Feedback loop on mixing board

P

paperhatrecords

New member
I'm not quite a newbie (in fact have been recording for over 10 years), but I do feel awfully stupid to ask this question. I have a Tascam 38 r2r which I am just now getting around to setting up (it's my first) and I'm trying to hook it up to a 10-track mixing board. The mixing board has 3 input modes - mic, line and remix. My assumption is that mic and line functions should be the outputs from the mixing board to the reel to reel, and the "sub in" which is connected to remix is the input from the reel to reel. So I hook the output of the 8-track into the "sub in" on the mixing board, and when I switch over to remix, I get a squealing feedback loop when I turn up the volume. I also tried putting the four track into "line in" - when I switch to line, yet another feedback loop. I would think that switching the input to, say, remix would automatically turn off all the inputs from the mixing board (mics or lines) for that track and thus all you hear is that track from the r2r with nothing coming into it from the mixing board. Therefore I don't understand why I'm getting the feedback loop. :confused:

Any ideas about what I'm doing wrong?
 
It's a Ramsa WR-8210A - pretty rare one I think. Like I said, it has line, mic and sub in. I have the mic plugged into the mixing board, track 1, with "Mic" selected. This track goes into my DBX, which goes into the first track of the reel to reel, then back out to the DBX, then back to the "sub in" - which is tied to the "remix" line select. The monitors are hooked up to "monitor out". The reel to reel has "input", "synch" and "repro". But when I switch to "remix" wrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeerrrr....
 
Channels are on the mixer, tracks are on the tape machine.

Try muting the channels that you have mics plugged in to when you are monitoring from the machine through the sub-in's.

From where do you control the mix while monitoring the sub-in's?

Do you have a manual for this mixer?
 
Sorry for getting the terminology mixed up. I was assuming the mic/line input to the reel to reel and the playback for that track would occur on the same channel of the mixing board. If I mute that channel, I'm not sure I understand how I'd hear the playback.

I don't have a manual for the mixer, which is a big part of the problem.
 
I'm not too familiar with Ramsa boards but two things jump out at me... do you have the 38 set to sync or repro? If it is set to input, then that could cause a feedback loop. You don't have line in/tape returns on the individual channels of the board to use? If so that would be the ideal way to patch a tape machine back into the board. Also try removing the dbx... record a track without it and see if you can get it to playback.
 
Stupid me! It was the setting on the r2r. I kept thinking it was a problem with the mixing board but when I set to sync the problem went away. Thanks for your help!
 
No problem, glad you got it to work...

Just fyi if you are doing a mix-down use the repro setting as it is a dedicated head for playback. Use the sync for when you are tracking and you want the tracks you have already recorded to be synced with what you are recording. in sync mode the record head is recording and also acting as the playback head.

Some say there is no difference in quality, but it makes sense to me that for mix down a dedicated head made specifically to play only would work better, and it was obviously designed into the unit for a reason... so I use it.
 
and reading back I suggest you take m1fanatcs advise as well when you are synching.... but this is all really hard to decipher without being able to see how your mixer routes and monitors audio.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top