Overkill....

This might be a stupid question.....but I just want to make sure....
My speaker system is wack as hell, and I cannot get an accurate sound until I go to my friends crib and lay shit down in pro tools.... shit usually sounds aight when I do this.....I have a crappy stereo, and I run some decent monitor speakers through my vestax mixer and use the aux function on the stereo, next to no amplification. Anyways.....I have been recording to cassette, just so I can chill and listen to mad beats without having to load each up continuously, and I noticed something strange....
Usually I'll have an intro to each beat with the same music, with no drums behind it.....shit will be banging.....as soon as some drums come in....the volume drops like crazy....I don't know if it is because of the cassettes....or if the drums and the music's frequencies are cancelling eachother out, if the volume of the drums is way to high....or what. Like I said I can't get an accurate reading off of these speakers....but the shit sounds good in the headphones, and sounds aight over the speakers...it is just when I am trying to record......
If any of you geniuses(no sarcasm) has any possible suggestion, I would really appreciate your feedback......PEACE..............

sounds like there's some kind of compressor on them or something.

so when you listen thru your speakers it does this? maybe thats how your speakers were made so when a sound exceeds a certain level it drops. so i was thinking maybe there's some type of built in compressor or something in them. i've heard systems like this before but they've been older systems.

just a thought......im probably way off. but sounds like you need a new set of monitors.

Yo smoove....thanks for the response.....one question though......the beat sounds nice over the monitor speakers.....it is just when I am recording to cassette........thanks again

oh ok. what are you using to record to tape? is it a stereo? because when i said i heard it like that on some systems in the past i mean some stereo systems like boombox or even bigger systems then that. if you turned it up loud, its like when it kicks, the sound got lower then came back and everytime it kicked it did that. so im thinking, maybe its what your using to record onto the tapes. might be your system.

what are you using to do that? hope im not steering you in the wrong direction but its all i could think

I would imagine what you're hearing is extreme tape saturation. One of reasons analog is loved so much is because unlike digital if you clip the signal it won't distort like digital will, it will give you that warm crunch that only analog can give you. Now if you boost the signal too much the signal will sound extremely compressed and you'll get the overcompressed sound you're getting. Now I don't know if that's exactly what's happening with your situation but try payin attention to the levels on the tape recorder(if if has a led or vu meter), solo the drums and see where the led hits then bring the rest of the tracks in and see what happens to the levels. Because it's analog it's fine for it to hit the red but you don't want it to stay in the red.

sweet......
guys thanks for the replies......I was thinking the same thing......but wasn't sure....I appreciate the response

I've even heard of people actually using old cassette decks as compressors.

This happens to me, what your experiencing is compression sometimes when I record, the start of the song will bang in then the level quickly drops half a second after recording are you recording on chrome tape? I do and that it what happens to me.

Does anyone know if this this happens on cd/mini disk recorders? Because that is what I aim to get to record my stuff on.

Does anyone know if this this happens on cd/mini disk recorders? Because that is what I aim to get to record my stuff on.

No ..... just make sure you set your record levels to the most banging section of the track. What happens with digital is you get nasty, fizzy distortion & clipping if you overload it.

You should go for a CD recorder, not mini disk. Mini disk uses a form of data compression, a bit like MP3s so although the sound is good it isn't quite all there (if that makes sense?!?)
Also, pretty much everyone has a CD player whether it is a hi fi or computer one so it is easier to check your work on a whole range of speakers in different spaces, & to get other people to hear your work.

yeah sounds like youve overdriven the inputrs casuing the tape to apply its own compression to conserve headroom...nice effect if wanted but easy to overdo...the thread title sums it perfectly
greg

I will look into getting a cd recorder, you are right more people will have a cd player as opposed to a mini/d. Good thing though my dad lives in china so I will be getting a mini/d anyway for chrimbo, it will be good for doing rough tracks on to listen back to on the move. Cheers for that.

I also have a problem with my recording levels as I have a midi hi-fi which I use to record onto tape but, and I think this is wierd my yamaha mg/16/6fx doesn't have a record level on it. So I go from my yamaha to my xone 32 set my level there then from there to my hi-fi. Long winded but it gets the job done. The problem is I have to set the level on the xone to super high to get a loud enough recording. Roll on cd recorder purchase day!

if you are recording your tape WITH noicereducion, you have to play it WITH noicereducion. semi-professionel and professionel noicereducion (like dBX) works in 2 steps. the first step is when you record, and the 2nd is when you play the tape. it works with compressors and stuff (quite complicated), but when you play a tape recorded with dBX on a stereo without dBX, it will sound compressed (not in a good way) and distorted. if might be this...