I recently acquired a Teac X-2000R and have been doing some recording with it. I have been setting the record levels so that the majority of the music does not exceed the 0 mark on the VU meters with occasional peaks going to +3. After recording in both directions, and during play back, I hear a very low rumble either during very quiet passages or during the silence between songs. It sounds as if I am hearing a faint portion of whats on the other side, but only the low frequencies. I experience this same condition when recording with my Akai GX-635D. Now when I play a tape that I made with the X-2000R on the Akai, the Akai's VU needles are in the +3 to +5 range all the time. It is hard to do this in reverse, as the Teac has the output level tied to the meters, if the output knob is set low, the meters read low, the Akai, the meters are constant no matter where the output knob is set. Am I setting my record levels too high ? Is this why I hear low frequency sound between songs ?, or do I have a head alingment problem on both of these machines ? Otherwise they both sound great.

Are you using used tape? It may just be that you need to bulk erase the tape first before you record on it. Tape decks don't always erase the tape completely, especially if it was recorded on a different deck that had slightly different head alignment. If the tape is new, then yes, the heads are out of alignment. as to the record level, the TEAC or the Akai is probably in need of calibration. You can record with the peaks occasionally going up to +5 and that will be fine. You can experiment with different record levels, monitoring the playback head and listening for distortion as you increase the level.

What you are experiencing is "crosstalk" from adjacent channels. You are saturating the channels with too much gain. Problems from one deck to another is common due to different alignment and setup. Try to keep recording levels beneath +3db to minimize the crosstalk or bleeding between channels.

Thanks for the info, I will try to back down on my recording levels and see what happens. I do use bulk tape eraser, but it is a Rat Shack model, 1min on/20min off. It has a hard time with tape on metal reels. It takes multiple passes to get decent results. Works good on plastic 7" reels though.

I would not personally push the levels quite so high, especially at 3.75 ips. You have DBX on that machine, and you might as well take full advantage of it. At 3.75 ips you have limited HF headroom, so recording at such a high level has the potential to roll-off your highs a bit.

goldear,

I have been doing all my recordongs at 7 1/2 IPS. I have not used the DBX because I want to be able to play these tapes on my Akai unit as well.

Depending on the deck and tape, levels up to +5dB can be perfectly acceptable. This, as Goldear indicated is (or was) called "pushing" in recording engineer's parlance. It's a way to use analog's forgiving aspects to give you more dynamic range. As you increase the level, if you go too far you first get compressed dynamic range, then distortion. As I said, you can experiment with the level to see what your deck is capable of. I just made a recording on my Teac 6010GSL of a cd, and the peaks occaisionally went to +5. Switching back and forth from source to tape, there was no distortion on the recording. I used Scotch 207 tape.

Orzric,

While head alignment may be the likely culprit, there’s still the possibility that you’re recording rumble and low-freq cross-talk from the source. If your source is a turntable, you might want to switch to a CD as source to check this out. Remember that in addition to alignments in a TT setup, a lot of vinyl even in a sealed state can be the bearer of master tape problems that are only being faithfully recorded by your TEAC. Magnetic bleed thru or forshadowing is the most common.

I’ve been using an AN-60 TEAC DolbyA codex and tape that I bought from Goldear to set my record and playback levels on six TEACs that have come across my basement workbench in the last year. While these have all been from the 4010/6010 line they might apply to to your X-2000-R: Using a Dolby tone generated by the AN-60 and the same tone provided by Goldear on tape, all six TEACs aligned to 45% gain - or the 11:30 position on the line input for recording and 85% gain - or 3:00 position on playback. (The number of pot “dots” varies from model to model). These, of course, are optimals and the levels, especially for line sourcing are not set in stone.

I’m close by if you want to borrow the AN-60/Tape after 5/21.

- Mario

goldear,

I have been doing all my recordongs at 7 1/2 IPS. I have not used the DBX because I want to be able to play these tapes on my Akai unit as well.
In that case, what you are doing is correct. DBX will tend to encroach upon your HF headroom a little more than does recording without NR, thus forcing a slightly lower record level for optimum performance. But this is less tru with DBX type I (which you have), than it is with dbx type II.

Personally, I would recommend getting yourself a DBX-150 unit for your Akai. These things sell for dirt cheap on epay, and do not require any special calibration (unlike dolby).

Mario: Glad to hear that the unit is working well for you. :D

hello all; Hmm, i have learned, or so i thought, i have used dbx 224s with success, i recently tried a dbx-150 and got poor results...cloudy and murky almost ringy recordings with 0db levels....i was told use of dbx 150 is best at 15 ips,,, which AIN"T me, or a very least 7 1/2 ips on a machine professionallly maintained...yes? or did i miss something???
blooeyz