Mixdown problem

[pgrey]

Hello all,

I've recorded myself and another guitarist playing some jazz duets in order to produce a demo tape. I'm new to the 4-track recording world and I'm obviously doing something wrong...

I've been using a TASCAM 424 MkIII to record the songs and then as a source to mixdown to another deck to create the final version of the tape (what I'll call the "Master")from which I'll make copies. The recordings sound good - at least to my ears.

The problem is that the Master tape I make using the 424 as a source and another deck as the destination sounds pretty bad. The low volume sections are now hard to hear and the high volume sections first jump out and then recede as if a deck was somehow compensating for the change in dynamics. I've tried two destination decks with similar results. Copies of the Master made the same way are unuseable.

I suspect I'm doing something wrong but I'm at a loss to know what it is. I've gone through the TASCAM manual but it hasn't been of much help. What stupid beginner mistake am I making?

Thanks for any help,

Peter

[Dragon]

Simple, don't mix to a cassette deck! See http://homerecording.com/vhs.html for some tips. Although, if you are not recording your mixdown tape at a good level (generally about +3dB for cassette) you will lose some quality that way too.


[This message has been edited by Dragon (edited 09-21-1999).]

[Nagual]

Why is there a difference between mixing down directly to a stereo cassette from, say, a 424 MKIII versus mixing down to a DAT or VHS tape and then creating the stereo cassette? Or is there a difference?

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Grey One:

I used to have a Tascam 488 8 tracker and I mixed down to cassette tape with no problema.

First of all, do you have your stereo out plugs plugged in to your mix-down deck? Both plugs need to be feeding into the deck.

Next, have you cut off the CUE and returned to recorder back to the play/mixdown mode?

[I'm not familiar with your 4 tracker but it has to work in a similar fashion to my old Tascam 488.]

Have you bounced tracks? If you do bounce, say two tracks to one track, your tweaking is limited to that track and your volume for two instruments is singular. In otherwords, you can't set anything bounced into two volume controls - what volume your use will be equal to each of the bounced instruments and sometimes that just doesn't work out if you want one louder than the other.

Makes sure all "switches" have been set to mix down? My 488 was a pain to snap all 8 tracks into the mix down mode and then reset them all into recording if my client wanted to listen/then do it again. [I now use the Yam MD-8 digital 8 tracker and time saved is worth the box.] But, the MD-8 still has to be set to "play back" when I'm done recording.

So, check out your switches and stereo outs; you should be able to send 4 tracks mixed into two outs and get decent results. I'll bet you have a simple switch the switch problema.

Keep switching,

Green Hornet

[Slackmaster2K]

I haven't used this type of setup in a while and I've never used a Tascam so I'll stay away from that. One thing that's been overlooked is the cassette deck that your mixing down to.

If it's a cheap or old deck you're probably not going to get good results. Does it even have a recording level knob? Most of the lesser decks don't. Even decks that come with more expensive stereos will be junk sometimes if they're designed more for playback. If it's old have you cleaned the heads? Are you using a good (&expensive) metal tape?

Basically you want to set the record level on the cassette deck as high as possible (the whole signal to noise thing)...the signal coming in to the deck doesn't have to be too heavy. If you can't adjust the record level then don't use the deck.

What you're describing could be caused by a low record level on the deck. The quiet parts will be washed out with noise and the louder parts will sound inconsistant.

Anyway, I'd take Dragon's advice if you have a VHS recorder. Standard cassettes really suck.

Since you obviously have access to a computer, you might try mixing down to it! I did this for a while. The mixdown (master file, if you will) will sound just about as good as the source if you have a half-way decent soundcard. Then you can send the signal back into your Tascam for making copies and avoid the cassette decks altogther...

Slackmaster 2000