Porta03 playback only in Mono

I

iheartblondie

New member
Hey everyone, I'm hoping someone can help me out.

I'm recording with a Tascam Porta03 Ministudio. It records fine and everything, but when I play my tape back on a regular cassette player, it only plays back in mono.

If I hit the play button while it's still in the Porta03, it'll playback in stereo just fine. The tape only plays back in mono if I put it in a different player.

Now, maybe this is normal for 4-track recorders, I don't know. I'm very new to analog recording, please help!
 
By "regular cassette player", I mean any Walkman or boombox tape player.

The models aren't relevant because I've tried listening to the tapes on several tape-playing devices and it keeps playing back in mono, but when I play the same tape in my Porta 03, it plays back in stereo.
 
A cassette has four tracks. On a regular system, this is divided into two pairs so you have a left and right channel for each side of the tape. This means it's only playing back two of the four tracks - you have to put the cassette in the other way to hear the other side.

A 4-channel cassette for a portastudio machine works the same way, except that it plays back all 4 tracks at once to allow for overdubbing. If you put the cassette in backwards it will play all the tracks backwards.

Because the tracks are used in different ways, playing a 4-channel cassette in a stereo deck will not give you sensible results. To get a normal stereo recording, you will need a stereo recorder. There should be a stereo out on the portastudio to give you a stereo signal that can be recorded on the stereo deck.
 
Like JP Morris said, this is called "mixing" or "mixing down." You can just use the inputs on your computer soundcard if you don't have anything else, and it should sound just fine.

Just run an RCA cable from the Line Out jacks on the Porta 03 and use a female RCA-to-male 1/8" stereo adapter to go into your computer's soundcard.

3.5mm Male to (2) RCA Female Y-Cable, 6"

or you can use a cable already made that way:
Amazon.com : Hosa Cable CMR206 Stereo 1/8 Inch to Dual RCA Adapter Cable - 6 Foot : Stereo Jack Cables : Musical Instruments

Anyway, then you just need a simple recording program on your computer. Audacity is free and would work fine. Then you just record a stereo file on Audacity while you playback your Porta 03.

You'll end up with a stereo WAV file (most likely) that you can do whatever you want with. You can convert it to mp3 to play it online or whatever, or you can run out the line out of your computer and back in to your Porta 03 using some RCA-to-1/4" adapters. This time, you'd plug those into inputs 1 and 2 of the Porta and record it onto tracks 1 and 2.

After you've done that, you would be able to take that cassette and play it in any other deck and it would sound fine.

HOWEVER, if all you want to ever do is play your mixes on another cassette recorder, it would make more sense for you to get a decent cassette recorder and mix down to that from the Porta (and leave the computer out of it altogether).

Something like the Tascam 130 would be fine. I got mine off eBay for $30 shipped I think, which was a hell of a deal. You can get something similar if you're patient and bide your time. Or you can pay a little more---in the $100 to $150 range---and have your pick of the litter pretty much.
Tascam 130 Stereo Single Cassette Deck
 
iheartblondie said:
By "regular cassette player", I mean any Walkman or boombox tape player.

The models aren't relevant because I've tried listening to the tapes on several tape-playing devices and it keeps playing back in mono, but when I play the same tape in my Porta 03, it plays back in stereo.
Click to expand...

The models are absolutely relevant!!! For all we know you could be using a dictation type cassette for playback like this, because you didn't elaborate.

Cassette.jpg

If that were the case the reason you're hearing what you describe as mono would be very different than what would be happening with a stereo cassette recorder/player.

The experienced members here will ask for clarification before launching into an explanation, which I normally do.

But other members have answered your question now, so I hope you can take it from there. Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top