I'm sure this is in the manual, but...

[andyhix]

I'm bored at work and daydreaming about tonights recording activities. So, feel free not to answer if you don't want me wasting your time...that being said, I remember the manual being fairly confusing with this stuff:

OK..424mkiii - I have all 4 trax already recorded (or will after tonight). I want to add some reverb (mono fx, I'm guessing - from a git pedal, or off my amp) to a vox track. Can I do this and blend it back in during mixdown? This would be the ideal scenario. or do I need to blend it in and record it back to a blank track first. Assuming the former is possible, what is the best way to do this, while still maintaining stereo flexibility (being able to pan the final track to my liking)?

[The Ghost of FM]

If all 4 tracks are filled up, you can still add reverb or effects but only to an external mixdown deck/recorder.

You must employ the effects send and receive sub-mixing system on the portastudio which allows you to feed an amount of your choosing, dry, from each tape track and feed that into the reverb processor and then blend the output of the processor back into the stereo main outs of the Portastudio which would then feed your mixdown deck.

And, yes, it's in the manual.

Cheers!

[andyhix]

Thanks! yeah I know.. I know..

Alright a question that is not in the manual (I think): Here's what I wanna do (well, actually already did) - I've got 4 tracks recorded to tape - guit., bass, drums, and keys. I want to mix them down to 2 tracks on another 4 track machine, as a stereo pair, with drums and bass centered, and git left and keys right (probably about 10 and 2 o'clock, respectively). Is it better to pan them this way on the source 4 track, then mix them, with the idea that the two new tracks will each be hard panned L and R. (which is what I did) or should I have hard panned the git and keys prior to mixing, so that on the new tape, the two submix tracked would be panned 10 and 2.

I do this sorta bounce, btw, because it preserves the original tracks, bounces to a brand new tape (maybe less hiss and noise?), and because I am fortunate to have a friend with another 4tk machine.

[The Ghost of FM]

Panning positions should be performed to taste and not much else.

You should pan the instruments as you would like them to sound in the final mixed song.

Sometimes you can run into level and phase issues if you start re-panning bed tracks inward on the second deck.

If it were me panning those instruments, like you described, I would have the bass and drums centered, the keys slightly to one side and the guitar slightly panned to the other but there is no one correct answer. Then on playback, on the second machine, pan the bounced beds hard left and right to preserve the intended stereo perspective.

Cheers!

[andyhix]

perfect! that's what I did, but then started second guessing.

[ender4trackmind]

Bit of random...

Something else you can do when mixing down, is track another part while your mixing down. The reason your doing the bounce in the first place is to open some tracks, so why not get an extra part completely for free.

As for pan...yup that's up to you where it fits best. Just hard pans are not always the best option. For an example....plug your keyboard stereo into your recorder, hard pan it...then pan to something like left9 right3. Past that don't feel you need to leave your pans locked while mixing down...little active pan control can add dynamics and even flesh out the blandest of mono to be something more.

Effects...general tip given your gear ( or whatever your gear ). You add effects to make things sound better right, so do just that. Extreme effects are FINE...just the thing to look out for is unwanted noise. Always nice to dial in your effects right at the edge of noise being added.

Turn tracks on and off while mixing. For random reasons of parts you might not like, things that clutter and so on. Also for the reason of getting breaks slicker, cause say a guitar thunders back into the song...will have even more punch if you flip the track on at just the right time.