Tascam Ministudio Porta02 Owners Manual

 
 Parts of the Porta02 
11 
clockwise to  
MIC
 
 for any channel which
is recording a microphone.
Instruments such as electric guitars pro-
duce a signal which is between  
MIC
 
 and 
LINE
 
 levels and the  
TRIM
 
 control should
therefore be somewhere between fully
clockwise and fully counter-clockwise.
See 3.3, “Setting the level” for full details
of how to adjust the  
TRIM
 
 controls for dif-
ferent input sources. 
[9] POWER indicator 
This yellow light is lit when the Porta02
is connected to...

 Parts of the Porta02  
12
IN jacks. They should be used together
with the TRIM controls (see 3.3, “Setting
the level”) to adjust the levels of the sig-
nals routed to the tape tracks.
[16] RECORD indicator
This red indicator lights when the
RECORD and PLAY keys are pressed, and
at least one of the 
REC FUNCTION
switches is not in the SAFE position.
Pressing 
RECORD and PLAY while both
REC FUNCTION switches are set to SAFE
has the same effect as pressing PLAY.
[17] Transport controls
These work in the...

3 Making your first recording
13
3 – Making your first recording
This section describes how to make a 4-track recording using the
Porta02. For this, we will assume that you are making a recording
of your voice on two tracks (1 and 2), using a microphone, and
recording a part of a stereo CD or cassette on the other two tracks (3
and 4). Make sure you know what you are going to say.
Start by making sure that you have all the equipment listed in 1.3,
“What you need to make recordings”.
3.1 Setting up
1) Make...

3 Making your first recording  
14
3) Play the tape for about 10 seconds and then stop the tape.
4) Press the counter reset button.
3.3 Setting the level
The aim of this section is to teach you to set the input level so that
the average signals coming from the microphone will light the 
0
meter indicator, and the loudest will light the +6 indicator.
1) Make sure all 
OUTPUT LEVEL controls are set to 0. Put on 
the headphones and set the 
PHONES LEVEL to the 0 position.
If you do not do turn down the...

3 Making your first recording
15
3.4 Recording the first track
1) Set the REC FUNCTION switch of INPUT 1 to 1.
You are now ready to record on track 1. Make sure the REC FUNC-
TION
 switch of INPUT 2 is set to SAFE, so you don’t record on it by 
accident.
2) Press the RECORD key (which will also press the PLAY key) 
and start recording the first spoken track.
If the level as shown by the meters now seems a little high, you can 
“back off” on the fader a little.
3) When you have finished (try to keep speaking...

3 Making your first recording  
16
3.5 Recording the next track
Since you plugged the microphone into MIC/LINE 1 / MONO, and
didn’t plug anything into 
MIC/LINE 2, the microphone signal is split
as if it was plugged into both channels.
1) Take fader 1 to the 0 mark.
2) Set the level for input channel 2 in the same way as you set it 
for input channel 1 (see 3.3, “Setting the level”).
3) Set 
REC FUNCTION switch for INPUT 2 to 2.
You are now ready to record on track 2.
4) Rehearse your second spoken part...

3 Making your first recording
17
3.6 Recording the stereo backing
Now that tracks 1 and 2 are filled with spoken words, we’ll put
some backing music behind them. We’ll assume that you’re using a
CD player here (of course, it may be an MD player or a cassette
player).
1) Make sure the volume on the amplifier is turned all the way 
down (it should already be turned down).
2) Take off the headphones and unplug the microphone.
3) Connect the left and right 
LINE OUT of the CD player to MIC/
LINE
 inputs 1 and...

3 Making your first recording  
18
3.7 Mixdown
Make sure that your mastering recorder is connected to the monitor-
ing system.
1) Set both 
REC FUNCTION switches to SAFE, and move both 
faders down to 
0.
This will stop any extra unwanted noise from the inputs appearing in 
the final mix.
2) Make sure the mastering recorder is ready to record, and 
put it into record pause mode. Do not start recording yet.
If you are using a tape for mastering, make sure that you are not 
recording over anything you want...

3 Making your first recording
19
7) Mix the tracks, fading the backing music on tracks 3 and 4 
to taste.
8) At the end, stop both machines. Rewind the mastering 
recorder.
9) Set the amplifier input source to the mastering recorder, 
and replay your mix.
10) If you are not happy with the mix, you can do it again, 
either recording over the old mix, or adding the new mix 
after the old one.
Congratulations! You have now completed your first recording
project with the Porta02. Rewind the Porta02 tape to the...

4 Hints and advanced tips  
20
4 – Hints and advanced tips
This section gives a few hints and tips
which may be useful to you when you
make recordings using the Porta02.
4.1 Recording techniques
Learning how to record is an art, not a
science. One of the best teachers is expe-
rience. However, there are a few things
mentioned here which may be useful toyou, and there are several good books on
the subject which can explain the theory
of recording and some of the techniques.
4.1.1 Recording electric...