Tape.

not all is well with the new machine

I bought this Fostex b16 from a gentleman who has worked professionally in the music industry for 30+ years, when I saw it he gave me a quick demo of the machine and gave me a quick listen.. sounded fine.

right now I have it hooked up from my MPC's 4 outs, and then have my FOSTEX running its 4 outs to my tascam 1884's Ins and then recording on to logic.

(if any body has a better suggestion for the setup im alllll ears)

when I just play through my mpc and have my fostex monitoring the sound, it sounds great... when i record however it sounds like... well it sounds like shit.

when I got the machine I cleaned the heads with 71% alcohol... couldn't find the 91% stuff at the time.

soo... im stuck... and need help if anyone has any suggestions that would be greatly appreciated...


HERES THE YOUTUBE LINK FOR THE PROBLEM!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82jDzePP ... e=youtu.be


thanks!

@SEANSTATIC

Im confused, in the video your like "see you can barely hear it.." but it sounds just as loud as when you played the clean audio beforehand. The only difference I can hear is the obvious loss of top end from the tape..

Is there a Dolby setting on your recorder? If so, do you have it turned on or off? I say this because on a lot of multitrack recorders, the Dolby setting really mutes the audio.

bearhead wrote:Is there a Dolby setting on your recorder? If so, do you have it turned on or off? I say this because on a lot of multitrack recorders, the Dolby setting really mutes the audio.

the dolby doesn't really make a big difference - it makes about as much difference as you hear in the video, but really not even that much.

the video sounds like normal signal run to crappy tape through an old machine.

did you degauss your heads?
did you magnetically erase the tape?
are you running the tape as fast as possible?

welcome to the world of analog tape

tapedeck wrote:the video sounds like normal signal run to crappy tape through an old machine

+1

I realize it's a different machine, but the Dolby setting on my 4 track absolutely eats audio. It sounds even worse than that. Often times, it sounds a little bit distorted.

Tape can be tricky but well worth it. I know some people run there drums into it but try running some of your vocals into it as well. That is where you will find some serious magic if you can get to almost over saturating it. Think about that sound biz markie had back in the day. Almost like he has some SM58 microphone in his hand at a block party. I think using tape as an effect on the right song could be a game changer.

uhh.... well I cleaned all the heads again really well... and it seems to work. I need to demag it though and wipe the tape forsure... thanks for the suggestions. i'll keep ya posted if something fcks up again....

word

The difference between me just passing my signal thru the tape (like monitoring the signal), and recording to tape rewinding and then re-playing is massive too, when i do it properly (actually record, stop, rewind, record to DAW) it speeds up / slows down / warps and shit haha

So i just have the monitor out going to DAW and use it like that.......

peeping tom wrote:word

The difference between me just passing my signal thru the tape (like monitoring the signal), and recording to tape rewinding and then re-playing is massive too, when i do it properly (actually record, stop, rewind, record to DAW) it speeds up / slows down / warps and shit haha

So i just have the monitor out going to DAW and use it like that.......

Wait so you just use the analog inputs but bypass the tape? What's the point of a tape machine then...

On a three head tape deck, you can monitor out real-time from the repro head. This allows you to record your audio to tape and output to your DAW at the same.

atestarr wrote:On a three head tape deck, you can monitor out real-time from the repro head. This allows you to record your audio to tape and output to your DAW at the same.

but if you're doing anything live there will be a delay from record head to play head.

its a cassette deck, and its got dual tapes as its built for overdubbing (playback tape and record tape)

you would have to be superhuman to hear any difference, and cos' im only summing mixes, nothing is out of place.....

If i did it the other way around, record to tape , rewind, record to DAW - it would be all over the place timing wise.....but it just a crappy cassette player aint no fostex machine lol

peeping tom wrote:its a cassette deck, and its got dual tapes as its built for overdubbing (playback tape and record tape)

you would have to be superhuman to hear any difference, and cos' im only summing mixes, nothing is out of place.....

If i did it the other way around, record to tape , rewind, record to DAW - it would be all over the place timing wise.....but it just a crappy cassette player aint no fostex machine lol

well the way you are doing it, you are hearing the sound of the preamps, but you aren't actually using any tape.

i have lots of friends that use tape machines like you do, but as distortion boxes for guitars and stuff.

dont spend money on tape if yer doing it that way cause you can do the same thing by keeping the tape paused.

tapedeck wrote:

peeping tom wrote:its a cassette deck, and its got dual tapes as its built for overdubbing (playback tape and record tape)

you would have to be superhuman to hear any difference, and cos' im only summing mixes, nothing is out of place.....

If i did it the other way around, record to tape , rewind, record to DAW - it would be all over the place timing wise.....but it just a crappy cassette player aint no fostex machine lol

well the way you are doing it, you are hearing the sound of the preamps, but you aren't actually using any tape.

i have lots of friends that use tape machines like you do, but as distortion boxes for guitars and stuff.

dont spend money on tape if yer doing it that way cause you can do the same thing by keeping the tape paused.

yeh, i use crap tapes thanks for the tip on the pausing!

I plan to track to tape properly when i have a reel to reel but for the cassette player i have i think the way im using it is probably the best way i can without having it serviced / buying expensive tape / dbx noise remover

My mate should be bringing in my Akai reel to reel soon, just playin tha waiting game

well give it a try sometime actually running the tape then capturing that afterward - it will be pretty different. you can always align the tracks later

crappy does not equal bad.