Tape Speeds

[Abbott]

im recording my band next friday and realized i didn't know what to do about the cassette tapes!!! i have a tascam 414 mkii and i know there is a pitch control fuction. I have heard that if you record at the highest pitch, you get the best sound. Now, if I record at the highest pitch on 60 min. tapes, how long does that give me, and 20 min. tapes????
thanks a lot, i really don't what the tape stopping in the middle of one of our songs...

[chessparov]

On a 60 minute tape you'll get 15 minutes of recording time.
If you raise the speed by 12%, deduct about 2 minutes from that.
Divide all this by 3 for a 20 minute tape!
The biggest factor will be cleaning the 414 BEFORE each recording for
better sound quality.

[TexRoadkill]

and for even better quality ditch the 414

[Blue Bear Sound]

I wouldn't raise the pitch control up from it's nominal position during recording... deviations in pitch cause increased wow & flutter on those basic machines...

The slight improvment in tape reponse due to the slightly higher tape speed is marginal at best.

Bruce

[drstawl]

Plus playback speed will never be as close to recording speed (as if you'd used the center detent) if you futz with the pitch control. It's there to play with the pitch on PLAYBACK so you don't have to retune just to jam along.

[SPINSTERWUN]

You should not increase the speed of the pitch, while recording.
Blue Bear and drstawl have given you very good advice, please, heed that advice.

[chessparov]

Oh well at least I got the math right.
Another risk is if you record with the pitch up 12%, then archive the
tape and ever try to play it on another cassette 4 track as tape playback
speeds can differ from machine to machine.
Guess that means everyone is right about not doing it!

[pelly crushendo]

I think you should experiment. Don't worry about running out of tape and allthat. Just use your machine and get to know it, read your manual..etc. I've had some great recordings on my Tascam (424 and 488) at top speed. But I would recommend keeping it either normal or at top speed and nothing in between. Also, try to push the levels as hot as you can (of course use some descretion) the red can be your friend sometimes.