Need help with distorted "ringing"

  • Thread starter Thread starter england
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england

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I'm recording to a cassette deck from an analog multitrack. On one particular song where an electric guitar thru a signal processor is the prominent instrument, I keep getting what I can only describe as a distorted ringing artifact following every single note. When I'm mixing I cannot hear it through my monitors (Event PS6's). When I play the mixdown tape back through a boombox I cannot hear it. But when I play the tape back on either a good stereo system or cheap walkman, there it is! I've EQ'd and compressed all sorts of ways till I'm ready to vomit because I can't figure out where the artifacts are coming from. Problem is, I cannot hear them during the mixdown process, only during playback, so I can't fix them. They occur primarily on high notes. HELP please!
 
Sounds kinda like you might have a connection somewhere with a loose wire.

Isaiah
 
If you haven't already, monitor the signal coming out of the cassette deck while you are mixing down. This will let you hear exactly what is going to the tape. I am thinking that mabey the problem is with the cassette deck.

Just a thought;)
 
Actually that is what I'm doing. My monitors are patched to the output of the cassette mixdown deck so what I'm hearing is whats going to tape. Thats what mystifies me...how the signal being recorded sounds great but when played back on a walkman or stereo has the ringing artifact but on a boombox is okay.
 
The downfalls of cassette...

Sounds like a biasing problem. Not an easy fix.

Ed
 
If your analog multitrack is cassette-based and you're mixing down to another cassette, you're going to have MAJOR problems with phase (possibly due to the asynchrounous wow and flutter fluctuation between the 2 machines). Try mixing down to another format (MD, CD-R, DAT, even VHS-HiFi). If budget is a problem, VHS Hi-Fi will give you far better results than cassette, and be comparable in price.

Years ago in my porta-studio days, I tried mixing down to cassette - the results were crappy (and it was a high-end cassette deck to boot!)

Good luck...

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
If I mixdown to VHS can I copy that to a cassette and be alright or will I have the same problem? I have fixed the aforementioned problem by re-recording the guitar part using an fx patch with less distortion properties than the original signal and that seemed to work.
 
Oh... ok... then THAT was the problem (overuse of effects!).... keep at it then!!! ;)

Mixing to VHS (it HAS to be a "HiFi" VHS unit, otherwise there's no point) will work and you can copy back to cassette afterwards, but you lose a generation (and lose some sound quality in the process - this is analog remember!). If you can save a generation, you're better off...

Bruce
 
Oh... ok, then THAT was the problem (overuse of effects!) - seems you learned that lesson early - that's a good thing.... keep at it then!!! ;)

Mixing to VHS (it HAS to be a "HiFi" VHS unit, otherwise there's no point) will work and you can copy back to cassette afterwards, but you lose a generation (and sacrifice some sound quality in the process - this is analog remember!). If you can save a generation, you're better off...

Bruce
 
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