need help with tascam 424mkIII!? please?

[roflamingo]

I desperately need help with the tape cue function on my tascam 424mkIII. I'm not positive what it does and i think it is the basis to all of my problems. so if someone could please inform me that would be awesome. thanks.

[andyhix]

Can you be more specific? I'm not sure what exactly you mean. Also, have you read the manual?

Anyway, the basic jist is you have a switch above the master fader that switches the function of the FX2/tape cue knob. Generally leave that switch in "Tape Cue" position. This allows you to play back your recorded tracks and adjust the volume with the aforementioned knobs. However (and this might be where you are having probs), this will only work if you have your speakers plugged into the monitor jacks, not the line output jacks. It should work fine with headphones, also.

What this does, basically, is allow you to use the large faders for your inputs, while you use the tape cue knobs to adjust your playback volume. Again, since I don't know what your confused by, I don't know if that helps.

[roflamingo]

Specifically my problem is when I try to record over a track. Let me give you a scenario:
I will use track 1 to record a click track to keep in time. Then i use track 2 to record drums or whatever on. I play track one while recording on track 2, but track one is no longer recording. After this i will wanna record over track 1 with something else, although once i'm done recording on track 1 you can still hear the click track in the back ground. I'm not sure what to do about this problem or how to prevent it.

[andyhix]

Hmmm.....I don't know that this has anything to do with the Tape Cue. I once had tape explained to me thusly: You have 4 tracks of tape in parallel, adjacent to one another. If you record something really hot (loud), a few things happen - the actual audio information is pushed towards the edges of those tracks, and you get natural compression from the tape. So, I believe (based on my experience) if you record something too hot, and then record over it, some of the original info remains on the tape (at the outside edges), giving you little ghosty remnants of the click (in your case). In fact, I think that audio can actually spil over onto neighboring tracks.

The solution, therefore, would be to record your click, and anything else you want to later tape over, at a lower volume. [just boost it accordingly at playback when you need it]

(someone please correct me if this is all utter bunk)

Are you recording with the direct method or the Buss L/Buss R method? It shouldn't make a difference regarding your problem, I don't think, but I'm just curious. If you are unfamiliar with the Buss method, try it out. Once you understand what's going on, it can make things easier - you don't have to plug and unplug cables constantly, adjust trim and faders as much, etc. But, I don't think that should have anything to do with your problem.

[billyshuler]

Try recording silence on track one to wipe the click off before recording on it again.