TASCAM 414mkII A Beginners Guide to Recording - Page 5

414 mkII ?What is the end product you want to make? Rehearsal tapes? Demo CDs? Trading MP3s with friends on the Internet? A fully-produced CD for sale at gigs? ?What's your attitude towards computers, and what computer skills do you have? Do you have a computer or are you planning on getting one? What kind is it? What operating system does it use? Does it have USB ports or PCI slots? Are you comfortable with computer operations, such as connecting hard disks and optimizing them? Is the world of cassette tape more your style, or are you somewhere in the middle? As we noted, each of the TASCAM products mentioned is covered in the colored boxes on the right-hand pages of this booklet. For more information visit www.tascam.com or ask the dealer from whom you got this booklet. text continues on next page ˘ The six components of a complete multitrack studio Recording starts with the sources you want to record, for example, microphones and electronic instruments. These are plugged into a mixer, which sends the signals to the multitrack. The multitrack plays the signals back through the mixer, which is usually connected to effects processors that add reverb, distortion, echo, etc. In order to hear everything, you need speakers and an amp (which can be your home stereo to start out with). Finally, you need to mix down to a 2-track CD or cassette, to share your work with other people. These six components are often combined. TASCAM Portastudios combine the mixer and multitrack in a single unit. A Pocketstudio adds MIDI instruments and a microphone, plus effects processors. Computer systems may add a built-in CD recorder. Even though elements are combined, it helps to understand them as separate blocks. INSTRUMENTS EFFECTS (REVERB, CHORUS, ECHO) MICROPHONES (OPTIONAL) MIDI SEQUENCER MIXER MULTITRACK RECORDER The mixer and multitrack are usually combined into one unit MONITOR SPEAKERS/HEADPHONES CASSETTE DECK OR CD BURNER Ô 4-track simultaneous recording Ô 8-input mixer section Ô 2-band high/low equalizer on 4 main input channels Ô Two dedicated W" stereo inputs Ô Two XLR balanced mic inputs assignable to Channels 1 through 4 Ô One W" dedicated Guitar input Ô RCA unbalanced stereo SUB inputs Ô Separate main and monitor outputs Ô Headphone output with level control Ô Two effect sends, one of which is switch- able to Tape Cue Ô 3-3/4 i.p.s. high tape speed Ô dbx® noise reduction Ô Optional RC-30P punch-in pedal 424 mkIII Ô 4-track simultaneous recording with logiccontrolled 4-track tape transport and dbx® noise reduction. Ô ±12% pitch control Ô RTZ and 2 locate points, repeat function, auto punch I/O with rehearsal function and more Ô 6 full-function input channels with MID sweepable 3-band EQ, 2 aux sends for effects processing Ô Four assignable XLR Microphone inputs Ô Dedicated W" stereo inputs (channel 7-8) Ô Separate main L-R and monitor outputs Ô Dedicated W" tape outputs Ô Sync output 5