4 Track Blues - Tascam 424 MK2

A

alfugazi

New member
Thanks for all the replies. I may have not have asked my question clear enough after an initial reading. This is the deal. I've got 2 tape machines which happen to be 4 tracks. I'd like to record drum tracks on 1 tape machine while on the other I would like to record other instruments. The other instruments will be recorded direct via a direct box or a balanced xlr connection.
I guess what I'd like to know is how exactly I would take the output from the tape machine that I recorded drums with and route that signal into the other tape machine into 1 track.
As far as expectations - Hey I'm a realist. I dont expect to record an album this way, although Sgt Peppers was all recorded on a 4 track......My goal is just to make some decent demo tapes I can take around and get some gigs with. Nothing more nothing less.
Anyways, hope you guys can help. I really appreciate your time and consideration.
 
Ohhhh... Ok, I see what you're trying to do. Hmmm, I sorta remember trying to pull off something like that quite a few years ago. I don't remember our overly complicated setup amounting to anything that gave an acurate representation of what we sounded like. I'd say, if you're making a tape to give out to booking people, you should just hammer it out live onto 2 tracks, or I guess for you that'd be one stereo tape deck. If you can pull it off live to record, that'll at least show the booking guy that you can deliver the goods. It'll still require a bunch of level adjustments via changing the mic placement unless you've got a mixer.
That would be my suggestion anyways unless you can borrow someone's 4 track. Renting a 4 track for a weekend is usually pretty cheap too. Trying to bounce stuff around between 2 tape decks might be more trouble than it's worth in the end. There might be a good way to do the 2 tape deck thing but my sleep deprived brain isn't coming up with anything at the moment that doesn't make my head hurt. Maybe someone else has tried this more recently and can give you a better solution?
I've found that booking people aren't too worried about the production on the tapes they get, they just want a rough idea of what your band sounds like so they can set you up appropriately. Good luck.
 
Do you want the drum tracks to be in stereo? And how many original Drum tracks would you be working with?

If you are doing just a mono track, you would need to pan everthing left (or right) and use the mix out of one of the decks and feed it into 1 channel of the other deck. for stereo you'd set us your stereo mix and feed in in to the other deck onto two tracks. It's pretty simple what you are trying to do. You just need the right cable and/or adaptors Basically your are just boucing tracks, but instead of doin it on one machine you are doing it on two.

If you were asking if there was anyway to sync up the two machines- forget it. Careful bouncing between the two is very possible though. And with two machines- your bounces are non destructive.

But as sludgehammer says, don't count out doing it live to two tracks.

-jhe
 
Do you want the drum tracks to be in stereo? And how many original Drum tracks would you be working with?

If you are doing just a mono track, you would need to pan everthing left (or right) and use the mix out of one of the decks and feed it into 1 channel of the other deck. for stereo you'd set us your stereo mix and feed in in to the other deck onto two tracks. It's pretty simple what you are trying to do. You just need the right cable and/or adaptors Basically your are just boucing tracks, but instead of doin it on one machine you are doing it on two.

If you were asking if there was anyway to sync up the two machines- forget it. Careful bouncing between the two is very possible though. And with two machines- your bounces are non destructive.

But as sludgehammer says, don't count out doing it live to two tracks.

-jhe
 
Actually, I'd like to record the drums on 1 4-track tape machine using 4 channels and then bounce as you say those 4 channels to 1 track (mono) on my other 4 track machine which contains my other instruments.

Another question.....Are there any decent techniques for isolation of drum tracks other than owning an electronic set? Baffle walls or acoustic foam etc.?
 
Ok I can't figure out what up with my triple posts, but....


The only way to really get good isolation is to completly physically seperate everything and use headphones. In my trio, when we record the drums, the guitar and bass go in direct (it makes it really easy this way) You just hear the mix in headphones. Either that or we track live and let the bleed through work to our advantage, it just depends on the take and the day. :)

-jhe
 
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