G
Greg_L
Banned
Awesome. Your stuff is always fun to listen to. 
A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
Thanks bro,...
You're quick on the uptake!
I just posted the "final" (updated) mix at 7:20AM.
Cheers!
You're quick on the uptake!
I just posted the "final" (updated) mix at 7:20AM.
Cheers!
G
Greg_L
Banned
You're quick on the uptake!
I just posted the "final" (updated) mix at 7:20AM.
Cheers!
I was just hanging out listening to stuff.
Track Rat
Just Your Average Sized Member
Ray rules. You get extra points for good taste.
A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
Thanx Mike.
The Kinks have a large repetoire & are fun to play!
The Kinks have a large repetoire & are fun to play!
A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
Thanx all you guyz who listened to this track yesterday.
I had a technical opinion to offer after making this track, that I'll throw out here now.
I was discussing with my wife how this all-digital Pocketstudio 5 production of "Set Me Free" made of (4) 64kbps mp3 source tracks, (mixed to WAV then rendered down to 128kbps stereo mp3 file for post),... was virtually indistinguishable from my other recent 4-track productions done on the cassette based 424mkIII.
I ventured to say that for the typical layman in the audience the sound would be indistinguishable between the PS5 and modern tape Portastudio, with only the "audiophile" type of listener such as myself and other people on this board possibly detecting a minor difference in quality,... with IMO the tape based Portastudio sounding slightly better.
This PS5 "experiment" was a relative success, with my most noticeable pet peeve about it is that it's too small, and tends to get pulled off the table easily with any careless tug on the cables. I managed to pull the PS5 completely off the table at least once during the production of this track. I thought about using sticky-backed Velcro to adhere the PS5 to a table (laying down) or a music stand (in the uprght position). The Pocketstudio 5 is cute, small & fun to use (though more complicated than a traditional Portastudio),... so I'll keep it around for future use. The smallness of it is probably it's "biggest" selling point, as well as being it's "biggest" drawback. It's paradoxical. (I might take some snaps of the ridiculously minimal setups this P5 was in!)
Thanx again for listening & your comments. Aye!
I had a technical opinion to offer after making this track, that I'll throw out here now.
I was discussing with my wife how this all-digital Pocketstudio 5 production of "Set Me Free" made of (4) 64kbps mp3 source tracks, (mixed to WAV then rendered down to 128kbps stereo mp3 file for post),... was virtually indistinguishable from my other recent 4-track productions done on the cassette based 424mkIII.
I ventured to say that for the typical layman in the audience the sound would be indistinguishable between the PS5 and modern tape Portastudio, with only the "audiophile" type of listener such as myself and other people on this board possibly detecting a minor difference in quality,... with IMO the tape based Portastudio sounding slightly better.
This PS5 "experiment" was a relative success, with my most noticeable pet peeve about it is that it's too small, and tends to get pulled off the table easily with any careless tug on the cables. I managed to pull the PS5 completely off the table at least once during the production of this track.
I thought about using sticky-backed Velcro to adhere the PS5 to a table (laying down) or a music stand (in the uprght position). The Pocketstudio 5 is cute, small & fun to use (though more complicated than a traditional Portastudio),... so I'll keep it around for future use. The smallness of it is probably it's "biggest" selling point, as well as being it's "biggest" drawback. It's paradoxical. (I might take some snaps of the ridiculously minimal setups this P5 was in!)Thanx again for listening & your comments. Aye!
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A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
I'll also say for the record,...
[heh: pun]... that the "internal" rendering of a 128kbps mp3 file that the PS5 does onboard sounds noticeably worse than dubbing out to the 'puter from the stereo line-out, recording to WAV & rendering the mp3 on the 'puter.
In short, the internal rendering to mp3 onboard the PS5 pretty much sounds like ass.
(though I'll have to retest, 'cause my first few line-out mixes were also not up to par).
It was also typical at this point for me, that even for a minimal 4-track production of a 2-minute song, it took me many hours. With setup, rehearsal, retakes, breaks and evaluation listening time, then mixing to the 'puter,... it took me literally all night! 2-minute*4-tracks=8-hours is how it worked out.
[heh: pun]... that the "internal" rendering of a 128kbps mp3 file that the PS5 does onboard sounds noticeably worse than dubbing out to the 'puter from the stereo line-out, recording to WAV & rendering the mp3 on the 'puter.
In short, the internal rendering to mp3 onboard the PS5 pretty much sounds like ass.
(though I'll have to retest, 'cause my first few line-out mixes were also not up to par).It was also typical at this point for me, that even for a minimal 4-track production of a 2-minute song, it took me many hours. With setup, rehearsal, retakes, breaks and evaluation listening time, then mixing to the 'puter,... it took me literally all night! 2-minute*4-tracks=8-hours is how it worked out.
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A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
I have a couple more technical points to make about the Pocketstudio 5
First, the supplied Tascam headphones w/mic are just crap. They're not better than any other set of headset/mic headphones that you'd get anywhere else OTC, like at Walmart. Not only did it take my 6 year old son about 2 seconds flat to break the mic off the headset, (which I fixed), but it absolutely sounds like ass. There's no way any serious vocalist would record a vocal track with that headset mic. I had to swing it way off axis & get it about as far out front as possible, and I was still overloading the crap out of it when I'd sing. Plus, of all things the headset cord is relatively short. I managed to pull the PS5 off the table by moving with the headset on. When the PS5 hit the floor, it hit on the line and headphone cables, & after that the headphones didn't work. Anyway, it's cheap crap headset mic and is worthless for anything other than webchat. My Tascam headset mic broke the first day out of the box.
Second is a deficiency I've pointed out before, that the PS5 cannot mix Input A and Input B down to one single target track. It has no input-side mixing whatsoever, but only A/B inputs. Therefore, it prevented me from giving the bass track any mic ambience & prevented me also from putting the backup vocal in on the bass track, which is something I'd typically do on a traditional Portastudio 4-track recording. However, I wanted to do a "PS5" production with e'thing the PS5 had in the box in "native" mode. To use an external mixer to record a mixed input on the PS5 might seem like the thing to do for most PS5 users, but I didn't want to go there. (to me) It defeats the purpose of using an all-in-one device like the PS5.
I don't know if anyone cared, or if anyone thinks those thoughts are relevant. The PS5 is still a handy little 4-track that does a lot in a small package, though, and I like the track I was able to produce with it, first time out.
Thanx again to people who listened. Comments are welcome.
First, the supplied Tascam headphones w/mic are just crap. They're not better than any other set of headset/mic headphones that you'd get anywhere else OTC, like at Walmart. Not only did it take my 6 year old son about 2 seconds flat to break the mic off the headset, (which I fixed), but it absolutely sounds like ass. There's no way any serious vocalist would record a vocal track with that headset mic. I had to swing it way off axis & get it about as far out front as possible, and I was still overloading the crap out of it when I'd sing. Plus, of all things the headset cord is relatively short. I managed to pull the PS5 off the table by moving with the headset on. When the PS5 hit the floor, it hit on the line and headphone cables, & after that the headphones didn't work. Anyway, it's cheap crap headset mic and is worthless for anything other than webchat. My Tascam headset mic broke the first day out of the box.
Second is a deficiency I've pointed out before, that the PS5 cannot mix Input A and Input B down to one single target track. It has no input-side mixing whatsoever, but only A/B inputs. Therefore, it prevented me from giving the bass track any mic ambience & prevented me also from putting the backup vocal in on the bass track, which is something I'd typically do on a traditional Portastudio 4-track recording. However, I wanted to do a "PS5" production with e'thing the PS5 had in the box in "native" mode. To use an external mixer to record a mixed input on the PS5 might seem like the thing to do for most PS5 users, but I didn't want to go there. (to me) It defeats the purpose of using an all-in-one device like the PS5.
I don't know if anyone cared, or if anyone thinks those thoughts are relevant. The PS5 is still a handy little 4-track that does a lot in a small package, though, and I like the track I was able to produce with it, first time out.
Thanx again to people who listened. Comments are welcome.
A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
Ps:...
I've reviewed my stuff on cd today, putting this number back to back with my other recent recordings. The 424mkIII cassette based recordings sound noticeably better than the Pocketstudio 5 produced number showcased in this thread, & I don't think it's by "audiophile" ears only. The difference was quite noticeable. Which isn't to say the PS5 sounds bad, but that the tape based Portastudio sound much better, when stacking 4-track against 4-track.
I've reviewed my stuff on cd today, putting this number back to back with my other recent recordings. The 424mkIII cassette based recordings sound noticeably better than the Pocketstudio 5 produced number showcased in this thread, & I don't think it's by "audiophile" ears only. The difference was quite noticeable. Which isn't to say the PS5 sounds bad, but that the tape based Portastudio sound much better, when stacking 4-track against 4-track.
G
Greg_L
Banned
[heh: pun]... that the "internal" rendering of a 128kbps mp3 file that the PS5 does onboard sounds noticeably worse than dubbing out to the 'puter from the stereo line-out, recording to WAV & rendering the mp3 on the 'puter.
In short, the internal rendering to mp3 onboard the PS5 pretty much sounds like ass.
It was also typical at this point for me, that even for a minimal 4-track production of a 2-minute song, it took me many hours. With setup, rehearsal, retakes, breaks and evaluation listening time, then mixing to the 'puter,... it took me literally all night! 2-minute*4-tracks=8-hours is how it worked out.
If you aren't already, you should use a quality converter like LAME to convert your wav mixdowns to MP3. Mix down from the Tascam to your computer as a wav file. You'll lose no fidelity whatsoever. Then convert it using a quality program.
A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
Survey says?... Ch-ching! We have a winner!
That's exactly what I do. Thanx.
... Mixing Line-Out from the Tascam to Line-In on my standard soundcard, recording to WAV & rendering to MP3 on PC with Audiograbber using the LAME encoder yielded much better results than the internal mp3 rendering onboard the Tascam, but I'll have to experiment a bit more with the internal mp3 recording to make a final decision. My preliminary run of the internal mp3 encoding process says it sounds noticeably like ass.
Greg L said:
That's exactly what I do. Thanx.
... Mixing Line-Out from the Tascam to Line-In on my standard soundcard, recording to WAV & rendering to MP3 on PC with Audiograbber using the LAME encoder yielded much better results than the internal mp3 rendering onboard the Tascam, but I'll have to experiment a bit more with the internal mp3 recording to make a final decision. My preliminary run of the internal mp3 encoding process says it sounds noticeably like ass.
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A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
Okay, I checked it again.
Having gotten my Line-Out mix up to par & using it as a source file definitely improved the sound quality of the internal mp3 file rendered inside the Tascam, better than my first internal mp3 rendering "test".
Anyway, what I mixed & posted to SC was recorded line-out from the Tascam, to WAV then mp3 on the 'puter. It's a process I've been getting good results with, so I'll probably stick with it.
Having gotten my Line-Out mix up to par & using it as a source file definitely improved the sound quality of the internal mp3 file rendered inside the Tascam, better than my first internal mp3 rendering "test".
Anyway, what I mixed & posted to SC was recorded line-out from the Tascam, to WAV then mp3 on the 'puter. It's a process I've been getting good results with, so I'll probably stick with it.
A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
I'm sorry. No one asked, but...
Today, 2 days post-final on this track, I'm gonna hedge.
I'm not going to say the PS5 recording sounds better or worse than the tape Portastudio recordings of a similar nature. I'll just say they sound different.
The PS5 sounds surprisingly good, for being what's considered a low-res format. I can tell the frequency response is very flat. It has soaring and sizzling reproduction of the high freq's that digital's famous for, and the response sounds really flat, (which it is).
On the other hand, the (my featured) tape Portastudio recordings don't have the sizzling highs, but they have the boom in the mids and low end, and still adequate high end.
By far, the mixer section and overall capabilities are much better on a traditional high end Portastudio, but the Pocketstudio 5 has a lot of bang in a small unit. I've not even touched on the huge possibilities with the SMF load/play & internal Tone Generator. That's a whole other post.
The Pocketstudio isn't named or billed directly as a Portastudio, so it's created it's own little pocket-sized niche in recording, I suppose.
I can't say the PS5 recordings sound like ass and the tape Portastudio dominates, or vice versa. They sound pretty comparable to me, and I don't always know when the "audiophile" setting switches in my ears, so YMMV.
I was skeptical at first, but based on this cut as my first out-of-the-box run with the Tascam Pocketstudio 5, I'd give it a thumbs up and it's money well spent, on the super-easy eBay circuit, of course.
Today, 2 days post-final on this track, I'm gonna hedge.
I'm not going to say the PS5 recording sounds better or worse than the tape Portastudio recordings of a similar nature. I'll just say they sound different.
The PS5 sounds surprisingly good, for being what's considered a low-res format. I can tell the frequency response is very flat. It has soaring and sizzling reproduction of the high freq's that digital's famous for, and the response sounds really flat, (which it is).
On the other hand, the (my featured) tape Portastudio recordings don't have the sizzling highs, but they have the boom in the mids and low end, and still adequate high end.
By far, the mixer section and overall capabilities are much better on a traditional high end Portastudio, but the Pocketstudio 5 has a lot of bang in a small unit. I've not even touched on the huge possibilities with the SMF load/play & internal Tone Generator. That's a whole other post.
The Pocketstudio isn't named or billed directly as a Portastudio, so it's created it's own little pocket-sized niche in recording, I suppose.
I can't say the PS5 recordings sound like ass and the tape Portastudio dominates, or vice versa. They sound pretty comparable to me, and I don't always know when the "audiophile" setting switches in my ears, so YMMV.
I was skeptical at first, but based on this cut as my first out-of-the-box run with the Tascam Pocketstudio 5, I'd give it a thumbs up and it's money well spent, on the super-easy eBay circuit, of course.
rayc
retroreprobate
Good taste as always.
Nice bass growl too.
Good capture for such a "dinky" little thing.
Nice bass growl too.
Good capture for such a "dinky" little thing.
A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
Gosh, thanx for listening... as always.
I was very impressed with the sound quality of the Pocketstudio 5, considering the size.
...& no moving parts!.........
With all the hitech, plugins & complicated signal chains you hear about in this place,... when the rubber meets the road in recording, I'm basically a minimalist.
For me, it's all about throwing little production numbers together & recording the stuff I like and want to hear. It's as simple as that. It's an endless pursuit.
Thanx again!
I was very impressed with the sound quality of the Pocketstudio 5, considering the size.
...& no moving parts!.........
With all the hitech, plugins & complicated signal chains you hear about in this place,... when the rubber meets the road in recording, I'm basically a minimalist.
For me, it's all about throwing little production numbers together & recording the stuff I like and want to hear. It's as simple as that. It's an endless pursuit.
Thanx again!