Older Tascam portastudio bleed over

[TJBass]

So the last couple jams, Ive been trying to run each instrument into separate channels of my Tascam tape recorder. Each time, the guitar signal bleeds over onto three other channels.

It doesn't matter which channel I put him in, it still happens. This console has 4 channels with xlr and line inputs. He is using a Laney 100 watt head and we use the line out off his amp. Heres how its configured now:

Ch1 guitar line in
Ch2 Vocals XLR in
Ch3 Bass Line in
Ch4 Drums line in from a separate sound board to provide phantom power to drum mics

I can turn the gain pots down on all channels, turn each channel off, and the only way to get him out of the mix is to unplug him from whatever channel he is in. I don't get it, only him, no other instruments do this. any ideas? I'd like to track him with the band instead of after we've laid it all down.

 

[BazzTard]

I used portastudios for many years in their day. Their day has passed a long time ago.I don't think they ever presented 4 discreet channels, they always bled into other channels. I'd say it's an old recorder that is showing it's age.
What about putting the bass direct into the Tascam,not via the amp, have you tried this? Or use a decent DI to go straight in. Go direct in as a mic level not line level,see if that works. I dunno that's all I've got hehe

 

[TJBass]

Luckily this console has been sitting in a box unused for years till I pulled it out about 6 months ago. My brother bought it new, couldn't figure out how to use it, put it back in the box and set it on the shelf. I gave him $25 for it because I kept seeing it on the shelf and knew he would never use it.

Ive had some success with it and it seems to work and sound great. Its just this one signal. The bass doesn't bleed, the drums and vocals don't bleed. Just the guitar, no matter what channel I have him in. I've turned off the drum mics so that's not it. Only way to stop it is to unplug him completely and track him later.

 

[BazzTard]

guitarists don't like to record live with the rest of us. They like to sit with the engineer for hours and hours redoing the same 4 bar piece til it's just right.... hehe

bass and drums recorded in one take,whole album done in an hour usually.

 

[Goatrope]

Can you record the guitar first then the discrete bass and drum tracks can obliterate the bleed if it exists?

 

[TJBass]

Yeah, it takes awhile recording guitar first. He'd lose his place without having us in the mix lol, what I will have to do is record his track last, when switched to safe, the pre-recorded tracks are unaffected by his bleed over. Im just wondering where im going wrong in the setup. Its gotta be something I've got set wrong.

 

[BruceWane]

I'm not familiar with that particular machine, but my first guess would be that you need to set each tape track to "DIRECT" instead of "BUSS L" and "BUSS R". That way, whatever you've got plugged in to channel 1 input is going to go to track 1 on the tape, etc.....

By assigning tape tracks to left and right busses, and having all your pan knobs centered, you're basically sending signal from all input channels to all tape tracks. You're probably only hearing the guitar on all tracks because that signal's a lot hotter than the others.

 

[TJBass]

That's actually the first thing I checked. all for are selected direct and the individual channels are set for mic\line. channels 5/6/7-8 are set to off. There is a headphone out on the Laney head, but if I use that I lose the ability to control the input volume. I don't think the Line out on the head is controlled by the master volume, ill have to look at that to see if I can limit his signal out of the head, otherwise I will have to mic him, which means having to isolate him in some way from the rest of the band so we don't have the opposite occur where drums and bass bleed into the mic at his cab.

 

[seamonkey]

Using the right kind of tapes? tape bleed? It may need special biased metal tapes.

4 tracks on a skinny tape, put the guitar on track 1 or 4 and then leave the adjacent one empty.

 

[BruceWane]

Are you turning your Effects/Tape Cue sends down to -0-?

 

[And I]

Is it a little bleed or like the guitar is as loud on the other channels as it is on the channel he's plugged in to?

 

[TJBass]

Hmmm, Ill have to check the type of tape.

The tape cue is set to off.

The level is not as high as the channel he's plugged into but its close.

 

[Roland GR 88]

I would mic the amp with an isolation baffle of sorts - thick blanket draped over a couple of chairs maybe - and live with the natural bleed into the other mics. If your mix is decent live it should be acceptable on tape. You're trying to get tracks to sit nice on 1/8th of an inch which was always difficult and is why they don't make 'em anymore.
I would track the band live, bounce to stereo and add vocals after but regardless of your methods, it's a cassette and you will only get what a cassette can take.