80s Tascam Porta 01 - Mixdown after 25 years

Hi,
In the 80s I recorded about 10 c90 worth of Synth pop rubbish with the band I was in but we never mixed it down to normal 2 track.
So as a gift to my old friends I thought I would dust off the Porta1 and mix down into my PC and press a CD for them!
Well the c90 tapes are still good and the Tascam is still good but I have no mix-down experience.

MY query is: Should I set the recording level on the PC to 100% and adjust the Porta01 sliders to taste or should I set the PC recording level to say 70% and then adjust the sliders higher?

I remember from back then we used to put the sliders around 70% to get a good level, I dont know if that still applied in the PC recording world?

Also - should I do the mixdown while monitoring through Headphones or actual Speakers?

Would be very grateful for any advice you could give as Im not sure how many more times the tapes are going to last - the next play could be my last.

Thank You - Beazs.

Mornin' Beazs.....

Back in 2000 I went digital and had 24 8 track r/r tapes of original material to get into the digital domain for re-mixing and archiving.....weekends of hell.

Anyway....for individual tracks I'd record them to about -10/-12 db.
That allows plenty of headroom for effects/signal processing during the final mix to stereo.
In the analog world is was necessary to record original tracks hot but not so in the digital domain.
Cassettes have their noise floor problems (hiss) depending on quality of original recordings so be prepared for these sorts of issues.

I'm on my first cup of coffee so hope this helps provided I understood you correctly.
Others will chime I'm sure to get you going.

Good luck with the project....carry on.

chulaivet1966 - morning, thanks.

I was thinking I would mix/record all 4 tracks at once and capture the song as a whole in one go? Do you mean to record each track individually onto PC and then create the song?

My PC software is just the simple recording device that came with the sound card etc. So Im attempting Left+Right Stereo OUT from Tascam and into Stereo IN on PC?

Its getting on for evening here btw but talking of coffee - I will join you.
:smile:

IMO....if your (4) individual tracks are recorded with some good signal I would bring each onto their own tracks into the digital domain for many reasons like eq'ing, cleaning up ghost hits or any other less than desirable artifacts for the original tape.
I think this is an imperative.

I would not just mix your (4) cassette tracks from the cassette to a stereo digital mix.
I'd want each cassette track on it's own digital track and dig in for the long haul....<grin>

Yes...it's a time vampire but you will learn more of the digital recording process and end up with a better end product.
As I say, I've been where you are and do not regret the time and effort I took in doing this with all my 8 trakc r/r tapes.
Some of the songs on my soundclick site were from those old r/r tapes.

Hmmm...I just realized you may need some software that has more than just two stereo tracks available....I'll have to think further if that is your problem?
If you only have two tracks for digital recording it means recording 2 tracks at a time (each on there own track) twice then having to sync up the tracks by moving the clips accordingly.

Some on-board sound chips do have the ability to output to (8) tracks of playback IE 'Realtek' if I recall correctly.
Hope that helps.....time for more coffee as you burn the midnight oil.

EDIT: as I read this again maybe I'm making things too complicated for your desires/equipment available.
So..maybe doing a mix from cassette is best for your application.
I just hope the cassette tracks are recorded well and require little treatment.
Didn't mean to complicate this for you.

I would second taking in the individual tracks. You can do it with the existing built in sound card you have, although many have expressed concerns about the quality of the sound cards in PCs/Laptops as inferior.

For less than $100 (~30 if you go used) you can pick up a decent external device such as Line 6 UX1/Ux2 or equivalent. This will take in a 2 channel source. Rewind and repeat for tracks 3&4.

For mixing/editing SW, there are many choices. Audacity is free. Many like the simplicity. I like Reaper. 30 day free trial then $60, if you like it. Many others will chime in with their likes / dislikes.

Try out Audacity as a start with what you have. The worst thing you may have wasted is your time.

Hummm, now you got me thinking.
Yes on my simple recording software theres just a level meter that in Auto mode listens to the song being played and trys to judge the loudest part etc and sets the input level number between 1-100. But a one-off spike in vol could force the level meter down to like 50.
In manual mode you just set it to whatever value you like etc.

In my initial test I set input to 100 while monitoring the song through headphones on the Tascam as my PC speakers are a bit poor.

Although it sounds good when I play it back on the PC through the poor speakers - I burnt a CD and put it on my proper HIFi and it sounded really bassy/boomy.

I wonder if its the input level or monitoring it on headphones or both?

Although it sounds good when I play it back on the PC through the poor speakers - I burnt a CD and put it on my proper HIFi and it sounded really bassy/boomy.

Based on your comments above those are typical characteristics of less than ideal original recording technique in the analog world (especially cassette) in those days....I'm sooo painfully aware of this.

So...your judgment will come into play here.
One would actually need to hear the cassette tracks to provide better thoughts on just how best to salvage your work.

EDIT: just 1 week ago I transferred a 35 year old cassette of my bands live stereo recording performance on a radio station (KFJC at Foothill College) back in March 1977.
I was damn lucky that the tape didn't lose too much fidelity nor did the tape stick together at any point which can create some horrific squeaks and the like.

Carry on...

Many thanks to you both for your advice and Im glad to hear your tape survived the years. When you think about it the technology of the day back then was actually quite amazing when you think you can just plug it in 25 years later and it all works.
I agree we didnt know what were doing with the Tascam in the early days and a lot of recordings we made were low in the mix. We followed the advice of the day to record Drums louder than normal so after a few bounces they would still be present in the mix etc; they sound too loud to me now. :roll:

But you know how it goes with 4 track, nothing is separate, if I turn down the drums then I am also turning down the 3+4th synth part etc as we ended up with instruments all over the place.

I think I might try to arrange to put some better monitors on the desk top and try a second time listening to them and not through the headphones etc and roll off a bit of bass on the round rubber eq dial.

Im also going to look at Audacity but as I mentioned on each of the 4 tracks per song can have upto 3-4 different parts so could not divide them sonically once they were in Audacity.

The software I have does have a small range of effects on it and one of them is compression, do you have any advice in using compression tool during remixing? The original instruments were recorded direct without any compression.

My card is a 4 yr old Creative Sound Blaster X-fi - if that helps.
Again - many thanks for reading.

Morning coffee time again...

I dig the mix dilemma all to well from my very old analog recordings.
Cassette recording needed to be hot to stay above the noise/hiss floor but that doesn't always translate well to the digital domain if the recording is too hot.
If the mixes were very low on the cassette the hiss (from not recording well above the noise floor) will also be increased as you increase levels for CD's.

Does Audacity allow you to have 4 separate tracks?
It's been forever since I putzed with Audacity.
I've used Cakewalk since 1993 or so and currently use Sonar 5.0PE.

IMO...for what it's worth...should you delve deeper in recording new material I'd recommend purchasing a more appropriate audio interface.

Sorry I'm little added help here but it's down to you getting some tracks into Audacity and doing some mix experimentation prior to thinking about signal processing (compression).

EDIT: Maybe do a quick test mix from your cassette into Audacity with levels just close to 0 db and put it up on a music hosting site then I'd give a listen and comment.

Boldaslove71 also provided some good comments.

That' my take on it thus far.....carry on.

FWIW, try Reaper (30 day evaluation). http://www.cockos.com/reaper/download.php

There is also an excellent forum that I consider to be similar to TDPRI in quality.

I can't speak for Audacity, but Reaper and most other DAW (recording) programs allow you to "host" software plugins (Reverb, compression, eq, etc). For mastering you may want some of these.

For a starter, Toontrack has a plugin called EZ Mix2, which simplifies the mastering process with basically a library of presets that have minimal controls, but sound decent. It, as well has a demo, which is restricted to 15 minutes of use before you have to restart the program. http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=135

The only little trick is making sure your DAW program knows where the plugins (VST in Win world) are located.

The other little trick to mastering is making sure things sound good on a variety of speakers. Given that audiophile sound has degraded for many using detachable PC speakers is one method. You may also want to check things on better speakers. If you have a good stereo, run a signal from your PC to the stereo and check that as well.

Thanks you both for going the extra mile to give some advice, I appreciate it and thanks for the links. I will trundle along and experiment, one thing I found for sure is to use a good pair of monitors to listen with while mixing.

Thanks.

I miss my 1987 Porta 01

Thanks you both for going the extra mile to give some advice, I appreciate it and thanks for the links. I will trundle along and experiment, one thing I found for sure is to use a good pair of monitors to listen with while mixing.

Thanks.

Glad to help.

Good monitors are a necessary asset at some point.
But until then even after doing a mix with lousy ones you must check the mix on a couple different mediums and then go back and make further adjustments.
So, it becomes a matter of knowing your monitors and how well they translate to the various mediums.
A good audio interface is equally important also.

Good luck on your quest....

I miss my 1987 Porta 01

Kinda surprising how many of us here had one of these - I actually started a thread about them a while ago and a whole bunch of folks here cut their teeth on them. I miss mine too - some of my favorite stuff I ever recorded was on that thing.

I should get it back and do what the OP is planning - dump the files to digital and clean up etc.

Cheers,
Geoff

you must check the mix on a couple different mediums

Excellent advice from chulaivet1966.
You know, I discovered this is totally right because althought the CD I originally made sounds bad in the house hi-fi - its sounds quite good in the car.
(The car where I listen to most of my music)

BTW - My Tascam Porta01 from 1985 still works well, its amazing really. But what is really amazing to me is the Maxell C90 tapes just work after 25 years being stashed away in the loft! Perhaps I will sent Maxell a copy of the CD to say thanks for making such good media all those years ago. I wonder if your average CD will last for 25 years?

For me....it was bandied about early on in my recording days that the C90's were more susceptible to the stretching factor over time so I went to C60's for the bulk of my analog recording.

I check mixes on on (4) different mediums: 3.5" Tascam S1010M's - KRK Rockit G2 8" - stereo system in living room on Klipsch 6" speakers and finally the CD in the truck.
Many will also incorporate a headphone mix into the equation also although I never have.
I only use headphones to track and edit.

All are good habits to arrive at the right mix.
It's a time vampire that's for damn sure but no way around it for us aspiring song writers.

Hope your transfers to digital go well.

Cheers !

Cheers !

How's the (ahem) project progressing?

Belly up....coffee is on me.:smile:

(EDIT: Norway...June 1970...I took the train from Olso to Bergin during my vagabonding days after the military...it was cold and snowing the whole time)

Carry on....

At a slow pace, hit that brick wall of - do i really want to carry on etc.
Cold and snowing - lol I bet, that would make you a bit older than me cos i was only 5 at the time! Sounds like an adventure, I never had an adventure just went straight into work from college, had a mortgage when I was 21 - still only 14 years left to go?

At a slow pace, hit that brick wall of - do i really want to carry on etc.

Yes...it can be daunting no doubt.

But, I would pose this question to you: as the years roll by will you come to regret not taking on this project?

I was doing a lot of writing (a bit less now) during the r/r days so I had little choice and I am so glad I dived in and got it done although it took a few months of diligence.
All the songs on my soundclick page are from those r/r tapes (no plug intended) except for a couple that were written after I entered the DAW world.
There was two or three songs that we're not fleshed out on the original r/r tapes so I didn't transfer them to digital knowing I'd be re-doing them anyway.

So...I'd recommend you re-think your "do i really want to carry on" dilemma.:smile:

That's my take on it....carry on....

Yeh man, bring em in on seperate tracks, low db's -10 , plenty of headroom, and try to capture the Dynamics.
Gluck.