Thank you for taking your time to record and share this video. I notice it’s been online for a few years but it’s still serving it’s purpose. Hello from Tennessee!
Are you going to cover the internal routing of the 388? I can use it well enough, but I want a deeper understanding of what the heck is going on sometimes and it took me a while to figure out some things. Like where the red L-R buttons route too and how they differ from the track assign buttons. And what specifically pushes things into the monitor section. Monitor Out vs Stereo Out, where are they routed from exactly. And covering that the Tape out on each channel is off tape but pre EQ vs PGM OUT which is post EQ for mixing. What's the difference between PGM BUSS in & Line In? That kinda stuff will really help new users, and for me to remember how the heck it works after 6 months of not getting to record on it. Good stuff!
The way to read a VU meter is that when the needle hovers around 0, your signal is at the nominal level of the channel and the operating level of the board itself. And if you calibrated your tape machine right, you are also at the highest fidelity operating level of the tape (which assumes a certain % of harmonic distortion, which the tape mfg will specify). Beyond that and the distortion goes up, sure, but in practical terms, it is still just "volume" you are adding as the needle goes higher - and also reducing the mix buss's headroom. 0VU is nominally where you want to be because that's where mix buss headroom is spec'ed at, and all your faders will hover around 0 come mix time, which is also where the highest resolution of the fader's precision exists.
I have the Tascam Studio 8. Need to get it out of storage….. Really enjoying your latest album. Very intricate style there… Reminds me of Kansas, then Deep Purple, then Beautiful Day…..Really enjoying this album….. was it all done on 388?….. If so, excellent
0dB on a VU meter (0dBVU) is a good ballpark for "full volume/gain" as it should correspond to +4dBu (ie professional line level) but it gets a bit more complicated. To keep it simple, many tape machines and mixers, as well as audio interface inputs have additional headroom, depending on circuit design, calibration and nominal operating levels vs voltage handling capabilities of op amps used. Also, 0dBVU = - 6dBFS meaning there is 6dBFS of additional headroom before DAW inputs will clip. Also, most op amps (TL07x, 553x) will handle up to +18dBu @ 1k before distorting. To complicate matters further, the 388 is a pretty unique piece blending some consumer line level unbalanced i/o (-10dBu) with some professional balanced line level i/o (+4dBu).....and a tape machine, with tape bias calibration and junk, which is a whole seperate world of different types of levels and flux which vary depending on tape formulation and blah, blah... In short, 0dB on the VU is a good ballpark for max level, but realistically, you shouldn't start hitting distortion unless you go well above it (assuming your mixer is calibrated correctly and tape heads biased correctly for whatever formulation you're using). You may find you get a fatter, fuller sound and better SNR by pushing the inputs harder....of course you also risk clipping. If that's a problem, try inserting a comp/limiter. Even shorter, just do what sounds good. Just remember to monitor from the tape playback/repro head so you're hearing what's actually being committed to tape, not just post fader from the mixer section. Also, the aux busses are one of the most useful things on any mixer. You should definitely consider using them, not just for effects, but for headphone mixes. Anyhow, this is a really great overview and much appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to make it! Aloha!
Excellent video 👌..I just pick this beautiful piece of gear up..Any tips on keeping the hiss and noise down on playback?Any idea of a trick or good gate to buy?
Congrats, welcome to the club! Embrace the hiss! Be sure to clean the heads, might need a good servicing to make sure its calibrated correctly. If you use the dbx noise reduction you have to keep it on for the whole project and vice versa, but I don't use the dbx
Love this series you’re doing! Do you calibrate the machine yourself? It would be excellent to have a step by step tutorial on that. I have a Teac 80-8, and i’ve done what I can to calibrate that, but I’m (allegedly) getting a 388 soon and I want to make sure it’s running well. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
hi this is a back breaker it's very very heavy my mate got one i am the one who got it for him he still loves it i am a tascam 38 32 (32 has 4 track heads)the old one's the wear was to bad teac x7 x10 i used sounds ace with them your deck runs at 7 1/2 can been changed if you know you tec
Hi there, awesome videos! thank you : ) quick question, I would like to try an external preamp going into the tascam 388, but i'm scared to hurt it. where can I plug the external preamp into the Tascam 388 so i don't hurt it?
What pre amp are you using? I use the universal audio solo 610, it has 1 xlr in and 1 XLR out. So, you can just run a cable from the XLR out to the xlr in of any of the eight channels. You can't hurt it, just keep an eye on your Vu meter to make sure you don't blow out your audio too hard. That being said the Tascam 388 is very forgiving if you want to push things into the red!
@@fuzzcityrecords432 oh awesome! i picked up a shelford channel recently but don't have a db25 cable to xlr yet so i wanted to try to rig it up using the db25 to rca's i have for the tascam's pgms. Hey thanks so much for replying, i was looking it up on google but couldn't find enough info that i can comprehend, so i was going to just give up tonight and wait to afford the right cable. by the way I was the person who messaged you like 6 months ago about asking for your help in transfering my dad's album who passed away... he left two reels behind of an album he wrote and recorded everything on, got the chance to open up for Shakira, but my mom was scared to loose him wasn't very supportive and so he turned it down and never wrote music again. tragedy but his music never got out there and i'd love to learn how to transfer it into protools, i recently bought the new protools, i just don't have the knowledge on how to do it correctly so i don't ruin his reels.
oops typo, not just open up for shakira, to go on a world tour with her, him as the opening act. I'm trying to pick up where he left off, but it's a big learning curve. My music experience is mainly in percussion and drums, so the computer stuff is beyond me still
You had asked for me to send you an email, i did but i just figured you were crazy busy. I understand that. but if you do ever have a free moment to give me some pointers on how to transfer the reels into protools, oh man i would forever owe you big time!
I should have sent you another email but i'm pretty shy and have a hard time asking for help on anything. that's not a good thing, i'm trying to work on this lol
??? Two 388's currently on Ebay right now, one rather rough and one in "beautiful" condition. Maybe you meant they can't be found going crazy cheap like they did long ago but they are around on Ebay and other places if you keep an eye out.
The sound you get reminds me of the late 70s and early 80s punk/new wave band productions....raw....and that's refreshing.
Man you gotta do more of these 388 vids! I’m tracking one down
Thank you for taking your time to record and share this video. I notice it’s been online for a few years but it’s still serving it’s purpose.
Hello from Tennessee!
I own one of these and have got to get back in the groove of using it.. It's an awesome piece of equipment. Great Video!
Are you going to cover the internal routing of the 388? I can use it well enough, but I want a deeper understanding of what the heck is going on sometimes and it took me a while to figure out some things. Like where the red L-R buttons route too and how they differ from the track assign buttons. And what specifically pushes things into the monitor section. Monitor Out vs Stereo Out, where are they routed from exactly. And covering that the Tape out on each channel is off tape but pre EQ vs PGM OUT which is post EQ for mixing. What's the difference between PGM BUSS in & Line In? That kinda stuff will really help new users, and for me to remember how the heck it works after 6 months of not getting to record on it. Good stuff!
Would love more videos like this!
Ask and you shall receive
Thanks for all ! I just got a 388 and it’s really helpfull ;)
Got one! Tried to record drums, with no luck..will review this tomorrow and giver again. Thanks Chum!
You can do it! Drums sound great on the 388!
Great video! I have the 688 and love it. Always on the lookout for the 388 though. Cheers!
Sonic Hz I have one for sale.
@@dylanbreznay5228 pretty late, but still for sale?
This makes us wish we had one! Still using the Tascam 424 and a ZoomR16.
Very cool. Good job Matthew.
Tascam 388 looks like a great machine
The way to read a VU meter is that when the needle hovers around 0, your signal is at the nominal level of the channel and the operating level of the board itself. And if you calibrated your tape machine right, you are also at the highest fidelity operating level of the tape (which assumes a certain % of harmonic distortion, which the tape mfg will specify). Beyond that and the distortion goes up, sure, but in practical terms, it is still just "volume" you are adding as the needle goes higher - and also reducing the mix buss's headroom. 0VU is nominally where you want to be because that's where mix buss headroom is spec'ed at, and all your faders will hover around 0 come mix time, which is also where the highest resolution of the fader's precision exists.
Informative
Very very good my friend
Also, I had 2 of these Synced together to make 16 tracks
Nice intro! Very cool machine. Thanks for the explanation.
Good Job,
great job
Hi, thanks for the vid! What kind of tape do you use and how to check when to replace the tape? Best, Rob
Could you explain the monitor section for us? When/why would you use it?
between the clothing, hair, the fonts, and the condition of that machine, I can't tell what decade I'm in
1982
@@fuzzcityrecords432 Good year to be alive
I have the Tascam Studio 8. Need to get it out of storage….. Really enjoying your latest album. Very intricate style there… Reminds me of Kansas, then Deep Purple, then Beautiful Day…..Really enjoying this album….. was it all done on 388?….. If so, excellent
Glad to meet a fellow 388 user, we swear by it!
0dB on a VU meter (0dBVU) is a good ballpark for "full volume/gain" as it should correspond to +4dBu (ie professional line level) but it gets a bit more complicated. To keep it simple, many tape machines and mixers, as well as audio interface inputs have additional headroom, depending on circuit design, calibration and nominal operating levels vs voltage handling capabilities of op amps used. Also, 0dBVU = - 6dBFS meaning there is 6dBFS of additional headroom before DAW inputs will clip. Also, most op amps (TL07x, 553x) will handle up to +18dBu @ 1k before distorting.
To complicate matters further, the 388 is a pretty unique piece blending some consumer line level unbalanced i/o (-10dBu) with some professional balanced line level i/o (+4dBu).....and a tape machine, with tape bias calibration and junk, which is a whole seperate world of different types of levels and flux which vary depending on tape formulation and blah, blah...
In short, 0dB on the VU is a good ballpark for max level, but realistically, you shouldn't start hitting distortion unless you go well above it (assuming your mixer is calibrated correctly and tape heads biased correctly for whatever formulation you're using). You may find you get a fatter, fuller sound and better SNR by pushing the inputs harder....of course you also risk clipping. If that's a problem, try inserting a comp/limiter.
Even shorter, just do what sounds good. Just remember to monitor from the tape playback/repro head so you're hearing what's actually being committed to tape, not just post fader from the mixer section.
Also, the aux busses are one of the most useful things on any mixer. You should definitely consider using them, not just for effects, but for headphone mixes.
Anyhow, this is a really great overview and much appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to make it! Aloha!
Youre a fucking killer man ive been looking at a few of these and this is a sick breakdown
Dsp and time based fx on inserts. Aux for strapping comp or reverb.
make more of these please
Excellent video 👌..I just pick this beautiful piece of gear up..Any tips on keeping the hiss and noise down on playback?Any idea of a trick or good gate to buy?
Congrats, welcome to the club! Embrace the hiss! Be sure to clean the heads, might need a good servicing to make sure its calibrated correctly. If you use the dbx noise reduction you have to keep it on for the whole project and vice versa, but I don't use the dbx
@@fuzzcityrecords432 👍👍 Appreciate the tips!!!
Make sure you're using isopropyl alcohol to clean tape heads, not just any kind of rubbing alcohol!!!
I believe my 388 is "All Access". 👍😎🇨🇦
what is the camera
Can you show us how to do a tape load? Thank you.
This is a mk2 388. The mk2s have the vents on the shoulder above the psu. 😁
what does mic ATT mean?
would you possibly do a review yamaha yc 30
Love this series you’re doing! Do you calibrate the machine yourself? It would be excellent to have a step by step tutorial on that. I have a Teac 80-8, and i’ve done what I can to calibrate that, but I’m (allegedly) getting a 388 soon and I want to make sure it’s running well. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hell ya brother. The 388 is all superior
Nice straightforward tutorial from the dad from the Brady Bunch!!??🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
what version of dbx is on the 388 ?
Not sure, but it's always sounded weird to me
hi this is a back breaker it's very very heavy my mate got one i am the one who got it for him he still loves it i am a tascam 38 32 (32 has 4 track heads)the old one's the wear
was to bad teac x7 x10 i used sounds ace with them your deck runs at 7 1/2 can been changed if you know you tec
Hi there, awesome videos! thank you : ) quick question, I would like to try an external preamp going into the tascam 388, but i'm scared to hurt it. where can I plug the external preamp into the Tascam 388 so i don't hurt it?
What pre amp are you using? I use the universal audio solo 610, it has 1 xlr in and 1 XLR out. So, you can just run a cable from the XLR out to the xlr in of any of the eight channels. You can't hurt it, just keep an eye on your Vu meter to make sure you don't blow out your audio too hard. That being said the Tascam 388 is very forgiving if you want to push things into the red!
@@fuzzcityrecords432 oh awesome! i picked up a shelford channel recently but don't have a db25 cable to xlr yet so i wanted to try to rig it up using the db25 to rca's i have for the tascam's pgms. Hey thanks so much for replying, i was looking it up on google but couldn't find enough info that i can comprehend, so i was going to just give up tonight and wait to afford the right cable. by the way I was the person who messaged you like 6 months ago about asking for your help in transfering my dad's album who passed away... he left two reels behind of an album he wrote and recorded everything on, got the chance to open up for Shakira, but my mom was scared to loose him wasn't very supportive and so he turned it down and never wrote music again. tragedy but his music never got out there and i'd love to learn how to transfer it into protools, i recently bought the new protools, i just don't have the knowledge on how to do it correctly so i don't ruin his reels.
oops typo, not just open up for shakira, to go on a world tour with her, him as the opening act. I'm trying to pick up where he left off, but it's a big learning curve. My music experience is mainly in percussion and drums, so the computer stuff is beyond me still
You had asked for me to send you an email, i did but i just figured you were crazy busy. I understand that. but if you do ever have a free moment to give me some pointers on how to transfer the reels into protools, oh man i would forever owe you big time!
I should have sent you another email but i'm pretty shy and have a hard time asking for help on anything. that's not a good thing, i'm trying to work on this lol
kewl!
I think when you get up to 0dB you need some overhead, so I roll back about 3dB. 😎🇨🇦
@11:45 and demagnetizing the heads once in a while.
Love mine, just wish I used it more...
I’ll buy it off ya 👌🏽
I’ve been wanting one for awhile. Maybe for our next record.
Thanks for Socializing well I have one you can buy. I don’t use it and it’s in perfect condition.
Step 0: Get a Tascam 388
Wow, off of ebay. Those days are gone...
??? Two 388's currently on Ebay right now, one rather rough and one in "beautiful" condition. Maybe you meant they can't be found going crazy cheap like they did long ago but they are around on Ebay and other places if you keep an eye out.
I predict one day this will all be done on computers.. but not by dream machine of course. #Analog4Life