transfering quality 4 track to interface card

K

krimson

New member
Hello,

I have a Tascam 424 Mk1 and a RME multiface. I want to get the transfer of the 4 track to the pc the best way I can. If i send the 4 track straight to the RME with the input jumpers at -10, I get a decent level but not quite there just below 0dB. Is that okay or should I be using good high quality preamps to increase the levels a bit? I have a jfet and a tube Hamptone pres at my disposal to use. I'm curious to know about this as I've tried the search nad have come up with nothing at all. Should I use plugins for the gain increase if needed?

Thanks,
Jeff
 
Excellent question! Which is which? Well the meters in Reaper on the input go not higher so far than -4.6. I guess basically you would typically want the meters below 0 (whatever that is) on the sound card software input.


Cheers,
Jeff
 
-4.6 is plenty, some would say too high. The track meters in reaper are peak. 0db on the input meters of reaper will be 0dBFS

Youll be fine at that level
 
Thanks Pipeline. I'm curious as to why some would think that -4.6 is too high when usually 0 is when stuff is peaking out and the digital clipping is heard?

Cheers,
Jeff
 
Well theoretically its fine till you hit 0dbfs

But in practice, as you get close to that many ADC's will distort

More importantly, most gear is set to operate best at 0VU which for a regular +4 device is -15dBFS on RME gear

When these noobs KRANK up their cheapass mic pre's to try and hit 0dBFS, they are often adding 12 dB past where the mic preamp likes to hang out at. When an analog device goes past its nominal level and blows past its headroom it enters the real of distortion. Now sometimes distortion is desireable, but its important to know when you are getting into it.

The concept of "gain staging" is an important one that has been mostly lost nowdays, but the better recordings will take it into account.
 
I agree whole heartedly. The gain staging thing is the part that worries me the most, as I'm always aware that something has to be done right but I'm never totally sure on what that is all the time.

On my multiface card i changed the jumpers to -10 from +4 in this case for my 4 track. otherwise they are always left at +4 for the mic pres in which i use and then never have any problems with for signal as that is the norm for me.

Thank you for your input, greatly appreciated :D

Cheers,
Jeff
 
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