overdubbing

[freshman]

I have recently purchased a Tascam 488 portastudio. I'm getting frustrated trying to overdub tracks. Sometimes it works and sometimes I end up recording over everything. The guys at the music store said that the tracks must be assigned correctly. I have tried this over and over but cannot get the proper settings. If anyone has any detailed suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Dom Franco]

I am not familiar with your particular machine, but they all work about the same way. It's not rocket science....

There must be some button or switch to "Enable" recording on a track #1 #2 etc.

NOTE: Tracks are not the same as channels (Inputs from each channel can be sent to different TRACKS!) Tracks are slices of the tape where the signal is actually recorded.

EXAMPLE: You should be able to put a mic or guitar into any input, 1, 2 3, 4....etc. and ROUTE the signal to different tracks 1, 2, 3, 4..... Even two or three instuments at once from all the inputs to a single track!

EXPERIMENT: Put a mic in different channels and enable different tracks...just say "Test 1, 2 3. you know"

If all else fails ..read the manual that came with your machine!

Sincerely;

Dom Franco

 

[Top Jimmy]

Make sure the tracks that you are not recording on are in the "safe mode". Do you have a manual?

 

[ledhed]

Freshman, I also own a TASCAM 488...the first thing to watch out for when overdubbing is that you must use the Tape Cue only for listening to previously-recorded tracks. If you leave the Assign buttons pushed in while recording new tracks, you can record over previously-recorded tracks unintentionally. Make sure you only assign tracks that you are currently recording. And also make sure all previously-recorded tracks are in the Tape position (safe mode). I don't have my unit handy at the moment...if I think of anything else I'll post it later.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Freshman of the 488 world.

I had a couple of 488's and it took a bit to figure out all of those little push buttons but one thing that is fairly clear in the manual is that once you have recorded a track and you are overdubbing, as I do with my Yamaha MD-8 now, YOU MUST PUT THE RECORDED TRACK INTO THE CUE MODE or things will happen as ledhead stated above.

When you are listening in the CUE mode to recorded tracks, you don't need to worry about reverb or EQ or anything; you just need enough volume to hear so you can add the next track, and the next track,and the next track. I recorded a vocalist several times who always wanted to hear a take; man, I had to push all of the stubby buttons in and out from CUE back to record etc. Then, I had to wait for the tape to rewind; suggest you move to digital and save much time and get a better sound.

The 488 is nice but it is a learning machine. Once you plug in digital stuff, you'll never go back.

Have fun twiddling the dials,

Green Hornet