I HAVE ISSUES! mixdown to cd??

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countparkula

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i've been playing around w/ my tascam 4track for a few months and would love to figure out how to mix to cd rather than tape. i've read tons of websites' info and they all seem to mention DATs and ADATs and hifi VCRs.

why cant i just buy a stand alone cd recorder (not pc based) and mixdown on that? they're all over ebay and it seems pretty logical to me, but at the same time i'm pretty clueless about all this.

any major issues i need to know about concerning this?

any help is GREATLY appreciated !!

oh yea, and if this is do-able...any suggestions on reliable brands/models? i have a budget of about $200
 
Yo Count Parkula:

Vy iz it dat you only come out after the sun goes down???



Your budget will need to increase a bit if you want a decent CD burner.

Just saw the HB BURNIT CD burner on sale at Full Compass for around 430 pezzutos.

The CD Burner I've heard the best reports on is the Tascam 200 [I think that's the number] but it also runs 500+ pezzutos unless you can find one on sale.

Then, with your 4 tracker, [hope you have a reverb unit] all you do is run the rca stereo outs into the burner's rca analog ins and burn away.

Stay away from mirrors Parkula.

Green Hornet
 
Yo Parkula and Brucela:

Sorry Bruce....

The Masterlink slipped my mind. It is the "better" box.

Forgetfula

Green Hornet
 
fellas, you guys are great - such quick response and w/ a bit of humor. awesome, thanks.

looked around on ebay and elsewhere and found the units of which you both spoke. shiny and pretty, yes. i likey. but also north of 500 bucks, i dont likey.

i'm basically just having fun recording songs i've written over the last 10 years and giving them to friends and family. i have the basic stuff (yes, reverb unit, compressor, etc)... so what about these Philips and Sony units on ebay that are going for like $150 - 200 bucks??

my prediction of your response: "you get what you pay for".

hornet, isnt there a tower mountain in grand rapids? named after my best friends great grandfather. at least thats what he tells me.
 
Count, if you have a PC with a sound card, you could just play your Tascam "final mix" into the sound cards line-in and record it. Then buy a PC CDR Burner (<$100, faster = more money). That would be the cheap way, and the quality you get will depend on the A/D converters in your sound card. But since your source (TASCAM 4 track) is fairly noisy to begin with, something like a SoundBlaster Live card should be fine for you.
 
rwhite,

hmmmm. im intrigued. i may yet be dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age.

so i'd need a decent soundcard (not sure what my puter has) and a computer cd burner. do they sell those stand alone, or would i have to install it?

oh geez, this opens up a ton of new questions for me. lemme go see if there is a separate discussion area for computer type recording stuff.

but hey, thanks for opening my eyes to the option. sounds kinda tasty. thanks for the love, brotha
 
No problem!

The Computer & Soundcard forum would be the right place to go for more info.

You can get a Sound Blaster Live "Value" card for about $60, but check first to see what is in your PC now (I'm assuming you have one, or have access to one). Again because your source isn't very clean audio to begin with, most any sound card is OK.

Once you start working with the computer & software more, then you may want to record directly into the PC and skip the Tascam. At that point you will need (and want) a better sound card. But that's another story....
 
i use a Tascam CDRW 700 to mix down from my yamaha md8 and i have been completely happy with it. it has nice things like sync record and fade in/out, and it cranks up the volume of your recording alot too. i haven't had experience with other units, but i do like this one alot, especially if you have a budget. i got it for 600 new but i think they are now selling for 500 new.
 
Blue and Green:
I'm about to lay down the bread for a Masterlink... Now, I have a Tascam 424MKIII; is this going to be like watching a video tape on a High-Definition T.V.? I'm currently mixing down to a mini-disc recorder (the eternal issue of 'budget'...), and I'd just like to have a CD after all is said and done. I like the idea of utilizing the compression, EQ, and normalizing. I like the track editing capabilities. And I like the notion of going to a hard drive FIRST, before burning either a 16 or 24 bit master... The hard drive would enable an external bounce technique, as I was doing with my MD-R, right? Do you think the analog 'noise' would be exaggerated on the Masterlink? Or would I just get an excellent reproduction of whatever was done on my Tascam? This is my solemn hope... I do forsee upgrading to a digital multitracker eventually, so I'm looking ahead; but for now....
Thanks for your input; much appreciated!
 
The Masterlink will be excellent for you...

Incidently, I have NEVER used the normalization function on any track. It is essentially a useless feature except to get a quick db reading of where the peak is. Other than that, it has little practical use.

Bruce
 
fellas

just wanna say that i have picked up more useful info from this site in the last 3 days than the previous 3 months of searching over other sites. y'all (yes, from the south) are so helpful and knowledgeable and it is much appreciated by clueless newborns like myself.

man i just THIRST for all this info, you know? awesome. cant get enough.

anyway, thanks.
 
issues

hey count,
I'm just done the road from you in South Boston, Va. I have the 424mkIII and I burn to a Phillips cdr. It sounds like you are doing the same thing that I do. Just as a hobby. I'm not doing demos for jobs or anything like that. I burn cds to a Phillips stand alone and seem to get real good stuff. If you'd like I will send you a cd so you can hear what this set up sounds like, Or if you know someone who has one, borrow it and burn something before you go and spend the cheeze for a "pro" burner. It suits my ears and my budget fine. By all means, if you have unlimited budget, go for the good stuff because if you get the home recording bug in you like I have you will always be looking for more.

my e-mail nthompson@gcronline.com
dtb
 
As you say, everything comes back to the budget. I've never used a Masterlink, never even seen one actually, but it seems like everyone here who has loves it. Now using a Master link to mix down from a porta-studio seems kind of like hunting sparrows with surface-to-air missles, i.e. gross over kill. BUT if you have the cash, and you are reasonably sure that you will be staying with the recording hobby/business for some time, sure go ahead and buy it - when you eventually buy some sort of digital multi-tracker to record on, you will have a very worthy mixdown device. OR go the cheap (sound card) route now, buy you multi-tracker later, and then look for a better mixdown device at that time.

In my case I used to record on an 8 track reel-to-reel and mix to a 2 track reel-to-reel. Then I started mixing to a DAT deck (borrowed), and when I finally bought a digital recording card I begain doing all mixing inside the PC.
 
yea, im sure i'll be recording for years and years. got plenty of songs in me that i wanna get down on disc. and im sure i'll be going all digital down the road. but for now im totally happy with my li'l tascam, very much enjoying learning new tricks and stuff and i dont want to buy a masterlink valued at more than all my other equipment combined!

i was at mars tonight looking at the masterlink. and i was thinking how much i look forward to knowing what the heck im doing and being at the point where i'm ready for something like that. but i tend to take things very slooowwwly. took me a full DECADE of wanting one before i bought my portastudio, i wanted to be semi-proficient on many instruments before i got into recording.

and now here i am. finally. taking my first steps into building my little home studio.

im a happy happy dude

just cant decide between mixing down to pc or to a stand alone cd burner. hmmmm. still gathering info....


good times
goodnight y'all, going to bed.
 
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