How to get a clear sound?

R

Railway Surfer

New member
Hi Guys,
I'm a newcomer to home recording, well recording in general! I've got an old Tascam Porta Two Ministudio (the big old one, not the newer smaller one). I just want to get some basic ideas down and pass them onto the guys in the band to learn before practice. I seem to be having a problem getting a clear sound. My guitar seems to distort very easily. I've tried turning down the volume on the guitar as you would with a valve amp but it doesn't seem to get rid of the problem. The VU meter isn't going into the red when I record, and if I turn the fader and or the trim down too far on the recorder then it's too hard to hear when played back. I have recorded a couple of tracks that came out really good but I can't tell what I did differently. Is it possible there is an intermittent problem or is lack of use a more reasonable explanation? Sometimes the track switches that switch between mic/off/tape need to be switched on and off or given a light tap to work. If cleaning is req'd, how do I do that, spray contact cleaner??? Any help or advice would be great, Cheers.
 
The first thing I would suggest, If the unit has DBX, try recording a track with the DBX turned off. I owned one a long time ago, and eventually the DBX was toast. That comes from hitting the inputs with too much high frequency boost to compensate for the limited recording band width. To clean the track function (slide) switches, you will have to disassemble the unit.
Railway Surfer said:
Hi Guys,
I'm a newcomer to home recording, well recording in general! I've got an old Tascam Porta Two Ministudio (the big old one, not the newer smaller one). I just want to get some basic ideas down and pass them onto the guys in the band to learn before practice. I seem to be having a problem getting a clear sound. My guitar seems to distort very easily. I've tried turning down the volume on the guitar as you would with a valve amp but it doesn't seem to get rid of the problem. The VU meter isn't going into the red when I record, and if I turn the fader and or the trim down too far on the recorder then it's too hard to hear when played back. I have recorded a couple of tracks that came out really good but I can't tell what I did differently. Is it possible there is an intermittent problem or is lack of use a more reasonable explanation? Sometimes the track switches that switch between mic/off/tape need to be switched on and off or given a light tap to work. If cleaning is req'd, how do I do that, spray contact cleaner??? Any help or advice would be great, Cheers.
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