A HOORAY & A warning for all those mindless people like me!

[antispatula]

So you know how I was all freaked out that BOTH my Otari's were recording bursts of static? And that I was determined to try and fix it myself even though I have no idea how recorders really work, and then Tim and Daniel and David knocked some sense into me and told me to take it to a tech?

No need!

As usual, it was something very very simple.

I don't know if this applies to all machines, but I know that with the Otari MX-5050 MKIII 8 track 1/2" recorder, YOU CAN'T RECORD WHILE MONITORING FROM THE REPRO HEAD!!

I have no idea why I was monitoring from the repro head while recording, I shouldn't touch the repro head till I mix, but for some reason, it never occured to me that such a simple thing could be the problem.

And to think, I was going to try and replace the relays, and electrolytic caps myself to see if that would help!

I was going downstairs to eat a bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch (too many rasins in that cereal....in raisin bran all together for that matter) and since I always need to read something while eating, I thought "heck, I might as well skim through my otari manual" to see if I could be more enlightened, and when I was reading about the heads, the idea came to me that I shouldn't be reproducing from the repro head while recording!

Just thought I'd share, this is really really a relief to me, and am increadibly exited to start recording, especially since my cr-1604 just came!

And as always, thanks to everyone who always helps me, which is basically tim, daniel and dave,falken (and sometimes a few others)

-Russell.

 

[Beck]

Cool!

It was the raisins -- two scoops.

 

[cjacek]

Hey Russell (we finally know your real name! )

It's sometimes the most simple things that are the culprit. We're all glad all is good. Were you able to do some extended recordings without problems ? Tho I'm still not sure the issues you've experienced with the static would mean recording with the wrong head. However if your prob fixed itself then who am I to question it.

 

[MCI2424]

So you know how I was all freaked out that BOTH my Otari's were recording bursts of static? And that I was determined to try and fix it myself even though I have no idea how recorders really work, and then Tim and Daniel and David knocked some sense into me and told me to take it to a tech?

No need!

As usual, it was something very very simple.

I don't know if this applies to all machines, but I know that with the Otari MX-5050 MKIII 8 track 1/2" recorder, YOU CAN'T RECORD WHILE MONITORING FROM THE REPRO HEAD!!

I have no idea why I was monitoring from the repro head while recording, I shouldn't touch the repro head till I mix, but for some reason, it never occured to me that such a simple thing could be the problem.

And to think, I was going to try and replace the relays, and electrolytic caps myself to see if that would help!

I was going downstairs to eat a bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch (too many rasins in that cereal....in raisin bran all together for that matter) and since I always need to read something while eating, I thought "heck, I might as well skim through my otari manual" to see if I could be more enlightened, and when I was reading about the heads, the idea came to me that I shouldn't be reproducing from the repro head while recording!

Just thought I'd share, this is really really a relief to me, and am increadibly exited to start recording, especially since my cr-1604 just came!

And as always, thanks to everyone who always helps me, which is basically tim, daniel and dave,falken (and sometimes a few others)

-Russell.

The Otari was made for multi-track recording where you would monitor from the record/play head while recording a track.

There are many reasons to monitor from the repro head, none of them are probably for you.

Yes, you can monitor while recording from th repro head on all pro machines. The Otari was a cheap multitrack home recorder that does it's job well, but can't do all jobs well. like monitor from the repro head while recording.


(Really? the manual actually says that? I knew that these home machines were limited, but what a rip...............)

 

[Beck]

Never mind Russell, you’re not missing a thing.

Many last generation multi-tracks don’t even have a separate playback head, so you can’t monitor out of sync if you wanted to.

The essence of multi-track tape recording since Les Paul has been the ability to monitor off the record head so you can lay down new tracks in sync.

You have a highly rated multitrack that didn’t find its way into many “home studios” back in the day. Iv'e never seen one that wasn't in a professional setting. It has a separate repro head that is optimized for playback. That’s all you need it for… especially while working alone.

That being said, the static is an issue that still needs to be addressed… likely through degaussing.

~Tim

 

[antispatula]

The Otari was made for multi-track recording where you would monitor from the record/play head while recording a track.

There are many reasons to monitor from the repro head, none of them are probably for you.

Yes, you can monitor while recording from th repro head on all pro machines. The Otari was a cheap multitrack home recorder that does it's job well, but can't do all jobs well. like monitor from the repro head while recording.


(Really? the manual actually says that? I knew that these home machines were limited, but what a rip...............)

no, the manuals don't say this, it just kind of hit me when I was reading through the general specs of the machine...weird huh?

Hey Russell (we finally know your real name! )

It's sometimes the most simple things that are the culprit. We're all glad all is good. Were you able to do some extended recordings without problems ? Tho I'm still not sure the issues you've experienced with the static would mean recording with the wrong head. However if your prob fixed itself then who am I to question it.

haha yeah, and be sure to always spell it with 2 "L's", people NEVER get that right, even people that I've known like all my life

I wasn't recording on the head, I was monitoring from the wrong head. Don't really get why I can't do that, but hey, I can use my machine no prob now!

 

[antispatula]

Never mind Russell, you’re not missing a thing.

Many last generation multi-tracks don’t even have a separate playback head, so you can’t monitor out of sync if you wanted to.

The essence of multi-track tape recording since Les Paul has been the ability to monitor off the record head so you can lay down new tracks in sync.

You have a highly rated multitrack that didn’t find its way into many “home studios” back in the day. Iv'e never seen one that wasn't in a professional setting. It has a separate repro head that is optimized for playback. That’s all you need it for… especially while working alone.

That being said, the static is an issue that still needs to be addressed… likely through degaussing.

~Tim

hey thanks! Yeah, well I should only be using the repro head while mixing right? I mean, when I try to monitor from the repro head, I get static, AND it is not in sync with the record head, so when it records something, I get it like half a second later. Plus, there's no reason to have such hi-fidelity playback while over dubbing. So is the repro head supposed to only be used when mixing and mastering? I looked up the specs and compared the frequency response between the sync and the repro head, and the repro head has quite a more extensive and dynamic response, especially in the higher frequencies. Like I think my sync head can reproduce up to like 15 kHz while my repro head can go up to 25 kHz.

As for demmaging, that isn't it, I've demmaged the machine twice in the past month. I guess my machines aren't meant to be able to record and monitor from the repro head at the same time, especially after seeing the same thing on both my machines. Which is fine with me, I see no reason from doing it, really.

 

[Beck]

Yes, monitoring off the REC head is lower fidelity on some of the finest machines made. An engineer may monitor off the REPRO head while recording the talent, but you can’t do that working alone if you are the talent. The REPRO head is intended for playback & mixdown after tracking is completed.

Still, it should function either way on your Otari. I don’t mean to beat this to death, but how sure are you that you successfully degaussed your heads. What did you use and how did you perform the operation?

It could also be some internal electronic phenomenon, and though I would be surprised if it's "normal" for that machine, like Daniel said, if it doesn’t interfere with how you use the machine it's not broken. (Paraphrasing).

 

[Muckelroy]

There are only 3 scenarios where you'd want to monitor from the repro head while recording.

The first is during calibration, while setting the bias, record, and input levels n' such.

The second is (in some super-professional studios back in the day), if you had a completely soundproof control room in your studio, you'd monitor from the repro head while recording during a soundcheck, to get JUST THE RIGHT levels of tape saturation, so that you could hear what the tape would actually sound like right then and there.

The third is if you're using the deck for delay effects. The gap between the repro and sync heads causes a short tape delay. Depending on how many delay echoes you want in the effect, set aside a certain number of tracks for JUST that. Y the output of the original track's repro head to your console, and the input of the next track's recording input. Y THAT tracks' repro output to the console, and the next track's recording input, and so on, so you can set up a really cool sounding slap-back delay. John Lenin did it all the damn time

-callie-

 

[Beck]

There are only 3 scenarios where you'd want to monitor from the repro head while recording.

The first is during calibration, while setting the bias, record, and input levels n' such.

The second is (in some super-professional studios back in the day), if you had a completely soundproof control room in your studio, you'd monitor from the repro head while recording during a soundcheck, to get JUST THE RIGHT levels of tape saturation, so that you could hear what the tape would actually sound like right then and there.

The third is if you're using the deck for delay effects. The gap between the repro and sync heads causes a short tape delay. Depending on how many delay echoes you want in the effect, set aside a certain number of tracks for JUST that. Y the output of the original track's repro head to your console, and the input of the next track's recording input. Y THAT tracks' repro output to the console, and the next track's recording input, and so on, so you can set up a really cool sounding slap-back delay. John Lenin did it all the damn time

-callie-

You nailed it, Callie… Great contribution to the discussion.

~Tim

 

[MCI2424]

There are only 3 scenarios where you'd want to monitor from the repro head while recording.

The first is during calibration, while setting the bias, record, and input levels n' such.

The second is (in some super-professional studios back in the day), if you had a completely soundproof control room in your studio, you'd monitor from the repro head while recording during a soundcheck, to get JUST THE RIGHT levels of tape saturation, so that you could hear what the tape would actually sound like right then and there.

The third is if you're using the deck for delay effects. The gap between the repro and sync heads causes a short tape delay. Depending on how many delay echoes you want in the effect, set aside a certain number of tracks for JUST that. Y the output of the original track's repro head to your console, and the input of the next track's recording input. Y THAT tracks' repro output to the console, and the next track's recording input, and so on, so you can set up a really cool sounding slap-back delay. John Lenin did it all the damn time

-callie-

SOLID, bro. Nailed it good!