Tascam to computer sound quality.

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dearanton

New member
Hey, All,

Can anyone say if the sound quality of multitracks on a Tascam Multitrack Recorder ( 2488/ DP24/ DP32 ) is equal to the sound quality of good computer-based multitracks ? The reason I am asking is because I was looking to multitrack on a Tascam, and then move the tracks to a computer for mixdown - HOWEVER, a friend told me that the sound quality of the Tascam multitracks will not be up to professional quality because the ad/da converter/s in the Tascam are inferior. Is this true ?

Personally, I find it more convenient to record to the Tascam, and then move it to computer for more professional mixing. I would really appreciate if any of you could give some insightful opinions on this.

Thanks,

Anton.:)
 
well first off, if you're moving them to a puter then imagine you're just sending the files over to the puter which means you won't even be using the D/A converter of the Tascam.As for the converters being inferior .... that just depends on what kind of interface you have for your 'puter. If we're talking about built in converters that are actually in the 'puter then I'd think the Tascam's would be superior as most sound related things on a 'puter aren't very good.
That's why everyone says not to use a 'puter's soundcard ...... they're not good.


Someone may pop in and explain why I'm wrong so I look forward to seeing replies but I don't think you should worry about it and I see lots of people doing exactly what you do .... export files to the puter for mixing from whatever DAW they use.
 
Sure, the converters may be inferior to some expensive Apogee interface where it's simply a dedicated converter.

Is it inferior to a budget interface? I don't think so. It might be inferior in that you don't have as much control with the Tascam tracks as you would with a computer's tracks. It may be inferior in that the preamps are mediocre.

THOSE will make a bigger difference than the converter would. And setting up mics properly and getting a good sounding recording from the get-go matters more than the preamps and the effects at your disposal. Honestly, the converters would be the LAST thing I would worry about with the Tascam. Unless you want to compete with the sound of high budget studios, there's no reason to worry about the Tascam's converters and it's not really any worse than those of budget interfaces.
 
Thanks, guys. Well, I actually do want to get the highest quality sound possible, so that the songs maybe be shopped around, or even be album release quality. Tell me this : If I tried to get the best quality tracking to the Tascam ( good performance, mic'ing, dynamics, etc. ), and WAVed the tracks across to a computer with great software, would the computer mixdown process be able to add a little genuine quality to the tracks ? Please forgive me if these are ABC type questions, but I am a bit intimidated by computer recording, and I know quite a bit more about recording to a stand-alone recorder. By the way, your answers ARE pretty valuable. :)
 
You are kind of going about your line of question by starting in the middle. So let's start this out correctly.

Tracking - Good playing, good room sound (not to be confused with mixing), mic placement are the first sources. (Trust me, you get that right, the people listening will hear what the need. I know a guy who was signed off a 4-track tape machine in his room. Point here is, if you have a sound, it will get recorded and heard.)

Once you get that, it is more or less the quality of pre-amps. At a demo level, most of the entry level interfaces are decent. You get a good sound, and are pretty good overall for the money. However, if you get a really good interface, great mics and great pre-amps, well you just have great sounding crap. Go back to the first part.

Once you have the first part tackled, then it is about mixing. If part one was good, then you are just working on levels and such. Assuming the first part is good, then really the DAW comes in to add flavor, experiment, layer, etc. Like real recording. Taking advantage of the technology and expanding (like double tracking a guitar for fat sound, layer vocals for effect. Not to be confused with the first part.

Then there is mixing, that becomes a different set of skills all together. That is the primary focus of this board.

But for now, does this kind of help?
 
dearanton said:
Thanks, guys. Well, I actually do want to get the highest quality sound possible, so that the songs maybe be shopped around, or even be album release quality. Tell me this : If I tried to get the best quality tracking to the Tascam ( good performance, mic'ing, dynamics, etc. ), and WAVed the tracks across to a computer with great software, would the computer mixdown process be able to add a little genuine quality to the tracks ? Please forgive me if these are ABC type questions, but I am a bit intimidated by computer recording, and I know quite a bit more about recording to a stand-alone recorder. By the way, your answers ARE pretty valuable. :)
Click to expand...


I'm trying to get what you mean by "genuine quality" to the tracks when you put them in the computer. Do you mean will it sound better? I probably should have explained more thoroughly the mixdown process of a computer vs the Tascam.

When you mix with the Tascam, you only get ONE certain type of simple compressor, certain type of simple reverb, certain type of simple EQ, and one certain type of other effects at your disposal. A good mixer would be able to use these simple effects and still sound good. However, in the computer, you have literally thousands of effects at your disposal. You want to compress this drum? Okay, we have 100 compressors: pick your choice. And some of these effects will have much more complexity to them than the ones in the Tascam. If you don't know what you're doing with these effects, though. You won't sound any better with the computer than with the Tascam.

Like DM60 said, tracking is the most important part in regards to sound. And the effects at your disposal in the Tascam are good enough. You can easily make better sounding songs with the Tascam than a lot of crap people make on the computer.

Didn't RAMI use a multitrack for anyone that remembers?
 
Guys,

All your answers are quite helpful. I note a common thread in your answers - 1) Good song; 2) Good performance; 3) Good mic' or di capture using good dynamic and/ or effects applications. The next step is to either mix internally on the Tascam, or to WAV the individual tracks to a computer for more/maybe superior mixdown dynamics and/or effects, or at least more options in that regard.
I think I would prefer someone else, hopefully a pro' mix engineer do the mixing to stereo. THANKS, and I look forward to more answers. And by the way, Arcaxis, I would really like to know how your WAV transfer session goes. THANKS AGAIN, ALL ! :)
 
I can't comment on how the DP-32 compares to a straight to computer setup, but I have no issues whatsoever with the sound quality. I've only done basic vocals with it so far, full band recording starts next week.
 
I agree with DM60. Get a good, clean, DRY(!) track down and go from there*. So how do you KNOW if it is good? K.I.S.Sir. Record an acoustic guitar or/and a vocal (preff' someone else). Does the replay sound anything like the original? If it does and the original was in tune, in time and passing "moosikal" you are getting there!

*And do not ever forget. Even if the converters in the M track WERE a tad worse than a top of the range Focusrite, the box is still WAAYY better than tape! (except of course for those that love it!)

Forgot! You can practice mixing etc in Reaper because they give you a bunch of demo tracks (as do MAGIX Samplitude and Steinberg Cubase)

Dave (tin 'at on)
 
comatosed said:
I can't comment on how the DP-32 compares to a straight to computer setup, but I have no issues whatsoever with the sound quality. I've only done basic vocals with it so far, full band recording starts next week.
Click to expand...

Hope you post how the full band recording goes here, and thanks for your reply.
 
dearanton said:
Hope you post how the full band recording goes here, and thanks for your reply.
Click to expand...

Most definitely, and you're welcome.

arcaxis said:
Finally tried some WAV transfers from the 2488NEO to my PC.

To do the transfer the tracks to be transferred are selected and then are processed and put on the FAT portion of the Tascams hard drive. This is not instantaneous and took several minutes to create the WAV's and put them over to the FAT area. Once the WAV tracks were on the drives FAT area, the USB was cable hooked up and the 2488NEO was put in USB mode. The PC saw the 2488NEO as another drive and the WAV's were easily copied over to a folder on the PC. Once there I loaded them up in Reaper without issue and played them. Sound is essentially the same as the 2488NEO. All pretty easy. I did only 4 tracks of about 4-5 minutes total time. More tracks would likely result in more time to convert over to the FAT area.
Click to expand...

One thing I love about the DP32. Just take out the sd card, shove in my laptop and copy away.
 
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