Cassette help (488 mkII, specifically)

[johnhaup]

Hello everyone,

I just recently purchased a Tascam 488 MKII off ebay. It is a big upgrade for me (my last recorder was a Porta One Ministudio), but I really want to make quality recordings at home (and I like cassette for some odd reason). Anyway, I'm really a one man band: I play all instruments and use a BOSS Dr. Rhythm DR-670 drum machine for percussion, so obviously I'm limited to recording only a couple tracks at one time (which I kind of prefer). I have two main questions/problems:

1. What I've been trying to do is record the drum parts onto tracks 3 and 4 first, then add the bass onto track 5, then go back and record guitar on track 1 and vocals on track 2 (will it cause a problem to record in a different order than 1-2-3-4-5 etc.?). Today when I added guitar onto track 1 (after recording bass and drums), the result was very "wavy." The volume kept getting slightly louder then slightly softer- very uneven and annoying/noticeable). I recorded the guitar part from a miked amp and used the line 1 XLR input.

That is my main problem that I am desperate to solve, but then also out of curiosity:

2. Since I use a drum machine, there are drum parts that are recorded that are intended to only help me keep time playing guitar and are not intended to be on the final result. Is there a way to completely avoid getting those drums parts on the guitar track (I always seem to have a VERY quiet, but still sometimes noticable, drum part on the guitar line)?

Thanks so much for any help that you can offer.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo John:

I assume you are "overdubbing" to do your tracks. When you record a couple of tracks, like drums and chords, you NEED TO PUT THOSE TRACKS IN THE CUE MODE as you add another and another and another track. If you don't put RECORDED tracks in the CUE mode, you will get all kinds of problems on the tape.

Put the drums on ONE track and when you want to eliminate them, just push the fader down at the appropriate point or whenever.

To help you get things in order, just put the drums on ONE track via the drum machine. AND, don't bounce any tracks. You should be able to get all the stuff you want on the 8 tracks. I had two 488s and still have one in my storage unit since I went to the MD8 and then the Yam 2816 digital SIAB.

You should get the rhythm tracks down first; like, do the drums and chords....then, you can move on and if you screw up, we all do, you just need to go back, rewind, and do that ONE track over instead of two or more tracks over.

You have the manual? Read up on putting recorded tracks in the CUE mode--if you don't you will get scrambled notes and all kinds of merda on the tape.

Don't use 90 minute tapes; use good quality 60 minute tape to record and, then, mix down to WHATEVER and, then, CD if you want.

Hope this helps,

Green Hornet

 

[johnhaup]

thanks for the advice!

turns out, after all that effort, the line 1 input of my recorder that I paid $350 for is messed up! I can't record anything from the line input, and the XLR input just records in the "wavy" way I described before. Any suggestions? Will my recordings sound bad if I only use 2-7 (I would imagine not)?

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo John:

If you have one bad track insert -- DON'T USE IT. Nothing on it means nothing to bother you.

You should be able to do some stuff with the other tracks.

Give it a spin and see what happens.

Green Hornet