help with recording DR550

wookie

New member
i need help. i recently got a boss dr550 unit and i am having severe problems recording it.
my 4 track (fostex, i think x 15) has never let me down and provides a great sound when i work with it. however, every time i try recording this drum machine, it sounds horrible. initially i tried going direct,
either in the mic inputs or else through the line ins. it sounded ok, but the signal of the drums would occasionally drop out, and it would also affect the other tracks on the cassette the same way. i suspected that the impedence of the dr550 may be too high to run
right in (boss was so thoughtful that they neglected to list the output amount
on the machine or in the instructions) and so i tried recording dr550 into an amp and micing it to eliminate the (probably) overpowering/saturation my tape was getting. no dice. the miced recording still sounds horrible even though while it is being recorded sounds great through headphones. i tried tweaking the levels on the dr. no big differnce. so now i dont know what to do. i dont own an effects pre-amp, but suspect i might need compression or a gate to cool out the levels cuz theyre pretty erratic but dont want to just go buy one and find nothing fixed. after messing w/ this for several months, i smashed a tape on the floor. so please help me. im sorry this message is so long, but im stuck.
 
Hi Wookie. I have one of those DR 550s and I have had pretty good luck with them. When I record it I just go out eith the 1/4" jacks into my Mackie 1202 and then into my 4 track. I run the volume on the drum machine at about 2/3 volume and this has worked pretty well. I sometimes will take the headphone out and into the Mackie which also works fine. I must admit, I rarely go into my 4-track direct, but only because I usually do a drum and bass mix in stereo from the mixer into my recorder, hence only usin two track on the recorded. Of course, I have to be pretty well set mix-wise this way so that I don't end up unhappy with my results. I don't know the exact line impedance on the DR 550, but it is a line level signal at the 1/4" jacks.

Peace, Jim
 
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