414mkII-To-CD Transfer Woes... Help!

[O_O_Stro]

What a frustrating problem, I hope atop hopes that someone here can help me solve it:

What I want to do is transfer recordings on cassette from a Tascam 414mkII (with a DBX 2031 equalizer run through EFFECT 1) directly to a stand-alone Marantz CDR-631 CD recorder. Essentially, it's analog-to-digital conversion without the use of a computer.

# I'm using a 3-foot Monster RCA cord to connect the 414 and the CDR-631, and two 1-foot Klotz patch cords to connect the 414 and the 2031.

# The 414's CHANNEL volume and MASTER volume meters are all set to 7.5 (the middle of the shaded area). Its MONITOR volume knob is centered at 12 o' clock.

# The CDR-631's recording level is set at 0 db (to record an exact copy). This is the loudest it can go.

# The 2031's input gain is off. Its send knobs (the 414's 5-6 & 7-8 knobs) are centered at 12 o' clock and its return knobs (the 414's EFFECT 1 knobs) are turned all the way to the right.

It should be noted that recordings sound fantastic when listened to through the 414 alone, and that cassette-to-cassette mixdowns have worked without a hitch. The problem I'm having with cassette-to-CD mixdowns is that, when listening to the same recordings through the CDR-631, they sound very quiet (and thus flat and bottomless), even though its meters read slightly above or below 0 db as is desired.

I know that the CDR-631's headphone level isn't simply too low for two reasons. Firstly, because when it was centered at 12 o' clock, what I heard was far louder than what ended up playing on car stereos or in laptops. Secondly, because I did volume comparisons afterward with "real" CD's to find out what the headphone level's "default" was (which ended up being about 9 o' clock).

So, I tried to solve the problem by raising the 414's MASTER volume (to compensate for the loss), but... oops! The CDR-631's meters ran way past 0 db and the sound clipped out into distortion. Several different combinations of the 414's CHANNEL volume, MASTER volume, the CDR-631's recording level and the 2031's input gain all resulted in the same exact flaw. I could either have a quiet, un-distorted sound or a correctly-volumed, distorted sound. What I need, obviously, is a correctly-volumed, un-distorted sound, one that sounds like it does when listening straight through the 414.

Do any of you know what might be causing this little dilemma? One opinion I've gotten so far is that I ought to be running the 414 into a mixer and using balanced outputs that run into the CDR-631 instead. Another was that the 414's RCA outputs are to blame in the first place, and that I should use its effect sends as outputs instead. However, I'd like to hear what several different people have to say, so that I don't get my hopes up about one hypothetical solution in particular.

Is this a side effect of unbalanced signals that I just have to deal with or get balanced? Is a mixer's gain or another type of amplification (like a receiver) necessary to achieve a correct volume without clipping?

Please lend me your advice at your earliest convenience, folks. Even the tech-support folks at Marantz don't know what I'm talking about, and I'm desperate to stop thinking about these silly technical malfunctions and get back to... making music!

Thanks very much for your time,
M. Marx

 

[Nico2112]

Very detailed procedure you posted.
I have mixed down directly from my 414 cassette to a stand alone digital cd burner before. And the results were pretty much the same as you state. My solution was plugging the 414 to a receiver, and also plugging the digital cd burner to the receiver. Even with the eq knobs in 0, the fullness of the recording was boosted, along with the overall level.
Maybe you should try that.
Hope this helps.
Cheers!

 

[O_O_Stro]

Well...

Well, Nico, I took your advice earlier today. I connected my 414's outputs to a receiver's TAPE-1 inputs, then connected the receiver's TAPE-2 outputs to the CD recorder's inputs. Then, on the receiver, I selected TAPE-1 as the input and TAPE-2 for the recording output. When I listened to the recordings on headphones through the CD recorder afterward, the problems were still there. Although things had loudened up (though only a little), I was unable to control the input volume with the receiver's volume knob for some reason. The music was still constantly clipping out if it got the slightest bit too loud. Not only that, but there was a loud hum that definitely isn't there when I listen to CD's.

How did you connect everything so that you could use the receiver to boost the volume?

All the same, thank you for your help so far. It makes you want to tear twice as much of your hair out when the simplest #$%@! set-ups don't do what they're supposed to.

 

[Nico2112]

Hold on OOStro, are you wiring from your 414 monitor RCA outs? if so, you should use the RCA Tape out's, not the mon outs. I've always mixed down using the tape outs; so the monitor knob has no use here.
Just out of curiosity, why did you use Tape 1 and Tape 2 on your receiver? why didn't you plug the 414 to the tape 1 "in", and the tape 1 "out" to the burner?

As for how do I connect everything (here's an example with song included):

1) Plug the 414 to the receiver's Tape 1 "in"
2) Plug the receiver's Tape 1 "out" to the burner's analog "in". Receiver's EQ:0
3) Track 1: Bass Level:7.5
4) Track 2: Guitar (R) Level:8
5) Track 3: Drums Level:7.5
6) Track 4: Guitar (L) Level:8
7) Master Level: 5.5
8) Burner Level: db -4

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=371758&songID=2893939

I hope this helps.
Cheers!

 

[O_O_Stro]

Houba!

You know what? I actually solved the problem a different way: I ran the 414's first effect send, as a simple output, to a mixer's line input and used its gain to boost the volume. The recordings still clip out far easier than with cassette-to-cassette transfers, but I suppose it comes with the territory.

Thank you for all your help, though!

- M. Marx