Need help finding a tone genertor to calibrate my tape deck

Beneficial · Post by **Beneficial** » Mon May 04, 2009 11:16 am

I have a MCI JH110C tape machine and I'm about to buy a Fluke multimeter to help with calibrating it but I also need a decent test tone generator. Can any of you tape heads recommend something for me? I usually use my computer for tones but i'm putting this tape deck in another room and want to be able to calibrate it without using the computer. Thanks!

Studiodawg · Post by **Studiodawg** » Mon May 04, 2009 12:28 pm

how about making a CD of test tones? or trying to find one of those Fostex tone generators?

Aquaman · Post by **Aquaman** » Mon May 04, 2009 12:29 pm

Find or generate some test tones and put them on your iPod.

Beneficial · Post by **Beneficial** » Mon May 04, 2009 12:45 pm

If you do that how can you be sure it's outputting at 0VU +4db or whatever the standard is for calibrating? I was thinking I would need a generator so I could know that the signal was at the exact level needed to calibrate it.

standup · Post by **standup** » Mon May 04, 2009 3:28 pm

If you have an ipod touch, download Signal Suite, it might be $12 or so. Which is only cheap if you already have an iphone/ipod.

But it does all the basic signal generating functions.

Get a voltmeter and measure the output with the volume maxed out, that should give you enough info I would think. I've putzed around with it to test connections and listen to monitors, but not to calibrate a tape deck.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon May 04, 2009 3:29 pm

Do you have an MRL tape so as to set up the playback calibration?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Beneficial · Post by **Beneficial** » Mon May 04, 2009 3:46 pm

Hi, yeah I have a MRL calibration tape... also have test tones that I downloaded. I just don't have a +4 device I can use to get the sounds into the tape machine for rec calibration. I thought the standard way people did this was using a tone generator or some hand held device like that.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon May 04, 2009 3:53 pm

Yeah, just wanted to make sure you have an MRL.

Have you seen those Neutrik Mini-rators? They're not cheap, but they're incredibly useful tools for generating tones of all kinds. They'll do sine waves and white noise and pink noise and polarity tests and whatnot at different levels. Really easy to set up, too. On a budget, those Fostex tones generators are cool (I think they're -10, though), but those Neutrik units are totally great.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Thu May 07, 2009 12:38 pm

you can find signal generators and function generators on Ebay for $50 or less. Also, instead of spending $400 on a fluke, you can get a reasonable dual trace o-scope for $100 or less. I got a nice BK scope a few months ago for $30. Its a very small one that fits nicely on my bench at home.
Also, RND used to have a free CD with a bunch of tones on it.
And they had a pro version with all the tones and then some for $30?
I always like doing the low freq sweep on different CD players to hear how badly they do low freqs. It is surprising how bad some CD players are at anything below 40hz.

TV Lenny · Post by **TV Lenny** » Thu May 07, 2009 7:31 pm

Flukes are very nice but very expensive. I use a Tenma multimeter which saved me a good amount of money and is well built. Just a thought.

Also, I don't think a mulitmeter will give you a true RMS reading to check what level your tones are at. I use tones downloaded or from my generator. I double check the tone levels by just plugging into the Line In on a preamp with a good meter. (in my case, a Focusrite ISA)

In my case, I end up turning the tones down to read about -4 or -5db on the preamp meter, then calibrate my inputs on the MCI to 0db. This gives me plenty of headroom on the preamps. On my machine (JH24) the pots are 10 turn not 20 turn. Yours may be the same too. You don't want to break them otherwise you'll be soldering a bunch of new pots on.

Good luck!
Tom

tfred812 · Post by **tfred812** » Fri May 08, 2009 6:24 am

http://cgi.ebay.com/FOSTEX-TT-15-TEST-A ... dZViewItem

Beneficial · Post by **Beneficial** » Mon May 11, 2009 12:17 pm

I got the Fluke 8060a multimeter in the mail... it was like 90 bucks on ebay. Seems pretty great. I'm using test tones from my computer. The only problem is I'm confused about using dbv or dbm measurements when calibrating my tape deck. The manual says to use a +4 dbv signal when calibrating the VU meters, and also when setting the rec input and cal levels... and it says to use a +4 dbm signal when doing the Rec EQ calibration. I'm not sure why it would say to use two different measurements like that.

skywavebe · Post by **skywavebe** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:42 pm

You could buy a device like an Audio Precision One Plus or a smaller unit like this that is hand held and of a professional standard.
Broadcasters General Store has them as that is where I bought mine.
http://www.nti-audio.com/Home/Products/ ... fault.aspx

The use of bad or sloppy equipment often give you that same result- I am in the business so I know about tape deck calibrations. I do them all the time and all of my clients are always very happy.
The NTI unit and there are three different models, will make things easier all around the studio for testing purposes. If you ever use one you will lnow what I mean. On the Bench I use the Audio Precision One Plus box ($5000).

Beneficial · Post by **Beneficial** » Tue May 12, 2009 3:05 pm

Damn I wish I had the kind of money to drop $5000 on something like that. Must be nice. I thought this Fluke 8060a that I bought was pretty high end! Guess no compared to that.

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Need help finding a tone genertor to calibrate my tape deck

Need help finding a tone genertor to calibrate my tape deck

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