Help, Tascam 4 Track HUMMS!

rene-lemieux

rene-lemieux

Member
I'm getting creative with my Tascam 22-4 reel to reel recorder. As musicians are scarce, and the ones who are around dont want to play in your band, I figured I would let my 4 track substitute for a real live band. What I do is I record direct dry tracks of the guitar and bass into the 4 track, and then run them out through the amps. It sounds great! a lot like a real live band, besides one problem, Electrical noise!!!! There seems to be a lot of noise being generated by the reel to reel, the same type of noise that a elec. piano generates when plugged into a guitar amp through the headphone jack. I figured the answer to this question would be purely electrical, but I don't know a thing about electronics. Can anyone tell me how to fix this/get it fixed?

Rene
 
You don't say anything specific about how you record the guitar tracks, and what amps you use. The noise could simply come from wrong level matching, like plugging an acoustic guitar directly into the 4-track. It doesn't need to have anything to do with your 22-4.

Could you describe the connections and cabling in use?
 
Im recording the guitars direct into the 4 track, using a 1/4 inch to rca cable, that I don't know where or not it's shielded, or direct into pro tools (which I will later dump to 4 track). The dry tracks contain a small bit of humm when first recorded, as my guitar pickups seems to be picking up some freq's from someplace in my room, that I can't really control. So there's a tad bit of noisyness coming from there. The amps im plugging are Fender bassman 59 reissue, and the new Fender tv 15 for bass.

Rene
 
The hum could be a ground loop between the 2 amps. Are both amps grounded with a third prong? Also does your other equipment have ground prongs? Are there flourecent lights nearby?
VP
 
There are fluorescent lights, but I keep them off as much as possible. Everything except the tascam itself has a 3rd prong.
 
rene-lemieux said:
There are fluorescent lights, but I keep them off as much as possible. Everything except the tascam itself has a 3rd prong.
Click to expand...

The fluorescant light will make noise but I assume it is still noisy with them off. Dimmers will also make noise. But I think the major noise is from a ground loop between the 2 amps. You can use a 3-2 prong ground lift on 1 of the amps to see if it goes away, but dont use it like this. You could get a shock. If it does go away you can buy a small patch cord and cut its ground on 1 end. You will need a 1/4 inch female coupling. Radio Shack has them. Put the coupling and patch cable into the input of only 1 amp. You could always just cut the ground on 1 of your cables but you would have to only use it when you have 2 amps.
VP
 
In any case, you have a level mismatch. You normally don't plug directly from a guitar to a recorder - that's bound to cause trouble. If you can use an amp, a mixer, a pod or whatever that has a line output, try using that instead. The level from your guitar is much too low for direct input.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top