hey there, I need some help.

[brandon.w]

I just bought myself a Yamaha MT8X analog 8track. I taught myself how to use it...after reading the manual about 10 times. I like it alot (especially considering how much I got it for). And the sound quality is good...but not great, I WAS expecting the usual tape hiss, and I'm not complaining, it does my purpose fine, but I was wondering if anyone had any sugjestions on how to best clean the heads, and reduse tape hiss.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Other than use the onboard noise reduction, there's little you can do about tape hiss.... welcome to the world of budget analog.........

Just make sure you record your tracks as hot as possible to get your tracks signal as far away from the noise floor as possible.

For cleaning, use a cotton swab, 90% or stronger ISOPROPYL alcohol (do NOT use "rubbing" alcohol), and get yourself some pinch roller cleaner for the pinch roller (don't use the alcohol, it will dry out the rubber)

Bruce

 

[brandon.w]

I figured as much. Thank you for responding. I have heard that one of the best ways to clean the heads is to run a blank tape for about a minute, stop the tape, run it for about a minute again next time you want to clean it, then just throw the tape away when you run out of tape. Is that complete bull or does it actually work?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Sorry... that's complete crap... cotton swabs, alcohol, rubber cleaner, and the occasional demag is the correct process...

Bruce

 

[overseas]

Ahh, the MT8X!

Hey, I used to have one of those! I really liked it. Is that the original model, or is it the improved version? The improved one had 3-band eq on all 8 tracks, etc. I eventually sold mine, got a Roland VS880EX, and then when I went overseas to teach, I ended up selling THAT one, too - needed the money. I went for a while without any kind of multitrack whatsoever, and ... Well, you know how it goes with us musician-types. I HAD TO get SOMETHING. This past summer, I picked up on another cassette 8-track in Pusan, this time a TASCAM 488MKII because, quite simply, that was all I could afford. Hey, it was cheap, and only very slightly used. It sounds fine for my purposes, and it's ridiculously easy to use. Anyway...

As for cleaning the heads: Go through the manual for the MT8X, look in the section about cleaning, and you'll find that by pressing a few buttons, the heads entend outward to allow for easy access. I always thought that feature was WAY cool. Follow Bruce's advice (the OTHER Bruce!) for cleaning up the heads, capstan, and pinch roller. (Use rubber cleaner on the pinch roller.) You may want to consider getting one of those demagnetizer cassettes from Radio Shack. They're a bit expensive, but they work well. Demagnetize and then clean up everything every 10-15 hours of use.

Recording hot is good advice. Just be careful not to record TOO hot, because you'll end up saturating the tape, which will cause the signal on the track you're recording to bleed through onto adjacent tracks. Ain't analog fun? Gotta love it!

Enjoy your MT8X. I made quite a few exception-sounding tapes on mine.

Cheers!

Bruce ("overseas" Bruce, that is!)

 

[brandon.w]

...

It's the original one. 3band eq on the first four tracks only. I got a total steal on it though. I was cruising around on ebay looking for a 4track to do some work with, then I got a little more interesting in recording gear...started looking at prices. The 4track I wanted was about 300 dollars...I COULD have gone with the cheaper, but I figured I might want something more fairly shortly. Then I found out about the few analog EIGHT tracks...looked around for a while, held off on a few and ended up grabbing my MT8X for a mere $320. I thought it was a good price, especially when I went into a used music store and found it, with missing buttons and knobs for $450. The greatest thing was the guy who previously owned it was completly anal about his eq (in a VERY good way). Everything looked brand spanking new...all the knobs and sliders worked perfectly, and he had ALL the paper work with it...including xeroxed track planning sheets and the original recpiet, priced at $1380. So...needless to say, I was a happy camper...only problem is, I still love fourtracks, and I can't haul my mt8x with me.