Mixing down from Analog to Digital

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VartRecords

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Hi folks-professionals! I need your help again...
So far I record all my music stuff onto analog 4-tracks "Tascam 424 MKIII" and mixing down to analog "Tascam 112 MKII Cassette Deck" - using conventional stereo cassete, and (as I've learned from you guys), in this case I can listen to and check my every mix first in regular stereo system, then in the car stereo, or somewhere else until I am sure that it sounds the way I like it on all consumer machines. But now I've bought digital "Tascam DA-20MKII DAT" and want to use it for mixing down with subsequent mastering either onto analog stereo cassete of burn CDs .
So, the question is: How can I check/controll if my mixing on DAT sounds good enough to be copied to stereo cassette or burned on CD? Indeed, do I need to burn a CD after each mix to check it? Thanks in advance.
 
First, if you don't have a decent set of studio monitors I would consider putting them in the budget. Mine were around the $650 range for the pair, and they are powered. Has saved me countless hours guessing at the mix by making a tape, playing it everywhere I can, then remixing. I still burn a CD when I am confident in the mix and play it on all systems I can before I call it done, along with letting other people listen to it to make sure I'm not overlooking something that's obvious, but it takes me much less time and hassle now that I have the monitors and have some idea of how they sound. You don't have to buy nice monitors to get a great mix, but I think they certainly will help and save you some time.

You can probably still make a cassette just like with the analog mixdown by running from the line out of the DAT machine to your tape deck. I would guess that the DAT machine has some kind of output that is analog, but maybe not. If so, then it's really no different than when you make a cassette from the analog 4-track machine.
 
Thank you very much, Jon X. Your reply prompted me to clarify the situation. I already have reference studio monitors “Event 20/20” powered with “Samson Servo 260” PA, and I can here what I am recording while mixing down. And everything sounds fine from those monitors after compressing, applying FX and EQ, etc. BUT, the point is that there is a big difference between mixes I can here from the monitors and that I can here from the tape when I am listening to it on consumer machines. For analog-to-analog situation after each mix I can listen to my mix on convention audio system and if something is wrong, I can go back, correct FX or EQ (mostly), remix it, listen on regular audio, correct and remix again and again… until I have desirable result. But how can I listen to my “DAT”ed mix on alternative source, to understand what corrections with EQ should be done, and how it will sound after I copy it onto analog stereo cassette or burn on CD? I don’t have to burn CD for each mixing until I like it, do I?
 
My DAT gets little use except archiving tracks from my old DMT-8. If/when my Wave 8/24 arrives (and the DMT is retired), my DAT is likely to be an expensive (but attractive) paper-weight. I don't know your setup, but I'm curious to know why you want to make the extra trip through the DAT? Burning to CD is cheap (compared to the price of a 94min DAT!). From what you've described, I'd probably burn the master directly to CD.
 
Thanks, pglewis. I decided to include DAT in the chain because of a nature of CDRW. I definitely could mix it directly to CD and if I don’t like it after listening to on a regular CD player I could erase it from CD and burn again until I like it (since I have CDRW). BUT - to listen to the burned CD on consumer player CD must be finalized, and after finalizing this CD cannot be rewritten (at least on my recorder “Marantz CDR-630”). That is why I want to use DAT for mixing down, getting desired result and then burn it to master CD. Am I right? Or there might be another solution? Sorry, if it's too complicated or not professional. I am just learning. Thanks again.
 
No, it's not too complicated... I just hadn't thought it through fully since most of my stuff ends up on the computer nowadays.

Put your masters on DAT. Make several alternate mixes of the songs (vocal up/down, different panning, whatever... keep notes). Burn a CD (or several... you'll have alternate mixes) _AND_ cut a cassette. Listen to both on different equipment... they will sound different. You'll either want a mix that sounds good on both, or seperate mixes for the specific medium. Go back, revise the mixes, and repeat as necessary. That should work pretty well for your situation.

Don't worry about burning the CDs... you can get more than a dozen CD-R's for the price of one DAT tape.
 
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