I need help with recording on a Tascam portastudio 488

[mwhitty]

I have a problem with figureing out how to mix.
Im recording on track 1. And it records fine. But Im not sure which setting I should be on. What does cue mean? And what does mix means? In other words, this is what I want to do. I want to be able to lay down a guitar track. And then after that is recorded. I want to go back and mess with the way it sounds. Like having certain parts fade in, and then fade out. And possibley mess with the pan, you know, switching it over from left speaker to right. So what settings do I need to be on? I tried recording with the switch over to the right, on the cue setting. And the knob below also over to the right where it says "grp 1" and it records fine. But I cant go back and mess with the sounds of it. I really need help figuring out how to do it. I also tried setting the switch to the left where it says mix. and recording on that. And I still cant go back and mess with it. I dont know. Im very new and I really need help. I have alot of ideas on how songs and such, but I cant execute them the way I want to =(

 

[DrGonzo]

I love the 488 mkII if that is what u have?

I love that old tape 8-track recorder. The tape cue I thought had to do w/ the headphoned mix, like if you cant hear the incoming signal of an overdub track. You essentially use the tape cue to adjust the volumes of the recorded tracks while in record mode. This will help u to mix in your live recording tracks w/ the other instruments already recorded.

Step one: look at the track you are recording on and then realize that u are getting signal through channel 1 via the grp1/2 button. This is your master channel cuz its the main one. While recording the tape cue button and track one's tape cue does nothing at all, as I recall.
Step two: then if u have other tracks on 2-8 then u need to adjust the tape cue. While noting that there is a master tape cue knob to turn up and down too. Just think cue the tape. They are playing back the tape cue mix of the already recorded material while u jam a solo for the 100 time.
Step three: Once u find a balance between the tape cue tracks and the the grp1/2 input or other inputs then press record and jam.

by the way
1 that switch put to the left "mic/line" well use that setting while recording on that track
2 in the middle it is "tape" and that is to route the signal to the tape cue for recording monitoring
3 the right side is "multi-mix" and as I recall this is for when your done and mix it down to digital tape or cd.