Major Problems! Please Help!

[cc1bs]

Hey everybody! My band has been recording on the a new Tascam 488mk2 for the last four months. We have spent about 50 hours recording and 100 hours of regular tape playing. When we recorded a guitar overdub the other night, we noticed a warbling sound on playback that made the guitar sound like it was underwater. I clean the machine after every recording session and we demagnetized it according to the manual's suggestions. We are using TDK Pro SM30 multitrack tapes. Does anybody have any idea what going on? We hope it's something minor and we definitley don't want to lose the many hours we have spent recording. Thanks for any info!

[SN]

Some simple checks:

tape speed consistent?
dbx NR ON for recordings and ON for playback?

[audioforgery]

That sure does sound like static (or dirt) on the playback heads. Have you checked the transport for sticking gears or belts? It could be something as simple as the cassette's tendancy to seize up in places.

[Emeric]

Could try fast forwarding and rewinding, sometimes tapes get uneven. Aside from that, is this happening on other recordings, other tapes or just this one? Is it just the one track, or all of them? Hopefully you just have to rerecord the guitar take.

Emeric

[hellflower]

The motor spindle and capstan shaft may need some lubrication. We saw a similar problem on our system over a year ago and used a light machine lubricant (in our case it might have been a few drops of a silicone lube) to free up the mechanism. You could try a mineral oil that you might find used with sewing machines. Don't use a grease, it will collect contaminates like dust and metal particles and create a new problem. Disassembly of a 488 isn't a casual task either. Good luck.

[cc1bs]

Hey everbody! Thanks a lot for all of the insights and suggestions. After "packing" the tape by fast fowarding and rewinding, the problem seemed to go away. Tomorrow, I'm going to try the suggestion about using a lubricant on the motor spindle and capstan shaft. Thank again for all of the help!