Wow, I hear it now

peopleperson

peopleperson

I'm so sorry.
After having bought a Tascam 388 before last Christmas, last night me and a bro finally got into the damn thing and did some tests for a recording we're gonna do tonight. The band we're recording tonight really loves as much of a classic sound that's possible to get when it comes to recording, and we all go apeshit for the way Deerhoof records sound, especially the drums. So, I did one 57 in front of the kit and through an old Viking tube pre out of a reel to reel. An AKG 414 in an adjacent concrete room through an ART pre as well. Together on tape it sounds incredible, and long story short the difference between this and Firepod/Cubase setup that we're used to is insanetly noticeable. I was however really surpised at how much of a difference it made when the dbx noise reduction (?) wasn't on during playback. When it's not on, the drums thinned out, but seemed to be compressing wildly in a nice effect kind of way. What exactly is this function for again?
 
ha, deerhoof.

ok....this is how NR works. The 388 might be different from my general understanding but this is what I know. If the button is in when you record it should be in when you play back and vice-a-versa. when the NR is engaged, it will boost the highs going to tape. when it is played back, the highs are cut back to the same level. but this also cuts the hiss. this is a very general explanation. some people will do what you did in order to get weirdo type sounds.....
 
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The dbx is noise reduction to rid your recordings of tape hiss. On the 388 it is probably best to turn it on and just leave it on. But If you are going to record with it on it needs to be on when you play back also. It is a coding, decoding
kind of thing.
You cant turn it on after you record something with out it. or vise versa.
 
on that kind of tape the sound of NR can be sort of cool, actually.


...its pretty awe-inspiring, eh?


btw, make sure you have cleaned the whole path before you start recording these guys.
 
Yeah, it would make a cool effect, but definately not something to use for real. It would however be great to take the NR off on say drums only for a bar or two by pulling it from 1-4 only (if that's where your drums were) during mixdown.

Speaking of cleaning, I know this has been asked a thousand times, but is plain alcohol okay to clean heads? Just don't use it on the rubber parts?
 
ehm..maybe.

if the "plain" alcohol is like 71%, no.

I use stuff from the drug store that is 91%...

99% is better.

don't use it on the rubber parts.

in fact, it might stain the face and other plastic parts if it gets on it.
 
FALKEN said:
when the NR is engaged, it will boost the highs going to tape. when it is played back, the highs are cut back to the same level. but this also cuts the hiss.
Click to expand...
Basically that's right - dbx has a 2:1 compression (with pre-emphasis, the treble boost you mention) on recording and 2:1 expansion with de-emphasis on playback. dbx encoded tapes played back non-dbx tend to sound tinny and compressed, compared to Dolby B or C which just seem a bit brighter than normal.

A basic explanation of dbx is here and Doby B is here.
 
Use Isopropyl Alcohol on the heads, tape lifters and those metal parts the tape touches when it rolls. You may also want to get the RBR (rubber cleaner) from www.caig.com to do a "once over" on the rubber rollers, to restore their grip. Otherwise, just use a plain water dampened (excess squeezed out), lint free cloth to clean the rubber rollers when you usually do the other parts (heads, etc...).

Btw, squeezing more tracks on an already narrow tape not only increases tape hiss but also reduces low-frequency headroom and that is why narrow-format machines feature built-in noise reduction, to overcome this limitation. I recommend to always use dbx on a narrow track recorder, such as the TASCAM 388, cause it doesn't just reduce tape hiss. ;)
 
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