Oh no...ANALOG!!!! Quick question.

  • Thread starter Thread starter uncleape
  • Start date Start date
U

uncleape

New member
Hey guys, so I record much of my stuff onto cassette (sounds incredible with my Marantz PMD 222), and I am aware that recording at the highest speed setting results in the highest quality, but I was wondering if I can push it even further by turning the pitch control all the way up while recording, or if this is simply a waste of time. Thanks in advance for all replies.
 
uncleape said:
Hey guys, so I record much of my stuff onto cassette (sounds incredible with my Marantz PMD 222), and I am aware that recording at the highest speed setting results in the highest quality, but I was wondering if I can push it even further by turning the pitch control all the way up while recording, or if this is simply a waste of time. Thanks in advance for all replies.
Click to expand...
Won't really gain you enough to bother with... and then you lose compatability with any other players without pitch control... they'll sound slow with lower pitch...
 
Another issue is the fact that your machine's EQ and bias may be optimized for a particular tape speed. Indiscriminately increasing the tape speed without changing EQ or bias to match will yield an undesirable result; most likely, too much boost in the upper frequencies (perhaps that's what you want?).

I'm not certain about your particular deck, but on some machines the pitch control has no effect in record mode.

:)
 
You can check to see exactly what will happen. Use a tone generator (you can download a free one) and record a series of sine waves into your 4-track. Record like 20hz, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5k, 10, 15k, 17.5k, and 20k. Adjust levels so they are all at 0db (you should only have to set that once unless something is not right with the tone generator or your soundcard, or the input section of your tape machine). Record those tones then play them pack and watch the levels on your tape machine. Plot them out on a chart and draw a response curve. You can then change the tape speed and do it again to compare.

I was shocked to see how even and wide the response was in my Tascam 424mkIII. I always liked the sound of cassette 4-tracks. It was +/- no more than 2db from 35hz to over 15k (I didn't measure higher than that).

I am going to test again and measure the harmonic distortion added at different record levels, and what happens when the noise reduction is off. I want to compare that with my reel-to-reel machines.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top