How to record one track on all 4 tracks using a portastudio

Mikerobrute

Mikerobrute

New member
Hello. I'm new to recording, and I hope this is the correct place for my question.

I have a Tascam 414mkII Portastudio.
I am working on a track that only has one instrument and requires no overdubs.
Is there a way to record that one instrument on all four tracks, therefore using up the whole width of the tape? Would using all four channels to record one track increase quality?

Thanks in advance.
 
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You could bounce the original track to the other 3. Your manual should have a section on Bouncing Tracks (Ping-Pong) - Page 26, I think.

The description in the manual is not an exact procedure for your needs, so you'll have to adapt it.
 
Thing is, the head layout is such that you get 4 thin tracks at record and a choice of the same 4 tracks when you record--not one wider track.

If you have golden ears and hundreds of thousands in monitoring, there MIGHT be an argument that the centre tracks are better than the ones nearer the edges...but I'd be sceptical of even that!
 
What do you really mean by 'increase quality'? Better sound to noise ratio? Nope, you've got the same, just 4X as much of each.
 
- What and how are you recording? Mic'd instrument/voice, direct in (keyboard, etc), through a mixer or preamp? Maybe the 'quality' can be improved before the audio gets to the tape.
- Have you cleaned and deguassed (demagnetize) the tape heads? This is routine maintenance and can affect audio quality. There are Youtube vids on this.
 
So accepting no SN difference, are there any fidelity differences (other things equal) going from a 1" eight track for example to eight from a 1" 16 trk? That's where I'm going astray, I thought there was.

Actually I think I made this way more complicated than needed;
Any one track, from a 1/2" two track or a 1/4" eight trk?
 
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mixsit said:
So accepting no SN difference, are there any fidelity differences (other things equal) going from a 1" eight track for example to eight from a 1" 16 trk? That's where I'm going astray, I thought there was.

Actually I think I made this way more complicated than needed;
Any one track, from a 1/2" two track or a 1/4" eight trk?
Click to expand...

A wider track is better than a narrower track. A 2 track 1/2 has 1/4" width per track, an 8 track 1/4" (is there such a thing?) would have a 1/32" wide track. Wider track = more signal, better SN ratio.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
I thought the whole point of using cassette in the digital age was to get that degradation of quality.
Click to expand...

Correct, but it actually sounds better for certain styles. More "3D" for lack of a better term. Even 1/4 tape. So in that sense it's an effect.
 
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Tape noise 101?

Recording the IDENTICAL* signal on two tracks and MONOing the result WILL improve the S/N..A bit. The theoretical noise improvement is 3dB but since 2 tracks (on say 1/4" tape) is not quite 'full track' the gain is less.

The improvement is due to the fact that noise is random. Two tracks give 6dB (nearly) more signal but only 3dB more noise, result, 3dB better S/N. But you have to DOUBLE the tracks again, 4 to get another 3dB(ish).

Exactly the same statistical 'trick' works for op amps, valves and other random noise devices, paralleling them up reduces noise (some super LN pre amps use buckets of FETs) .

But! THE best 1/4" tape machine ever made with the best tape will barely exceed 60dB below Dolby level whereas even the cheapest 16bit $30 AI will better 80dB and $100 and 24 bits gets you close to a dynamic range of 100dB. Distortion is also waaaaay better. Tape at DL = 1% THD (Sweebeats? I have been away from tape err' long)

"Tape Sound"? 'Avin' a larf!

*The inputs must be electrically paralleled and the outputs electrically (mixer) summed. Even then I doubt '4 to 1' will give better than 4dB improvement. Just buy a Berry UCA 202.

Dave
 
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