Tascam 414

Before I get jumped on or called an idiot let me say this is my first venture into analog recording. I got a Tascam Portastudio 414 (mk 1) and I read the manuals and stuff but can't get it to record. I'll set the lines to record and the lights will come on and stuff and the tape will spin after I press the record button but when I go back to play the tape it's still what was originally on there. Can anybody help? Or is my recorder broken?

do you have decent levels coming in? Like you set up a nice hot gains tructure (with tape, especially rinky dink, noisey cassette) you really can't be too hot, you just want to avoid clipping the preamplification circuitry, the harder you hit the tape the more tape-ish it will sound and also a consistently hot signal has better signal to noise....

Does the MK1 hav any metering? can you check with headphones?

It sounds like you are doing everything right and that your record or layback head may be shot, but I dunno w/o touching your machine.... have you tried putting the tape in a regular cassette deck to determine if tis the playback head? one or both sides should play (2 tracks out of 4, the portastudio splits the width of the tape between 2 tracks and then repeats that on the opposite side to squeeze as much bandwidth as possible from the skinny little cassette tape)....

so try testing the playback on a vintage Walkman or tapedeck first and foremost.... if there's nothing on either side of the tape, pop it back in, arm up to record, PIN YOUR LEVELS and see if you get any sound. If its nothing then I suspect the record head, if you et a faint and distorted version of your performance then its likely the circuitry preceding the tape.

A playback or record head is an easy fix, just buy a new one, they still make them... otherwise? get a new 4 track.

Sorry if this comes across as dumb but what is pinning levels? Like I said I'm just starting out with recording and mixing and all of that so forgive me if I ask dumb questions. I also have another question regarding the sound. I have to turn the volume on my guitar down to 1 if I want the signal to be clean. I'm running straight from my Jazzmaster into channel 1 on the recorder. Is this normal or okay and if it isn't what's wrong here?

good morning,

prepare for a long but EXTREMELY helpful reply from a former professional recording engineer and experience tech/repair man who started on 4 track and reel to reel and was apprenticing when ADAT was everywhere at the start of the DAW explosion (so I understand how all of this stuff works, ALL OF IT)

this is applied science in the service of art, even at the 4 track level, respect it and be disciplined because one cannot make art without knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge wisely which is what you will hear people refer to as 'craft' or 'technique'... even a DIY punk like Howard Devoto of the Buzzcocks had an enormous amunt of discipline to get from 4 chords to self-releasing "Spiral Scratch"

so take a time out and boot camp yourself, then come back and start over

okay.... there are no dumb questions and I am sure there was a time in the early 90s where I just didn't get it either, but I seem to remember cassette 4 track being pretty intuitive! of course I read a lot about everything I was interested in as a kid and wouldn't dive in without grounding myself at the public library (there was no internet then)... so if you are legitimately this confused GET A BOOK, fuck web guides or forums, that's no way to learn an entire discipline.... pick a night to stay up, drink some red bull or pop some amphetamines and read a basic book about recording back to front and then go back and reread any sections you had trouble following

in the interim before you GET A BOOK, try going online and finding a PDF f the manual for your 4 track and READ IT

here I did it for you http://tascam.com/product/414mkii/downloads/

in answer to your query about plugging your JM straight in, you are not meant to plug your guitar directly into a mixer's line input or into mic preamps using only a TS 1/4" to XLR adapter cable, its an impedance and voltage mismatch ad in the case of the adapter cable it does not present a balanced signal to the preamp.... it won't hurt anything, you can record that way if you like the sound, but....

GET A BOOK

by pin the levels I meant for you to open up the fader on the channel you are recording until the TAPE distrorts but to have the gain trim low enough on the preamp that your source is NOT clipping the preamp.... like running a marshall 800 with the gain pretty low and the master wide open so you are clipping the power amp but not V1 and V2.... just get a book, there is so much to know that I literally do not know how to answer your questions because you are not grounded in the basic terminology

just kidding about the amphetamines, don't take any drugs, just read a book

once you have read a beginners book and you are applying that info on your Tascam and maybe on your computer too then I want you to get a copy of this:

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=O9ioBAAAQBAJ&source=productsearch&utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=PLA&pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&gl=US&gclid=COHe3uiQm84CFcWQNwodtNoE_A&gclsrc=ds

read a chapter every night and keep it with you as a reference

also check this out:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiK847ckZvOAhXJLyYKHfOjCGQQFggoMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsu.edu%2F~dougl126%2FElectronic%2520Projects%2520for%2520Musicians.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEy6tsNdK8N3aXN2lyAbvXMeMBN9Q&sig2=wtjtJb1hgc6HjShYOdSufw&bvm=bv.128617741,d.dmo

read this: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjK0vD4kZvOAhUGHR4KHUgsAKcQFggiMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.audiomisc.co.uk%2FElectronics%2Faudio%2FBasicAnalogue.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGpQAdypgWS05s4Q2QjDf4II1kGyg&sig2=FmBebtef0x3qCRGY3CHJLg&bvm=bv.128617741,d.dmo

just read up, there's a lot to know but tis not rocket surgery... its just a little basic applied science and once you start to get a general understanding of how sound waves become electrons in the form of variable voltage or 1's and 0's and then turn backl into vibrations you can listen back to and enjoy you will find this all to be a lot easier!

also, remember that the only way you get good at anything is to do it every day, so buy up tapes and make as many bad recording as possible, get a free DAW and work on your PC too, learn everything that's not specifically in the books you can by recording every day

are you familiar with the term learning curve? you're on it, get leaning, the basics will be reading, then it will be hands on and you will demo some songs, then more reading, etc etc.... its a lifelong chore if you want to go deep, but you can stop at any level and work at that level depending on how much of your music you are willing to outsource