Ink N. Face
New member
I know that this is similar to another thread right below this one, but I don't think it's quite the same thing (I don't know much about analogue recording, so I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong.). I want to get my Akai 4000DS sounding as good as possible, so I ran a CD I made with 40 Hz, 100Hz, 1kHz, 10kHz, 14kHz tones on it through a mixer plugged into my tape recorder. One at a time, I played the tone and set my tape recorder to record at 0 dB, then I hit record.
When I played back the tape, the 100Hz tone was one dB louder than I had recorded it at, but the 40Hz tone was 4.5 dB quieter, the 1kHz just the same, the 10kHz 8dB quieter, and the 14kHz 15dB quieter. Plus, similar to the other thread I mentioned, all the frequencies but the 100Hz tone have flutter, just a little bit if it's close to 100Hz, but progressively more the further it gets from 100Hz (The 14kHz tone has quite a bit.). On second thought, I think that might just be mixer or tape noise because the recorded signal is so quiet. I'd like everything to be at zero. Is that even possible with such a low end machine?
Is this possibly because of the tape? It is a Maxell that looks pretty old and has been recorded over tons of times by me, I'm sure tons before I got it. If it's not just the tape, does anyone know how I could fix the problem? The machine specifications say the tape records up to 20kHz at 7 1/2" (the speed I use), but I've got a feeling that it wouldn't even pick up that high at all.
In the manual, it says how to do something to adjust frequency response, but I can't find any place on the tape recorder that matches the picture. I think my heads are pretty clean. I can post a picture of them if that will help. Thanks in advance for everyone's help.
When I played back the tape, the 100Hz tone was one dB louder than I had recorded it at, but the 40Hz tone was 4.5 dB quieter, the 1kHz just the same, the 10kHz 8dB quieter, and the 14kHz 15dB quieter. Plus, similar to the other thread I mentioned, all the frequencies but the 100Hz tone have flutter, just a little bit if it's close to 100Hz, but progressively more the further it gets from 100Hz (The 14kHz tone has quite a bit.). On second thought, I think that might just be mixer or tape noise because the recorded signal is so quiet. I'd like everything to be at zero. Is that even possible with such a low end machine?
Is this possibly because of the tape? It is a Maxell that looks pretty old and has been recorded over tons of times by me, I'm sure tons before I got it. If it's not just the tape, does anyone know how I could fix the problem? The machine specifications say the tape records up to 20kHz at 7 1/2" (the speed I use), but I've got a feeling that it wouldn't even pick up that high at all.
In the manual, it says how to do something to adjust frequency response, but I can't find any place on the tape recorder that matches the picture. I think my heads are pretty clean. I can post a picture of them if that will help. Thanks in advance for everyone's help.