This FAQ has been assembled from many sources and resources on the web and elsewhere. It is designed to help the newer and more experienced users of TASCAM analog equipment get fast simple information and where applicable, I will go into greater detailed answers to save everybody time seeking help and giving it by referring to this document where appropriate.
This FAQ will be edited as time goes by. As information changes and updates, I will try my best to keep this up to date for you so that you are not getting stale or outdated information in the way of addresses and web links.
If you have additional questions and answers that you would like to see in this document, please PM me and I will do my best to get your contributions added to this.
This information is offered without warranty and is free to all who wish to read it. I assume no responsibility for any actions you decide to take as a result of reading this article. Rest assured that I will do my best to give accurate and useful information and am doing this because I have an honest desire to help people and have assembled this with the best of intensions.
Thanks,
The Ghost of FM
FAQ for TASCAM Analog.
I need to contact Tascam. How do I get a hold of them?
I need an Owner's Manual. Where can I get one?
Are there free Owner's Manuals on the web somewhere?
What do I need to maintain my Cassette deck or reel to reel?
What is calibration?
How do I choose a mixer for my reel to reel?
How do I hook up my recorder to my mixer?
What is Dolby and dbx noise reduction and do I need it?
How should I store my tapes?
What is Sticky Shed Syndrome?
What is SMPTE time code and how can I use it in my setup?
.Scroll below for the answers.
I need to contact Tascam. How do I get a hold of them?
The best way to get a hold of TEAC/TASCAM is to call them or send them e-mail but they are a bit slow to respond to e-mail so, it is best if you bite the bullet and make a call.
TEAC America, Inc.
7733 Telegraph Rd.
Montebello, CA. 90640
USA
Phone: (323) 726-0303
Fax: (323) 727-7656
TEAC Canada, Ltd.
5939 Wallace Street
Mississauga, Ontario
L4Z 1Z8
Canada
Phone: (905) 890-8008
Fax: (905) 890-9888
TEAC UK Limited
5 Marlin House
Marline Meadow
The Croxley Centre
Watford, Hertfordshire WD1 8YA
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (1923) 816433
Fax: +44 (1923) 236290
TEAC Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
Campesinos No. 184
Colonia Granjas Esmeralda
Delegacion Iztapalapa
09810 Mexico, D.F.
Mexico
Phone: +52 (5) 581-5500
Fax: +52 (5) 581-5111
In Australia
The Electric Factory
188 Plenty Rd
Preston. 3072
Victoria
Australia
Phone: +61 (3) 94741032 (Direct to Spares and Service)
Email: spares@alpha.com.au
If you want to try an e-mail, this is the general mailbox; webmaster@teac.com
For further contact info this link will give more addresses and phone numbers; http://www.teac.com/corpinfo.html
Their main Website is http://www.tascam.com/
I need an Owner's Manual. Where can I get one?
In most cases TASCAM does stock owner's manuals which have the full service manuals in them too. In some cases for older models, they will only have photocopies of the original as TASCAM only printed out a given number of them at the time of machine manufacture. So, what they do at most of the parts departments is they keep one last real manual and make copies of it on lower grade paper and without the original binders that many of the larger ones came with, when the machine was new.
Use the contact information above to call them and order one and have a credit card handy to pay for it.
If they have no stock, you may have to look for alternate sources to get them. EBay usually has them for sale if you do a search.
Are there free Owner's Manuals on the web somewhere?
In a word; yes!
TASCAM's own website does have free downloadable .PDF manuals for many of their current models and some of the older ones too but, it is not a complete resource and in all cases, the service part of the manual is not included so, you will only be able to learn how to use your machine but not learn how to calibrate and trouble shoot it for servicing needs with schematic diagrams, parts lists and exploded views. This is where they get you!
Here's the link to TASCAM's own FTP site that has the free manuals and some cool large, high quality photo achieves too!
http://www.tascamcontractor.com/ftp/index.html
What do I need to maintain my Cassette deck or reel to reel?
For the most part, all you need to do is keep the heads and general tape path clean and free from magnetic fields both external and internally generated from usage. You will need some specific chemicals to do this routine task and a demagnetizer wand and some Qtips.
For cleaning the heads, guides, metal rolling tensioners, lifter arms and capstan you will need to get Isopropyl Alcohol in a 95% purity or higher. This will be applied with Qtips or any decent, lint free cotton swab by wetting the swab with the alcohol and rubbing off the oxide build up on the affected parts.
The frequency of doing this procedure depends on the machine and the type and condition of the tape you are using at the time. Generally for cassette decks, every 10 - 30 hrs of actual play/recording time and after every major recording session to be safe. For open reel machines, every 3 to 6 hrs and after every recording session.
Keeping the tape path clean and free of tape oxide build up will ensure that your deck keeps running at peak efficiency and at it best frequency response.
Isopropyl alcohol can be found at any drugstore or pharmacy and at most hardware stores too.
For cleaning any and all rubber parts in the tape path such as pinch rollers and tachometer rollers a variety of chemicals can be used to clean these. I personally use and recommend a product from Caig Laboratories, called; Caikleen RBR. It too can be applied with Qtips or with a smooth surfaced sponge.
If at all possible, depending on the machine, it's best to remove the pinch roller from the deck to ensure that you don't get any of the product onto any lubricated parts that this cleaner will accidentally de-grease.
As an alternative cleaner, you may use a lightly wetted Qtip in water, Windex, a mild dish detergent diluted in water or competitor specialized rubber cleaner chemical. Alcohol is said to dry out rubber and lead to a pre-mature service life of the rubber but even I have been guilty of using it once in a while for this purpose with no ill effects. Definitive conclusions have not been reached when it comes to knowing what's best for this job and the debates continue!
The frequency of doing this job is less often then cleaning the heads and guides and many users get by doing this procedure once a month or after every 5 to 7 recording sessions. The key to doing it is when you see appreciable oxide build up on the rubber or if you notice any deviations in play speed or increases in wow and flutter. All of these symptoms are basically signs of a lack of grip of the rubber roller against the capstan which together pull the tape across the heads at a rated speed.
Demagnetizing or Degaussing the heads and guides;
Many metal surfaces in the tape path can fall victim to unwanted magnetic fields and from time to time, this magnetic build up must be reversed to prevent the loss of high fidelity or possibly erasing higher frequencies and muddying of the lower bass frequencies.
Demagnetizers are basically small, hand held devices that look like this; see picture below.
Using these devices safely, involves turning off the power to your recorder and having your complete and undivided attention while performing this procedure.
How they work is that they create a reverse magnetic field that neutralized or normalized the magnetic fields that build up on your transport's metal parts. The method of using them is to turn on the demagnetizer from 5 to 6 feet away from the deck and slowly and in a circular motion, you bring the wand toward the parts, circling in smaller and smaller until you are within about a quarter of an inch of the part being demagnetized and then in a reverse motion, pulling the wand slowly away about a foot and then slowly moving the wand to the next part until all the metal components have been done and finally moving the wand out and away, 5 to 6 feet and turning off the wand.
Most other service issues fall into the realm of calibration. The setting of levels, bias and equalization. All other service issues will be model specific and if you have questions or problems with your machine, please post your question in the forum.
What is calibration?
Calibration is the process of primarily setting up your recorder to work with a specific tape formulation and touching up levels to ensure that you get proper and consistent results when you record and play back your tapes on your machine and other people machines as well, if you trade tapes with other studios for collaboration work.
While the majority of calibration settings involves adjust levels, bias and eq, calibration it also involves mechanical alignments of the heads, guides, brakes, tape tension, speed and reel table height. Doing only the electronic level adjustments on a poorly aligned machine, mechanically, is a not a complete procedure.
Hopefully, it goes without saying that attempting to step you through this process is beyond the scoop of an FAQ like this one. Most TASCAM operation/service manuals will step you through this entire procedure with many pictures and detailed instructions that are specific to your particular model. Having said that, these manuals can not assume your level of technical expertise and all of them strongly caution you that if you don't know what you're doing and if you don't have the correct calibration tapes and alignment tools, to refer to a qualified service facility to perform these tasks.
Thankfully, once a machine is calibrated, it tends to stay that way for quite some time so you shouldn't feel panicked about not knowing how to do this unless you see very inconsistent record and playback levels, bizarre sounds in the form of excessive distortion or tapes being eaten by the transport, you can safely assume that your machine is healthy.
All of TASCAM's Portastudio line of cassette based designs work with type II, chromium dioxide position tapes and are set at the factory to run on them without adjust from you, the end user. Tapes like TDK SA60 or Maxell XLII60 are what those machines are designed to run on and sticking to reputable, major brand name tapes will ensure decent results.
All of TASCAM's open reel machines are factory set to run on Ampex 456 or Quantegy 456. Quantegy bought out Ampex a few years ago; back in the late 90's and kept all the same tape formulations for consistency. Other manufactures as well, offer a similar tape formulation to 456 and can be substituted without issue. BASF/Emtec 911 is a popular competitor to the 456 standard.
Here is a partial list of some additional equivilants to Scotch and other brand tape;
Quantegy (Ampex) 406/407 is bias equivilent to Scotch 206/207 (+3dB level tape)
Quantegy (Ampex) 456/457 is bias equivilent to Scotch 226/227 is bias equivilent to BASF/AGFA/EMTEC SM911 and SM468 (+6 level tape)
Quantegy (Ampex) 499 is bais equivilent to Scotch 986 (+9dB level tape)
Quantegy GP-9 is exactly the same formulation as Scotch 996, and is bias equivilent to BASF/AGFA/EMTEC SM900 (+9dB level tape)
Thanks to ninohernes, (Joe) for the information.
In some cases, a higher output tape is desired for those that wish to go without noise reduction and achieve a more natural sound reproduction that doesn't depend on noise reduction circuitry to overcome the mild hiss artifacts that can occur on quieter passages while recording at open reel's higher standard speeds. For some machines, mostly the latest designed ones, the calibration process can be used to set the recorder up for Quantegy 499 tape or GP9 which will accept higher recording levels without distortion. These tapes will require a complete re-do of the calibration process and once done, your machine will only be able to record properly on these tapes. Of important note as well is that many of TASCAM's earlier open reel recorder's internal electronics were not designed to handle these hotter level tapes and in addition to the calibration process, changing actual components on the printed circuit boards is also a requirement to accomplish this task. Think long and hard about the necessity for such a change over as it won't be cheap or easy to do it.
How do I choose a mixer for my reel to reel?
There a few basic criteria for choosing a compatible mixer for your reel to reel deck. The first thing to look at is how many channels or, tracks does your recorder offer. If you have an 8 track deck, you can get by on as little as an 8 channel mixer but, many users want addition mixing channels for more effect returns, midi controlled sound modules or in case they get a larger recorder down the road with more recording tracks like 12, 16 or 24.
The next item to consider is how many tracks you foresee yourself needing to record simultaneously in one pass on the tape recorder. For many home users who might be working alone or with one other person, a 4 buss mixer will fit the bill for them as this would allow for up to 4 separate recording paths to be created on the mixer to feed to the deck.
As an example; to get a song started, we might like to lay down a drum machine's click track or sequence, a rhythm instrument part and a guide vocal. This example would only require 3 or 4 tracks and 3 or 4 busses on our mixer to accomplish. After those tracks are down, we can re-use the mixer's busses to feed different tracks on the recorder and bring the song to a finished conclusion with all the parts obstensively overdubbed, one at a time, using one or two busses at a time to assemble the recording. If your recording requirements are more complex then this, consider getting an 8 buss mixer or one with direct channel outputs so that each of the mixer's input strips can be routed directly to the track of your choice on the recorder.
Auxiliary and effect sends are also an important feature to look for on a mixer. Models with several of them will allow you to send out multiple and unique feed of your mix to different effects processors or as talent cues so each musician can have their own comfortable mix while performing their parts while overdubbing. A minimum of one effects send and one auxiliary send will get you in the game to overdub and route a talent mix and add an effect like reverb or echo while recording or mixing down.
For those of us lucky enough to have separate control rooms and live playing rooms in our studios, a talkback system on the mixer is important so that you can communicate back and forth between the two rooms and not have the engineer's end of the conversation end up on tape while recording. Talk back systems are a not a necessity and can be configured by making use of an un-used channel on the mixer for the engineer to talk to the talent through an auxiliary cue mix.
How do I hook up my recorder to my mixer?
In most cases, the connection between your reel to reel and your mixer is a simple one if your needs are simple and complex if you have a larger system with many recording channels but few recording busses to feed them on your mixer. In those more complex cases, sometimes a patch bay can come in handy to help you route signals out of your mixer to the desired input channel on your recorder.
In a simple set up, your reel to reel's outputs will connect to the tape return connections or, (line inputs, if no dedicated tape return jacks are provided), of the board to feed the tape's output through your mixer. To get sound from the mixer out to the deck for recording, use the buss outputs to feed the deck's inputs. Many 4 buss mixers will give you paralleled output jacks so even if you only have 4 busses on your mixer, you will still have 8 outputs to feed to your deck. Keep in mind that buss 1 will feed track 1 & 5 on your machine, buss 2 will feed tracks 2 & 6, buss 3 will feed track 3 & 7 and buss 4 will feed tracks 4 & 8.
In a more complex setups where the recorders inputs are not adequately feed by the mixer's buss system, a patch bay may be inserted in-between the mixer's outputs and the deck's inputs to provide a place where say, 4 outputs can feed 16 inputs by patching over a short jumper cable between where the buss comes into the bay and where the inputs to the deck are on the front of the patch bay.
Patch bays are basically a device that have a bunch of female connections on the front and back of it and you use it by employing short jumper cables on the front to get a signal to flow for any point's input to any point's output by connecting the jumper across the two points you wish to connect.
What is Dolby and dbx noise reduction and do I need it?
Noise reduction for the most part is a set of circuitry designed to reduce or eliminate tape hiss. In most cases, the drawbacks of using it, don't out weigh the benefits of not using it and if your deck came with it or had it as an optional item, I would suggest that you do make use of it and acquire a cleaner recording as a result.
Dolby noise reduction for cassette decks comes in three flavors; Dolby B, C and S.
Dolby B is the oldest of the 3 designs and gives a modest reduction of tape his by increasing the high frequency content of your sound while you are recording and then giving an opposite cut of these same frequencies on playback to mask the hiss. Depending on the quietness of the part you are recording, Dolby be can be a decent system for reducing hiss.
Dolby C follows along the same lines as Dolby B buy uses a wider band of frequencies to boost and cut and on average gives about an 8 to db improvement over Dolby B, which offers about 10 db of noise or hiss reduction.
Dolby S is a consumer version of Dolby SR which is a full bandwidth noise reduction that looks at low, middle and high frequencies as three separate entities during both play and record and uses varying degrees of boosting and cutting along with dynamic compression and expansion to achieve a near perfect elimination of all tape his. Dolby S however doesn't use much of the design and is said to be about as good as Dolby C but a little more backward compatible like Dolby B is at playback without the noise reduction circuitry on and still having things sound passable. I don't know the exact process that is used in Dolby S as the company is shy on details about this newer system and process.
dbx noise reduction is a revolutionary form of tape noise reduction in that it doesn't just reduce tape hiss, it eliminates it. How it works is based on a two step process of encoding and decoding.
During recording, dbx encodes the incoming signal using a complex 2:1 compression scheme that relies on an accurate calibration process to ensure that the 0db level is accurate on recording and playback on your deck. For all levels that exceed the 0db level, dbx reduces these levels in an equal and opposite amount to how much they went over the mark and for all levels below 0db, dbx increases their level by an amount equal to how much below the mark they are. While all of this is taking place, dbx also employs the basic principles of Dolby B noise reduction to add even greater hiss reduction to the end result.
On playback, dbx uses all the rules in the previous paragraph but in reverse to decode the first process. The end result is broadband noise reduction is achieved and in general, tape hiss, low level hum and general noise of many kinds is reduced by 40db or better, depending on the deck and how quiet it was to begin with. So, a deck which had a 60 to 70 db s:n ratio without it, will now have a 100 to 110db signal to noise ration and a near equal, usable dynamic range. In many instances, compared to digital recording, it offers an equal or better noise floor and less overload distortion on your tapes because the dbx system is preventing the tape from being saturated by high levels. An additional benefit, especially for narrow track width format machines is that adjacent channel cross-talk or bleed through is further reduced because you are not over taxing the tape and electronics.
All that being said, dbx is not a perfect system. The are occasional pumping and breathing artefacts that are audible on certain instruments like sustained piano notes and heavily percussive instruments which change very rapidly in level, thus faster then what the compression/expansion schemes are designed to handle. In many cases, these bad qualities are barely audible on a well calibrated machine and especially with dbx type I professional; these items are rarely an issue at all.
There are two versions that dbx comes in. Type II for cassette formats and type I for open reel formats running at 15 ips or better. The key difference between the two systems is in how they handle bass frequencies where much of the pumping and breathing issues might occur. Type II stops it processing at 100 Hz because of most cassette decks inabilities to capture low end bass flatly and predictably. As such, no processing in this area of sound takes place but, where it does kick in at 100 Hz, there can be audible level differences between the processes and un-processed sound and thus the pumping and breathing artefacts.
Type I, professional dbx offers full bandwidth processing down to 50 Hz and in most, if not all cases, it is a completely discrete circuitry design which employs PCBs full of electronic components that insure good signal purity, low self distortion and tighter tolerances on levels and companding standards. Much of this all leading to type I being transparent as a process to the listener and engineer alike. Comparatively, dbx, type II can be assembled on a singular IC chip with a bit of supporting discrete componentry.
How should I store my tapes?
Storing tapes is a relatively easier subject to cover and get a handle on. Basically, you want to store your tapes in a tail out condition. This means that the tape is fully played or slowly wound in a spooling mode on your recorder to neatly and tightly pack the tape pancake. Doing this ensures that a minimum of dust and moisture can get at your precious master tapes when stored over longer periods of time. Letting them wind to the end reduces the effects of a phenomenon called “print through, which is an electrical process that sees the magnetic energy migrating from one layer of tape to it's neighboring layer and creating a ghost echo that can be audible if left long enough and with a tape who's back coating is not good at reducing these effects. Even with this library wind regime, some post echo artifacts may be audible but will be less objectionable on the ears compared to pre-echo ghosting or Print Through.
Storing tapes as well involves a few other good habits to follow. The first is to always store your tapes vertically on edge, in the tape's storage box and in a sealed plastic bag to keep out dust and moisture. Storing the tape vertically ensures that edge damage won't be occurred or that the tape is not being crushed and damaged by the weight and pressure of other tapes pressing against it. Using silica gel pouches is also a good idea if you live in a humid environment.
Another good idea is to exercise your tapes that are in long term storage by taking them out at least once a year and playing them through once to air out the tape a bit and to ensure that they are still in good shape. Then carefully put them back into storage in a sealed plastic bag and in their box or case.
The last things to be mindful of is storing your tapes away from strong magnetic fields like appliances with motors or magnets in them and store them in a temperature stable environment that is ideally around 70 degrees Fahrenheit or 20 degrees Celsius, as wild temperature extremes can damage the tape and cause many ill effects including Sticky Shed Syndrome which will be discussed in the next question.
What is Sticky Shed Syndrome?
Sticky Shed Syndrome is a phenomenon that can occur when tapes are stored in less then ideal conditions as talked about in the previous question about storage. Basically what happens is that there is a chemical breakdown in the binders that hold the oxide coating of the tape to the plastic tape lower surface. When this breakdown occurs, the tape literally starts shedding its oxide and glue all over your heads and guides and creates a terrible mess that is difficult to clean up but is not impossible to remedy.
Some manufacturer's tapes are more prone to this problem then others are but, all brands and formulations are susceptible to it, to varying degrees. Ampex 456 made on or before 1995 is particularly prone to this problem and if you are buying second hand tape, watch out for this older stock as odds are not in favor of avoiding it.
Fear not! Sticky Shed Syndrome is a repairable problem to some degree. Tapes exhibiting this problem can be repaired by baking the tape in specially constructed light boxes and in some dehydration ovens made by Nesco, over a 2 to 12 hour duration, depending on the severity of the problem and the thickness of the tape itself. Do not use a conventional oven for this purpose!
Baking a tape successfully will in essence, harden back the glue that dissolved and make the tape playable for a period of time at which point, it can be re-baked to play again if there is still a problem.
The signs to watch for is excessive tape shedding and in many cases, an audible squeaking sound as the tape is sticking to the various parts of your transport and the added resistance makes the squeaking sound. If you see or hear these effects, remove the tape immediately from the machine and look into methods of baking to save them. Better still, follow the advice about tape correct storage and only buy new tape.
A good web-link with more info can be accessed here;
http://www.tangible-technology.com/tape/baking1.html
A second link to my own successful baking project is here;
http://www.vaporpark.com/invboard/index.ph...t=ST&f=12&t=444
What is SMPTE time code and how can I use it in my setup?
I found a great .pdf document tutorial from Time-Line; a company that makes synchronizers for locking together multiple audio, video, midi and computers to work together as one larger systems.
It's a lengthy read but worth it if you really want to get a better grasp on the whole time code/synchronization/smpte deal.
http://www.vaporpark.com/invboard/index.ph...ype=post&id=249
