How to transfer Digital back to Analog (you didnt read that backwards)

Purpledrink333

New member
Newbie. So we have a Tascam Portastudio 414, entire band is newbies when it comes to recording but decided to get this and record our own demo. We play punk and honestly like a high quality low-fi sound, musically stuck in the late 70s/80s so we decided to go analog (also cheap..). Problem is were learning as we go and recorded the drums on the first track as we simultaneously recorded guitar on the second, then later added bass on the third. We still need to record keys, vocals, and group vocals, so we tried our first bounce and pretty much ruined our recordings which came out better than we hoped. Were not sure what we did wrong but after bouncing, while recording keys everything seemed to go wrong, the keys came in and out on odd places from rewinding and rerecording, the volume of the recordings was all over the place, everything just went downhill. Were wondering if we had the main tape cue pressed in or not in which messed it up? Or possibly a track going out or too many rerecording on the same cassette. ..have no clue what could caused this especially when the first three tracks sounded so good, any thoughts appreciated because wed like to continue recording with the 414.

But my real question is I was smart enough at least to send each track to Audacity on my pc so we do have the guitar,bass, and drums all together in sync for each song for our demo but this is unfinished. We've tried to record keys and sync digitally but that was a fail because timing way off and came in and out again, and screw digital...we wanted analog recordings anyways and don't want the headache of having to sync keys and vocals digitally, I would rather live record.

So how do I send these digital recordings through audacity back to my 414 onto one track on a new cassette (so that we don't have to rerecord what were already happy with and already converted digitally). Is it possible to use a 1/8th to 1/4th cord from the computer to the mic line on my Tascam 414? That way we can have three more open tracks and record vocals and keys and finish the demo. Also will I need to change any settings, like the speed in audacity because im assuming im sending files that are in normal speed to a high bias faster four track, will speed be off or when we send it will audacity convert in autmatically?

Backwards, I know but were a mess and lazy lol
 
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Is it possible to use a 1/8th to 1/4th cord from the computer to the much line on my Tascam 414? That way we can have three more open tracks and recored vocals and keys and finish the demo. Backwards, I know but were a mess and lazy lol **low-fi is fiiine.

Try it.
It will be low-fi. :)
 
You only say you want to record analogue - already you discovered what virtually everyone has. If you record analogue badly, it suffers far worse than digital.

Let's be honest. For those of us old enough to remember sound on sound - two track bouncing, then four track - you had to experiment and learn how to mix incomplete tracks - in your head you'd have too add in the tracks next on the recording list, and imagine the levels of the final mix - and most times it didn't work and you ended with a real mess - just like you have. 70/80s punk was NEVER badly recorded, that's just what they alway pretended. They paid detailed attention to levels, to headroom, to amounts of distortion, and to the drum mix - and their engineers were really good.

You've discovered that audacity can save the day, so if you want really good punk style recordings, record them properly to the computer that can already do so much more than your analogue gear. While you are doing this you can (once all the tracks are recorded and rough mixed) drop many out and see what just a couple sound like - this will help you if you then go back to the analogue machines and start again.

There is a sound that is why many people love analogue - BUT - it takes a lot of effort to really get to know your recorder, and it sounds like you haven't quite got it yet. Recording to digital then putting that back onto analogue kind of messes up the concept - the analogue sound rarely pops out when digits, all processed and tidy are dumped back to tape.

ALL my analogue mixes from the 70s and 80s have a sound of the time - but are pretty dreadful mixes by today's standards, because back then, I wasn't skilled enough. Most have one instrument t too loud or too quiet and nothing can be done, because I didn't notice it early enough. Well recorded punk (not at all my favourite) but I recorded lots back then, is damn hard to do properly. It't not, as many of my friends back then thought - an excuse for poor recording techniques. The phrase I heard back then lots was "yeah, that'll do" - as in it wasn't excellent as a take, but after take ten, the standard was lowered a bit, and that tiny little peak would be fine (it wouldn't be), and that nasty distorted cymbal where the drummer went berserk would not be noticed (it would!).

If you want to record any music with a low track count and do bounces, you have to really plan. Your keys point is a good one - keys in a mix can take up huge amounts of space - maybe ok with just right hand chords, but if the player has chords stabbing away and a bass hand too, then this will usually mess up a bass included in an earlier bounce.
 
^^+1
"Pre-production" is key when using tape and always was , even recording Punk. And it definitely takes practice. I agree about not going back to tape also. The only thing I can say about what you have now is that if you want to record additional parts would be to try the adapter into the stereo aux input and monitor only while recording(have only new tracks in record mode) and send the new tracks to the computer where they can be time aligned with the old relatively easily. If you are going to stick with the tape, spend time learning it's nature to get out of it the most. Things like cross talk, tape bleed , etc. can be used creatively if plan for them.
 
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