From tape to DAW

[Neil Ogilvie]

I have a Fostex G16 that I've been using to play the reels so I can record them onto my DAW. I can only record 8-tracks at once, so I have to do it with two passes, first doing tracks 1-8, then doing tracks 9-16.

I've not had any problem recording them, its just a matter of hooking stuff up. What I have found however is that the two takes will start off in time, but then gradually fade away from one another. Does anyone have any idea what the hell is going on here? Is it an analogue problem?

Cheers in advance.

Neil

[jake-owa]

No matter how accurate your tape machine is it's still subject to a myriad of variables. No tape machine will be dead on from one pass to the next. You could cut and trim the two passes to match up but you will still have minute drifting between the takes.
A revox 8 track machine was the closest to accurate I've ever seen and it was off enough between mastering takes to cause phasing artifacts.

You need a 16 channel soundcard...sorry.

Why do you want to record them into the DAW by the way?

[Neil Ogilvie]

Cheers for the reply Jake!

Makes sense what your saying, I was just checking it wasn't something else.

The reason I'm putting it on my DAW is because I don't actually have any out board effects nor do I have a 16 track mixer, I am limited to my 12 track. (I'm a poor student )

When the reels were recorded I was using someone elses mixer, a Soundcraft 16/8, but I only personally own a Fostex M12.

What I have done is cut the sections on each take and moved them so they are in time. Thankfully they don't drift out in the 3 or so minutes while the songs are going on.

Thanks again for the reply.

Neil

[jake-owa]

No problem man!

Get yourself a good mixer ASAP!

If you need to cut it up do it on the measure marks and align every measure. That will ensure maximum phase corelation.