I need some tips

[Kemöth]

Hi, my name is Daniel, I'm a brazilian newbie to home recording experience. I just bought an used Tascam Porta 07 4-track so I can get used to micing, mixing and recording stuff.

I'm micing my electric guitar with an old dynamic Shure 588SB mic borrowed from my band's vocalist. There's this hiss I'm getting when I listen to my recorded tape, and I don't know where it is coming from. Does it happens because it's a dynamic mic I'm using, instead of a condenser? Or could it be some problem with the portastudio's heads?

I know these questions some very vage, but please remember I'm a complete beginner to micing stuff.

PS. please excuse me for my english

 

[Wireneck]

im not famillar with the porta 7 model

but im guessing that its just one of the older tape based tascam 4 tracks. I don't want to sound all sarcastic but could the sound your describing be TAPE HISS? Try and record with your levels as loud as possible without clipping, this is important and will help some with the hiss. If your going to keep using this format of recording you might as well get used to the sound because it isnt going anywhere.

 

[Kemöth]

Wireneck, thank you for the input. I'll try and do what you said. As I said, I'm a complete newbie to home recording, and wasn't sure if the dynamic mic could be the cause of the hiss.

As for the gear, here in Brazil we buy what we can find, and not what we really want (ok, that's not THAT bad, but you got the picture), so I'll be sticking with the porta 07 for a while, until I get used to the home recording basics and stuff. And the gear prices are really high. The price I paid here for the porta 07 could buy a digital 8-track in the US

 

[billisa]

With analogue tape you will hear hiss, though I'm not sure if that's what you're hearing... As was said, make sure your input level on recording is consistently hitting 0db. If the needle or LED meter goes into the red zone occassionally, this shouldn't be a problem. With digital, peaking sounds awful, like crunching metal. On tape you'll get some distortion, but some actually like that. Anyway, when recording keep your levels strong, otherwise on playback when they need to be boosted you'll get ALOT of hiss.

Lastly does you TASCAM have DBX or dolby noise reduction? If I recall DBX was an excellent approach. Remeber you have to use noise reduction systems both in recording and in playback, AND that once it's put on a tape, that tape should be played back on a machine that has the same noise reduction system.

 

[Kemöth]

Thanks for the answer billisa. Yes, I'm using the Tascam's DBX feature. I'll try to record somethig tomorrow with my band, so I can play at a decent level and check how it sounds.

cheers

 

[chessparov]

Kemoth, you may want to also post in the "Tascam" forum, here on this BBS, as needed.

There are some strong "Porta-heads" there, like "A Reel Person", who are extremely knowledgable about these units with years of experience on getting good sound.

Chris

 

[Kemöth]

Yeah, I've been on the Tascam forum already, but no one gave me an answer about the porta 07, probably because no one uses it anymore

I had some doubts on that mic I said before, that's why I posted and not in the Tascam area, but thanks for the tip. BTW, thank you all for the help. Very kind. Wish we had something like this bbs here in Brazil.

 

[StevenLindsey]

Yeah, I've been on the Tascam forum already, but no one gave me an answer about the porta 07, probably because no one uses it anymore

I had some doubts on that mic I said before, that's why I posted and not in the Tascam area, but thanks for the tip. BTW, thank you all for the help. Very kind. Wish we had something like this bbs here in Brazil.

You DO have something like this BBS there in Brazil.

I had the cassette portastudio once, long ago. Never used it because I couldn't stand the tape hiss. It cost me like $1400 at the time. Part of it is tape hiss. Part of it is using a dynamic mic with cheap mic pres. A good condenser mic with a good quiet preamp would help some, but you're going to have tape hiss no matter what you do. I always hated the dead sound of the dolby. You may be able to reach some compromise though. Good luck.

 

[Kemöth]

What do you mean? I never heard about a brazilian home recording bbs. Give me the link, will you? Please?

About the porta 07, I'm buying soon an SM-57, so I hope the hiss goes away a little bit. Anyways, I'm not using this deck for comercial purpose, I bought it to learn the basics of home recording, and move on to a more professional equipment later.

Thanks for the tips, Steven!

 

[Rocket Boy]

you have to clean your heads with tape head cleaner. that's where the hiss comes from. if you get a "wah-wah" sound then you need to clean the rubber pinch roller with rubber cleaner. make sure you wipe the stuff off after you use clean it.

 

[StevenLindsey]

I just meant that you are in Brazil and you are on this BBS, so you naturally have something like this BBS in Brazil..... just trying to be funny, I suppose. Pretty lame. Sorry.

I hope you have a great time with your Portastudio. Recording is a lot of fun.

Cleaning your heads and roller will be good but don't think it will get rid of your hiss. It won't. May help a bit IF they're dirty. An SM57 won't get rid of it either. If you have a good outboard preamp, you will get some good sound with it though. Have fun!

 

[Kemöth]

Rocket Boy, now that you mentioned, I did got a wah-wah kinda sound when I taped mey guitar with distortion directly on the line in jack because my amp wasn't at home, but then I got it back and forgot about that, because when taped from the amp it dissapeared. I'll buy the cleaning kit soon and I'm sure it will get a little better.

Steven, you meant the SM-57 won't get rid of ALL the noise, didn't you? I'll do some research on preamps so I don't have to do a lot of questions about it here and annoy everybody with lazy newbie's quiestions.

Thank you all guys!
And damn you and your sense of humor Steven

 

[StevenLindsey]

Rats! I've been cursed.

If you're really wanting to minimize the noise level from your mic and pre, you'd be better off getting a fairly decent condenser, like say a Studio Projects B1, Marshall V67, Behringer B2...something like that...and a preamp with phantom power..M-Audio Audiobuddy or DMP3, Studio Projects VTB-1, or maybe one of the small Behringer UB mixers. The SM57 requires a lot of gain to really get it going and with most cheaper preamps ( and even some more expensive ones ), you're getting into hiss level there. Then you're just adding amp hiss to tape hiss. The SP VTB-1 is reputed to be good with the SM57 though - check it out. And if it makes you feel better, I'll try to learn a few words in Portuguese.

 

[Kemöth]

No need to learn Portuguese, Steven, but thanks
I finally did some recordings with my band, and this Tascam Porta 07 sounds better than I though it would. There's still some hiss but not in the same way it was happening before. I miced a drum with 5 different mics (SM-58, Roland,Behringer, another dinamic Shure I can't remember its model and a brazilian mic named Leson), a brazilian 12 track mixer named Wattson (and it does have a really bad reputation) and, guess what, it sounds good! It's not like I had recorded it in a professional studio, but it's way better than I though it woud be.

Again, thank you guys for the help! There's a long road ahead!

 

[StevenLindsey]

I'm glad you like it, Kemoth. That's the important thing anyway. Just have fun with your recording. After your first gold record, you will buy yourself a lot of new equipment anyway.