Help with Tascam TSR-8 and M-208

[siteslinger]

Alright, I'm a newb with this, so please be kind. I've had a TSR-8 for a while now, and I recently bought an M-208 mixer that I was told pairs nicely with the TSR-8. My M-208 has not yet arrived, but I was looking through the manual and was a bit confused about hooking everything up.

My TSR-8 has an RCA input and an RCA output for each channel (8 ins and 8 outs in total). Essentially, my question is how would I go about connecting the mixer to the tape deck? For instance, let's say I have four mics plugged into each of the four XLR inputs on my mixer. How do I send the signals of each channel to the input on my tape deck? And how do I connect the output of my tape deck back to the mixer for playback?

I have two 8-channel RCA-to-1/4" snakes. Do I need some other kind of cable for this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[jpmorris]

My TSR-8 has an RCA input and an RCA output for each channel (8 ins and 8 outs in total). Essentially, my question is how would I go about connecting the mixer to the tape deck? For instance, let's say I have four mics plugged into each of the four XLR inputs on my mixer. How do I send the signals of each channel to the input on my tape deck? And how do I connect the output of my tape deck back to the mixer for playback?
I have two 8-channel RCA-to-1/4" snakes. Do I need some other kind of cable for this?

It sounds to me like you're trying to make the mixer do two different jobs at once, and that won't work if you only have 8 channels, at least not without an enormous amount of hassle.
With a 16-channel mixer that has a bunch of independent outputs you could use the same desk for both jobs, but I think what you'll probably want to do is to get a second mixer to act as a 'front end' or sub-mixer. That's the arrangement I have, and it makes things easier to visualise as well, at least for me.

What I've done was connect all the instruments to the inputs of the first mixer, and send the two output channels to every input of the TASCAM. I have two TSR-8s actually - on the original one I built a switchbox to route them, on the second one I made a sort of Y-lead to split the left and right outputs four ways each.

By the way, this is assuming that (like me) you're going to be overdubbing in mono or stereo pairs. If you're recording a whole band with all eight tracks at once, you're going to need either a patchboard or some kind of 8-output mixer to handle the signal routing.

Anyway, that's the input side. I use a Phonic Pro mixer for that purpose.

The output side has a second mixer, (for you the 208, I use a Yamaha MG16) which takes the 8 outputs of the Tascam(s) and mixes these to stereo for the final recording. In my case I only use 7 tracks per deck, the 8th contains a timecode which is obviously not fed into the mixer.

Does that make sense?

 

[siteslinger]

No, sorry, this makes no sense to me. I'm simply trying to find out how to connect my mixer to my tape deck.

Let's say I want to record only one track. I have my mic plugged into channel one. Now then, how do I connect track 1 on my M-208 to track 1 on my TSR-8?

Thanks for you help!

 

[jpmorris]

No, sorry, this makes no sense to me. I'm simply trying to find out how to connect my mixer to my tape deck.

Let's say I want to record only one track. I have my mic plugged into channel one. Now then, how do I connect track 1 on my M-208 to track 1 on my TSR-8?

For a basic setup with a single mixer, plug the mic into input 1 on the recorder (through a preamp).
Connect each output channel from the recorder into the corresponding mixer channel using the RCA-to-1/4" loom, e.g. track 1 to channel 1, track 2 to channel 2 etc.
That setup will allow you to hear the recording through the mixer when you play it back. Use each channel of the mixer to set the volume level and panning for each track.
Set up like that you'd have to unplug the mic from track 1 and plug it back into track 2 to record the next track. I think most people use patchbays so the routing can be set up from the front instead of grubbing around the back of the recorder every time. I built a switchbox.