Tascam DP24/32SD Tutorial 10: Mixdown & Mastering

[@worldwide1376]

Your detailed explanation goes far beyond the user manual. After doing a lot of searching, your videos are clearly the only comprehensive and definitive guide to operating the DP-24/32SD. Thank you for putting these tutorials together, much appreciated.

[@philtipping]

@World wide137 thank you for the kind words; glad you found them useful. Best wishes for 2022.

[@RobertNixAlternativeArtist]

Absolutely, I started recording with the DP-32SD some 4 years ago and Phil's video series have been an invaluable resource for reference and I did paypal him a well deserved donation for his expertise on this unit.

[@charlesdufrene6244]

Excellent tutorial Phil. Thank you for all of this invaluable info. I am one who started recording with reel to reels, sound on sounds, then multi track cassette portastudios, then Fostex IDE drive systems, then DAWs and am now using the DP32 for portable recording sessions. The unit's manual is woefully inadequate. I really appreciate your comprehensive "learnings" sharing.

[@philtipping]

@Charles dufrene thanks for the feedback Charles. Sounds like we trod similar recording paths, although I never progressed onto a full DAW system apart from using a simple one for front & back-end processes only, i.e. basic wave editing and CD assembly. All tracking and mixing is still based around the decades-old Fostex IDE recorder with an analogue mixer and outboard effects. Like you, I also bought the DP-32SD for location recording (much easier than lugging around a Fostex D108 and Mackie 16-track mixer!) although it has proved more useful than I expected around the studio as well. The quantum leap from tape to digital was a breath of fresh air - to me anyway! A lot of others may argue otherwise, but the advantages of more tracks, infinite bounces, and the not often talked about maintenance, care and cost needed for tape systems swung it for me, and I never missed that 'tape sound' :) Good luck with your recordings.

[@CFMRocks]

Its been some journey learning the ins and outs of the dp24 but now I finally found someone who can take me to the next level ... thanks mang . keep on rocking in the free world.

[@philtipping]

@RichWithIn Music thank you; glad they help :)

[@CFMRocks]

@@philtipping very much so Been taking notes..

[@SonicBodhi1]

I would like to thank you for posting these videos- as a TASCAM DP24-SD user, I find these videos so useful and informative. I'm more than a casual user, so I know enough to get by, but there are a couple of things I needed to know that are covered in these videos and it is a great help. Please keep posting these!

[@philtipping]

+SonicBodhi1 many thanks for the support and kind words - there's a lot more 'background' info in the Terminology section of the Step-by-Step guide, links to the full contents list and sample pages are here: www.philizound.co.uk/freebies/dp24-32/dp24-32.html

[@Detownrebel1]

Another very helpful lesson. I lack the patience but when I do take my time listening, your instruction is very informative in an A-to-z type of way. Thanks again Phil.

[@karimnasser9226]

Absolutely invaluable information. I recently bought a Tascam DP-32SD and I couldn't be happier. These videos made things so much easier for me. Thank you Phil!

[@philtipping]

@Karim Nasser thank you for the feedback Karim, glad they helped. Good luck with your recordings :)

[@RobertNixAlternativeArtist]

Hi Phil This is one of your most informative videos on the use of the DP-32SD and the series in general is a great reference guide as the manual only scratches the surface leaving a new user in the dark as to how to understand all of the DP's features and use them.

[@philtipping]

+centralcentre Thanks for your continued support Robert. The step-by-step is also going down well for those who prefer written details.

[@matthewtunnicliffe201]

Phil, these tutorials are great. I mentioned to you before that I'd ordered the DP-24SD, and thanks to you I've got off to a really good start with it. My order was delayed so I've only been using it for a couple of weeks, but the upside of that was that I had plenty of time keep dipping into your videos before it arrived - which definitely gave me a good head start. Obviously there's stuff I'll still need to learn as I experiment further, but everything I've needed to do so far I've managed without too many problems. I was recording, mixing and using effects very quickly with no real issues. So far the only issue I've had really is with the mastering process, but that's more about my lack of experience and knowledge in the art of mastering as opposed to me not understanding the machine. I may consider getting a professional to do it once I've built up a selection of well mixed tracks, unless I've made progress in the art by then. Again, many thanks.

[@philtipping]

@Matthew Tunnicliffe that's great Matthew, thanks for the update. Glad you got the hang of it so quickly. I've heard the built-in mastering presets do a good job, or at least are a good place to start, although I've not used them myself as I have other gear for this. The guide has a topic on 'loudness', which is one of the most common questions I get with mastering, but if you want pro results, it's a whole new skill to learn and getting someone else to do your songs justice is a good idea. Best wishes.

[@matthewtunnicliffe201]

@@philtipping Thanks Phil. Yeah I have got off to a surprisingly good start with it but I'm sure I still have a lot to learn as I progress. As time goes by I'll no doubt come across other things I need to do, and use features that I've not needed to use so far. Ultimately, getting your guide is probably a good idea given how confusing the supplied instructions are.

[@kevinbailey6064]

Extremely helpful. I've been using the Tascam Portastudio's for about 12years. I have s DP24 being shipped currently and wanted to get a head start on the unit. Your videos have been fantastic for showing me the nuts and bolts of this unit.

[@philtipping]

Thanks for the support +Kevin Bailey. If you're upgrading from the cassette-based portastudios, it will be like a breath of fresh air :)

[@kevinbailey6064]

I was using a DP-01FX, and have done a little with a DP-008EX. Both pretty simple units compared to DP-24SD, but both were digital. I did some recording years ago on the cassette units, but as the vocalist, not the engineer.

[@jobaecker9752]

I'm learning a lot by just going through the process on my own. But of course--a few problems always come up. Sure enough, Phil addresses these issues head on, with background information that makes the lesson stick. Bravo Phil, and thanks for your patient, thoughtful and thorough delivery of this information!

[@philtipping]

@Jo Baecker thanks again for the kind words Jo. That's the best way to learn - try things out yourself in between referring to the tutorial in stages. There's too much in these machines to digest all in one go :) Best wishes.

[@brubakersflatcakes9755]

So glad you're here. Just start using my new 24sd recently. Lots of fun. Your vids are excellent.

[@philtipping]

@Brubaker's Flatcakes thanks for the feedback. Yes it opens up lots of possibilities for experimenting and learning about multi-tracking with overdubs & harmonies etc. as well as making excellent quality recordings.

[@kipbryant2036]

Great tutorial! Your teaching has made my use of the Tascam a success. Thanks!

[@philtipping]

@Kip Bryant glad you like them; thanks for stopping by.

[@Skiman13M]

Thank you so much Phil! This is awesome! I don't think I would of been able to accomplish anything near what you taught! Greatly appreciated!

[@philtipping]

@Skiman13M thanks for stopping by. Glad the videos are helping. Good luck with your recordings. Keep safe.

[@jefflinscott5014]

Thanks Phil, I'll see what I can do. Love all your videos, they've helped me a lot!

[@mintonmiller]

I ordered a Tascam DP-24SD last night. I am watching EVERYTHING I can online as I am legally Blin and manuals do not always work for me. I just watched your entire series in one sitting and plan to watch them all at least once more or even twice before it arrives in the mail. I want to know how to use it and hit the ground running when it gets here. VERY VERY WELL DONE!

[@philtipping]

+Minton Miller thanks for the feedback Minton; glad the videos are helping. The whole series is also available on a single DVD if that's more convenient; you can watch it off-line and scroll backwards & forwards very easily through the whole lot. Hope you're pleased with the machine when it arrives. All the best.

[@mintonmiller]

Thank you for the reply and CD offer. I hope you do not mind, but the youtube video is perfect for me. The computer is set up for my visual limitations and much easier for me. no one else posting on youtube, had anything remotely, and I even noticed several of them were WRONG! I have tried DAW software and was totally frustrated with the lack of tactile knobs and latency issues. My last recordings were done on a Fostex X-34 4 track cassette recorder. I just know this is going to be an answer to my payers for my current recording needs.

[@philtipping]

No problem Minton, glad you've got everything set up. I know what you mean re. lack of hands-on and latency :) Good luck with your recordings.

[@aVIDEOaudition]

Hey Phil, THANK YOU so much for all of these tutorials. I also come from the old days of tape and loved your demo showing that there is no loss of quality when bouncing tracks. Glad to know that instead of mixing, I can bounce.I went to PayPal to send you a little something. Had to Google to convert the currency to dollars. It's not much, but I wanted to show some appreciation.

[@philtipping]

@AVA Productions you're too kind Sally, but very much appreciated. Some great tracks on your channel... hope all is ok as latest one was 2 years ago - don't stop! :) Good luck and best wishes for 2021.

[@aVIDEOaudition]

@@philtipping My small PayPal contribution does not come close to showing my appreciation for all your help!

[@DanielStagg]

Thanks so much Phil, this has been incredibly useful

[@philtipping]

Thanks for the feedback +Daniel Stagg

[@wwsoulrockerstudio]

Excellent Tutorials! Thank you for your fine efforts. You've helped a lot of people get a quick start on this great machine. We are grateful.....

[@philtipping]

@WWSOULROCKERS PATH STUDIO many thanks for the kind words. Good luck with your recordings :)

[@johnnewton4805]

Thanks for great suggestion Phil, I'll try the firmware update as soon as I can and let you know how it goes! Best wishes, Michael

[@amb13nt59]

Thank you so much for your series of really informative videos. I was planning on going the route of a DAW, and you've pretty much talked me into going the route of the Tascam. I like the idea of one-task hardware machines, and fear the complication involved in using a computer platform for recording.

[@philtipping]

Thanks for the kind words +M N. Apologies for delay in replying but KZbin messages don't seem to flag up in my email so I only see them if I look! Yes the one-task machine appeals to me too... just switch it on and it does what it says on the box!

[@drakethorn1339]

Damn Phil, I just watched part 8 of your video series. Most of my lecture knowledge from trade school was in there but really condensed and streamlined. Thanks for making these videos, I’m glad that some of what I’ve forgotten has been reviewed! Really helpful :D

[@philtipping]

+Drake Thorn thanks Drake, that's kind of you to say - glad they were of interest.

[@thesmilestones4894]

Thank you so much Phil for all your tutorials. I‘ve listened and watched them all very carefully, it was incredibly useful and i‘ve understood the device and concept by far better now. Also showing it on the diagram was very helpful to understand the architecture. Usually you skip this, when reading the manual, because it looks so complicated. :-)So just subscribe to our channel as well to listen to the results of our mixings and recordings. Currently they are all still from the small DP-03 but we will rework them now with the DP-24.

[@philtipping]

+The Smilestones many thanks for the kind words and feedback. Glad you find the videos useful. Will take a listen to your channel later. Good luck with your music ventures, and best wishes for 2018.

[@oldschoolwaverider]

Sorry Phil I deleted my last comment, as I found that you'd answered somebody else asking the same question in the Tascam Forum, but within that time I also received your reply here, so I'll type it out again below for others to see. Phill Tipping replied: "You have to locate to the precise marker point using FWD or REW. Press Mark Set. If you try and locate by e.g. jogging, it won't be precise enough." Tascam DP24 SD has a steep learning curve, but it seems to be a powerful unit. I am just happy that I have finally got a mastered copy of something after a lot of experimenting and searching for answers online. I still have many questions about the process, but I am in a happy place right now, so time for a break! :)) Thank you

[@philtipping]

@oldschoolwaverider ok thanks for re-posting. Glad it's all coming together. Good luck, and stay safe :)

[@collinstanton]

Excellent instruction, thank you so much fill, as usual. 🖖🏻

[@mounirlucmaghraoui357]

Thanks a lot for all your explanations! It was very instructive!

[@philtipping]

Thanks for the feedback +Mounir luc maghraoui

[@guitfiddleblue]

Great video series! I just bought one of these and look forward to using it. You've really demystified the machine for me! Thank you!

[@philtipping]

+Bill Hayes thanks for the feedback Bill. Have fun with it :)

[@RobertNixAlternativeArtist]

Phil, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish both you and your DP-32SD a very happy new year-I'm getting along great with mine.

[@philtipping]

+ROBERT NIX Recording Artist thank you Robert. All the best to you too for 2019, and good luck with your future productions - some great accolades on your website :) www.robertnixcomposer.com/

[@davidhenry5126]

Absolutely brilliant, thanks for the fabulous tutorials, much appreciated !!

[@philtipping]

Thanks for the support +David Henry.

[@biometrix1000]

Thank you Phil for taking the time ..I am very greatfull as I'm sure many others are ..subscribed..I dont like written instructions lol

[@philtipping]

+THE MACKEM !!! Haha yes I know what you mean... I suppose I can't tempt you with my step-by-step guide then? :)

[@biometrix1000]

Phil Tipping I'm following it on KZbin Phil.. lol. You have helped a lot of people...thank you

[@seththomas1638]

13:52 Mastering Mode explained. Thanks for this helpful video!

[@philtipping]

+Seth Thomas thanks Seth.

[@InVisionsynthmindscape]

Basically you can do without at all or at least part of the PC, perfect for all those of the old school.

[@philtipping]

+In Vision yes that is the nice thing about these free-standing machines... you turn them on and they're ready to the job they're designed to do, no distractions with boot-up delays, driver compatibilities, virus scanners, emails, facebook etc. etc. :)

[@kaiwalter9611]

Thank you so much for all these very, very helpfull videos!!!

[@philtipping]

Thank you for the feedback +Kai Walter

[@billhallsongs]

Thank you so much Phil! Fantastic tutorials on a great machine.

[@philtipping]

@billhallsongs thanks for the feedback Bill... great music on your channel.

[@blodbrodet]

Great tutorials,easy to follow!Thanks Phil!

[@philtipping]

@Mortyman79 thanks for the feedback; glad they helped.

[@hc9860]

Thank you for all your hard work.

[@philtipping]

Thanks for the support +Humberto Cortez

[@locutusmdv]

Excellent video as usual! I record on the dp24 and find out that mixing there gives me a better mix than anything I get in my DAW. Probably my fault, but I just love the DP24.

[@philtipping]

+Mario de Vivo thanks Mario. Interesting point. Just shows it's not necessarily the tools which count, it's how you use them... and the more comfortable you are with using them, the better :)

[@locutusmdv]

@@philtipping I guess the analog feel of the dp24 does the trick. Thanks again for your clear explanations of difficult subjects!

[@oscarwylder]

Another master class - Thanks for taking the time.

[@philtipping]

Cheers Oscar

[@grahamrussell6216]

this is brilliant, cheers from Nashville.

[@philtipping]

@Graham Russell thanks for stopping by, Graham. Greetings from Wales, UK :)

[@estrangeibanez3051]

Just bought the 32. Will be fun and frustrations 😂.

[@philtipping]

@estrangeibanez3051 Take it slow and just use the basic features at first to get to grips with the controls. If you get stuck, the Step-by-Step PDF guide may help. There are a few hints and tips to get the best out of the machine before you start using it for important work, including checking/updating the firmware, using a recommended sd-card, and using the 'delete-unused' function. Good luck, and have fun :)

[@billsill4911]

I tried to transfer my SD card to my computer, for additional mixing. After completed, I put the amended songs back on the SD card, to insert back into the Tascam. When trying to access the amended songs in the Tascam, it said the songs wrre "protected" and I could not listen to them. Any idea why this is?

[@philtipping]

@Bill Sill a few possibilities. The most likely one is that you've moved the 'write-protect' slide switch on the side of the sd-card. Sometimes they are quite loose, and it's easy to move it when plugging the card into a slot if it rubs against the side of the socket. This will cause all songs to be protected. Another option is the individual write-protect on a song. This is shown as a padlock icon next to the song name in the song list (Menu,Song). The final option is that the folder or files were write-protected by your computer, in which case it will show as 'read only' if you display the folder or file properties on the computer. I'm not clear what you meant when you said 'amended songs' as you can't amend songs directly from a computer. If you want to amend individual *tracks*, you have to copy them from the computer to AudioDepot on the card, and then use the 'Import' process on the Tascam to import them into your current song. It is possible to amend the master file and copy it directly from the computer to the song but I don't think this is what you meant. The step-by-step guide explains all this in detail.

[@billsill4911]

Phil, I did have the songs "protected" in the. Tascam, I bet that was the reason why. As always, thanks for your help.

[@JacksonAxe]

I'm tempted on one of these. I assume the copy/paste, move/paste feature would allow me to edit my drum tracks....such as seamlessly dropping a verse section from one take into another take? If it had a CD burner I'd be sold. Anything similar with at least 8 tracks, Copy/Move/Paste function and internal CD burner? I had a Fostex VF160 in the 90s with those features that was fantastic other than it didn't last long. Not impressed with the quality on that one. Thanks, if you get the time to answer....

[@philtipping]

@JACKSON AXE yes there are several track edit functions for moving, copying, silencing etc. They are all instantaneous and undo-able, and you can apply them to single tracks or to all tracks. I don't know of any other machines like this. The only similar one when I was looking years ago was the Zoom R16/R24 but I don't know if this has a CD burner. It's not a big deal though (imho) - even if mine had a CD drive, I don't think I would ever use it. It's so much easier, quicker and more flexible to burn CDs on a computer. You have much more control over the track layout and easy access to CD Text if you want to embed album, track & artist info. It's very easy to transfer tracks or whole songs to a computer with no quality loss or level controls to worry about. If your computer doesn't have one, you could pick up an external one which connects via USB. Thanks for stopping by, and hope you find something suitable.

[@JacksonAxe]

@@philtipping Thanks for that. I have the Zoom16, but no cut/paste. If I weren't so lazy I'd just download a free DAW and use my Zoom. I probably will, eventually. I did notice earlier the older version of the Tascam has a built in CD burner.

[@philtipping]

@@JacksonAxe yes the older DP-24/32 models had a CD drive *and* MIDI sync, so a lot of people were upset when Tascam decided to drop these features. You could look for a 2nd-hand one, but it's a tricky call as you never know how much abuse it's had. Using a DAW for editing is much easier with the large screen and drag/drop etc, but the functions on the Tascam are perfectly usable if you want a computer-free workflow.

[@JacksonAxe]

@@philtipping Thanks. I expect a free DAW and my R16 would be the smartest move.

[@Pai3000]

Fantastic series, man. I really appreciate it 💜

[@philtipping]

@Pai3000 thanks for the kind words.

[@grantcarlsonguitars]

Dear Phil: Once again- Thank You ! Not only for your super informative and well spoken tutorials, but also your replying to these posts. I am also experiencing what seems to be a common problem with my master file seeming to be very quiet even after mastering effects including eq boosting and then normalizing. When I listen to this master file on iTunes or burn it to CD, its very low volume and I need to really crank it up to hear it. I'm kinda guessing that people are taking these master files and running them thru an audio editing program just to make them louder. Have you heard of people doing this? and if so- is there a program or website you recommend for this? In my research I've come across people talking about Audacity, maybe MP3 Louder , to turn up the audio file...? Thanks again, Grant

[@philtipping]

@grantcarlsonguitars thanks for the kind words Grant. The 'loudness' issue is very common, and it's more about the recording process as opposed to this specific machine. There is a large section (3.23) in the latest step-by-step guide which explains all this and ways to solve the problem; details and contents list are here www.philizound.co.uk/freebies/dp24-32/dp24-32.html There are lots of tools for tackling the problem, but they can't help in all cases so understanding the underlying principles will allow you to do it properly and get much getter recordings.

[@jamescunningham9695]

Thanks for your videos Phil. I have watched them all and I am about to start my second go-round. There's so much information to digest I feel that a second viewing is warranted. But I have a couple of questions. I have some original songs that I want to record, all in-home, nothing live. For me, it seems that the Tascam units will be quicker and easier to grasp rather than using a DAW. So, two questions. First, is the Tascam an easier song recording solution than a DAW? Second, would you recommend the DP-24SD or the DP-32SD? And cost is not a big consideration. Thanks again for your videos!

[@philtipping]

@James Cunningham thanks for the feedback. The decision re. DP vs DAW is really up to you, and how comfortable you are with computers. Some people don't like using them for recording (like me!) as they are too cumbersome/distracting and try to do too many other things. With the DP, you just switch it in and it's ready to record. If you go the DAW route, you'll need some way of getting the audio into your computer, so this depends on what sort of interface you have. If you already have all this, a DAW has a lot more flexibility re. effects (and a bigger screen) but you'll need to be ok driving it. The DP is completely self-contained, so you can just plug in a mic or a keyboard and off you go. You could always use a hybrid approach and use the DP for initial recording, and then transfer the tracks to a DAW for processing and mixing (this 'export' process is digital so there is no degradation in the audio quality). Re. dp24 vs dp32. There are 2 differences: the number of tracks and the ability to convert stereo tracks to monos (on the dp32). I chose the latter as I wanted the freedom to choose mono or stereo. The dp24 has a fixed configuration. So again the decision depends on your requirements. Having lots of mono tracks is handy if your signal sources are mainly mono. It also makes it easy to do multiple takes and keep all the old takes on other tracks for ease of comparison later (as the videos mention, you *can* do this using virtual tracks, but it's not as easy to compare tracks on-the-fly). Having lots of stereo tracks is handy if you are recording stereo source, such as stereo mics, keyboards, synths etc. You can also bounce (mix) to stereo tracks, so having several spare means you can try different bounces and compare them. There *may* also be a 3rd difference re. screen clarity; I've never had a dp24 but I guess its screen is clearer as it doesn't have to cram in as many tracks, but this would only apply to the home screen (meter and timeline) where all tracks are displayed. Hope this helps. Keep us posted :)

[@thelantern9075]

Phil, can you track on the machine with a compressor on the master buss or is that for the mastering stage only? I like to hear how my sounds are blending by working with a stereo compressor on the master buss.

[@philtipping]

@Shannon Simmons the mastering compressor only works on the master file in mastering mode so you can't do anything 'live' with that compressor as far as I know. You could use an external compressor between the stereo outputs and your monitoring system. If you wanted to use the machine's monitor system, you could connect the external compressor back to a pair of inputs and assign them as reqd, but you'd have to be careful to avoid feedback - using the send outputs may make this easier. Another option is to use the 'dynamic' compressors in multi-track mode - see video 14A.They're only single band and don't have as many controls as the one in the mastering stage, but they can be linked for stereo operation, so this might be a workable compromise. Some people like to use the built-in master compressor on individual tracks as they prefer the extra features in it, but this still has to be done the hard way, i.e. set the IN/OUT points, go to mixdown mode, set the track fader and stereo fader to 0dB, press record, go to mastering mode, set up the compressor and press record again. Then use a computer to copy the master file from the song folder to the audiodepot folder. Then go to multitrack mode and import the master file to a stereo track... a lot of patience required :)

[@thelantern9075]

Phil Tipping thanks Phil.

[@johnnewton4805]

Hi, this was very helpful, Phil, though I'm still a bit unsure of how you set the 'to' point, for when you need to cut and paste, I understand its the current location, but how do you return to this location later if you want to tweak the to point after listening to the result, I've tried using the mark function, but this isn't ideal as you can't set a mark point while in jog mode, any help very welcome!

[@philtipping]

+Michael J Newton thanks for the feedback Michael. Have just checked this with my dp-32sd and you *can* use Mark when in jog mode, so your suggested technique should be ok. I'm running the latest firmware so check your version in case it's something they've added/fixed recently. Keep us posted.

[@aaronrivers64]

Hello Phil, Thanks for the very informative videos! My question is, after a song has been master. Can I just simply take the SD card out of Tascam until and place it into a computer to transfer my song(s) and or to burn a CD? Thanks in advance!

[@philtipping]

@Drac03 Yes, it's a simple copy - no exporting required. If you see 2 files with similar names, ignore the one with the added 'z' as this is the machine's backup file for undo purposes. You could also use the USB link if the DP machine is close enough to the computer. Thanks for the feedback.

[@robertforrester3158]

sent you a token of my appreciation thanks phil

[@philtipping]

@Robert Forrester thank you so much Robert; that's very kind of you and much appreciated. Glad the videos help. I noticed some other comments from you about a year ago, so hope all is well and you're making some good recordings with the machine. Best wishes.

[@robertforrester3158]

@@philtipping my pleasure, yes iv been recording. not too much attention to quality..just going through the functions. thanks again.

[@MrJondinham]

Thanks Phil. A question. When I master a song I have it as loud as possible before it goes into red zone, so I can't really make it any louder. Yet once all done and put on my computer, it is so quiet compared to any other songs whether it be one of my old songs from an old boss machine or a professional musicians music. It's just not loud enough unless I put on headphones. However I have heard a few other people's recordings on the machine that is much louder. I wonder whether they use logic or something to master, as I just can't get it on this machine. Any tips?

[@philtipping]

@Jon Bristol Getting a song to sound loud is a common problem with any recording/mixing process, not just on this machine. If you've already increased the levels to just below the 'red', and the song still sounds too quiet, it's because its dynamic range is too high, i.e. there is a large difference between the low & high levels within the track(s) or mix. If you've not already increased the levels manually, you can use the Normalising process, which is in the Mastering section. This increases the volume of the song automatically until the loudest part(s) reach the maximum possible level before clipping... but as with doing it manually, there's a limit to how far you can go before you hit the red and the song distorts. The amount you can raise the volume is dictated by the highest level(s) within the song. In the extreme, if the loudest parts are already at the maximum possible level, normalising will have no effect at all. There are two solutions depending on what is causing those high levels. If they are unwanted transients like coughs or clicks, you may be able to remove these by editing or re-recording. You can use your ears or examine the waveform visually, e.g. via Jog Play or on a large screen if you transfer the data to a computer. Once they're removed, you will be able to increase the overall volume further (manually or via normalising) before clipping. If it's still too quiet, you'll have to reduce the dynamic range by other means, such as removing/reducing unwanted frequencies with EQ or reducing the volume only for the loud parts, which is what a compressor does. This will alter the 'feel' of the music, so you have to be careful not to compromise the sound too much. You can apply these effects to individual tracks before mixing and/or to the overall mix after mixing. It's usually better to do it before mixing so that the corrective active is only applied to the tracks which need it. If you apply it to the overall mix, you may not be able to apply very much before the sound is compromised... this all needs skill (and patience!), and is why some people prefer to pay an engineer to do this. If you want to read up on the topic, there are several articles on the internet. Hope this helps... and good luck :)

[@MrJondinham]

@@philtipping thank you so much for the detailed reply. Should be a massive help, thanks.

[@robertyoung73]

Hello Phil, much appreciation for your videos, good stuff. I hope you don’t mind a wee query. I’ve just started using the DP24sd, I record loud stuff -drums, bass, guitar etc - and when I’m mixing down I’ve been keeping the stereo main out indicators under the zero, so the red lights never highlight, however, the resulting mix is very low when the file is transferred to laptop (I don’t master on the Tascam). Basically, is it alright to hit the red lights a few times on the mix down to get a louder mix?

[@philtipping]

+robert young - hi Robert and thanks for the feedback. You should never hit the red light when making digital recordings. The distortion caused by the overload is not 'musical' as it can be with analogue gear. You *may* get away with it - try it and see if you can hear the distortion - but there is no need to get anywhere near the 0dB level as the noise is so much lower in digital systems. To make your song louder, you can process the mix through the mastering stage and just use the normalise function, although if you are mastering on the laptop, you might as well do all this there. Normalising will raise the level such that the loudest peak is 0dB (or a smidge lower depending how it's set up). If it still sounds too low, the song's dynamic range (difference between the quietest and loudest parts) needs to be reduced somehow, typically with EQ and/or compression. You can do this on specific tracks before mixing or on the overall mix after mixing - depends on the song arrangement and how much patience you have :) Note this may change the song's 'vibe' so has to be done carefully.

[@robertyoung73]

Phil Tipping - Many thanks for your quick reply Phil, just getting going with the DP24, I think my problem was listening to the mixed tracks without any mastering on laptop and being a bit disappointed in the low level. However, no red lights from now on. Thanks again. R.

[@reardondearborn]

Great video! I'm still confused though. Can you add guitar and dynamic effects to tracks during mixdown? I know this doesn't work in a bounce. Or do you have to use the send output?

[@philtipping]

@Reardon Dearborn Keep at it, it will all click eventually :) Effects are one of the most confusing parts of these machines as there are 3 places in the signal flow where they can be added. This is why I keep plugging the importance of the block diagram, much to the annoyance of some commenters on these tutorials, but it all makes sense once you have a picture in your mind of the signal flow. The guitar effects are a 'track insert' effect so can be inserted into the track path. It can be inserted into the track playback path or the track record path, so it *can* be heard/recorded at all times... during initial recording (tracking), bouncing or mixdown. The dynamic effects are 'input inserts' so they can be inserted into the input path before the point where they are assigned to tracks and/or the stereo bus. This means they can only act on live input signals coming into the machine, not existing tracks unless you use a 'loop back' cable as shown in videos 14A & 14B. The send effect can be applied to any combination of inputs and/or track playbacks but the effect output only goes to the stereo bus (in multitrack or mixdown modes) or the bounce bus in bounce mode. This means you can hear it during tracking in multitrack mode but it won't be recorded onto any tracks. However, you *can* record it onto tracks in bounce mode. In mixdown mode, the effect will be recorded onto the mix/master file. Here's a handy summary if it helps: www.philizound.co.uk/freebies/dp24-32/FX-Summary.pdf

[@reardondearborn]

@Phil Tipping thanks for taking the time to answer my questions

[@romanjones6124]

Thank you for your attention to detail and for your dedication, I do have a question. I have recorded a song with vocals and it has been mastered. Now I'd like to have a version without the vocals. Is there a simple way of keeping both master files? Rename the new master?

[@philtipping]

@Roman Jones thanks for the feedback Roman. Yes you can rename the existing master file (via a computer) and the machine will create a new one when you next mixdown. If you don't have a computer at hand, you could try renaming the song using the function under the Song menu, but I'm not sure how reliable this is - you may confuse it!

[@romanjones6124]

@@philtipping If the machine gets confused, I am doomed because it is I that gets confused on a regular basis. Thank you Phil

[@philtipping]

@@romanjones6124 haha yes we all suffer from that :) Hope the song is progressing well.

[@romanjones6124]

@@philtipping Because of the virus, my songwriting brother and I have had a chance to really work the DP32 and have cranked out 6 or 7 good demos of originals. Let me if I can share some with you and I'd be more than happy to send via email?

[@philtipping]

@@romanjones6124 yes by all means, although I'm not a professional reviewer :) You can send small files such as mp3s via email - my address is at the bottom of the page on my philizound.co.uk website. Alternatively, you could send the higher quality master wave files using a file-transfer site such as wetransfer.com - it's free and you don't need to register, just upload one or more files and give my email address and it will send me a download link.

[@jameslodge6355]

Fantastic videos! A question for you: Is it possible to record the mixdown in several different sections, such as record 0-30 seconds then stop the recording, then alter the effects (say, pan a guitar track from left to right and insert a guitar insert effect to the same track) then hit record again and record 30-60 seconds, then stop and change things again? If not, is there a work around for this operation?

[@philtipping]

@James Lodge You can't do this in mixdown mode as the master file is overwritten each time you press record, but you *can* do it by using the bounce function instead of mixdown. With questions like these, don't be afraid to experiment to try things out. You won't break anything and you'll learn a lot more about the machine - that's how I did it :) e.g. create a new test song and record any old rubbish on a track for a few seconds. Then set the IN & OUT points and try doing a mixdown - you can mixdown a single track no problem. Prove it worked by playing back the master file, then repeat the experiment by stopping and starting, and see what happens. Then repeat using bounce mode. Season's greetings.

[@jameslodge6355]

@@philtipping thanks again Phil!!

[@ADCRE8OR]

Phil, I own a DP-32sd and am quite happy with it. Your tutorials are FANTASTIC; I appreciate your work! How did you learn this product so well?

[@philtipping]

+ADCRE8OR thanks for the feedback. It just takes an enquiring mind and a lot of patience :)

[@jamescunningham9695]

Hi Phil, as a result of your tutorials, I wound up purchasing the DP32-SD. I love it! Granted, there's a lot to learn, especially for a newb like me, but thanks to your videos and an extremely well-written operation manual I have been successful in creating and recording some new material. One question though. Do you have to use EQ, COMP and NORM to get the final master file? I successfully did that, but it sounded different from my mixdown. Is NORM necessary? Do you recommend using all three on every song (even though you like the sound of your final mix)? And, lastly, I saw on a forum that the file with the "z" at the end was the actual final master file. So, that's not true? Is it the regular WAV file that's the final master file? Thanks again Phil!! You're awesome!!

[@philtipping]

@James Cunningham Thank you for the kind words James. You don't have to go through the mastering process if you are happy with the mix. The master file is created as soon as you mixdown and is overwritten when/if you apply mastering effects, so you can copy the master file to your computer at any time after the mix process. The 'z' file is the previous state of the master file and is used by the machine for undo purposes. Several people say it's the one you need or that it's the mixdown file, but ignore this advice - there's a lot of folklore around where people just pass on 'information' without checking whether or not it's true! As mentioned above, the master file is first created (or overwritten if it already exists) by the mixdown process. If you apply mastering effects, the file is overwritten and the previous contents are saved as a 'z' file in case you want to undo the operation. You can run through the mastering process as many times as you like, e.g. you can apply EQ first, then compression etc. in any order, or apply EQ & mastering in one pass, and finally normalise if required. Each of these processes will overwrite the master file, and each time the old file will be preserved in the 'z' file. So if you just do a mixdown, then a single mastering process, it looks as if the 'z' file is the mix file and the non-z file is the master, but this is just pure chance as you only did a single mastering pass. If you master a second time, the 'z' file will no longer be the mix file. As to whether normalising is necessary, it depends how close your song is to the 0dB maximum level, and how 'loud' you want your song to sound relative to other songs. There's a section on loudness in the Step-by-Step guide which explains all this. Hope this helps.

[@collinstanton]

🌠🌠You are a fantastic teacher... thank you always.

[@philtipping]

Thank you Collin 😃

[@jefflinscott5014]

Hi Phil, exporting a mastered song to my computer I forgot that i had exported an earlier version before and didn't rename the new one. I deleted what I thought was the old one on the computer but the song disappeared on the dp24! Is it still there or gone? Can a computer erase a song from the dp24?

[@philtipping]

@Jeff Linscott just to be clear, the term 'export' only applies to individual tracks. The master file does not involve an 'export' process, so when you say 'exporting a mastered song', I presume you're talking about copying the whole song folder... I blame Tascam for using confusing terminology :) A computer can delete songs from the card - this is one way to keep it tidy when you're backing up songs. You can also copy whole song folders back to the card and they will appear on the song list when you next view it. The machine itself doesn't keep a backup though, but your computer *may* have put it in the recycle bin or trash can. If not, you could try using an undelete utility, either one built-in to your operating sytem or a 3rd-party one, but the success of this depends on whether or not you've written anything else to the card meanwhile. Good luck.

[@klinkadink8729]

These tutorials are amazing Phil! Thank you! Any recommendations on equipment to burn CDs? The laptop that I have doesn't have a CD writer and I don't want to invest in a totally new laptop. Would an external CD burner work with the sd card?

[@philtipping]

@Klint Kelly thanks for the kind words Klint. The cheapest way is to get an external CD burner which can connect to your laptop via USB. You'd transfer your tracks or master file from the sd-card to the computer as normal, then burn them to CD. You may also need a CD authoring program to do this as it's unlikely your laptop has one bundled in if it never had a built-in drive - note you cannot simply 'copy' the wave files to the CD like you would do if you were making backups; you have to use an authoring program which creates an 'audio' CD as opposed to a 'data' CD. An alternative which doesn't need a computer is an external CD burner which accepts audio directly (look for stand-alone CD burners). These are very expensive and don't give you as many options as a computer. There will also be a small loss in quality as the wave files will be converted to audio before they get to the burner; the computer route keeps everything digital so is loss-less. I would recommend using a computer even if you had the older dp24/32 with the built-in CD drive as you have much more control, e.g. track markers, CD-text, high-speed burning etc. The other advantage is you can also use a DAW to assemble multiple CD tracks in the right order and do any final tweaks such as level balancing etc. - much easier on the computer than the dp machine.

[@brandonproctor3639]

I've been playing music for quite a few years now and I've recently decided to start recording my own music. I'm just wondering, should I go for a Portastudio such as this or should I go with a DAW? Or... Would it be a good idea to use both? I want the best professional sounding audio I can possibly get. Thanks in advance and awesome videos bud!

[@philtipping]

@Brand of tatts thanks for the feedback. I think asking for "the best professional sounding audio" is a bit unrealistic as it's a goal without limits. The recording gear is only part of the picture. There's the front-end gear - mics, pre-amps, etc., the back-end gear - power amps and monitor speakers, then there's the recording environment, acoustic treatment etc., and probably more important, the time & effort to perfect your skills to use all this properly. You *can* get pro-sounding results with almost any gear given the right skills, so it's more a case of how much effort you are prepared to put in, both in skill and setting it all up... and if you are able to hear the difference between, say the portastudio pre-amps or whatever pre-amp your DAW interface has, and a £1000 external pre-amp. The decision of portastudio vs DAW is more to do with your preference for hands-on gear vs. using a computer mouse/keyboard... although you could buy a control surface for the computer. A DAW would offer more options re. tracks, FX, sampling frequencies etc, but you'd still need a good audio interface to/from the computer, allowing for the max. no. of signals you want to record at any one time. You also need to consider latency if you're overdubbing. You could certainly use both systems - record & digitise using the DP machine, then transfer the wave files to the DAW for processing. This would avoid having to buy an audio-to-USB interface. But you'd be wasting all the processing in the portastudio (although it's relatively cheap so maybe not a big deal), so you might as well buy a basic mixer/recorder with a built-in audio-to-USB interface, such as the Model 24... this would also give you more concurrent inputs for recording (if you need that). It's more expensive but there are alternatives. If you're quite happy using a DAW, then I would forget the portastudio, invest in a good interface and do all your recording directly to the computer. Whichever way you go, hope it works out for you... and good luck :)

[@brandonproctor3639]

@@philtipping thank you so much for the fast response! I really appreciate your help and support with this. You definitely make some great points. I'll definitely be spending a lot of time recording and mixing once I get up and running. Thanks again!!

[@brianwilkie9799]

Thank you for your quick and informative reply, as far as I know it is wav format, so that seems okay, as I was thinking of investing in one of the cheap loopers, but then how much easier would it be, or if not actually any easier, is it possible, to create short loops on the dp 24? And bounce that to one of the tracks and not need to buy one, they are a handy "toy" to experiment with before a final record but would I be wasting money seeing the file would only end up on my dp24 anyway?

[@philtipping]

Hi Brian, 'wav format' doesn't necessarily mean it will work without conversion. Wav files can have many different bit rate & sampling freq combinations - as mentioned, only 4 of those combinations are directly compatible with the dp24. Re. looping on the dp24, there is no quantiser as you might find on a dedicated looper, but you *can* get seamless loops by copy/pasting sections of a track via the Track Edit functions. Note the Repeat button is no use for this as there is a small delay before each repeat. With copy/paste, you have to specify 3 time locations: the start & end of the loop, and the destination start time for the copy. These are called In, Out and To. You also specify the number of copies so it's easy to pre-fill a track with as many loops as you want. The functions operate instantly and can process the original track if you want - there is no need to 'bounce'. You can also change the time display to bars & beats (via the Metronome section) to help set the 3 time locations.

[@brianwilkie9799]

Thank you Phil I will take note of all this and hopefully apply it sometime soon your help has been very much appreciated

[@wolffmannnn]

Phil, how do you to reduce the amount of hassle when transferring a DP24 session to an in the box DAW? I find that once I open the session in Reaper etc, you need to realign all of the punch in's etc. Also, its seems to be impossible to label tracks in the DP24, so you are left with all of the takes (and deleted tracks) to sort through to get to the final take for each track. Perhaps Virtual Tracks would reduce some of this redundancy/mess?

[@philtipping]

+wolffmannnn there should be no need to realign anything. You must use the Export process to transfer tracks to a computer, then they'll all start from time zero. There are full details in the step-by-step guide shown in video 12... send me an email if interested.

[@gregghalteman1359]

Phil, you are a Godsend. I have a strange on. I mastered a song, played it back. It was fine. I was going to burn a CD, and out of nowhere, the master file changed to 55 sec. . Any idea why?

[@philtipping]

@Gregg Halteman thanks Greg :) The master file's length will change if you ever press Stop during a mixdown or mastering recording pass. There's no need to press stop (or rewind!), for these operations as the machine knows what to do! If you press stop before the end is reached, the recording pass is terminated so the file ends up shorter. There's no way to lengthen it again unless you revert to the previous state using Undo.

[@bobcatt2294]

Hi Phil, what other tutorial project might you be working these days. Secondly, do you produce product reviews or have you considered doing so?

[@philtipping]

@Bobcatt22 the only other tutorial is for Sequetron, plus a few misc tips/mods for hardware gear - check out the video list on my channel. I don't produce product reviews - just not enough time :)

[@markdejong3399]

Awesome job. Thank you well done!

[@philtipping]

+Mark DeJong thanks for the feedback.

[@froter1]

Love your tutorials ! Thank you

[@philtipping]

@joe guest thanks for the feedback Joe.

[@srs1studio987]

Thanks Phil! Question for you, I have the dp24 (no cd option) I noticed that after mixdown..etc then I normalize I then burn a CD on my computer but when I compare levels to other CD's my overall volume is lower than every other CD I listen to. Not sure if I'm missing a step or missing something. any thoughts? Thanks again!

[@philtipping]

Hi +SRS1 Studio. If you are leaving normalising till the final process (i.e. *after* applying eq and compression), then you're doing it correctly. The 'loudness' issue is a common question but a tricky one to answer. When you normalise, all you are doing is turning up the volume such that the loudest peak, wherever it is within the mixed result, is the maximum possible level. Any louder and it will distort. This means if you have a spike anywhere - a pop or click - the normalising process will not be able to increase the level very much. So that's the simplest thing to check - it's easier if you can view the waveform. But more likely the music itself is the culprit and all the transients will be intentional... if your loud parts are very loud and your quiet parts very quiet, your music is said to have a large dynamic range. If this is the case, then you cannot increase the level beyond the point where your loudest parts are at maximum. Your music will sound the most accurate, so if you still think it sounds quieter than other CDs, it's because other CDs have processed (distorted?!) the music to reduce the dynamic range. This is usually automated with a compressor or limiter, although you could do it manually by turning the master level of your mix down during the loud parts and up during the quiet parts. The amount of compression will determine how loud it sounds after normalising. So you could try re-mixing/mastering using more compression - use the threshold to make it kick in earlier, or the ratio to make it 'squash' the music more... or use the manual method. Then when you normalise, the result should sound louder. *But* if you overdo it, your music will start to lose its 'life' - it's a bit like reducing the contrast of a photograph (i.e. the range of brightness) - it starts looking pale and wishy-washy. Music went through a bad spell some years ago where everything was compressed to the hilt just to make them sound louder than anyone else, and it suffered for it - look up "loudness wars". So it takes a fair bit of skill to get the balance right, which is why there are experts (mastering engineers) who are paid to do this. But have a go with the compressor - you may need to look up how to use the controls effectively, and maybe review the parts which are producing the loudest transients. As mentioned, viewing the waveform is very instructive. You can view it on the Tascam machines but it's a lot easier on a computer. It should be easy to spot if your music has lots of highs and lows, and you could also compare with commercial tracks. So not a simple answer I'm afraid, but hope it helped a bit. Good luck.

[@srs1studio987]

Thanks Phil! this makes absolute sense. i will try it out.

[@depositiveone2677]

I'm interested in purchasing the Tascam DP32. Currently I have a Zoom R24 which is also excellent. I have a question about the inputs. On the Zoom R24 input 1 is assigned to tracks 1, 9 and 17. In other words, I have to plug in to a particular input to record on the track I choose to use. If I only wanted to use the first two inputs, are they assigned to all tracks? For example, I use the first two inputs to record on all the tracks.

[@philtipping]

@DePositive One This is one of the great features with the DP24/32 - it's not even present on the Model series; any input can be assigned to any track, or even multiple tracks. The Assign screen shown in the videos acts as a patch bay where you can patch any of the 8 inputs to any of the tracks, or even directly to the stereo bus where they can be mixed without running through a track. On the DP32, the stereo tracks can also be converted to monos (in any combination) so you have even more flexibility. I don't know the Zoom machines so can't confirm, but some people have said the effects options/limitations are different to the Tascam, so check the manual (or watch this video series) to see if this might be an issue for you.

[@depositiveone2677]

@@philtipping Thank you very much. This is the information I needed. I'm definitely planning on purchasing it.

[@brianwilkie9799]

Do you know if it is possible to use the recorded overdubbed files on a looper pedal and export them directly into the DP24 or via PC/laptop as saved files, thank you

[@philtipping]

Hi +brian wilkie, it depends on the file format created by your looper pedal. The dp24/32 can only handle wave files (.wav) in 4 possible formats: 16 or 24 bits and 44.1 or 48 KHz sampling rate... in any combination, so if your looper creates any of those, then yes you can copy them to the AudioDepot folder on the sd-card and Import them to the dp machine. If it uses a different format, you can convert them using DAW software, e.g. Audacity, or dedicated converter programs.

[@sk8goatdaddy]

I am trying to transfer master files from my dp24sd to my PC. I understand where to find the master files so do I copy them into a new folder, not sure how to get them onto the pc? Thanks for all the informative tutorials.

[@philtipping]

+sk8goatdaddy if you can see the master file on the sd-card then just copy & paste it like you copy any other file within the computer. Where you store them on the computer is up to you - you don't necessarily need to create a new folder. The destination may depend on what are you going to do with the file. You can paste it into your 'Documents' folder or your 'Desktop' and move it somewhere else later. If you want to play it, then start your audio player program, e.g. Windows Media Player, then 'Open' the file you just copied. If you want to burn it to a CD, start your CD burner program (again possibly the Media Player or a 3rd party CD burner such as Nero or ImgBurn), and tell it to burn the file.

[@enlightenedfriend3043]

Hi phil, when I've mastered my song where is the master wav? I have mastered a track but dont know where it is. Thank you phil, God bless you 😊

[@philtipping]

@enlightened friend Hi, the master wave file is under the song folder, which itself is under the MUSIC folder. Ignore all the files with 'zz' in their names. The master file is named with the same name as the song, so if your song is called 'Song1', the master file is MUSIC\Song1\Song1.wav There may be another file named the same but with a '-z' suffix. This is a backup file for Undo purposes so ignore this one.

[@enlightenedfriend3043]

@@philtipping thank you so much God bless you

[@rockrobful]

I have a question unrelated to this particular lesson. Setting up my studio, I have two monitor speakers to be hooked up. Can you offer insight as to the advantage/disadvantage of connecting them to Monitor out or Stereo out as a general rule?

[@philtipping]

Hi Robin, I've just posted some of this on the Tascam forum so you may have already seen it - never know who's who with all these 'alias' names :) The main stereo outputs come from the stereo bus (via the stereo fader) or the mix/master file; they do not have their own metering bars. The monitor outputs come from whatever you select via the Monitor Select button, and whatever is being monitored will show on the right-hand meter bars, so you can use it as a 'probe' to check the sound & levels at various points within the machine, including the stereo output. It can do all of this without affecting anything else. So which ones you use really depends on how you are using the machine. Personally I find the monitor outputs the most useful for the reasons above, and the fact that they can also monitor the stereo outputs gives you the best of both worlds - they are also balanced outputs on this machine so may suit your setup better anyway. The stereo outputs would be better for a separate PA or an external recorder where you don't want the levels to change as you are 'probing' around the machine.

[@rockrobful]

Helpful as always, thank you again for all your hard work on this.

[@dooda1193]

does this machine suffer stereo image / soundstage compression..... like the zoom r4 or no... in zoom r24,,, if you listen to all tracks PRE mixdown, all instruments are where you put them...nice..... BUT.... aftr mixdown, if youi listen to stereo MSTR file, everyting is compressed to center...far left and far right....seem like L 10 and R 10, etc..... also.....in zoom R24, the MSTR file will ALWAYS sound a bit bassy, compared to the pre mixdown track, even if you were playing a violin, etc...

[@philtipping]

@doo da I'm unaware of any problems with tracks sounding different. The majority of issues or quirks are due to running out-of-date firmware or using incompatible/faulty sd-cards. The majority of the remaining quirks are user errors; there are plenty of places where it's easy to get confused and apply effects/compression inadvertently.

[@nichollsworth]

Thank you so much for these training videos Phil! They are such a tremendous help. The manual is quite confusing in places and is also lacking information. My question is...Once you have the stereo master WAV file of your song on the SD card can you take only the card to the computer and save that Master to the computer to burn a CD or put it on a thumb drive for playing it in other devices that aren't equipped with a cd player? Thanks again!

[@philtipping]

+nichollsworth thanks for the feedback Dave, glad they are useful for you. Also many thanks for the kind donation - much appreciated - will email you direct later. Yes you can copy the stereo master file wherever you like and treat it like any other wave file. The only caveat is that its format will be the same as the song you used to create it, so it could be any combination of 16/24-bit, 44.1K/48KHz, so as long as your processing/burning software can handle these formats (which is very likely), there should be no problems.

[@nichollsworth]

Phil Tipping Thanks so much Phil. You are much appreciated!

[@nichollsworth]

I was thinking that it would be great if you would share with us how your studio is progressing. I've worked in quite a few over the years and even helped build some too. I'm looking forward to watching it develop and seeing how it turns out. Best Wishes, Dave===:::

[@kenb1345]

Hi Phil just a question on mastering - I have trying to figure out why the recorder master plays back as such a high recording level without any of the master effects being used and without normalization. Mixdown recording level is fine - but when that same untouched mix is 'mastered', those same recording level rise significantly almost to distortion level - without any mastering effects being used. not sure why that is the case. one would think that the master levels should be the same as the mixdown levels not higher. I also have used another of Tascam 's recorders which is the DP 01 Fx , for many years -where what you hear is what you record - with no change in levels at any point in the recording, master or otherwise. Thanks Ken

[@philtipping]

+Ken Beale Hi Ken, are you sure you are monitoring the correct file - it's not intuitive. In mixdown mode, your final mix level is governed by the master stereo fader and that level is shown on the L/R bars in the home screen (assuming your Monitor Select is set to Stereo). To playback that mixed file, you have to go into Master mode (!) and press Play. You should hear and see the same levels in the meter bars as with the mix level - the stereo fader has no effect on this. If you now press Record (still in Master mode), the mix file is processed through the mastering FX and, if they're both off, you'll see/hear the same levels as before; again the stereo fader has no effect. When you next press Play (still in Master mode), you'll see/hear the mastered result, and if none of the mastering FX have been left on, the levels should be exactly the same. Again, none of the faders have any effect in this mode.

[@morten1]

Thank you for doing all this

[@philtipping]

+Morten O.T. thanks for stopping by, glad you like them.

[@paulhorsley8922]

Hi can you explain the sync pulse please I’m thinking of getting a dp 32 to use with my synths and I was wondering how to keep stuff in time with out midi . I’ve seen your video on the old Yamaha sync box but unfortunately these are like the proverbial rocking horse poo ! All the best. Paul.

[@philtipping]

@Paul Horsley The sync pulse method is more fiddly and not as flexible as a sync box so I would hang on a bit longer - someone has just picked up a TS-1 for £17 - an absolute bargain! A few people have suggested alternatives so here's the list so far: Yamaha YMC-10, Philip Rees TS-1, Midiman Syncman, MOTU Micro Express, Tascam MTS-30. There may well be others so keep an eye on the 2nd-hand sites - look for 'midi sync' boxes and make sure they have an audio in/out and a midi in/out. Don't confuse them with DIN Sync or Sync24 units as they use a different sync protocol. The 'sync pulse' method just uses a manually-created short blip or drum hit at the beginning of each track. It allows you to sync the *start* of each track but won't fix any drifting within the song. How you add the blips depends on the source of the tracks, so it may not be practical if you're generating the tracks live. I use it in 2 scenarios; one is for transferring multiple tracks from an existing midi song from a DAW or arranger keyboard into the recorder, the other is for transferring an existing audio song to/from a DAW. With the midi song, I use midi-edit on the source to insert a note-on/off 'blip' at the start (or at the same time position) of each track or batches of tracks depending on how many tracks I can play/record in a single pass. With the audio song, I use a short tone burst created using the DAW, or just copy/paste a drum hit. I then record each batch of tracks without any lining up. The tracks *within* each batch will be in sync, but the batches themselves will be out of sync, so on the recorder, use the jog-play function to view/compare the waveform blips in each batch and use move/paste to line them up. If the song is long enough for drift to be noticeable, use move/paste at various points within the song to re-align, either by ear or using the waveform view. You can transfer and sync the tracks back to the DAW using the same technique as long as you retain the start pulses - you only delete them when you've finished shunting files around.

[@paulhorsley8922]

Wow ! Thanks Phil for your and Thorough and knowledgeable answer it is very much appreciated, your videos are fantastic, and even if I don’t go down the dp32 route,I still have learnt a lot from what you have posted,it’s so nice to watch a person who knows what he is talking about, thank you very very much 👍👍👍👍. Paul.

[@philtipping]

@@paulhorsley8922 Cheers Paul thanks. Good luck... whichever route you go :)

[@thelantern9075]

Hi Phil, when recording guitars through an amp with a mic and your working in the same room, is there separate monitoring controls for headphones and your main monitors? Thanks!

[@philtipping]

@Shannon Simmons no, the two outputs are linked internally so the monitor knob controls the levels for both. Some people use an external switch box connected to the monitor outputs at the back, and this feeds their headphones and speakers via a switch.

[@thelantern9075]

Phil Tipping Phil, can you use the RCA stereo outs to an headphone amp or does the monitoring control the volume of that also?

[@philtipping]

@@thelantern9075 yes - if your headphone amp has separate left & right line-level inputs, you can connect it to any of the sockets at the back of the machine. The monitor level knob only controls the level going to the monitor outputs at the back and the headphone socket at the front.

[@thelantern9075]

Phil Tipping Excellent, well that solves that dilemma, thanks so much Phil.

[@mrgscales]

Here's a suggestion for you, just expanding on your ideas to break out the individual songs out of a long performance. If the orginal is only two tracks, you could cut/ (paste insert) to a new pair of tracks, so that each song is on a separate pair. ie 9/10 - 23/24. If the original long performances are multi tracked, you could mark and bounce each song to a new pair of tracks as above. The final export would be the same. Later export those tracks. Now each song is in a separate file. Renaming, and trimming the silent parts will be much easier.

[@philtipping]

Good tip +mrgscales, thanks for sharing.

[@johnmirabile3535]

Hi, Phil great info...i just built a studio, i dont like mixing in the box on a DAW alone...Im about to order the yamaha dp32...what would you say to me if i were your best friend lol

[@philtipping]

@John Mirabile thanks for stopping by John. I would say just be clear what your requirements are. Some people are phased by all the features within the DP models - they are complete self-contained studios so you do not need a computer apart from making backups of your sd-cards. Because of this, the machine appears to be quite complicated to start with, and there are a few restrictions on how the effects are used, but there are usually work-rounds, e.g. using bouncing. Buying a complete all-in-one machine means you have to be willing to take time learning the ropes and how to be an engineer (which is what you get if you went into a real studio!). Some people don't have the patience and are frustrated when they can't get instant results, but if you already know some of the terms and techniques, it will be very easy to pick up. You said you don't like mixing on a DAW, so you could consider the Model series (if you wanted to stay with Tascam) or Zoom Livetrak. I don't know much about these, but the Tascam certainly lets you do basic mixing, but lots of other 'studio' functions can only be done in a DAW. Of course, there will be restrictions on these as well so you need to check first - there's no such thing as the 'perfect' machine :) There's also the issue of MIDI, which the DP-32SD does not have, although if you watch video #13, you'll see it is not such a show-stopper as some people believe. As far as I know, the Model 12 has MIDI, but not the Model 16 or 24. Bottom line is do your research before committing, and check out the Tascam forum. There are several users who have switched from one machine to the other, so their experience would be helpful. Good luck! :)

[@josephdarling34]

Awesome....Question. After Normalization is applied to the file, should I press record to save the normalization effect file as a master?

[@philtipping]

+Joseph Darling no, absolutely not! Whenever you press Record in mastering mode, the file will be processed in real-time through the EQ & Compressor and re-written, so at best (if the effects are both off) the master file will be unchanged; the normalization will remain but you've wasted time. At worst (if either FX is on) you'll apply a second level of FX. The normalize process is completely different - the EQ & Compressor settings are ignored and the process operates in non-realtime so is a lot quicker.

[@josephdarling34]

:) Thanks.... I mean ....Apply EQ and Comp. Record. EQ and Comp off. Listen to playback. Apply Normalization. Once it is finished, EQ and Comp still off. Do I need to press RECORD AFTER normalization is done to save it to file? I hope it’s clear that’s what is confusing me. Or once I normalize it is done?

[@philtipping]

@@josephdarling34 No, don't press record after normalizing. When you press the button to normalize, it asks if it's ok to proceed... once you've said yes it normalizes the master file. No record is necessary.

[@josephdarling34]

Phil Tipping Awesome! Thank you so much that helps tremendously

[@kevinpike3962]

Do you have to turn off the comp and eq before you normilize? Will it make another pass through?

[@philtipping]

@kevinpike3962 No, the normalise process does not use a real-time recording pass, so it won't pass through the EQ or Compressor (and obviously you should not press Record to normalise)... although I would recommend you try and keep the effects off when you've finished using them to avoid confusion. Whenever you press Play, the master file signal will still pass through those effects if they are left on, so you will be hearing a different sound to the actual master file. This is a common cause of a 'complaint' where users say their master file sounds different when they transfer it to a computer.

[@jamescunningham9695]

Hi Phil, I made a Master File of a song that I recorded and I transferred it to my laptop. Then I converted the wav file to an mp3 file. But when I listened to it I realized that I would like to change the mix. So, I opened the song on my DP-32SD and re-mixed it. Then I thought that I had created a new (or replacement) Master File. But it sounded the same. Can you record a new Master File version of a song over the "old" Master File of said song? Thanks for your help! I love the DP32-SD! It has rekindled my desire to create new original songs!

[@philtipping]

@James Cunningham Hi James, when you go to mixdown mode and press record, any existing master file is overwritten automatically; you don't have to do anything special. When you said it sounded the same, was this after copying the file to your computer, or did you listen to it on the DP-32? If it was the latter, are you sure you were in mastering mode (and did you turn off the mastering effects first)? You can only hear the master file when in that mode. If it sounded the same on the computer, are you sure you are copying the correct master file to your computer? Don't get confused with the file with a 'z' suffix - it's the machine's backup file so you don't need this. There's a lot of mis-information on social media saying the z file is the one to use, but this is incorrect. Let me know if you find the problem.

[@jamescunningham9695]

@@philtipping Thanks Phil. I will double check everything and let you know. And thanks for the unbelievably quick response! You're the best!

[@mabrystudios5880]

Would it make sense to update firmware again from Tascam and have an " All Sends Off " from any track selected or preamp assign...

[@philtipping]

@Mabry Studios only upgrade if you're out of date. You can check your version from the Menu, Information screen. The latest firmware for the DP-24SD (as of Sept 2022) is v1.09. If you do have to update, there is some anecdotal evidence that a full format on existing sd-cards *after* doing the update avoids any future problems. I've not confirmed this but I always do it anyway for peace of mind. Instructions for updating firmware are on Tascam's website or in my Step-by-Step guide at www.philizound.co.uk/freebies/dp24-32/dp24-32.html If you want to set up a configuration with 'All sends off' (or any other configurations), use the template idea from video 2. Full details are also in the guide.

[@spinaltappete]

First, thanks so much for these videos, they are extremely helpful, and I think very clear. I'm hoping you may be able to help with an issue/question I'm having with mastering. With a couple of songs, when I try to move from mix down to mastering mode, the in/out points in mastering default to 1.07 seconds. In mastering mode, the mark set in/out buttons don't work (at least in this scenario), so I'm stuck with a rather unsatisfying 1 second master. I've even gone back and tried resetting all in/out points in both recording and mix-down modes, but the master remains stubbornly at 1 second when I then try to move back into mastering mode. I've also tried copying the song, but the master mode in the copied song stubbornly retains its 1 second length. I'm sure I'm doing something incredibly stupid, but I am tearing what's left of my hair out.

[@philtipping]

@pete foley well the machine is not very intuitive in this area so don't be too hard on yourself Pete :) The in/out points can only be set prior to mixdown. When you press Record in Mixdown mode, the machine automatically locates to the In position, switches to record, then stops when it reaches the Out position. The whole process is automatic so you do not need to press any other buttons apart from Record. When you go to master mode, the mix length is displayed. If this doesn't agree with the difference between the in & out points, then something has gone wrong with the mixdown. One possibility is you pressed Stop manually during the mixdown, and this has overidden the auto-stop so the mix has been truncated. When in master mode, the mix length is fixed so the in/out points cannot be changed and are irrelevant as the mix time zero now equates to the In point in the original song. If you press Record in master mode, the mix file is processed from start to finish. The machine stops automatically when it reaches the end of the file, but you can still overide this by pressing Stop manually, in which case the master file will be truncated. The master file is part of the song structure, so copying the song won't make any difference to the length. The only way of getting the master file back to its proper length is to do the mixdown again. If you're doing all this correctly, then the only other possibility is that your sd-card is faulty (either corrupted or incompatible) or you're running out-of-date firmware. Check you are using the latest firmware (there are different versions for the different models dp24/dp24sd/dp32/dp32sd), and check you are using an approved card. If in doubt, try another card if you have one. Hope that helps. Let us know if you find the cause.

[@spinaltappete]

@@philtipping Many, many thanks, I greatly appreciate it. The good news is that, as you suggested, redoing the mix down fixes the problem. It's not my favorite way to problem solve, as doesn't tell me what I did wrong (or stop me from potentially doing it again), but at least I can move forward while I still have some hair :-). My firmware is up to date, and the SD card appears to be good, so it must have been something like accidentally hitting stop. The good news is that by copying the file I still have a separate messed up version with the stubborn 1 second master, so I can play with it, and see if I can perhaps work out what I did wrong. If I do work it out, I will definitely let you know, and thanks again

[@philtipping]

@@spinaltappete ok Pete, thanks for the follow-up. Have just checked a similar problem on the Tascam forum and the user was adamant he'd not pressed stop. It's a very long thread but the mention of a short master file starts at post #13 www.tascamforums.com/threads/tascam-dp-24-sd-master-comp.5990/ To cut a long story short, the only conclusion we could come to was a faulty sd-card. He preserved his original song by exporting all tracks and copying from AudioDepot to his computer. This ensures any corruption within the song is not propagated, as would occur if you copy the whole song folder. With the new card formatted, he then created a new song and copied the files to AudioDepot and imported them to the new song. Mixing then worked properly.

[@axel-uc3ps]

One year now i use that machine and i never do the job with the mixdown/mastering functions. I save my song to the card and then, when i upload it on soundcloud or bandlab, they make a compression from my file to boost the sound. Am I wrong?

[@philtipping]

@axel8591 no there's nothing wrong with that if you're happy with the songs when played from the websites. I don't know for sure, but if they do apply compression, I'm guessing it's just to make the overall levels consistent with other songs so people don't have to keep adjusting their volume controls. Mastering can be much more than this, and when done properly can (maybe) transform your music. If your songs already sound comparable to commercial tracks, stick with the way you're doing it :)

[@beataddiktgodd]

Hi, can you please explain on how to record a pulse track. Is the pulse track recorded on all tracks?

[@philtipping]

If you mean a timing guide for overdubbing more tracks, you only need it on one track. You can turn its fader up when you are recording other tracks (overdubbing). You'll then be able to hear it through the monitors/headhones so you'll be able to keep in time with it, but it won't get recorded. If the new recordings are using mics, monitor via headphones so the mics don't pick up the guide sound. When you've finished adding all the overdubs you need, either erase the guide track, or just turn its fader down when you do the mixdown. That way, it won't appear in the final mix.

[@beataddiktgodd]

@@philtippingI’m referring from counter time 3:35 - 4:10

[@philtipping]

@beataddiktgodd sorry, I misunderstood. It's not a 'pulse track', it's a single pulse added or inserted at the start of every track. If any track has music right at the start, you'll have to 'insert' the pulse on all tracks so it doesn't overlap any music. If all tracks have enough space before the music starts, you can use 'paste' instead as long as the length of the pulse doesn't overlap the music. Note that you need to 'copy' the same pulse using the same IN & OUT points, and insert/paste it to the same time point on each track. You can either delete them once you've finished transferring tracks between systems, or set your IN point to just after the pulse so they don't appear in the mixdown.

[@beataddiktgodd]

@@philtipping Thanks my brother, I completely understand. Your videos, has helped me in so many ways.

[@philtipping]

@beataddiktgodd no worries. Glad the videos are useful. Season's greetings to you :)

[@coatbridgedrivinglessons8106]

Is it possible to bounce or mix down so the effects get recorded then you can add new effects for example mix down or bounce with reverb applied then change the effect to delay on the track that was previously bounced / mix down / then maybe ad a chorus etc on the 3rd bounce mix down. I m sorry if that's not making sense.

[@philtipping]

@coatbridge driving lessons That makes perfect sense, and bouncing is exactly how you can add as many effects (and/or EQ) as you like before doing the final mixdown. All it takes is a bit of patience. The beauty of these digital machines is that each bounce does not degrade the signal, as it does with old-school tape machines. Thanks for stopping by.

[@coatbridgedrivinglessons8106]

@@philtipping thanks so much

[@NIKKIBATS]

is it possible to add effects to individual tracks such as compression track 1 reverb track 2 chorus track13/14 before mixdown/mastering or just during the mixdown and mastering process and how is that accomplished. i added compression to track 1 but all the tracks have it now

[@philtipping]

+NIKKIBATS all the effects are listed here www.tascamforums.com/threads/dp24-32-fx-definitive-summary-of-effects.4162/ so you can see which ones you can use at any one time. The earlier videos in the tutorial show how to use the effects.... or the step-by-step guide shows this in detail - email me if interested (address is shown on video 12). Which effect did you use to add compression? Can't really answer your question without knowing what you did.

[@NIKKIBATS]

I BELIEVE THE GUITAR EFFECT

[@philtipping]

Ok, well the guitar effect can only be used on one track at a time, so not sure how you managed to get in on all the tracks unless you processed each one separately. You can do several bounces instead of a mixdown in order to add effects track by track. That way, you'll have a set of new tracks with different effects added, then you can use these for the final mixdown. If you want the other effects you mentioned, the send effect could be used at the same time as the guitar effect, so that will give you 2 effect types. It's tricky adding the send effect to a 'live' recording, so again this could be done after the initial recording by bouncing to a spare track. The other type of effect - the dynamics - can only be added to inputs as they are being recorded, so you could have one of these on any or all of the 8 inputs while they are being recorded live. You can't add them afterwards like the others as they only exist in the input paths... but there are ways of connecting the outputs back into the inputs so it's possible if you're careful to avoid feedback.

[@DC-gh9yv]

Thanks for the great videos! Do you know how to get a louder master file? Mine never seems that loud on CD. I use basic CD compressor in the library

[@philtipping]

+D C thanks for the feedback. There are several reasons why your final song could sound quieter than expected. It may be just a case of overall volume level. If so, you can increase this by Normalising after using the Compressor presets in the DP library. Just press F4(NORM) and it processes the current mix/master file to determine how loud the loudest part is. It then knows how much to increase the overall volume by, such that the loudest part just reaches the distortion point (maximum level). It then overwrites the master file with a new one at this higher volume level. If this still isn't loud enough for you then you need to study the whole topic of mastering. There are lots of factors to consider so it's not surprising mastering engineers charge for their services - they have the skill, the ears, and the environment - the room as well as the gear. However, the question of loudness has cropped up several times before, so if you're prepared for a long post (and bear in mind I'm not an expert so there are probably better explanations elsewhere), here's my amateur's take on it... *Normalising* Simple loudness can be increased by just turning up the volume of the signal as far as you can before it starts distorting. This is what Normalising does. If you want to normalise, this must be the *final* process of the 3 available processes in the DP machine's mastering mode. Note it's no different to copying the master file as-is to a computer and increasing the volume (or normalising) there. What normalising doesn't address is the quieter parts of the song. Say you had some loud transient sounds in the song - intended or otherwise - could be a click, or a mic 'pop' sound, or a duff guitar pluck etc. Normalising would increase the volume until the loudest of these was at the maximum level, regardless of the rest of the song, so you may find the overall volume doesn't increase very much. This applies even if there is just a single transient anywhere in the song. Same applies to longer sections which are louder than they should be... some of these could be inaudible - say a low frequency rumble from an air conditioning unit, or traffic noise etc. Even though you may not hear them, they will still be processed by the normaliser and used to calculate the loudest part of the song, which in turn affects how much it can increase the overall level. This is why it's important to be able to hear/monitor every detail - use good monitoring equipment, and if using speakers, use a room with good acoustic properties. *EQ* So one course of action could be to remove or reduce the levels of these loud sections before normalising. You could use the mastering EQ tool, or go back earlier in the chain and re-mix while applying track EQ or levels on individual tracks, or even re-record the offending parts. Conversely, you could increase levels for those parts which are too quiet, again using similar techniques. *Compression* The 3rd tool in mastering mode is the Compressor, and this usually causes the most headaches as it gives the impression of being a magic bullet. The more tedious processes described above are usually ignored, and the compressor is expected to fix everything in one go. It scores over simple normalising as it can separate loud signals from quiet signals, which means it can increase the volume selectively. If you increase the level of quiet signals only, and leave the loud ones untouched (or conversely reduce the level of loud signals but leave the quiet ones untouched), the effect is to compress or reduce the range of loudness variations within the song. This means you can then turn up the overall volume level (e.g. by normalising) a lot more than before because the loudest parts are now quieter, so there is more room before it clips. An analogy is a photograph... if a picture is too dark, you could increase the overall brightness (= volume), but you can only increase it until the lightest parts become pure white - they can't get any whiter because they are at the maximum level. However, if you could increase the brightness of the darker parts but leave the lighter parts untouched, i.e. reduce the contrast, you can then increase the overall brightness more than before as you've now compressed the range of brightness variations within the picture. The picture will be more wishy-washy or diluted (apologies for terminology!) depending on the amount of contrast reduction, but the overall brightness is higher. Same with music - it will have less dynamic range, or impact, depending on the amount of compression, but the perceived sound is louder. *Compressor Controls* The controls for a compressor can be quite intimidating with many inter-dependent combinations, but here's a basic description... *Ratio* alters the amount of compression, i.e. how much the signal is compressed or squashed. If you overdo it, the effect will become obvious, and this can be good or bad depending on what sound you are trying to achieve. *Threshold* controls the point where the compression starts to take effect, so this depends on the level of signal going into the compressor. This is a common cause of confusion as if your input signal is very low, you'll have to turn the threshold lower to get the compressor to work, otherwise all the other controls will appear to have no effect. *Attack & Release* control how the compressor 'follows' the changes in signal level. *Attack* controls how quickly the compression starts to work, so if this is set very fast (zero to a few millisecs), every transient sound (e.g. drum hits) will be compressed. If you set this slower (100s of millisecs), transients will get through without being compressed, whereas the rest of the sound will be compressed, giving a more 'punchy' sound. *Release* controls how quickly the compressor stops working when the input signal drops below the threshold. If this is too short (10's of millisecs), you may find bass signals sound odd as their wavelengths are in this region. If this is set very long (seconds), you'll hear the volume reduce on the first loud note, then the level will gradually climb back. You may have heard a similar effect if you record video on a camera - the mic usually has an automatic gain control (AGC) with a slow release. If you're recording silence, you can sometimes hear the background noise level increase over a few seconds, especially after knocking the camera and creating a loud transient sound. *Gain* controls the signal level coming out of the compressor. You can turn this up to compensate for the reduction in signal due to compression, or you could leave the level for the normalising process to adjust. The mastering compressor has an 'auto-make' control which automatically adjusts the output level to compensate for any reduction. These gain adjustments make it easier to compare the effect of the compressor as you turn it on & off - having a difference in volume may give a false impression of which sounds best. *Multiband* The mastering compressor also has a multiband option which further separates the input signal into frequency bands so it can limit the compression to certain regions. The compressor in the Input Insert Dynamic effects just has a single band so it processes the whole signal as one. Multiband is useful to e.g. stop low frequency drum or bass sounds causing higher frequencies to compress, which otherwise might have an undesirable audible affect. *Compressor Usage* The best way of learning how the controls work is to play around with them and try and understand how the sound relates to each control. It may be easier to use the Input Dynamics compressor first before moving onto the Mastering one, so connect a signal source - say a radio or mp3/cd player to an input, route it to the stereo bus, and listen to the sound as you tweak the compressor controls. There's no need to record anything. Turn the Attack to minimum, the Release to 100 millisecs, and the Ratio to 5 or higher. You should now be able to hear the effect as you adjust the Threshold. Don't forget the threshold depends on the signal level entering the compressor. Once you've identified the change in sound, try altering the Ratio to make the change more or less pronounced. Then try the Attack & Release controls. Take it slow & methodical, refer to the descriptions above, try different types of music, and you'll soon get to grips with it. *Summary* One final thing, don't over-compress unless you're after an artistic effect (less is more!). Look up 'loudness wars' to see the abysmal mess when everyone tried to 'out-do' the competition. Ok that's it, hope it helped!

[@DC-gh9yv]

Phil Tipping Thank you so much for the help..greatly appreciated!!! Helped me a lot! Great Channel!!!

[@jameswest6410]

D C I have the same problem ...I finally took the master and sent it to Reaper or any simple software on my computer where I can easily Increase the overall volume thru an EQ program.

[@mirko2481]

if you have only 8 inputs how can you use the others tracks to record? lets say 8 mic for drums and through 9 to 24 how do you record without inputs

[@philtipping]

@Mirko Burroni you can only record up to 8 inputs simultaneously... but those 8 inputs can be assigned/routed to any of the 24/32 tracks, so you can build up a large multi-track session by overdubbing. You can also bounce any combination of tracks onto another.

[@kevinpike3962]

Hi! Do you need to turn off the compressor and EQ before you run the normalization? Thank you so much!

[@philtipping]

@Kevin Pike it doesn't matter if they are on or off (although see later). The normalisation process does not play the master file through the effects as it is not a real-time process (you'll notice it's a lot quicker doing the normalise). Note that you must NOT press Record when normalising. You only press Record when you want to apply EQ and/or compression, and you can do this as many times as you like. If you want to normalise, this must be the very last process. So although it doesn't matter if eq & compression is on or off when normalising, I would always turn them off as a precaution to avoid confusion. Whenever the mastered file is played back (which occurs when you press Play or Record in mastering mode), it passes through those effects first. If you leave the effects on after you've done your mastering pass (i.e. pressed Record), you'll hear the effects *again* when you play it back. This means you are not actually listening to the master file which you just created! This is a common source of confusion when users copy the master file to their computer and find it doesn't sound the same as it did on the DP machine.

[@kevinpike3962]

@@philtipping much appreciated Phil! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!!🙏

[@mattspazmatic]

​@philtipping OK, so now that I've pressed normalize before I recorded my compressed and EQ'd master 😅😅😅... how can I unfudge it? I've taken the SD card out and transferred the file to my phone. So... If I put the SD card back in, enter mastering mode, and hit undo... will I have to recompress the master file or will it only take of the normalizing, since I did that last before recording the master??? Or... am I way off completely? Worst case scenario I can remix down and do the rest properly, correct?

[@philtipping]

@mattspazmatic as long as the master files are still on the card, you can return to mastering mode at any time and press undo. It will undo the last operation in mastering mode, be it a recording pass or a normalise. It only allows a *single* undo though, regardless of your undo history setting (which only applies in the other modes). The light will stay on to remind you that if you press it again, it will undo the undo. You're right, in the worse case you can always remix; this will create a brand new master file. However, if you deleted the master file when you transferred it to your phone, you would need to copy it back and then undo should work... I'm hoping you didn't delete the other master file with a 'z' suffix - that's the undo file! As long as you have both files on the card, the undo should work ok. Alternatively you may get away with renaming the 'z' file and effectively doing the undo manually, but I haven't tried this so it's on your head :) Btw - I saw another question from you in my notifications about a week ago, but couldn't find it to reply. I guess you already sorted it out and deleted it?

[@MarshallAmpMan]

This is way better, your other videos weren't loud enough.

[@philtipping]

@MarshallAmp Man sorry about that - it's a bit ironic that a series on recording has such low quality audio :) I used various combinations of gear throughout the series - 2 camcorders and sometimes a separate audio recorder, so they were very tricky and time-consuming to mix and sync together, let alone make sure they were all switched on when I started each take, and the batteries hadn't gone flat. It's really heart-breaking to do a long take, and then find out you'd forgotten to switch one of the recorders on :) I also recorded them over several months in different rooms so this impacted the sound quite a bit. At the end of the day, I could only use the gear I had as no-one was paying me to make them. I know there are some very pro-looking home-made tutorial videos out there, but they're usually from 'influencers' who do this sort of thing regularly, and/or get gear donated from the vendors for reviewing so they can afford to spend the time and money to get it 'right'. Anyway, the content is key ;) so glad you made it to video #10, and hope they are helping. Thanks for stopping by.

[@mrgscales]

I just began using mixdown and mastering. I think I've been botching things. After the mixdown, I can optionally use EQ/Comp in the mastering mode. Press record. This will reprocess the mixdown file. Then i must turn off EQ/Comp before normalizing? Do I need to record again, or does Normalize change the previous file?

[@philtipping]

+mrgscales, normalizing operates differently to EQ and COMP. It processes the master file *offline* so you must *not* press record. The processing ignores the EQ & COMP setting so you don't *have* to turn them off first, although it's a good idea to get into the habit of turning them off once you've used them otherwise they will affect what you hear when you play the master file back on the machine for review purposes. Normalizing still overwrites the master file, just like EQ & COMP. You don't *have* to normalize, but if you do, it must be the last operation on the master file, otherwise you may get distortion if you apply EQ or COMP to an already-normalised file.

[@mrgscales]

Thanks for the answer. It's more clear now. You've saved me time and effort.

[@stevejames5863]

great. thanks. but how do you put title in for song file. i just mastered a track, i have no file per se, how do you orchestrate or create a song file? confused. thanks for all you help.

[@philtipping]

@john fame If you've just done a mastering pass, the master file will be in the song folder exactly as shown in the video. If it's not there, either you're looking in the wrong place or you didn't actually do the mastering pass correctly. Are you sure you are using the correct terminology? I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say you 'mastered a track'. A 'song' comprises one or more 'tracks'. When you do a mixdown pass, these are mixed together into a single 'master file'. You can then (optionally) master this file. If you are still stuck after watching the videos, maybe my Step-by-Step guide will help. It describes every process step-by-step without getting bogged down with the explanations, so you can get off the ground quickly. Full details here: www.philizound.co.uk/freebies/dp24-32/dp24-32.html

[@stevejames5863]

@@philtipping i realized, there was a master file, or file for the song.that had an in and out. the tittle was simply song one,as i didn t make a title.i figured out how to make a title also. however, the real problem,if a solution, i mixed, mastered a song,song one, but i also was fooling around, and it is protected; there were seven more complete beautiful orginal songs recorded....all on full tascam, i had not made files or song files of the songs; the song file ,song one was the first minute..because i protected it, i could not get to the other songs, in which i did a lot of work to record. i don t know if you get my drift;;; but i want to know if i can unprotect song one to get to all my other songs, because i can t get to them. i m so upset.

[@stevejames5863]

@@philtipping i mix mastered the first song, one minute. so the other songs should be there, you seem to say, and how do i get to the main home recordings...rem song one is protected. when on that song , there is no leeway. so there must be a way to other songs!

[@philtipping]

@@stevejames5863 You can unprotect any song by going to the song menu and using the 'protect' function. It toggles the protection on and off. I'm assuming you protected the song originally using this method. If you used a computer to protect it, you'll probably need to use a computer to turn off the protection. I'm still not sure what exactly you have recorded. Did you record several songs all on one track? If so, you can just position the transport to the start of each section and play it (in Multi-Track mode). You should be able to do this even if the song is protected, so if you can't hear the different sections, I'm not sure what you've done. It's easier for me to use email as opposed to KZbin, so contact me there. My email address is on the bottom of the page on my philizound.co.uk website.

[@myguitarjoe]

Thank You for helpfull video.Can I use SD card bigger like 32 GB?

[@philtipping]

@myguitarjoe Maximum card size on the DP-24/32 machines is 32GB. If you see comments on social media like "My 24 takes 64GB", they mean the newer Model series; there's one called a Model 24, which is very confusing if you don't use the full name :) Thanks for the feedback... nice to see those old plasma ball lamps on your channel... not to mention the great guitar playing :)

[@myguitarjoe]

@@philtipping Thank You very much,Mister.Have a good times.I like ambient lights.

[@josephdarling34]

I always record well below 0db. But how do I get a great profession level of sound in the end? Tracks sound great but still a bit low in sound without clipping and after normalization

[@philtipping]

+Joseph Darling well this is where mixing and mastering skills are needed. It's a common problem but there's no easy answer as it depends on lots of factors - the type of music, how well you recorded the tracks, what are you prepared to compromise etc.... and is why the professionals charge for these services :) The problem is typically caused by the dynamic range (difference between quietest and loudest parts of the song) being too large. Normalizing just increases the volume such that the loudest peaks are at (or a smidge below) the 0dB clipping level, but the perceived loudness is affected by more than just the peaks. Even a single loud spike/click/peak somewhere in the whole song will effectively put a cap on the max volume. So if these are unintentional, such as a background click or cough, or someone knocked the mic, you can either edit them out or re-record. If they really *are* required as part of the music, then you need to tame them somehow, typically with EQ and/or compression. The latter squashes the dynamic range so the overall volume can then be increased (manually or via normalization) more than before, which increases the perceived loudness. But if you overdo it, you may introduce unwanted effects such as 'pumping', and the music may start to sound lifeless. A limiter may also help, but this is effectively an 'ultra' compressor, so needs using with care. EQ can also help by removing frequencies which are 'cluttering' the overall sound, e.g. if several instruments are all producing bass notes at the same time, you won't hear much difference in the mix if you reduce some of them - they may sound bad in isolation, but ok when mixed. Once they are thinned out, you may be able to increase the overall volume. You'll have more control if these processes are applied to the tracks *before* mixing them together, but you can also apply some to the overall mix afterwards. It's a case of several small adjustments/processes which add up to a good increase in volume without compromising the sound too much. There are lots of good articles on this topic which do a better job than me explaining the fine points, so search for mixing and/or mastering. Sound On Sound magazine have some good technical articles. Best of luck.

[@josephdarling34]

Phil Tipping Ahhhh you explained it perfectly. I figured it had to be somewhat common. Huge thanks again 👍🏻

[@charlesampah6939]

Hi Phil is the Tascam DP 32SD compatible with recent DAW versions? Thanks

[@philtipping]

@Charles Ampah Hi Charles, there is nothing to be compatible with :) The DP machines all create industry standard wave files... as long as you use the recommended import/export mechanism, all fully described in the step-by-step guide - unashamed plug ;) :) so as long as your DAW can handle wave files - and it would a pretty poor DAW if it didn't! - you'll be ok. The only 'link' with a computer is either by physically moving the sd-card, or using the USB connection. In both cases, the only requirement by the computer and it's operating system (not the DAW) is that it can handle external/plug-in storage devices which use the industry standard FAT file system. This is just like using a memory card from a camera and is such a basic requirement, pretty much any type of computer should be able to access the files on the sd-card. There is no 'live integration' via USB like some devices such as the Model series. These usually need special drivers so you'd need to confirm compatibility in these cases, but not with the DP machines.

[@charlesampah6939]

@@philtipping many thanks for your answer. I was really confused.

[@patrickmckeown3683]

Phil, who are you my friend? You’re definitely somebody. What is your history...only if that’s not getting too personal. I think many of us would like to know.

[@philtipping]

+patrick mckeown there's some info in the biog section on my philizound website. Thanks for stopping by :)

[@jeffreylieberman8079]

When I go to export it onto the SD card, it seems like you can only export each individual track. How do I export the whole Master song onto the SD card?

[@philtipping]

@Jeffrey Lieberman there's no 'export' process required for the master file. The file can just be copied, as shown at approx 18m00s. If you need more details & answers than shown in the videos, the Step-by-Step guide explains everything.

[@tonynichollskeys2417]

As I mixdown,then master and then normalise how is it the settings don't seem to save that to sd card? Am I missing something ? I've tried pressing record after normalisation. Is it hidden in the card then accessed via a computer?

[@philtipping]

@Tony Nicholls keys The settings are saved on the sd-card. You have to be in mastering mode in order to playback the master file. The master is overwritten each time you do a mastering pass or normalise. You must *not* press Record after normalising. Normalising is a process which does not need a recording pass, which is why it takes less time. Adding mastering EQ and/or compression need one or more recording passes so you *do* need to press record for these operations. The master file lives under the song folder, as opposed to exported tracks, which live in the AudioDepot folder. The video explains it all - hopefully :) If you need more info, the step-by-step guide may help clarify things as it explains things in a different way without resorting to the block diagram; full details here www.philizound.co.uk/freebies/dp24-32/dp24-32.html