I Still Need Help Recording To VCR

[tgray2much]

I'M STILL HAVING PROBLEMS HOOKING MY HIFI VCR UP TO RECORD ON. EITHER I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING OR I'M DOING SOMETHING WRONG!

I EVEN FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT ANOTHER GUY GAVE ME TO EITHER USE A VIDEO CAMERA OR VIDEO GAME FOR CONNECTING A VIDEO SIGNAL TO THE VCR, BUT I AM STILL PUZZLED. I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE IT SET UP THE RIGHT WAY SO THAT I CAN USE IT TO MIX DOWN WITH.

IF YOU CAN HELP I'D SURE WOULD APPRECIATE IT!

IF YOU WANT TO YOU CAN EVEN EMAIL ME DIRECTLY OR CALL ME
618-271-7869
tgray2@mindspring.com

 

[little z]

Help is here!!!!!!

It is just this simple.... You are going to come from the Stereo (L/R) OUTS of your main deck (4 track, 8 track, whatever you are using) with your RCA cables, make sure the Red wire is always in the Right connector, or at least it should be... Then you are going to go IN to the Audio INPUTS(L/R) of your VCR... the same way, RED is always RIGHT, ok? With that installation, you should be fine, but other factors are still present... 1) Is your VCR completely disconnected from your TV set? That might be a big help, also 2) You may have to set the VCR setting on Antenna instead of leaving it on a channel, even though you are not connected to the TV, I had that problem once and I thought I was going to go nuts before I figured it out!!! LOL With that, you should be on your way to the "Mixdown".... Good luck and happy recording!!!!!! Steve

 

[devon]

just curious.

1) why would you record to vcr?

2) how would you listen to it?



im not being smart, just trying to understand.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Using a HiFi VCR is a budget way to mixdown to a format that is significantly better than cassette. It still doesn't approach DAT or CD, even MiniDisc performs better... FM modulation, which is the mechanism used by HiFi VCRs for recording audio usually results in low-level audible "hash", occuring with transients. So as always, there's a down-side to everything.

You must, of course, transfer from the vcr to another format to listen to it....

 

[tgray2much]

Re: just curious.

1) why would you record to vcr?

2) how would you listen to it?



im not being smart, just trying to understand.

if you must know! I don't have a lot of money to buy the expensive equipment like some may have, but a VCR is cheap way out if you don't have a multi-track or some other high end recorder. this way it works out fine for me because I'm just getting started. I hook the VCR to the mixer, record some beats
or vocals, and then rewind and then play it back and you can listen thru your monitors or headphones adjust a few knobs and
you got yourself a very low low budget recording that only you
will like but, it's good for practice...

 

[RCAGuy05]

I've just started really getting into recording as of '05' and I was using a 4 track Tascam and mixing down to HiFi VCR. As for the "virgin ear" factor I know that I can hear freqs pretty good and keenly observe sounds often. I'll be honest alot of VCR's are total poo for mixing down. I was visiting all the local Goodwill thrift stores for VCR's that I felt would do. One of which I found was a JVC Hi-Fi Stereo Video Cassette Recorder HR-D1830UM and when I would mix down my 4 track to it I had some nice results. Its a tank of VCR, huge, heavy, and black.
It would take out about 85% of the tape fuzz, compressed it actually non VCR-ish, smoothed out peaks and valleys, and even boosted Bass and Highs to make them smoother. It sounded better than the original 4-track recording.
In addition this VCR has a headphone jack with volume control, which was nice. But even without one just run the RCA out to your stereo(with bass boost off)or some kind of clean speaker system(PA would do). And yeah just run RCA out from your Mixer into the RCA in of the VCR. Change the channel down to below channel 2 and you should get abbreviation that say LIN or AUX. This sets the VCR up to exclusively recieve audio.
You can get an actual Beta HiFi on Ebay and I've heard those are good. Try it out.

 

[goldtopchas]

Gotta vouch for the VCR thing too. I use a tascam 424 and mixdown to a hi-fi vcr. I get great results. Expanded range,a dash of compression, and loads of record time. I clean the heads with one of those "put a few drops of solution on the headcleaner tape" things and use the good tape that's recommended for high quality. I monitor from the vcr to my home stereo and have a cass. deck hooked up on pause to view the rec. levels. It's a lo-tech way to make pretty decent masters on a budget. (for my own enjoyment of course) If I knew how I would post a wav file. The quality would probably surprise you.

 

[MadAudio]

I used to record final mixes to HiFi VHS long ago. What Blue Bear has said is on the mark. In addition, many consumer VHS decks have built-in limiters and no input level controls, so you have to be careful about your level. You won't hear it until you play it back, but if the limiter is kicking in a lot, your audio will sound like ass.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Using a HiFi VCR is a budget way to mixdown to a format that is significantly better than cassette. It still doesn't approach DAT or CD, even MiniDisc performs better... FM modulation, which is the mechanism used by HiFi VCRs for recording audio usually results in low-level audible "hash", occuring with transients. So as always, there's a down-side to everything.

You must, of course, transfer from the vcr to another format to listen to it....

A lot of idiots out lately - some numb-nuts gave me neg rep (why criticize analog tecniques in the analog forum?) for the above post...... apparently as many clueless fuckwits around as always!

 

[Seeker of Rock]

Just my two cents, but I didn't see where you criticized analog techniques in your response ; you just pointed out some things to consider with that particular technique.

 

[Dr ZEE]

apparently as many clueless fuckwits around as always!

That's why this place is THE regular hangout for insecure "professionals".
In the pile of sh*t a piece of broken glass looks like a diamond.


respects

 

[Dr ZEE]

(why criticize analog tecniques in the analog forum?)

Do you mean "criticizing recording audio to VCR" is "criticizing analog recording" ?


heh heh ... so much for being a pro, man ....

I know I'm being an as*..... don't take it too seriously. Still! "VCR-audio" has pretty much nothing to do with analog recording.... technically speaking.

/later