how to record on tapes

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mson
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how to record on tapes

Post by mson »

hi, i wanted to record some tracks on audio tapes.
Signal from the mixer (record out from soundcraft live spirit) to philips D6920 MK2.

there is a net amplitude on my track when kick and bass are present (the other stuff is mostly pads).
audio recording is okay when kick and bass are not present but when they enter in the mix there is such a huge compression on pads to make some place to kick/bass and i don t want so much. Any ideas how to fix this ?

thanks !
oblioblioblio
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Re: how to record on tapes

Post by oblioblioblio »

take off any noise reduction (Dolby)... I've tried them all and they're all sh!t. Just crude compression and expansion.

Turn the level down and get the bias settings exactly right. Much easier to do if you have a 3 head deck and you can monitor the recorded material live. Probably you will want to go lower with the levels to avoid compression but you will get some noise.

Keep trying, tape is a fantastic medium.
oblioblioblio
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Re: how to record on tapes

Post by oblioblioblio »

also try changing the cassette you are using... different tape formulas sound different.

Most older tape is going for silly money on Ebay as the collector audiophile market is very high. You might be able to grab a bargain though.

try these instead.

http://nationalaudiocompany.com/

https://tapeline.info/
MagpieIndustries
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Re: how to record on tapes

Post by MagpieIndustries »

tape is like that :-) you are using a new tape, right, and not some random 80s cassette with wham and ub40 on side b?
you might try eqing away a lot of the low end, or just lowering the kick and bass in the mix to suit the tape results. I find that on my tape machine a lot of bottom end tends to squash and even replace the rest of the mix, especially if i am recording a strong signal and the bass starts to saturate. turning everything down a bit will help but then stuff starts to get lost in the noise. Another idea is to try record just your kick and bass in one pass, and just the pads in a second, and align them up again in your daw. ymmv on this approach
mson
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Re: how to record on tapes

Post by mson »

yes - new-used tapes :)

this is exactly i have with my mix (squash and replace when bass+kick is entering).
Two pass seems impossible or too boring and hard because others synths parts are pads drowned in delay/reverb/aux sends ...
i will try to record at a lower level or reduce the bass to see.

by the way, i just grab a Philips N4420 reel to reel tapes. No idea how it's working (need some tapes, how to set the tapes ... or even know if it works properly). Do you have some website for user manual or reel to reel tapes for dummies website ? :)

thanks !!
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