Tascam 388 // Cleaning Heads, Fixing Fader & Noise
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
- Let’s clean tape heads on the Tascam 388, fix the channel 1 fader, and discover what everyone besides me already knows: recording hot levels to tape is cool. Come with me as I chase my tail learning things that I could have just googled.
Tell me what you hear in the comments!
Click this or you will be sad: ua-cam.com/users/travisraab?su...
0:00 (1) Fixing Channel Fader 1
3:21 (2) Cleaning Tape Heads
5:46 Test 1 Results
7:22 (3) Hiss Signal Noise Ratio Insanity + Tests
Part 1: Fixing channel fader 1. I thought I would have to replace this fader but I was able to fix it. I will make sure to lose this fader in the next year, only to find another fader breaks, and prices have sky rocketed for these guys.
Part 2: Cleaning tape heads. Do you hear a difference? Cleaning tape may make a huge difference for you, if your tape heads are filthy. People say it makes a difference. I’ve heard that demagging does nothing, which is why I didn’t try it. These tape heads appear to be in good shape, and very clean, which is perhaps why I could hear no difference. But this lead down a dark journey…
Part 3: Chasin’ noise.
I’m not sure about you, but I don’t believe anything in terms of sound until I hear it for myself. I don’t buy into marketing hype, or claims made by companies that a certain piece of gear makes a certain sound. Amp makers, and gear makers will always try to sell you crap like that. I won't believe the earth is round until I drive around it. This philosophy is kind of what led down this white noise rabbit hole, and taught me that tape makes noise haha.
So originally I got on this wild goose chase because I was hearing a ton of hiss at idle just through the headphone jack and I could have sworn also from the stereo out or PGM out. And I heard this with ZERO tape running, so I was convinced the machine was generating white noise and that I had bad capacitors and so I had to start testing everything …oh boy…
But after testing, I realized firstly that the headphone out is just super hissy (although I do like listening through the headphone outs). Then I learned that when when monitoring from PGM or stereo out, the machine at idle is basically silent (Even if the gain staging is not perfect). Cranking up the trim added a touch of hiss, but nothing horrible. As long as nothing in the signal path of the machine is cranked, to my ears it doesn’t make a huge difference. That wasn’t the main culprit. I’m sure it’s obvious to you, but I really needed to find out for myself how to get the purest or loudest signal to tape, not using dbx. And it came down to the volume of the signal.
You might retort, NO it’s the level of compression you are getting when you smash the signal that is increasing the apparent loudness blah blah whatever. I hear you.
If you listen to elliott smith’s first couple albums, there is SO much tape hiss. And it sounds beautiful. It’s a hallmark of the sound. Trying to eliminate the sound of tape, might not make a lot of sense. Because then why record to tape? Battling the hiss a little to get a better signal to noise ratio might be a fight worth fighting, but for myself, I don’t want to be tweaking levels all day to reduce the hiss 1db. I’d rather worry about getting a few trademark tape sounds. For instance a hissy tapey sound, a squashed pumped sound, or a dbx blankety sound. All three are cool. All three can be made by the machine naturally and are useful in music.
The testing never ends, and I don’t claim to be an expert! I’m always learning.
BTW I also hear ton of hiss on that rode NTG hybrid camera mic which drives me insane regularly so I must just have a hiss chasing mental issue.
#tascam #analog #recording #homestudio
www.TravisRaab.com
/ travisraabguitarlessons
Producer & Virtual Guitar Teacher
A tip: when you can't hear a difference, do a null test. Same exact signal recorded before and after (a short music phrase or even a pink or white noise test tone form you DAW) and play the 2 results, one with an inverted phase. If you hear something there's a difference.
oh cool great idea i'll look into tha
I have been binge-watching your videos and they are AMAZING! Keep up the good work! I hope to get my hands on one of these someday.
That's very cool to hear ! Thanks 👍. I'm sure you can make great music without this old piece of junk
How cool to see a guy opening a 388 in his barn... fearless mate!! congrats for the fix!
Thank you!
DAYUM I'm earlier than I thought! Your channel is inspiring!! 🥺
Yay! Thank you!
Indeed you too have evolved into that “analog hipster”. Yes, I find that tape smashing improves the SNR to my liking. Loving your explorations, and the obviously purple influence you possess. ✌🏾👍🏾
You're right. I need to get a grip on myself.
Alright well if you're treating tape like that then I gotta copy you!
PURPLE!
@@travisraab Lol, it’s that constant search for perfection that kills our creativity. When essentially, it’s the vibe that most important. Analog enhances the vibe with its character. 👍🏾
Good stuff, you’re turning into a proper tape tech!
Adrian god that would be hilarious 😂
@@travisraab 😅
For that i can hear...i love the TASCAM, 🙌🙌🙌🙌
Whoooooo
I have been exactly where you are. I’ve transferred HOURS upon HOURS of my dad’s 388 tapes to digital. I clean the heads Left to Right. You should also clean the metal areas between the heads, the pinch rollers, wherever the tape touches, with alcohol. No need to clean the rubber rollers. Alcohol will hurt the rubber. A Demagnetizer would help any drop outs. My channel one would drop out on playback, sometimes (Heads are probably getting old). A Demag wand would bring Ch 1. back. I DON’T touch the heads with the wand. Some say, do... I think they’re nuts! Or every tape machine is different. Some say Demag before every use. Just be sure to clean everything well before Demag... it’s a delicate process...There’s also frequency test tape if you REALLY wanna get in-depth, balancing the channel response inside the machine. I had a more experienced friend do this. I’ll stop typing now:) I really enjoy your videos! I’m looking forward to the next one... 😎✌🏻
I'd love to get one of those test tapes. lmk if you see one around. thanks for watching i appreciate it chesterfield!
Definitely a difference. The gunk on the heads really muffles the sound. More noticeable on the high end. Always best to heads clean. Dirt and dust gets in there but even brand new tape leaves the slightest amount of residue that is liable to build up.
This whole comment section is an education in itself...ive been away for a few months and im bingeing now, and i still havent gotten my 388 going yet...im finally moved from Florida to NC so ill get on it in a couple months.
I like to take it slow and get it right
welcoms to NC!
Just as an FYI cleaning the heads should always be done between unloading and loading your next tape. One of the issues with this particular deck is the tracks are extremely narrow. I think in this case DBX would be your friend. I have a Tascam MSR 16 that I record at 15 IPS and still use the DBX. The other reason you may be getting hiss is because you may need to bias the machine for your tape formulation. I think these were set up to use Ampex 456 tapes, which are actually problematic with sticky oxide syndrome. The track width is the same as a cassette tape. I don't think it sounds bad, it may be more of setup. Glad you're getting into this. Great video by the way.
Awesome thx
@@travisraab You're welcome.
That rogue part is a super common type of washer whose design is i think supposed to push against the screw so it doesn't come lose.
Thanks!
Doom metal muff guitars (Windhand) might solve any gain staging issues. Great videos.. keep it up!
thanks garden ave!
I swapped out my monitor PCB and it decreased that monitoring hiss so it must be some chip on there that goes bad. Also, reseating they long BUS strip that joins all the cards can fix weird issues.
If I don’t clean my heads at least once every 5 sessions I can definitely hear it. Can make the tracks cut in and out if I leave it too long.
Also what tape are you using? My machine is biased to Maxell 35 90 and if I use a different tape it makes loads more hiss. Bias is a nightmare that I can’t get my head around lol.
Also recording more tracks ‘decreases’ the hiss as it takes up more of the sonic space. The more stripped back the more you’ll hear that hiss.
Stay cool!
wow I never heard that one before. Having this youtube people always write info and I learn a lot but that's a new one. More tracks decreases hiss. interesting!
I couldn't hear a big difference after cleaning the tape heads. People are still telling me to demag! lord.
I'm using lpr35. I've never calibrated this machine. It wasn't until I track quiet that I noticed the machine was noisy. I notice it's not as bright as this 424. But it's the most analogy sounding piece of gear I've ever used. all spongey and all that. Recording really deep into red sounds so cool.
reseating the BUS strip? that sounds scary. I think this machine might be functioning normally. idk.
I just cleaned it i dont actually use it to make music cmon
@@travisraab well as you outlined, the louder you go the less perceived hiss, but if you’re muting all the other tracks in playback then my point is a bit less accurate. Just meaning when I have a full track goin I don’t notice it as much. Not a scientific analysis, just a dipshit havin a go.
If you’re sticking to new LPR35, then cleaning ain’t gonna be as much of an issue. I use old tapes, and some leave more on the heads than they take with them. I’ve since binned most of those and stick to the Maxell or LPR35.
Now demaging…. I’m sure it’s good but I’ve done it and didn’t notice anything!
@@SPOD_ZONE what some of us are trying to figure out is why line out is so much noisier than PGM out, and what functione does stereo master have if PGM adjusts level to tape? mysteries. i spent like 2 day straight reading the schematic/flow chart and now am blind.
@@travisraab haha 😆 feel like as soon as I get close to figuring something out, I then forget everything else I’ve learned. I feel like my hobby has become maintaining machines rather than making music…
@@travisraab I’ll try and do some tests on my machines tonight
One thing about what you said about the headphones hiss makes it seem like you also have a dying op amp on the headphones pcb board. I think the op amp is hissing due to self oscillation and when you make the signal hot (crank the volume) it is forcing the op amp to work properly or better. I would upgrade that op amp and the other two chips while you have it out. Another thing you can try is using the stereo outs since the monitors and phones come from the same path but the stereo outs split from the monitor pcb board or somewhere earlier in the chain. If there’s a cleaner signal there’s your answer!
Thanks man I think I'll live with it for now
@@travisraab No worries it was kind of a pain tbh since I had to troubleshoot it and buy a decent soldering iron. Although if you get curious later you can plug your monitors into the stereo outs even with that small change the hiss may be gone from the monitors.
@@pizzawarfare a few people have commented that theirs sounds the same. I appreciate the info it will probably come in handy! Now just tell me how to fix the cards on my 38
Like that Kramer. slinky shredder
It's fun!
Hey Travis, well done. In your post-clean voice recording I could hear some difference, albeit not very much. But be aware that it's not uncommon for tape heads to just be unable to register any high frequencies because of the accumulated dirt. The tape you're using has to be European or Japanese, considered it sheds so little. Do you have only one tape? Try the ones that this machine was calibrated for and see if the amount of hiss remains, but also accept that hiss is a relict of tape recording, so record as hot as you can or try using dbx. In my opinion dbx would be the best noise reduction system option for tape, because of its nature of compressing and expanding. I have to admit though I don't use it, also for compatability reasons. Now if you really want to experience the effect of filthy heads, try an old Ampex 457 or similar tape and see what that does... Nice video, until the next! Enjoy your weekend or what's left of it, at least you have 7 hours or so more left than I have.
you have ears like a bat basroos!
i'm just use that lpr35 or whatever it's called that everyone seems to be using. i would be interested in trying the og tape, though afraid of shedding. might also consider biasing in the future. i'd love to get one of those test tone tapes and do a top to bottom tune up of the machine. that would be my dream. i wonder where i can get that tape?
@@travisraab Is it a modern LPR35 tape? A quick lookup on the web confirms that you seem to be using the best suitable tape, and it is still manufactured by Recording the Masters in France. The formulation is quite old and was used by BASF amongst other manufacturers. You can buy a new tape in the U.S. for roughly $30. I bought some new SM911 tapes to use with my Fostex R8 and the performance and sound quality are excellent. Calibration tapes are hard to find and therefore very expensive. They also may suffer from aging like almost every old tape does. And do you remember me telling you not to mess with the calibration pots yourself ;-) ? You do need some decent hardware and knowledge to tune it all, but being that adventurous (?) guy that you are, go give it a try! But you can already test some things with a decent quality sound card. Just generate some test tones, noise and sweeps and record that on every channel. Then compare the results. Check if the input and output levels are not too different and see if the frequency response is correct/equal on all channels, for example. Anyway, just make sure to shoot some footage to upload here on YT during your attempts and hopefully accomplishments, that's what your channel is about, right? Keep it up!
@@basroos_snafu yeah its the lp35 i see around. nice tips i appreciate it!
yeah its the tape for sure haha, You can try getting some better tape formulas can help if you get a good one. and i never use DBX i think it does some weird stuff to the high end. plus after coming back into logic you can really control the tape hiss if you dont want it.
i like tape
Seeing the vacuum freaked me out more than touching the tape; I've never brought a vacuum around my gaming PCs for fear of generated static, having heard this when I was a kid, and static near magnetic tape heads is a BIG no. Could completely be wrong and if nothing bad happened, obvs its fine, its just a practice I'm inclined to avoid.
cleanliness is next to godliness
i see whatchu mean but we’ve been vacuuming and dusting consoles for decades in recording
@@bobzmuda3940 good point!
Did you ever eliminate the actual hiss from your unit?
All you can do is mitigate the hiss. Yes I did a few things to make it sound comparable to other 388s I've heard
Nice workout! It weight a metric ton! I had to install new driver belt, it was all sticky! Also I changed all fuses on the fuse board + trimmed the speed on tape motors. @2:45, you need the washer to keep the screw in place (Da*n how smart I am). :D @ 4:40 I've been told to clean the heads up and down not from left to right. (smarty pants here again).
Btw: What kind of tape do you use?
You're a genius! I'm glad I asked. But does that man I need to take it apart to put this darn little washer in? fml. That's funny I read to clean the tape heads only L to R or else big trouble. Oh well. Maybe I ruined them.
Trimmed the speed on tape motors what does that do?
oh i'm using LPR35 tape
@@travisraab I guess you're right my misstake L to R it is (I don't think I
@@travisraab No I think you got it right and me wrong.L to R it is!
@@travisraab The curse of reparing stuff; nuts and bolts leftovers.. You may notice if something is getting lose when you touch the knobs or sliders I guess.
I think you changed the speed of the tape motors with a screwdriver when you opened the top of your 388 in another video. To calibrate the tape transport motors. I had problems with my fastforward and rewinding speed.
Maybe i'm deaf above 10KHz but i can't hear any significant hiss on your recordings .
I'd say headphones tend to bring hiss up in any kind of situation AND the headphone outs on a 388 sound like a shoreline on a windy day . That is a fact . Mine sounds the same , real clean on the master outs but crap on the headphone outs .
You're right I concur with everything you said.
what really messed with me was that i somehow became positive that the tape outs and the stereo outs sounding just like the headphone outs at idle. that's what sent me down that journey. i'm real happy that's not the case. now just trying to understand why line out is noisier than pgm and stereo out and have heard some interesting theories.
Ha! F L H comment about the null test gave me an idea to eliminate the hiss. Record the hiss alone to the length of the song and then put it on a track with the phase inverted? xD
That's a good idea! Is that what noise reducers like iZotope and xhum do?
@@travisraab superlate sorry! I just saw your comment :D No idea, but sounded like it could work (that is unless the noise is kinda random xD which might be...)
I got one 388 now! (thanks for the inspiration! ❤) I should try it. If my little brain remembers I should come back and say if workz or not
@@travisraab and yeah, I don't know if that's how iZotope/xhum do :D
niiiice
Hi thanks!
Have you demagnetized the heads yet? I just bought a demag for my 388 but it freaks me out cause you can totally ruin the heads lol
I've heard a whole bunch of people try it and said it does nothing. You go first 😂
@@travisraab Greetings from eastern MA! I've been loving these videos of your barn build... keep them coming!
You should definitely clean and demagnetize the heads and tape path after 10 hours of play. Otherwise, you could experience high frequency signal loss and dropouts. My Tascam 424 was unusable because of dropouts and poor high frequency response, but that all went away after demagnetizing the tape path. As long as you plug the demagnetizer in about 5 feet from the machine, bring it in and out of the tape path very slowly, and unplug it about 5 feet away you'll be fine.
@@henryk2015 how are you ! fellow brother of the commonwealth. thanks for the kind words! hey they told those guys at chernobyl that it was safe to go near that stuff. i'm quite hesitant about using anything that is specially charged and people warn you to move very slowly around. i am also concerned of reducing my own magnetic charge or my virility. Do you work for big maga? I'm quite suspicious now! i will have to look into this further as you have brought it to my attention... to be continued.
@@travisraab Big maga has instructed me to inform you that YMMV on your virility. However, so long as you're slow, demagnetization of your tape path won't cause any harm. DM me if you want to collab on demagging your machines.
@@travisraab This part of the comments thread is hilarious.
Don't be afraid of demagging.....I'm possibly the biggest tech idiot known to man, and I used to demag big 2" machines pretty regularly and never broke anything. Just keep the demagnetizer away from tapes and hard drives and you'll be fine.
It does make a difference, and I would imagine with this ancient work of audio wizardry, it's probably past due for for a quick swipe of the wand.
Cleaning helped…
Cool!
Contact the guy from "Dream Machine".....he's an expert on the 388
I'll do it asap!
I use DBX on mine. Keeping the levels below zero work fine for me. Not much hiss and sounds great to me (even the high end). I think it's not great when driven hard IMHO.
i finally used dbx on another video ( ua-cam.com/video/t-jwfV__BP8/v-deo.html ) and I was pleasantly surprised! well it was a hybrid. one of the channels doesn't seem to respond properly to the dbx, or it's just not super powerful or something. i might try a whole song with dbx
ngl i didnt hear any hiss in the recording unless i turn the video up loud
maybe you are going deaf lol
The faders are the easiest part to replace. No soldering involved. And that part is a washer. So it's not that vital
Like beating a video game at the easiest possible setting! ah a washer thank you good to know!
@@travisraab star washers like that are used to increase friction between a fastener and a grounding cable, leaving it out can mean the ground cable doesn't make good contact with the conductive surface to begin with, or is more susceptible to being disturbed by moving the unit, etc.
@@Tetrakan is there a grounding cable on a fader?
@@travisraab probably not,could be it was loose in there from a previous owner or tech’s work, or maybe it was meant to go between the screw head which attaches the fader to the chassis and the chassis to ensure the casing is grounded? I am guessing….so long as you’re not getting a 60 cycle hum on that channel of the mixer there’s no need to redo any work.
@@Tetrakan gotcha. Thanks for the info I'll keep it handy. Glad i asked!
Don't throw away the screw cheese - it has arcane properties!
What is screw cheese? What does arcane mean? What does properties mean? Ahhhh
@@travisraab screw cheese is the grime that fills the slots of the screws which you were scraping out at the beginning of the video, and it is jam- packed with magical mojo! You could smoke it, but since I try to stay away from tobacco, I’d put it in some wine to seep for a month: If you imbibe it at midnight on the solstice you get a permanent +5 on saving throws against jazz.
@@Tetrakan oh haha. I was like wtf is this stuff. Screw cheese. Man i need a dictionary and thesaurus when you write. I'm gonna go study the encyclopedia now in preparation for our next exchange.
@@travisraab sorry I made it weird, I experimented with Dungeons & Dragons as a teenager and it permanently damaged my sense of humour. Nice video, keep fighting the good fight!
@@Tetrakan 😂😂 you are the the king of the tape world
Put DBX on
No
Methodical.
Matt! You are the expert on all things tape. I watch your videos and try to learn anything and anything I can!
@@travisraab I'm no expert, at anything, but I certainly appreciate systematic troubleshooting skills. The way you went about your process was textbook and would make any maintenance supervisor proud. 1. Identify the problem. 2. Ponder the cause. 3. Develop plan of attack. 4. Implement plan. 5. Evaluate success of plan. 6. Document process & findings. Brilliant! If you ever grow tired of roving the globe laying down those awesome tracks, come help an old man fix these reel to reels!
@@5thcomm Wow thanks! That means a lot to me.
Dont put the bottom back on leave it off.
Ok
bro are u german ?
absolutrely
Someone should really come and take that thing away from you and give it a more loving home. Jokes aside...there is a +2 db level mod you can do that sends hotter signal. After doing it, for a given internal signal level as reflected by the meter reading, you are increasing the strength of the actual magnetic signal hitting tape. This can increase the signal to hiss level so you may not need to use the DBX noise reductio
interesting! i'll have to look into it
SM57 is a terrible studio mic
i love this comment
Because of this comment, I'm throwing away all my mics, and buying SM57s. Not even gonna sell them, just right into the backyard for the birds.
Oh yeah because this deck is sooOOOoo hifi.