how to get best sound for a 424

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AaronRead

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Hey so I have a 424 portastudio and I want to work with it for a while and get the best possible sound quality on this machine. Right now I have it all messed around, I have it hooked up to a behringer xenyx 1204fx and my two mics (shure 58 and akg c1000) are hooked into the mixer so i can get the effects off of there. It would be cool to know.
1.What kind of cables to get I heard really great quality cables make a huge difference.
2. What kind of tapes to use i was using maxell ur 120 but am now using sony hf 60 and maxell xL2 60's Ive also heard using good quality tapes makes a difference.
3.What kind of mics to use- I love the mics i'm working with but i want to get one more and want to know which kind.
4. Also how to get the sound to travel/how to divide up tracks so that one track would mostly be in one headphone and another in the other headphone.Right now it sounds kinda stale and all centered.

I eventually wanna move on to like a 8 track or a 12 track (possibly a dps 12) but i'm really in love with this machine right now and wanna get the most i can out of it before it starts going.I've tried computers and briefly tried software and it feels gross/twisting and turnign knobs and pushing buttons is much more fun.ANy advice would be awesome even if the advice is that my set up is bunk that's cool too.
 
I have a 424 as well (mkII) and would be interested in some good tips on this. So far, I know type II tapes are a must. I've used Maxell XL-II tapes for about 20 years (for various things other than the portastudio) and they have held up wonderfully and still sound awesome. Just make sure to clean the transport path and pinch roller, and then demagnetize the heads for the best sound.

As far as the panning left or right, you can do that upon mix down if you like. I do podcasting with my setup and I have one person on the left and myself on the right. It sounds different, but it's just my preference. I don't think it makes a difference how you pan it while recording, as long as you aren't bouncing tracks or trying to put a specific channel (sub-in for example) on a specific track.

I'll let the pros handle the rest of this, as usual.;)
 
You'll need to buy a head demagnetizer. They used to be cheap - not sure though these days and all.

Turn it on across the room from your recorder and slowly walk to it. Make sure you have an extension cord of suitable length.
When you reach the machine pass the demagnetizer near the heads. DO NOT TOUCH THEM with it.

Walk back to the other side of the room and turn it off.

I haven't done this in many years so please correct me if I'm amiss.
 
AaronRead said:
1.What kind of cables to get I heard really great quality cables make a huge difference.
Click to expand...

no. don't buy into that monster cable bullshit. Decent cabling will last longer, it will have better connectors that stand up to abuse better, but for the most part that monster cable stuff is a total rip off.

Use type II/high bias (I always used XL-II) tapes with that machine in high speed mode to get the best fidelity. if you record quiet stuff and hiss is a problem, try the built in dbx noise reduction. if you record bangin' loud rock, bypass the dbx and hit the tape as hard as you can before you get too much audible distortion. I used to push my 424 well into the red but YMMV...

I would ditch the external mixer, although I guess you need the phantom power C1000. don't record with effects, record dry then run an effect through the effects loop in the 424's mixer on mixdown.

It would help if you gave us an idea about what kind of stuff you record (live rock band, electronic, acoustic, jazz). and be more specific about what you want to get out of the machine.
 
specs

It's just me recording but i try and do everything like rock and i'm getting into(or at least trying out) some jazz. A lot of it is me an electric guitar,drums,bass,trumpets,bells,loops and I also fiddle around with hip hop and just little 2 minute hip hop based electronic kinda pieces. So that's what I record.

As for what i want out of the machine. I just want to have less tape hiss on the quiet parts and for the all together sound of what I'm making more upront and filling the headphones rather than it sounding like it's all coming from the cnetre and it's tiney tiny. Basically to have medium big sound without tons of tape hiss.

Essentially make stuff that could be put on a cd and it wouldn't sound totally obvious that it was made from a 424 portastudio.Is this a dream or is it posible?
 
specs

It's just me recording but i try and do everything like rock and i'm getting into(or at least trying out) some jazz. A lot of it is me an electric guitar,drums,bass,trumpets,bells,loops and I also fiddle around with hip hop and just little 2 minute hip hop based electronic kinda pieces. So that's what I record.

As for what i want out of the machine. I just want to have less tape hiss on the quiet parts and for the all together sound of what I'm making more upront and filling the headphones rather than it sounding like it's all coming from the cnetre and it's tiney tiny. Basically to have medium big sound without tons of tape hiss.

Essentially make stuff that could be put on a cd and it wouldn't sound totally obvious that it was made from a 424 portastudio.Is this a dream or is it posible?
 
If I had to start out from scratch nowdays, I probably would create a notebook to write down major tips from these analog pros.

Don't try to learn it all, cause it ain't going to happen.

There are NO experts in the recording and music field.

Keep an open mind and learn all you can, do a lot of experimenting.

Things you discover while experimenting , are things you will never forget.

The 424 is one of the best, I'm from the old school of RtoR.
I actually recorded a song on a wire recorder.:eek:;)
 
The built-in dbx noise reduction is your friend.:D I LOVE the dbx in my 424 vs. my Nakamichi deck with Dolby B/C. I do podcasting and record straight to tape before sending it to the computer for converting to mp3. It's mostly spoken word with some songs sprinkled in. Unless someone cranks the gain WAY up, you can't hear the hiss.

Now if only my Pioneer R2R deck had dbx built in.:(
 
yeah, definitely try the dbx noise reduction to reduce tape hiss. make sure you use it for BOTH recording and playback (its an encode/decode process so it won't work correctly if you use it on just one or the other). print as hot as you can without getting audible distortion in order to keep signal to noise ratio as low as possible. experiment here, its OK to go into the red, especially if you use tape like XL-II.

as far as making the mix sound like its not all coming from the center... try panning stuff around. kinda hard with only four tracks, i know... have you been ping-ponging tracks? do you have a manual? somebody posted a link to some 424 tutorial videos on youtube, maybe try searching the archives or youtube....

I made some surprisingly good recordings with my 424. good playing and some creativity will get great results.
 
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