Tascam 388 mixdown to digital...

[WhinyLittleRunt]

Unrelated to my previous thread about drum miking - I have a question that I may have figured out the answer to, but here's what I got:

You know how on the 388, the channels are supposed to be panned hard left or right for odd/even tracks when recording in mono? I'm hoping that all I did was forget to throw it in mono mode all together, but assume that if I recorded my tracks in mono, once they are printed to tape, does the pan knob on the individual channel actually then become a L/R pan pot instead of a track choice? And the reason i'm asking is because I did some test recording and mixing, bounced it to digital and listened to it in the car and it sounded like shite. Not the recording itself but the stereo imaging was all wrong.

The way I bounce to digital is I have all the PGM outs going to the inputs on my Firepod unit. So, I thought that the monitor outs played a part in that output signal. Therefore, I also thought the pan knobs did too. I would output direct from the channels but I want to do all my work on the deck and then bounce it to the computer for final export. Apparently the panning didn't do anything in the output.

also, if I switch it to mono after the fact, that doesn't affect anything on the tape at that point I would have to think..

 

[famous beagle]

I'm not entirely sure I understand, but I think I do.

First of all, yes --- the pan knobs, when not used for selecting which tracks are recorded, function as L/R panning knobs during mixdown (or internal bouncing).

I don't have a 388, but I have the manual. From what I can tell, the PGM outs are kind of like TAPE outs, meaning that they simply pass the signal straight from the tape track to the corresponding PGM out jack.

If this is true, then your pan knobs will have no effect, because you're simply sending a mono signal out each jack. If you just hook up the 8 PRG OUT jacks to 8 inputs on your Firepod A/I, then everything will show up in the DAW as (panned) straight down the middle, until you make panning adjustments there (in your DAW).

This process is not "mixing down." It's simply transferring or dumping tracks from your 388 to your DAW. It's useful if you want to mix in your DAW. But if you want the mix you're hearing on your 388 to be transferred to your DAW, then you don't use the PGM outs. You use the STEREO outputs. That way, you'll be sending a two-track (L/R) mix to your DAW that will reflect all the panning you've made on the 388.

As I said, I'm not entirely sure if I understood you correctly, but hopefully this helps.

 

[A Reel Person]

...

The 388 has individual Tape Outs that output directly from the tape track to the outside world.

The PGM OUTs output whatever is assigned to that Pgm Buss, be it tape, mic, line, or any multiple combination of those. You could assign any or all inputs on the mixer to any single Pgm Buss, or any combination of Pgm Busses, regardless of your track scheme on the tape itself.

 

[famous beagle]

The 388 has individual Tape Outs that output directly from the tape track to the outside world.

The PGM OUTs output whatever is assigned to that Pgm Buss, be it tape, mic, line, or any multiple combination of those. You could assign any or all inputs on the mixer to any single Pgm Buss, or any combination of Pgm Busses, regardless of your track scheme on the tape itself.

Doh! My bad. I didn't see the tape outs in the manual, but now I see them. I thought they were in the master section for some reason, but now I see that they're in the channel section.

 

[WhinyLittleRunt]

I originally had it set up to dump right from the individual tape outs but I wanted to retain my mix the way it was and still be able to send individual tracks to the DAW as opposed to just using the stereo outs... but I just bought a Tascam patchbay so hopefully having this will make my decisions a little easier and reversible if I want them to be. I think part of my problem why the mix wasn't sounding good once it hit the DAW was because I probably forgot to record the tracks in mono..