424MKIII bouncing tracks?

[clevodrummer]

Is it best to set up recording per the manual as far as pannin hard left / hard right and leaving the source in the same input.

I have been panning in the center when I record a track, and when I record to another track I use that track for the next source.

I am bouncing tracks now and I think I get the reasoning behind panning hard left or right and doing it all from one track.

As far as bouncing, lets say Im going to bounce recorded music from track one , and track two to track four. I simply put the mic/line switch to "tape"on track one and two and than put track 4 bus to "record".

when you do that, should track four mic/line switch be on "mic/lin" or just switch it to "off"

Im really trying to think in terms of "left field, and right field" via panning as opposed to thinking in terms of "track1,2,3,4."

any thought?

 

[A Reel Person]

Source,... Track,... track,... track,...

You have to make the distinction between channels and tracks. Signal flow is 'Source>Channel>Track'. You have to think in those distinct terms,... then it becomes easier. Channels are in the mixer section, and tracks are on tape.

Regarding panning: If you're recording a single or multiple inputs to a single tape track, by routing your input/channels on Buss-L (to tracks 1 or 3), or Buss-R (to tracks 2 or 4), (not Direct-mode), the original intent in the concept is to pan that input/channel hard L or R, toward the target track, depending on if the target track is inherently on the left buss or right buss-feed of the mixer. That's by the book, and you should understand the basic gist of this before moving on.

However, note that if you were to leave the inputs/channel's pan in the center, it would route each channel to Buss-L and R equally, essentially in mono. In certain simple tracking/overdubbing operations, you can save a step by not panning hard left or right, but just record your single target track with pans set to center. Like this, one or more Buss-L and R -assigned tracks get the same mono feed off the main-mix/Buss-L&R section of the mixer.

(Hint: don't let this panning thing confuse matters, just try to understand it's utilitarian use on the mixer).

Then,... if you were to record to 2 tracks simultaneously using Buss-L and Buss-R track assignment, (not Direct), then strategic panning of the channels helps differentiate between both the stereo image (of stereo track-pairs) and basic track assignments, (of channels to tracks). This enables more complex mixing, routing & recording schemes.

The 424mkIII can do it all, from the minimum basic to the highly techical recording & mixing, but you have to come to terms with basics in order to take advantage of it's higher capabilities.

Regarding track bouncing: If you intend to bounce tracks for it's utilitarian use of expanding track count, then you'd purposely be routing the main input from tape, bringing the tape tracks through the main-mix channels again, to assign it to a new target track, all by using the main mix the Buss-L/R mix to bounce the dub-tracks back to tape, often with new parts added at this stage,... hence,... the "track-bounce". You can do it on purpose and use it to beef up your productions.

To just do straight overdubbing of tracks to tape, and to avoid any unwanted bouncing of tracks, instead of setting the input/source/channels from tape & bringing those signals thru the main mix, you'd use the Effect-2/Tape-Cue section of the board, which supplies a 4-to-1 mono cue mix to the monitor section and headphones. You'd use your inputs on the main-mix section dedicated & routed to tape, while listening to guide tracks thru the Effect-2/Tape cue section,... which purposely keeping inputs and cue tracks separated.

I hope whatever I just said makes sense. I went thru a few edits to clarify and tighten it up. I hope there are some tips here that you find helpful.

Cheers.

 

[ErichS]

Is it best to set up recording per the manual as far as pannin hard left / hard right and leaving the source in the same input.

Whether you use pan/buss or direct input recording depends on how you work. For example, if you are recording one instrument at a time it may be useful to use the pan. This way you can leave an instrument plugged into the same input and just use the pan to determine which track you send to.
On the other hand, if you need to record 4 seperate tracks simultaneously the only way is to use direct.

I have been panning in the center when I record a track, and when I record to another track I use that track for the next source.

I'm not completely sure but, if you leave the pan at center (when using the R/L buss) you may be only getting 1/2 your input level to the armed track (i.e., 1/2 you signal is going to the L buss and 1/2 is going to the R buss. If you have a L and R track armed and the inpiut is panned to center bot tracks will get the same signal)

I am bouncing tracks now and I think I get the reasoning behind panning hard left or right and doing it all from one track.

As far as bouncing, lets say Im going to bounce recorded music from track one , and track two to track four. I simply put the mic/line switch to "tape"on track one and two and than put track 4 bus to "record".

when you do that, should track four mic/line switch be on "mic/lin" or just switch it to "off"

Im really trying to think in terms of "left field, and right field" via panning as opposed to thinking in terms of "track1,2,3,4."

any thought?

If you are bouncing to track 4 you would pan the source tracks to R and set the buss select on track 4 to R. I think you would set the track 4 input to Tape but I'm not positive.

EDIT: Dave's post came in while i was typing this so my reply is a little redundant, but i'll leave it up as an alternative explination.

 

[A Reel Person]

Whether you use pan/buss or direct input recording depends on how you work. For example, if you are recording one instrument at a time it may be useful to use the pan. This way you can leave an instrument plugged into the same input and just use the pan to determine which track you send to.
On the other hand, if you need to record 4 inputs simultaneously the only way is to use direct.



I'm not completely sure but, if you leave the pan at center (when using the R/L buss) you may be only getting 1/2 your input level to the armed track (i.e., 1/2 you signal is going to the L buss and 1/2 is going to the R buss. If you have a L and R track armed and the inpiut is panned to center bot tracks will get the same signal)



If you are bouncing to track 4 you would pan the source tracks to R and set the buss select on track 4 to R. I think you would set the track 4 input to Tape but I'm not positive.

Yes. Thank you for that additional information. You stated some very basic things which I omitted.

When inputs are panned center vs. hard left or right, the signal level going to tape is relatively the same, less a few db,... but it's not diminshed by half. 2-3db difference, tops. However, the real attenuation happens when the input is panned away from the target track.

Thanks again!

 

[ErichS]

When inputs are panned center vs. hard left or right, the signal level going to tape is relatively the same, less a few db,... but it's not diminshed by half. 2-3db difference, tops. However, the real attenuation happens when the input is panned away from the target track.

I'd never been sure of the effect of panning to center on signal level. Thanks for clearing that up Dave