Tascam 34B questions...

[lo beam]

I don't normally cross-post but the Tascam forum is a little under-subscribed so here's some questions I put up over there.

Over here

I'm enjoying my new Tascam 34B enormously, but I got a couple of questions.
First up - there seems to be a lot of background noise hiss ( I'm coming over from the digital realm so I'm not sure what's acceptable & what could be a set-up problem) - not just at playback, but at the monitoring stage, even with the mic inputs way down low - in fact even with them turned down completely & just the phones output up.
I'm going into a nice condenser mic, thru a Joe Meek pre & I've tried it with the -20db pad both on & off - but still lotsa hiss.
Any suggestions ? (short of getting an external dolby or dbx unit?)

Secondly, how do you connect all the track outs to an amp?
They're RCA (phono) outs for each separate track, but I only have one RCA in on my amp, so can only do one track at a time. Obviously it seems like some kind of patch bay/mixer is required before the signals get to the amp - any suggestions here?

Sorry if this is all dumb, obvious stuff

Dave.

[Mark7]

What's your signal chain? Are you just plugging mics straight into the 34B or using a desk?

[Mark7]

And do you have a DBX unit?

[cjacek]

I'd look at the "signal chain", as Mark said, and also if all your knobs are turned correct. Unless there's a problem there, the 34B should not present these types of "concerns".

Dave, in as much DETAIL as possible, can you please provide us with your signal chain, gear and also where each of the knobs on the 34B are and on your external gear ?

Daniel

[The Ghost of FM]

Also, check my response to your question in the TASCAM forum.

[lo beam]

Thanks for all the help guys.
The signal path is pretty much as described above - good quality ADK S-Pro condenser mic into a Joe Meek VC3Q pre, out via 1/4" jack into the back of the 34B.
( Would a balanced signal like this from the mic/JM pre into an unbalanced unit like the 34 make any difference I wonder?)
I've been monitoring with phones for now, until I get some kind of mixer rigged up ( yeah, I thought about using my Peavey p.a).

I've been pretty careful with the input gain on the 34 since it's a VERY hot signal from the JM ( JM at about half way up & output about 3/4 up) & had it just nudging the red VU meters.
I tried the other channels too, and they're the same - so I'm pretty sure it's not a fault on one channel.

It could very well be that it's just a shock coming over from working on my Yamaha AW16G, and something I'll get used to & find solutions for.

Or I could get a dbx unit. I had a quick look round for the dx-4d on ebay but no joy -there's plenty of dbx 224 units though. Would these do just as well?

Thanks again !

Dave.

[The Ghost of FM]

( Would a balanced signal like this from the mic/JM pre into an unbalanced unit like the 34 make any difference I wonder?)

No.

I've been monitoring with phones for now,

headphones put you in complete issolation and give you a false sense of hiss because there is no outside noise to mask the hiss in headphones.

The whole big deal with hiss is this;

If you can hear the tape hiss when the music is playing on the tape, you have a problem!!

If you are only hearing hiss when nothing is on the tape or you are bored and looking for problems, that a different issue.

As I mentioned somewhere on one of these cross posts, tape hisses. It's normal for it to hiss a little bit at healthy volumes through loudspeakers.

As for the dbx unit you asked about; The 224x is a type II consumer use dbx noise reduction system and can work ok for open reel machines but, there might be some bass anomalies using type II dbx because it does some weird things to the bass below 100hz so, you could end up with some ugly breathing and pumping artifacts in the frequency region. Beware!

Cheers!

[cjacek]

Originally posted by lo beam

It could very well be that it's just a shock coming over from working on my Yamaha AW16G, and something I'll get used to & find solutions for.

Hi Dave,

Something that just popped into mind is that perhaps you were used to recording at lower levels on digital, and, when attempted on your 34B or any other reel tape machine, without noise reduction, would undoubtedly produce more tape hiss than needed. Pushing the signal into the red is a normal and much needed recording strategy for tape. Personally, I like some hiss ..

Let us know how it goes!

Daniel

[cjacek]

Another thing you might do is use a bit of compression going to tape to get a better S/N ratio. Not too much mind you. Don't be affraid to push the meters into the red. Its going too far below that you should be concerned about.

Daniel