Problems with clipping

[DTalley]

I own a pair of 20/20 Event biamplified monitors and when I mix (for example a hi hat) it sounds great in the monitors but when I record to tape and play it back it clips on me bad! If I record that same sound into my Minidisk recorder it sounds perfect. I figure there must be something you have to do different when recording to cassette. Any suggestions?

 

[sonusman]

Maybe don't record it so hot to tape?

Ed

 

[virtual.ray]

Cassette tape is quite narrow and moves across the heads very slowly,either 1 7/8 or 3 3/4 inches per sec(ips).Hi hats have a lot of energy in the higher frequency range,where the cassette format's main weak point lies,so it's super easy to overload a cassette with this type of signal,so yeah, you're gonna have to ease up on the levels to avoid this.Some cassette decks have Dolby HX Pro,which is an attempt to wring a little extra headroom in the highs out of cassettes,but even then,it's still limited performance compared to other formats.Cheers!

 

[The Green Hornet]

DTalley-YO:>

Here is another suggestion since I mix down to tape at the moment.

Buy a Sony ES model tape deck, dual cassette model. Make sure it's ES which is the high end for Sony. [great electronics in the box]

This box has a automatic leveling set-up; you play your mix for a minute or so and the box sets in levels below clipping. Best price I found on the Sony ES cassette dual fuel was in Chicago, via the phone, at ABT or ADT or something like that.

Next step is to mix to CD which I'm in the process of doing.

Green Hornet