Is there a way to fix hiss in 1/4"

[LazerBeakShiek]

Just had a listen to the first track - the main problem seems to be over compression

Yes. Thats how we thought it was done. Compressing multiple times. One set fast and then one set slow was common.

Those Fostex machines are capable of great results in the right hands.

That would not have been us. we had no clue what we were doing, Back in 1989 I think I had my Aphex rack channel. It had some select peices I worked with at WHBC studio for the Ginny Show. Intern.

I still use that rack to this day..er well. I upgraded/replaced a couple pieces in the 2000's



My chain would go like Preamp-EQ-AGC-Compressor-Limiter-Gate. Compressed basically 3 times. Then to the A8. Making all the lights dance.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Little progress was made. The weekend I will have more time.

To me the tracks are not lining up well on the A8. Instruments are out of synch.

 

[jamesperrett]

You need to either transfer all the tracks at the same time or, if you don't have enough channels on your interface, choose one track as your timing reference and transfer that track on every pass together with another track (or tracks). With a stereo interface you would need to do 8 passes. You would then need to adjust the speed of each pass in your DAW so that all the reference tracks match. While you won't achieve sample accurate sync using this method, you can easily match tracks to within a millisecond and probably even tighter with more work.

Effectively you are doing the same thing as you would when syncing two analogue machines together. Both machines would use a timecode track as a reference and the second machine would adjust its speed to match the first machine.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Yep, I was thinking of describing that process, but it seemed like too much trouble to put someone through.

I think Celemony Capstan (https://www.celemony.com/en/capstan) would be a useful tool in a process like this, but it would be so much simpler to have an interface with enough inputs.

 

[Gtoboy]

Single track at a time is only as accurate as the playback of the tape. Old tape and old machines can have random speed variations that make lining up individual tracks nightmarish so I always due all tracks at once. Since Beaks only has two inputs he'll only be able to do two at the same time.

First thing to record would be the stereo mix to use as a reference when lining up individual tracks after transferring.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

In the A8 service manual I looked for a spec for the RTZ. Can the RTZ function can be off more the .5 sec or 7.5 " of tape? .. 1/2 second is too much. I do hear a delay though.

Is there a cleaning or adjustment procedure for the counter's photo-interupters? I'm thinking something's wrong with it as it is coming to a stop.

 

[jamesperrett]

Don't trust the tape counter - you need it to be much more accurate than that. The method that I mentioned above using a reference track is the only way that you can make it work unless you are prepared to spend the money on an interface with more inputs.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

In the A8 service manual I looked for a spec for the RTZ. Can the RTZ function can be off more the .5 sec or 7.5 " of tape? .. 1/2 second is too much. I do hear a delay though.

Is there a cleaning or adjustment procedure for the counter's photo-interupters? I'm thinking something's wrong with it as it is coming to a stop.

If it's just a matter of lining up the start times, you can slide tracks left or right on the timeline.

The bigger problem is that the speed varies during playback and between passes just enough to make things go out of sync over the duration of the song, even if they start in sync at the beginning.

Actually, the stretch function in Vegas Pro (and probably other DAWs) is probably good enough to compensate for the total drift over the length of the song.

 

[jamesperrett]

I find that just adjusting the playback speed of the region so that the start and end of the reference track matches is good enough for a single song. I find that you need to adjust the speed for each song though - and I don't know how stable the A8 is compared to the E8 that I use.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

The problem is not related to any of that. The machine needs service. It fell over while in operation. The whole table it was on collapsed.

I 'm trying to nurse it , good enough to get 5-6 songs off 3 reels. Some tracks don't play or garble up. Some dont record. The RTZ is all wonky..

Almost like it has good days and bad. The day I made the transfer, it sounded ok. Now its having a fit.