Tascam 424 MKIII - tracks record limit?

R

ryder31

New member
Hi everybody,

I'm new here, sorry if I don't do things in the right order :/
I'm recording my album on a Tascam 424 MKIII, everything was working perfectly, until last night.
I was recording vocal takes over and over on track number 3, just to get the right performance. And at some point I started hearing weird drop outs or crackings when playing back, only on track number 3. If I record the same vocals with the exact same set up and gear but on a blank part of the same cassette, no issue.

I'm assuming I've recorded too many times over the same track, maybe hit it a little too hot sometimes and now I won't be able to record a clean take on this track?
Do you guys know if you can technically re-record over a track as many times as you want or is there a point where the tape won't take it anymore and the track is, pardon my french, fucked?
I've been doing a lot of takes on other tracks or on this track on other songs and cassettes and this is the first time I'm hearing these weird artefacts or poor quality when playing back.

I'm using a Telefunken m80 dynamic microphone, and recording onto Maxell XL II Type 2 cassette tapes.

Thank you for reading!

Ryder
 
If it's dropout, you might just have wore the tape out. have a look and see if you can see creases or shiny patches. If you over recorded badly, then you just dont get complete erasure. crackling is usually electronic.
 
Hi Rob, thanks for your quick reply! I don't see any crease or shiny patch. I think the erasure works fine cause if I record "nothing" (no mic plugged in) on track 3 then there's no sound at all on the track. It's only when I actually record something (in this case, vocals) that I can hear these repeated micro drop outs. I might have just worn the tape out, you're right, but in that case I have two questions:
- Is it possible to wear out just one track, and the other tracks still sound fine?
- Theoratically and if recording properly (right levels, etc), can you re record an infinite amount of times on a track? Or would you say recording more than a certain amounts of time always endanger the sound quality of the track?

Thank you very much for your help
 
I would say, in THEORY a cassette has at least a thousand read/writes in it but in the real world there is wear and dust.
I suspect however you might have a fault in that channel, a dirty switch contact perhaps. I assume you clean the heads for every recording? My best MO for cassettes is to have say 5, numbered and rotate the usage ALWAYS storing them fully wound and in their boxes.

I suspect the days of tape are numbered? The gear is surely getting well past end of life? Ok for analogue nut...I mean talented ENTHUSIAST like our very own Sweetbeats but unless peeps have his engineering skills I cannot see more than few years left for rusty plastic strips.
I have a very nice 1/4" 4 track OR machine but I am selling it in the new year before the bubble bursts.

Dave.
 
Hi Dave! Thank you for your message. The truth is I never clean the heads, but dirty heads would result in flaws on all chanels, right?
I think t's not a channel issue as everything sounds fine if I record a little further on the tape, after the song is finished.

Thank you for answering!
 
No - dirty heads can impact just one track or them all. There is a head gap, and sometimes as the heads wear, there is a real gap, rather than a filled in gap and a very small partical of muck will impact just where it is. If that happens to be track 3, there's your problem. Easy to test, as if you put the tape in upside down, track 3 becomes track 2 - your error should then still prevent recording on that track, but if you recorded on track 2, then replayed that, it says the tape is fine, leaving the head the culprit. I just noticed you said it works fine later on? Then the tape is knackered. You just solved your own problem - the problem is only at a specific location on the tape. If it records and plays on track three, fifteen minutes into the tape - then it's not the machine!
 
If you're going to use that sub-par medium, you really need to clean the heads routinely and de-magnetize occasionally. That comes with the territory.
 
TimOD said:
If you're going to use that sub-par medium, you really need to clean the heads routinely and de-magnetize occasionally. That comes with the territory.
Click to expand...
I read quite recently that the jury is out as to the benefit of de-fluxing tape machines. It is however a fact that if you don't do it properly you can do more harm than good.

The fact is that there were millions of 'hi fi' cassette decks in use around the world and peeps hardly ever de-fluxed their heads. No reports of noise build up that I have ever read of?

ISOPROPA is however a MUST!

Dave.
 
Thanks for your help guys! I've started cleaning up when I'm recording, seems to help a little bit but the other day I have bouncing all my tracks to digital, and sometimes I would lose the high end, then start again, the high end comes back, then I lose it again... Kinda weird. I guess I just worn out my tapes!
 
ecc83 said:
I read quite recently that the jury is out as to the benefit of de-fluxing tape machines. It is however a fact that if you don't do it properly you can do more harm than good.
Click to expand...

I do it every few months just to be on the safe side. However, I think I've only encountered one instance where it made a dramatic difference and that was with a machine that I was repairing which must have been switched off while still in record. The symptom was that playback was very noisy - not so much high frequency hiss but more like wind noise. You are right that it needs to be done correctly though as switching off the demagnetiser too early could leave the heads more magnetised than they were to start with.
 
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