Low rumble noise on erased tape..deck problem?

mamm7215

mamm7215

Member
Another question regarding the Tascam TSR-8 I just got. Been playing around with it lots and have basically been loving it. The sound of recorded material is almost exactly the source, and I haven't demagnetized it yet as my Han-D-Mag's not here yet. One question, I've noticed after I've erased a few minutes of tape, I'll play it back to see if it's completely erased and it pretty much is. All hiss and occaisionally VERY low signal remain on the tracks. But every once and a while there's a low frequency pop or rumble? on track 1. That make sense? Not all the time, just every so often as the blank/erased tape plays. Track 2 is completely silent, just hiss. Clean/demag? Other issues?
Edit: PS this is without DBX in. With DBX in it's a huge difference, but the flutter is still there, it does seem like it's in the same spots on the tape, so could it be the tape? Would bulk erasing these things be the thing to do? Would the Han-D-Mag be powerful enough to bulk erase when I get it? Sorry for all the newbie questions, it's just that I'm a, well, newbie...
 
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As it's not happening on other tracks, but only on track 1, it could be a bias issue on that channel.:confused: I really don't know and can only speculate. It could be a host of things. All the more reason to get a tech involved IMHO.:(
 
Yeah, I called the place in Langley but I guess the tech they use had a bad accident and his calibration tapes got destroyed so he doesn't do the Tascam stuff until he gets it replaced (who knows when that will be) so I guess I'll look into buying a cal tape myself and tearing into it. I've got the manual, I'll just be REAL careful.
 
Edge track by physical nature are more prone to issues of dropouts and other oddities because the tape at the edges gets exposed to the elements more, being on the outside. This is why most engineers try to only use edge tracks for non critical jobs like time code or musical parts like kick drums which are not full range.

Also, so long as you normally use the dbx noise reduction and you're only noticing this issue with it off, you're kind of looking for trouble rather then it looking for you.

As for the han-d-mag doubling as a bulk eraser for 1/2" tape, I'm not sure about that? 1/4" tape maybe...but then again..it doesn't sound like you'll really need it for that purpose.

Cheers! :)
 
Thanks guys. Cjacek, it looks like both tech service places are out of test tape so I'll guess I'll pull the trigger and get my own. IEC +6 bias seems to be what I'll be shooting for? Ghost of FM, thanks, yeah I don't want to make more problems than there really are. All indications from what I've read to how it works are that it's in quite good shape are working well.
Does the length of the test tones matter? There's some new test tapes that have 30sec test tones as opposed to 60.



Thanks again.
 
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