all the tracks. The gurgling on the other side is clear and backwards and doesn't sound low; I also checked it in various spots and it sounded the same. So appears then the tapes are fine but not the recorder. I'll either have to work with the stereo recordings I do have and try to fix them up, or I do have a sneaky idea how to get the separate recordings using my handheld digital recorder (that thing's the bomb). I already got 3 and 4 separate; just gotta try to get 1 and 2, which might be a little harder but I'm a determined person. :) Something's better than nothing. Thank you for your help!
 
Well, if your digital recorder is "all that", record the tracks backward and then reverse and re-sync them up with the 3 and 4 tracks and then just mix to taste on your computer. That or fork over some bucks to get the Porta repaired.

Cheers! :)
 
Yeah, I could try that too, all else fails (reversing the tracks; too cheap to get it fixed though ;P ). Good idea. :)
 
Basic question:

After recording track one and two; did you turn the tape over before recording tracks three and four?
 
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