can hear previous recording on the new take - Tascam688

crimsonclover

crimsonclover

Member
Hello, I am new to analog cassette tape. I got pretty familiar with making my own scenes in assign main and input on the LCD screen and had problems.
I had the 688 user manual printed and binded. Now I am following the directions on page 17 to 20.

On page 18 of the user manual, "listening to the track" , go down to #3. It says "At this point, you have completed the first track, also called take or pass. If the recording quality, level, and performance are OK, proceed to the next step." <---- my recording was not at the quality I wanted so I did another take.

THE SOUND FROM THE PREVIOUS TAKE IS STILL PRESENT on my new take. And the previous take keeps building up on every new take I complete..

I am pretty sure it is leaking over because when I arm all 8 tracks and do new takes this does not happen.

Also I am using a tape II 110 tape, so I ordered a 90 tape yesterday just be sure it's not the 110 tape for some reason,

please help me.
 
I could be way off but it sounds like you have some sort of monitoring setting which is allowing the playback sounds to be re-recorded along with the new audio. Does the device have any sort of monitoring controls? Or maybe the device has some overdub controls which need to be set differently?
 
The 688 was a pretty clever gadget for the late 90s - and could do old fashioned dropping quite well. You've posted lots of problems with this units so far that do actually sound like user error because you're just not up to speed with it yet?

When you go back to record on a track that already has a recording on it, it gets erased a fraction of a second before you record new material. One of your posts the other day made me wonder if the erase head is functional, or the circuitry controlling it is. Without the erase head, you add the new recording to the old - the old Sound on Sound feature but of course, that was a one shot process - you cannot undo it.

First thing is to take a new cassette and do some tests. Record a series of track one, track one, track one continuous talking to track one, then track two, then three until you have 8 tracks of talking. Then Go back to the start and enable all tracks and hit record and record silence. Wind the tape back and you should hear nothing at all. If you hear any of the voice recordings, it means the erase head is not working on the track(s) you can hear. If you can hear a little of any of the voices, it could simply be the erase head is worn and unable to totally erase the tape.

Investigate and report back.
 
rob aylestone said:
'Then Go back to the start and enable all tracks and hit record and record silence. Wind the tape back and you should hear nothing at all. '
Click to expand...

It's working when I enable all tracks, ive already erased the tape a bunch of times. When I try to do another take of a track the previous recording is fainter but still present like ive been saying.

"Bare with me here" -- this is what I tried! -- If you could do more than acknowledge that I replied back to the post:
I have experimented with enabling all the tracks that I can and still record BUT not the ones I already did takes on. That kinda seems to work in a way that I can do multiple takes on each track LIKE IT SHOULD but my first experiment failed eventually because it's easy to mess up.

Ive had since the beginning of the month to get familiar with it. I can't possibly understand what i'm doing wrong when I am following directions from the manual.
Am I only supposed to get one take each on all 8 tracks, and if I mess up I start all over?


Also : I know to make good music it takes time and practice (that's the idea anyway) and i'm not even sure if i'm up to it anymore.
 
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LaceSensor said:
I could be way off but it sounds like you have some sort of monitoring setting which is allowing the playback sounds to be re-recorded along with the new audio. Does the device have any sort of monitoring controls? Or maybe the device has some overdub controls which need to be set differently?
Click to expand...
Possibly, that or it's leaking to other parts in the tape for some reason is what I have been thinking because my experiments.
 
You're just mot explaining it so my brain understands - you say you've erased the tapes fine a number of times, then you say you hear the original? Which is it? Is it erasing properly or is it leaving some. Why is it easy to mess up? I cannot follow your train of thought at all.

Here is what I understand you are doing. You've got some tracks recorded fine, you add another and think you can do better, so you rewind, hit record a second time and erasure in incomplete and you are hearing the original still there? If that is the case, then suspect the erase head? I don't suppose it's just not in need of a clean - or of course if you shine a light on the head - does it have a flat?

Your first experiment failed but subsequent ones are ok? So the problem has gone away?

Sorry - but every post seems to confuse things even more. I wish I could help?
 
rob aylestone said:
You're just mot explaining it so my brain understands - you say you've erased the tapes fine a number of times, then you say you hear the original? Which is it? Is it erasing properly or is it leaving some. Why is it easy to mess up? I cannot follow your train of thought at all.

Here is what I understand you are doing. You've got some tracks recorded fine, you add another and think you can do better, so you rewind, hit record a second time and erasure in incomplete and you are hearing the original still there? If that is the case, then suspect the erase head? I don't suppose it's just not in need of a clean - or of course if you shine a light on the head - does it have a flat?

Your first experiment failed but subsequent ones are ok? So the problem has gone away?
Click to expand...
*Forget about the experiment!*

1 ) I erase the tape by arming all tracks and record nothing.

2) I follow the directions in the manual and when I re-record another take of just one track armed I have the problems.

3) erase head works when all tracks are armed.

4) when just one track is armed when I re-record, it is not working. which suspects to me that it is leaking over OR the erase head is broken in that it will only erase all at once and not when only one track is armed.
 
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Could the erase head be misaligned? When all 8 are armed, it may be enough to wipe all the tracks.

Maybe try recording a tone on all the tracks, try rerecording a single track with no signal (essentially just an erase) and see if any adjacent tracks are partially erased. Try to pick a track in the middle, say, track 3, so you can check tracks 2 and 4.
 
TalismanRich said:
Could the erase head be misaligned? When all 8 are armed, it may be enough to wipe all the tracks.

Maybe try recording a tone on all the tracks, try rerecording a single track with no signal (essentially just an erase) and see if any adjacent tracks are partially erased. Try to pick a track in the middle, say, track 3, so you can check tracks 2 and 4.
Click to expand...
I was about to suggest the same. Back in the 70s, Larry Fast had a problem where someone serviced the multtrack and accidentally swapped the erase head connectors. This meant that when he recorded on e.g. track 8, the erase head started to wipe track 16 or something.

I suspect this kind of mishap is a lot harder to achieve on the 688 but given the description it's worth checking. The other obvious possibility, as you say, is that the erase head is out of alignment with the audio head.
 
You don't mention anything about maintenance. Cleaned and degaussed anytime recently? The erase heads on multitrack are a lot smaller than 2 track reversible machines as it is only wide enough to erase one narrower track vs half the entire tape. Cassettes won't have the same wear issues as with reel to reel due to tape tension but both kinds of machines need a bit of love once every so often.
 
Ah - something is coming back to me now from the days I had one - which was probably 96, or thereabouts. There was something odd where you couldn't punch in to a track when the one immediately above or below was doing something. Something told me we'd spoken about this before and we had here and somebody had the exact same problem - the suggestion, which sadly didn't get confirmed was that the problem is just poor setup and alignment - probably just too little erase head current and the bias current to the record head not quite right.
 
LaceSensor said:
I could be way off but it sounds like you have some sort of monitoring setting which is allowing the playback sounds to be re-recorded along with the new audio. Does the device have any sort of monitoring controls? Or maybe the device has some overdub controls which need to be set differently?
Click to expand...
I don't want to entertain this thread anymore than we have to but I messed with the meters in the decibal light up flip display with a small flat tip screw driver. I was told it isn't reccomended but I did it anyways. I was also told it wouldn't make a difference on the recording BUT being too loud can... maybe, I am not sure.
 
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