mix tapes

i want to improve da quality of da sound of my mixtapes , i use 4 decks and a mackie cr 1604 vlz mixer with two technics mixers. i usually record straight to a tape deck but find i get alot of hiss , and sometimes 2 much distortion. any tips on gettin a profeesional sound as possible , what levels to have evrything set at 2 reduce hiss etc.
safe

record your mix from the tape to a mini disc , while you transfer the tape to MDyou clean your sound up,use an EQ tofix the sound and take out the hiss,once you clean it up re-record this back to tape again.do this a couple times til you get the sound your lookin for,you don,t lose sound quality from the MD.i personally think that MD sounds better than cd recording.good luck hopr this works for you. peace

mini disc is not better then cd. #1 to compress the data onto a mini disk the device limits the headroom and then cuts off sound frequencies above and below levels that they claim are "inaudible to the human ear" which is nowhere near true since I ain't mr "perfect pitch" yet I can tell when a sound came form mini disk or from off of another kind of source. You most def lose sound quality from a MD, simply read a site on google as to how they work and you can figuree it out. Any recording medium that compresses the data or cuts off frequencies is not good. Why do you think thise MD 8 tracks never caught on? I mean md seems like a cheaper and beter storage medium then cd's, dat, smart media all of 'em, until you read how they work.

MD is good for stuff like grabbing a sample off a dvd at someones house ( a vocal drop) and off of video games and stuff, but for a finished product I would avoid it.

To record to tape, #1 make sure your levels are right on, you want the red on the tape deck to barely light up, basically just as loud as you can get it before it clips. this covers the background hiss.

Then you want to use a high quality audio tape for the recording of the master mixtape. They make these kind (tdK i think) that are made for use in multitrack recorders that will work on any tape deack. they are a little more xpensive but worth it, you wont get hiss or squeaks from the tape as it records.

3 clean the heads on the tape deck, buy a kit from radio shack, and clean them bad boy's, that should get rid of most of the hissing.

4- when you record the tape itself, do a dry run and test the levels of the records, each record has its own vol. which is often very different from record to record.

5- If you have a compressor, use it in between the decks and the tape deck.

6 remember that it is tape. there will be some hissin' its a given, this should be enough to keep the levesl from getting messed up

7 remember to keep the signal chain legit. its no good to set the decks record volume to 9, and have the output source from the mixer at 4, that will create mad hissing. set the volume of the mixer and the reocrding level of the deck so they complement each other and have as little difference between the 2 as possible. Like set the mixer to 7 or 8 and have the deck recording volume set to like 5 or 6. This will eliminate the "input hiss" problem

pz

oh yeah when you record set your levels at 7 on your mixers and check your recording levels to see if there to loud, use your headphones to check how it sounds in the recorder,don't use dolby if you have that on your recorder this causes more hiss in your recording , check your cables to see if there away from power cords and transformers this causes hiss also... good luck

do you mean on my technics mixer set the output level so on my mackie desk its almost clippin. then set the tape deck record level so its at 0, it goes up to +6 but from 0 upwards the numbAS in red

exactly
ok here I'll use my tape deck as an example


#1 Turn my vestax pmc07 channel volumes to 10 (the max) then adjust the main volume on the Vestax until the output is correct. THe stereo led's on the Vestax SHOULD be going into the +4 - +6 range. First make sure that this sounds good coming out of it (listen on the Mackie mixing boards headphone out), thumpy!

Now adjust the volume on the mackie so that it is hitting +2 or so on the peaks, (when the bass thumps), Now last (but not least) adjust the tape deck recording volume until the tape decks is barely lighting the red on the peaks.
Now listen. It should be loud, clear and not too much hiss. If you want to raise the volume do it gradually and go backwards in the chain. IE if you want to raise the recording volume on the tape deck by 1 notch, dont go 1 notch and not adjust the mixer's levels, you gotta split up the increase across the entire chain. This enusres you record as hot as possible w/o sacrificing signal quality anywhere in the chain.

Remeber, alot of recordings (analog like on tape) are clipped intentionally, if you have a compressor, compress the sound b4 it goes from the mackie to the tape deck, this should aid in keeping the sound punchy.

BUY A TDK CD RECORDER FROM LIKE BEST BUY......$250.00

JUST HOOK IT UP TO YOUR RECIVER OR OUTS ON THE MIXER AND START RECORDING... THERE IS A BUTTON ON THE REMOTE SO YOU CAN INSERT WHERE YOU WANT THE TRACKS AS YOU GO. WHEN YOU PLAY IT BACK.... THERE WILL BE NO PAUSE BETWEEN TRACKS... THEN JUST DUB TO TAPE IF THAT IS YOUR PLAN. MY FRIEND MAKES BLENDED MIX CD'S AND SELLS THEM AT THE CLUB HE WORKS FOR... THE QUALITY IS GREAT AND IT IS A CHEAP FIX

PLUS YOU CAN RECORD THE WHOLE DISC AND WHEN YOUR DONE... RECORD IT ANGAIN AND WATCH THE RECORD LEVEL AS YOU GO...

JUST A THOUGHT.
SORRY FOR THE CAPS... I'M AT WORK.

safe.just decied that im gonna use my brothers 4 trak and record on to that. will runnin it through the mackie desk after its done be a good idea? cos i guess i could do some eqing.
djing is definatly fckd up at da moment , 2 many turntable nerds in my opinion who couldnt rock a house party if there 1200's depended on it
just my opinion

I dunno, been tablist since 95 and I can say that the game has most def elevated. I dont care about the scratch nerds. let them do their thing. Rocking a house party is also highly overrated. Matter of fact I gave that ish up in like 97. Why?

I dont want to hear some whiney girl or some square dude asking to hear some bs. I stopped even loading "it aint no fun" in my crate when i did gig's towards the end.

I dont want some drunk moron spilling booze on 400 dollar turntable or a 600 dollar mixer, especially when I'm gettin paid 400 dollars for the night anyway.

I dont want to watch drunk people dance, badly.

I dont want to hear requests for: Jay-z, 2pac and Biggie all night. I like them but I'm not spinning a set of "the jiggiest hits"

I dont want to hear some moron backpacker asking to hear del all night long. You have to play music peeps can dance to

I hate buying bs singles (smiles and southstarr, etc.) just to drop them at parties so people will shut up.

I dont want to hear some girl ask me if she can come up and stand with me in the "booth" (read as behind the table) all you do is get in the way and ask asinine ?'s (ohh what does that do? how about that?)

at the house party I want to get drunk and dance, not spin.

Jesus, rocking a party is so overrated. I'd rather make beats any day over rocking some bs house party
just my 2cents tho.

sounds lik uve had bad experiences at house partys.
4 me getin a load of people feelin ur mix and gettin them up 2 dance is cool. throw in aq couple of party tricks n they buy ur tapes.
i learned my craft through partys and mixtapes
it helps wid makin traks 2
n i agree bout dem scratch nerds , 6 hours a day scratchin ? fck dat

ive geen spinin since 1982 and i have done many party's from weddings to house party's and i enjoy watchin people get down to my mixin i have mastered my art and peps dig me when i rock the house, ithrow some scratchin in to it, and peps go crazy, ican't scratch like q-bert but it goes with my mixes, maybe you just need to know your music i play every thing from rock to jazz from hiphop to techno i dont spin any thing that they play on the radio the music of today is crap ,i play stuff from 70's and 80 's some 90's stuff i'm a crate digger so i have alot of old stuff if the crowd ask for something specific you just tell them it's not that kind of party and you don't want to kill your dance floor, besides whats more important to play a song for a bunch of people dancing or one person asking for a wack a$$ song.ive done all kinds of party's you can posibly think of and always been asked back or got other gigs, sorry to hear you had a bad experience i think there are to many dj 's in this artform butonly a few can do a good job at it, keep trying peace

TREV u mean u can copy beats onto cd, from your mpc through your mixer? I've got a technics mixer and have been wanting to record my beats on to a cd for a while but no-ones been able to help me in the past! If I can do this it would be really good! thanks for any help from anyone

what cd burner do you have and how do you have your mixer hooked up to your mpc?

The CD recorder I have is the TDK.... shit I don't know the model number on it. It is a dual deck and it is alot like the philps one. they say it has a copy protection divice on it... but, I have copied a burn cd to another burnt cd no problem....

I have it hooked up to my reciver and can record what ever to it... Like dvd, other cd players, turntable...ext it's just your basic unit. Sound quality is great and mainly got it to record mix cd's so I won't have the pause in between tracks.... I am sure there are other brand out there

what would be the point of runnin my completed mix through a compressor ?