Tascam 246 Portastudio

[Donna]

Good morning, folks.

OK, 4 tracks to work with; what I can't recall is how to take stuff already recorded onto tracks one, two and three and record these onto track 4 (thus freeing up 3 tracks). I tried various things, but none of 'em worked...

Thanks, I've been searching around trying to find this out but no luck yet.

Edited October 31, 2005 by Donna

[Nightwolf]

Manual

Found this on audioasylum

I record to the 4 tracks, then create a stereo mix to CD. Then, I bring that stereo CD mix back into the Tascam (Program In) onto 2 tracks (still in stereo) of BLANK tape. So I have my stereo mix on 2 tracks, with 2 blank tracks open. I can then record more music onto those 2 tracks and then mix (still in stereo) down to CD again. This accomplishes 3 things that relate to what really are limitations of 4-track cassette recording: (1) it eliminates the necessity of only being to record to 3 tracks and then having to "bounce" those 3 tracks onto the 4th empty track (the drawback being it sends your music into Mono, and also, because of the compression that takes place resulting from trying to fit all that music onto a tiny cassette, starts to degrade the sound); (2) your music can stay in stereo; and (3) since you keep using blank tape for each mix, each stage of the recording process is preserved (which is useful when you have to "back-up" and do something over - using the traditional "bouncing" method, once it's bounced, you're stuck with it - or you have to start from scratch) - sure you use more tape, but the music is worth it, right?

Hope that helps, I'm sure there is a way to bounce internally, but don't know the way

[Steve]

On my old Vestafire 4 Track, I have a switch. TRK-PGM When I needed to bounce, I had to switch to PGM and hit record on the empty track. This recorded the other three.

[Donna]

Steve, that sounds vaugely familiar...yeah, I had it on PGM and recorded on the 4th track but not even a signal was established (before I hit "play/record") much less after. The friend who can help me "remember" is on baby watch at the moment, the baby may be being born as we speak! So I can't really bother him (yet).

Nightwolf, thanks for the links. That bit you pasted is intriguing, I like the sound of that very much.

It'll be less headche to just get the manual, too, eh?

[BongStuff]

Manual

Found this on audioasylum

I record to the 4 tracks, then create a stereo mix to CD. Then, I bring that stereo CD mix back into the Tascam (Program In) onto 2 tracks (still in stereo) of BLANK tape. So I have my stereo mix on 2 tracks, with 2 blank tracks open. I can then record more music onto those 2 tracks and then mix (still in stereo) down to CD again. This accomplishes 3 things that relate to what really are limitations of 4-track cassette recording: (1) it eliminates the necessity of only being to record to 3 tracks and then having to "bounce" those 3 tracks onto the 4th empty track (the drawback being it sends your music into Mono, and also, because of the compression that takes place resulting from trying to fit all that music onto a tiny cassette, starts to degrade the sound); (2) your music can stay in stereo; and (3) since you keep using blank tape for each mix, each stage of the recording process is preserved (which is useful when you have to "back-up" and do something over - using the traditional "bouncing" method, once it's bounced, you're stuck with it - or you have to start from scratch) - sure you use more tape, but the music is worth it, right?

Hope that helps, I'm sure there is a way to bounce internally, but don't know the way

Hmmm!! Neat idea!

BS

[Nightwolf]

I thought so

[Prometheus]

If your computer is powerful enough, you could try downloading a Freeware audio editor like Audacity or a Freeware Sequencer like Quartz and bouncing onto that instead of back into the 4-Track, and just use the preamps and mixer on the 4-Track for the inital recording stage, and use the computer to do the mixing and mastering and burn the master onto a CD...

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

http://www.sonicspot.com/quartzaudiomaster...udiomaster.html

It might be a bit of a pain in the arse to figure out how to use these things at first, but it's well worth it...

[john]

Hey

I have to agree with Prometheus. This is definately the most flexible way to go, and it would be a good intro to PC based recording while making the most of your existing gear.

If you can't Nightwolfs suggestion is a pretty good approach. Depending how many track bounces you use you'll need to be very aware of any noise, and optimise the gain carefully on each bounce, otherwise the Signal to Noise Ratio will go through the floor and you are likely to get unwanted hiss.

Cheers

John

[Donna]

*&$#!&**??

I agree, it'll be worth it to learn. Am saving this...

Er um, but just for *fun* and in the meantime, if anyone knows how to do the initial thing I asked about...

[john]

Poor tech nurds call that stuff fun...

Ok,I found this on another forum:

Under the RECORD FUNCTION buttons are two more push-on-push-off buttons. One is called CUE/PGM, and the other is INSERT. Here is how to use them:

In normal recording, you keep both buttons UP. This is tracking mode. Then the RECORD FUNCTION buttons control whether the monitor output of each track comes from the track playback cue line or from the mixing bus. ARMED tracks play the mixing bus, SAFE tracks play the tape cue. Returning all tracks to SAFE sets the monitor for full playback.

When mixing down, you depress the CUE/PGM button. This is mixdown mode. Now you always hear the mixing busses, and never the track playback cue lines. Move your INPUT switches to the tape tracks and mix down through the channel strips.

If you are punching in, you depress just the INSERT button. This is punch-in mode. Now you hear the track playback cue line UNTIL the deck actually goes into record. Then the armed tracks switch to the mixing bus.

Use the green knobs at the top to control the monitor levels.

You can also use Effect Send 2 as a mono after-fader solo. Set the pots to unity gain, and use the enable switches as your solo buttons. Move the headphone contrtol to EFF-2 to hear the solo selected. This is an undocumented function I discovered (which also works on 414 and 424).

Also, make sure your monitoring system is playing through the monitor jacks, not the PGM jacks. The PGM jacks are for your mastering recorder send (Yes, it can do surround sound using all 4).

Here's the link:

http://tascamforums.com/index.php?showtopic=7852

I hope this helps...

[Prometheus]

The good thing about computer based sequencers is that if you can use one of them, you can basically use any because the routing and bussing is so similar that the learning curve to go say from Cubase to Pro Tools only really invloves familiarising yourself with the different controls...

[Donna]

John, I read the WHOLE PAGE of the link you posted. My head is spinning just from your post, so things are good on this end.

(Buying you a cyber beer)

[Donna]

PS: the phrase "just for fun" is an expression (learned from my mom).

It can mean a variety of things, depending on circumstance. In the instance I used it, it's a nice way of saying "Would you just answer the question puh-LEEZE before I get mad and fling that flower pot?!"

he he

[john]

Ah young grasshopper, your question was answered. Just not the way you wanted.

Still hopefully it was some help.