I'll send you $5 in the mail if you answer my 424 questions!

[dfuruta]

Which DAW are you using and how are you monitoring from the DAW?
Have you ever successfully recorded anything to or played anything back from your DAW?

. Ya I use garage band but have recorded a lot of stuff in it no problems. I monitor by Plugging my headphones into the headphone jack on the m audio for when I put it into the daw but on the 424 I monitor by plugging straight into the jack on that

Yes, but:

Do you mean that you have a little device that connects two RCA jacks to a stereo 1/4"? If so, this isn't what you want to do. You want to plug each output of your 424 into its own channel of the MobilePre. You can't plug both into the same M-Audio input. It's expecting balanced audio and you're giving it stereo, if I understand correctly.

[thefanbelow]

Just to clarify my signal chain if I might be at fault. I am only playing back 1 channel for now an I have the white RCA into channel 1 and the right into two (which probably doesn't do anything) and am putting the 1/4 converter into my channel 1 line in. Maybe it's an issue of mono vs stereo? Pretty clueless here. Thanks in advance

Could you describe this even more simply? Specifically, what does this:

and am putting the 1/4 converter into my channel 1 line in

mean? Do you mean that you have a little device that connects two RCA jacks to a stereo 1/4"? If so, this isn't what you want to do. You want to plug each output of your 424 into its own channel of the MobilePre. You can't plug both into the same M-Audio input. It's expecting balanced audio and you're giving it stereo, if I understand correctly.

So basically I have a RCA to 3.5 mm plug. I got a converter for the 3.5 mm side because my line ins on the M-Audio are 1/4. I have plugged in right now, the white L side of the RCA into channel 1 tape out on the tascam, and the red R side onto channel 2 (which probably doesn't do anything). The 3.5mm side is then connected into a 1/4" converter which goes into channel 1 line in on my pre. Because I only have one channel recorded with music right now, I figured that putting it into channel 2 wouldn't do anything.. So should I just unplug channel 2 and that should fix it? Sorry if I'm not answering your question fully, I didn't even know what RCA was until like two days ago.

[dfuruta]

Yes, try unplugging the red R side and see what happens.

I suspect that your 3.5mm adapter takes two RCA plugs and puts them together into a stereo 3.5mm plug. Is that right? The adapter you actually want is one that takes a single RCA plug and turns it into a single 1/4" plug. You would need one of these for each channel.

[thefanbelow]

Yes, try unplugging the red R side and see what happens.

I suspect that your 3.5mm adapter takes two RCA plugs and puts them together into a stereo 3.5mm plug. Is that right? The adapter you actually want is one that takes a single RCA plug and turns it into a single 1/4" plug. You would need one of these for each channel.

The cable is one L and one R on one side, with a 3.5mm on the other side. So that sounds like what you are talking about. I'm gonna try it out soon and if not I'll just pick up a rca plug with no reds or whites.

[thefanbelow]

Yes, try unplugging the red R side and see what happens.

I suspect that your 3.5mm adapter takes two RCA plugs and puts them together into a stereo 3.5mm plug. Is that right? The adapter you actually want is one that takes a single RCA plug and turns it into a single 1/4" plug. You would need one of these for each channel.

So I unplugged the channel 2, and I think it helped a tiny bit but not a ton. Well here is a quick 5 second demo of what one channel sounds like. As you can hear its terribly distorted, and I don't know if this is due to improper gain staging or bad conversion.

http://soundcloud.com/the-circumference/4-track-sample

[chris harris]

If you're clipping the input of your tape machine, then clipping the input of your DAW during the transfer, then the problem is definitely gain staging.

[dfuruta]

If you turn everything down a bit, does it still distort? And, you say it doesn't sound like this when you monitor from the 424?

[thefanbelow]

If you're clipping the input of your tape machine, then clipping the input of your DAW during the transfer, then the problem is definitely gain staging.

I lowered my faders on the 424 to make sure there was no clipping and I was maxing out around -3. The quality is still the same. When I messed around with the faders, I was getting literally no signal coming up on channel 1 which is odd. I was only getting feedback on the master.

[thefanbelow]

If you turn everything down a bit, does it still distort? And, you say it doesn't sound like this when you monitor from the 424?

When I monitor from the 424, there is a TON of hiss.Even though there is a lot of hiss the guitar itself still sounds louder, clearer, and fuller (just with a lot of background hiss). When it hits the computer it becomes a whole new beast. FWIW, I am still using normal bias tapes and haven't cleaned the heads or demagnetized yet (I just bought this off craigslist like last week).

[Magnetic Services]

When I monitor from the 424, there is a TON of hiss.Even though there is a lot of hiss the guitar itself still sounds louder, clearer, and fuller (just with a lot of background hiss). When it hits the computer it becomes a whole new beast. FWIW, I am still using normal bias tapes and haven't cleaned the heads or demagnetized yet (I just bought this off craigslist like last week).

-Wait for high-bias tapes to arrive (take a break from the internet, take a walk in the woods or something.)

-clean heads

-demagnetize

-give the 424 a respectful moment of silence

-turn the machine on and record something entirely new using all of your engineering skills to get the best possible tracks. Do not touch your m-audio interface.

-If your tracks are noisy or problematic (beyond what you'd anticipate from a four-track recorder), go back and find out what the problem is. We'll be here for you.

-Once it's all good, transfer to digital using all the advice you've gotten here. If needed, come back again.

[thefanbelow]

When I monitor from the 424, there is a TON of hiss.Even though there is a lot of hiss the guitar itself still sounds louder, clearer, and fuller (just with a lot of background hiss). When it hits the computer it becomes a whole new beast. FWIW, I am still using normal bias tapes and haven't cleaned the heads or demagnetized yet (I just bought this off craigslist like last week).

-Wait for high-bias tapes to arrive (take a break from the internet, take a walk in the woods or something.)

-clean heads

-demagnetize

-give the 424 a respectful moment of silence

-turn the machine on and record something entirely new using all of your engineering skills to get the best possible tracks. Do not touch your m-audio interface.

-If your tracks are noisy or problematic (beyond what you'd anticipate from a four-track recorder), go back and find out what the problem is. We'll be here for you.

-Once it's all good, transfer to digital using all the advice you've gotten here. If needed, come back again.

Thanks, will do. Just a quick question -- I am looking at getting a Saffire 6 which has 4 outs to plug my tascam into before it hits the DAW. Do I need 2 ins or 4 ins? I believe I remember people telling me I only needed 2 as it will take L from chan 1,3 and R from 2,4 but in order to get 4 discrete tracks, is a 2in ok?

[dfuruta]

No, you need 4 inputs if you want 4 tracks. Each channel is mono, not stereo.

It might clarify your thinking about the signal flow to refer to it as plugging your tascam into the saffire, not the saffire into the tascam. You would be plugging the outputs of the tascam into the inputs of the saffire, not vice versa (assuming you want to bring the music on the tascam into your daw).

[thefanbelow]

No, you need 4 inputs if you want 4 tracks. Each channel is mono, not stereo.

It might clarify your thinking about the signal flow to refer to it as plugging your tascam into the saffire, not the saffire into the tascam. You would be plugging the outputs of the tascam into the inputs of the saffire, not vice versa (assuming you want to bring the music on the tascam into your daw).

Okay thanks, for some reason I was being advised to get a 2 in / 4 out. Looks like I need something, maybe i'll get a m-audio delta 44.. hmm

[Judas Jetski]

Make sure the dbx switch is on. Or off. Whichever. Just not on "sync." That always screws me up.

[Judas Jetski]

Also: incorrect bias = lots of hiss & possible weird "EQ." Incorrect bias ≠ utterly unusable sound.