Bringing old 4 track sessions into pro tools

[tlecuyer]

Hello,

new forum member... wondering if anyone can guide me to the best way to do this.

I have a huge box of old band live tapes on cassette as well as music I did on my old tascam 414 4 track I want to dump into pro tools so i can make cds and add to the old work done on the 4 track.

Any recommendations for the best way to do this with the best possible fidelity?? cables etc needed?

I also remember from doing this back in the day that the wave form when it comes over is very small.... best way to 'normalize" this?? just use normalize?

I have an Mbox 2 running on an old version (7) into a mac, new tascam 4 track 414MK2

Any advice would be much appreciated. I have a ton of tapes to transfer. thanks -Todd

[RangerJay]

I've done it using a Tascam unit and a Digi 001. I used the individual line outs for each of the 4 tracks on cassette to get individual tracks in PT. You are at a disadvantage with the MBox 2, as it only has 2 analog line in jacks. You could submix out and capture stereo, but you can do a lot with the 4 raw tracks in terms of EQ (on my tapes, the vocal was always the last track, with other tracks already submixed, with bass and drums typically residing on one or two tracks), delay, and compression.

The quality can be pretty good, actually. Certainly good enough for archiving and keeping for personal entertainment. Or more.

You can really push the output from the 4-track unit to overcome the noise floor going in. If you record the tracks pretty hot, you can reduce the tape hiss with an EQ notch (or noise reduction software), and get rid of floor noise by reducing the individual levels of the tracks when you mix. You can do repairs as well.

One thing though, you will have a relatively tough time trying to work in bars and beats, vs sample time. Even if you used a dedicated click track on the original recordings, timing can be pretty horrendous after you get it copied over.

For the best results, you should find a way to get the 4 individual tracks into PT as individual tracks, which may require a different interface and/or software. You could TRY flying them in two at a time into your MBox, but you'll likely wind up with phasing and drift issues later.

[tlecuyer]

Thanks for the answer that was kind of my concern.

I know if I do the 4 tracks 2 at a time I will have all kinds of timing issues due to the joys of tape... not to mention phase etc.

Someone recommended the 1010LT by m-audio which has up to 8 analog inputs and outputs, anyone have an experience with that? Can it hook into pro tools??

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...10LT-main.html

[Naagzh]

Thanks for the answer that was kind of my concern.

I know if I do the 4 tracks 2 at a time I will have all kinds of timing issues due to the joys of tape... not to mention phase etc.

Someone recommended the 1010LT by m-audio which has up to 8 analog inputs and outputs, anyone have an experience with that? Can it hook into pro tools??

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...10LT-main.html

No, I don't believe so. You must use (puchase) Pro Tools M-Powered for use with M-Audio interfaces. PTLE will only work with a Digidesign 'LE' interface (Mbox, 001, 002, 003).

For a similar amount of cash, you could buy a used 001, but I don't think they'll work with PTLE version 7. You might be able to download an earlier version of PT for free (version 6.X), and install/run it temporarily to transfer the tracks. Don't know if your computer will fit the PCI card, though. Here's one on eBay.

Or, you could get an Mbox 2 Pro, which can handle 4 analog inputs on its own, and be compatible with version 7, but it'd be more expensive.

[RangerJay]

The 1010LT is PCI card-based. Do you have a spare PCI slot?

The 1010 comes with Ableton Live Lite, which would provide you with the ability to record all 4 tracks from your Tascam unit at once. Once you have them as audio files, you can turn right around and import them into a PT session. Or, you could use Live to do the cleanup/enhancement/mixing. I personally do not care for Ableton Live. It doesn't lend itself to my workflow.

I've had pretty good luck with all M-Audio products, including using them with PT M-Powered. For most of my stuff, I use an MBox 2 and PT LE. I have a Fast Track Pro, but the preamps on the MBox 2 sound better. The Fast Track Ultra looks like a pretty decent audio interface if you have USB 2 capability, and it too comes with Ableton Live Lite. The preamps on the Ultra seem to be fairly well regarded, although I haven't heard them myself.

PT M-Powered works great, and you can find it at a reduced price if you shop around. Some shops will probably make you a good deal on a bundle with any M-Audio interface. Then again, if you just want to get your stuff onto a hard drive, you don't need to throw any extra money at it.

[tlecuyer]

Yeah thanks again,

That sounds like the best option... Ill check out the fast track also...I would probably use ableton to dump the files to my drive and then start a new sessions to dump them into.

I guess another option would be to upgrade to the mbox pro as it has 4 analog input ports but why spend the $$. The only thing I can see about he pro is more inputs and higher bit rate but does anyone really record at 96 anyways??

my computer is an older G5 with PCI "express" slots... will that work with the M-audio card?? I'm not really a mac guy so I dont know what PCI express is in relation to PCI..

[sbag]

NOT FAMILIAR WTH TASCAM. BUT WHY NOT MIDI AND RECORD
EACH TRACK IN SEPERATE

[RangerJay]

Some Tascam units (cassette 4-track) allow you to stripe time code to a dedicated and noise-reduction-free track, and you might could do that, but in this case, it's not really feasible. We're talking about 4-track tapes with all 4 tracks in use. You would have to fly them in and then manually line them up in Pro Tools. Even at the highest speed on the cassette machine, there will be fluctuations between passes, due to the nature of the tape mechanism. No two passes will be exactly alike. If you record all of the tracks in one pass, the fluctuations will be shared by ALL the tracks at the same time.

[nedorama]

I did this a while ago with an old Yamaha 4 track and my digi 001. 2 tracks were direct from a Mackie 1202 with vocals, keyboard and guitar; one mic was a Radio Shack PZM behind the drummer, and another mic was sometimes between the bass and other guitar.

You'll want to get an RCA-1/4" snake to connect to the line inputs on your mbox or other device.

The biggest tip would be to clean the heads and demagnetize your 4 track and ensure it's in good condition before starting. On mine, that also meant a trip to a service center to replace worn out drive bands.

Once in, group your tracks to cut and edit songs as needed and EQ to taste. you'll notice there's not a lot of high end on the tape, so look at a frequency response to see where things drop down.

Fun stuff - good luck.

[Craig F]

the M Box 2 will record 4 input, you just need a reasonable 2 channel ADC (analog to digital converter) and go in on the SPDIF for 2 of the channels, there will probably be a few samples of difference between the 2 input but it will be constant so you will just need to shift those tracks (you can measure the difference by sending the same signal through both inputs at the same time and zoom into the sample level and compare wave forms)