sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
My advice: slow down.
You’re intermixing calibrating the dbx unit and calibrating the Otari. Decide which one you want to do right now and stick with that…one at a time. And be aware you absolutely cannot calibrate the Otari without a calibration tape. There is a process:
1. Calibrate meters
2. Calibrate playback electronics
3. Calibrate record electronics
You have to do them in that order and step 2 requires the calibration tape. Do you have a cal tape? If not, then cal the meters on the tape deck and go back to calibrating the dbx units.
The 150 manual has the nice straight-forward procedure in it I mentioned earlier for calibrating the levels of the dbx units. Just stick to that procedure…page 4 of the 150 pdf manual.
Dbx noise reduction is not “destructive”. It is a broad-band companding processor that compresses the audio ahead of the tape, and then expands it on playback which, in effect buries the tape noise because of the expansion of the program material. It’s a very straight-forward process. Type I dbx works fine for open reel formats such as 1/4” 4-track at 7.5ips and higher.
You’re intermixing calibrating the dbx unit and calibrating the Otari. Decide which one you want to do right now and stick with that…one at a time. And be aware you absolutely cannot calibrate the Otari without a calibration tape. There is a process:
1. Calibrate meters
2. Calibrate playback electronics
3. Calibrate record electronics
You have to do them in that order and step 2 requires the calibration tape. Do you have a cal tape? If not, then cal the meters on the tape deck and go back to calibrating the dbx units.
The 150 manual has the nice straight-forward procedure in it I mentioned earlier for calibrating the levels of the dbx units. Just stick to that procedure…page 4 of the 150 pdf manual.
Dbx noise reduction is not “destructive”. It is a broad-band companding processor that compresses the audio ahead of the tape, and then expands it on playback which, in effect buries the tape noise because of the expansion of the program material. It’s a very straight-forward process. Type I dbx works fine for open reel formats such as 1/4” 4-track at 7.5ips and higher.