Re-record a digital mix into tape with my portastudio 424 MKII?

G

guillaume1086

New member
Hey guys,

As the title says I'm wondering if re-record a mix I did digitally on my computer with a Focusrite interface through my Tascam 424 MKII would be of any interest, sound-wise? Would it add any color/warm to my mix? I figured I would probably send the drums on stereo to the channels 1/2 of the Tascam and the rest of the mix to 3/4. Could it be even more detailed like do the voice separatly as well, or even maybe each track of my mix through the Tascam and then re-line it into my DAW? I thought I could play with the tape speed, and of course a bit with the EQs as well, even if I'm happy with my mix, to add a bit of that tape color... What do you guys reckon? Anyone already did that and could share a bit of xp??

Thanks! :)

Guillaume.
 
I wonder why you ask.

The easiest way to find out is simply to do it. Experiment freely and see whether you get anything you like the sound of.
 
gecko zzed said:
I wonder why you ask.

The easiest way to find out is simply to do it. Experiment freely and see whether you get anything you like the sound of.
Click to expand...

I'm not asking anything, I plan to do it anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone here did this kind of thing before, and maybe would have advice or experience to share about it. I'm not a Tascam expert, I got mine pretty recently and I'm not sure how I can get the best out of the tape sound, I think I read somewhere that if I don't touch the speed or the EQs it won't really have any effect on my sound. And I guess I'm just anxious as well because I'm gonna apply that on a mix I worked a lot on and I don't wanna ruin it, which is why I "ask", even if I'm more trying to start a conversation than to ask anything.
 
You can't ruin the mix you like as long as you don't delete it from your computer.

Go ahead and try it. Without doing anything other than transferring to tape, you will likely just be adding tape hiss and softening the high end a bit.

You will have to transfer all the tracks at the same time, otherwise the tracks won't line up. Tape speed isn't as exact as a computer, so the tracks can drift if you transfer them in separate passes.
 
Frankly, its not something that I would do. For me there's no real reason to add tape noise, wow&flutter and rolled off high frequencies unless it's for "artistic" reasons. I don't subscribe to the idea that all analog is "warm" and all digital is "harsh". Those are buzz words that are thrown about endlessly like gospel truth.

As for doing it for artistic reasons, then by all means go for it. ANYTHING is fair game in art. Just bear in mind that messing up bad art doesn't suddenly make it great.

You might watch this video.

 
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Thanks for the answers, I'm just gonna go and try it and see how it sounds and if I like what I hear. I just have one old cassette that was in the Tascam when I bought it, would you guys recommand that I buy some new cassettes? I think I read somewhere that there were diffetent qualities of tape, I surely want the best tape quality for my mixes. Thanks for the patience with a Tascam newbie... and good night :)
 
The 424 wants Hi Bias Type II tape. There were lots of different brands, from TDK, Maxell, Fuji, plus chrome tapes from BASF and early TDK. You probably should avoid Type IV Metal tapes, as well as Type 1 FerricOxide tapes.

TDK SA and Maxell UD-XL were very common Type 2 tapes. I also have a bunch of old Fuji FRII and ZII cassettes.
 
Thanks man! Will try to get my hands on one of those... Is that a good way to do things to record a song from the computer onto the Tascam, EQ and change the speed just a bit for the tape feel, then bounce it back to the computer and then record the next song on top of it with the same cassette and do this process for each song of the album?

Bonus question: would you go into the Tascam in RCA or Jack from the computer's interface?

cheerz
 
I don't use a PortaStudio, but the tape specs are in the manual. I've got boxes of old cassettes from the pre-CD days. I still have a HarmonKardon cassette deck, but haven't used it in at least 2 years.

As for bouncing to cassette for the tape feel, that's not something I would do, but to each his own. I can adjust speed and eq in my DAW, I don't want to introduce noise, wow/flutter or bandwidth limiting onto my tracks.

RE: recording to a tape and then erasing and reusing it, if you are using C60 cassettes, you can get 15 minutes per tape at 3.75ips. If you only have 1 tape, I guess you could do a couple of songs and the transfer back.
 
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