Tape Trail

RE: Recording Levels/ Nat King Cole Song

65.0.212.20

In Reply to: RE: Recording Levels/ Nat King Cole Song posted by Braxus on October 15, 2007 at 18:51:45

There are a lot of differences in meters on tape decks! There are VU meters and there are DB meters. Also, there are peak meters and average meters. If a recording is made on an newer deck with a peak meter then played back on an older deck with a VU meter it will appear to be at a much lower level normally. Honestly, I forget exactly which one is the hotter Db or VU?? I think the VU meter is slower and more of an average than a DB meter. Maybe someone else can elaborate on that better than I. Also, a lot of people will record at lower levels than others. Many owners manuals will suggest recording with maximum levels at -3 on the meters to avoid distortion or tape saturation. On the other hand levels that are too low will cause noise.

I have also found that tape decks record levels and playback levels can become out of adjustment over time. The internal pots that set the record and playback levels are not set evenly from one channel to the other and in some cases are completely screwed up. These settings are not easy to set without a reference tape or at least a reference from another properly setup deck.

Some of the older decks had test signal generators on them and bias trim adjustments onboard. I have a Nakamichi dual tracker 500 and an Advent 201 deck that have these features. They have bias trim pots on the rear panel that are user accessable. The Nak has pots for each tape formula normal EX and SX. After recording the test tone at 100% on it's DB meters it should playback that recorded tone at the same setting. After calibrating that deck I use the test tone recorded tape recorded correctly on it to set the playback levels on other decks I have. Then when you record and playback on that deck if it's meters are off the record pots need adjusting since the playback is correct (Does that make any sense?). That is really the secret to calibrating a tape deck.... figuring out if the inconsistent meter readings are caused by improper record settings (bias) or the playback (EQ) settings.

So you see...different meter readings can be caused by any number of reasons. As long as you know that your deck is set up properly and you don't run the levels over +3 db consistently with a premium formula tape you should be fine.

I also have a TDK CD "Guide To Recording From CD's" that has multiple test tones for different types of music recorded on their different formulas of tape. I use it sometimes to set levels on decks. They suggest setting the record levels to the 0 DB level on the meters. They are also saying that different types of music have different dynamics so you should record some types of music on certain formulas of tape differently than other types of music on other formulas of tape.

There is also the issue of head alignment and azimuth. There can be inconsistencies there between decks that show up as different levels. Maybe that should be a discussion for another time.

It may sound a little overly complicated and it really can be frustrating! It is one of the reasons that I have become frustrated with some of my tape decks,inconsistency. But, when you get them right it is fun and rewarding! Good Luck! Franksta

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