Combining 4-track with PC (Cubase)

[musicdavid]

I'm planning to record a song using both my 4-track and Cubase, mainly because my piano is downstairs and it will be easier to record onto the 4-track and then transfer the results onto my PC.

I have a Mackie mixer - should I use this to boost the signal at any point (i.e. between mic and 4-track)?

I'm thinking of buying a good condenser mic to do this - is it worth it seeing as my 4-track will probably make its qualities redundant?

Any other advice?!

[NYMorningstar]

Originally Posted by musicdavid

I'm planning to record a song using both my 4-track and Cubase, mainly because my piano is downstairs and it will be easier to record onto the 4-track and then transfer the results onto my PC.

I have a Mackie mixer - should I use this to boost the signal at any point (i.e. between mic and 4-track)?

I'm thinking of buying a good condenser mic to do this - is it worth it seeing as my 4-track will probably make its qualities redundant?

Any other advice?!

Make its qualities redundant? Not sure what that means or what that means...
Your mic will need a preamp and if a condensor mic, it will more than likely need phantom power. If the 4 track doesn't provide that then you'll need the mackie.

[RAK]

Can you be more specific about the 4-track? reel to reel, cassette tape, digital?

What kind of inputs/outputs does the 4-track have?

[studiomaster]

What 4-track do you have?

[musicdavid]

I have a Yamaha 4-track, MT-40 (I think - I'm not at home at the moment)always been very reliable. What I have done before is to transfer the output onto the PC onto two tracks of Cubase to create a stereo mixdown which works quite well.

The only thing I'm concerned about is regardless of using a good mic and Mackie mixer, the fact that it's all going into a cassette 4-track first will mean the results don't do the equipment justice. Personally, I like the lo-fi warmth of the 4-track sound, but will the good equipment actually improve the sound?

[ssscientist]

Originally Posted by musicdavid

Personally, I like the lo-fi warmth of the 4-track sound, but will the good equipment actually improve the sound?

Just run a long, balanced microphone cord down to the piano and you'll get a good recording that you can mess up to taste with a free lo-fi plugin or low pass filter downloaded here.

.

[RAK]

One other thing, the dynamic range of cassette tape is about 2/3rds that of a 16 bit digital recording, less than half of a 24 bit recording.

I guess it would depend on the quality of the cassette recorder and tapes, if they're in decent shape, and it sounds good to you, go for it, but if you end up with lot of noise/hiss and whatnot, then that will be your limiting factor. If I may bring up a recording mantra at this point, with analog the properties of the medium (tape) become part of the recording. That's not the case with the digital realm.

[cephus]

I transferred some 4-track cassettes to computer a while back and was very pleased at how punchy everything turned out. It may have something to do with the ability to manipulate the signal independent of the "performance". that is, I had good takes on tape, so i spent the time getting the levels right and EQ and everything where I thought it needed to be.

I have an yamaha MT2X (I think) it pulls the cassettes twice as fast as normal.