414 popping and clicking noise

[usgishimura]

Hey all

I recently purchased a tascam 414 cassette recorder not too long ago to record some lo-fi demos for my bands and friends bands. When I would play back the tracks I recorded there would be annoying pops and clicks.

I cleaned the heads and that seemed to work for about an hour until the noise came back. I cleaned them again and the pops haven't gone away.

Other than that the machine works and sounds great. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what I could do to stop the popping noise.

Here is a link to a song I recorded that has the pops and clicks

Edit: I forgot to mention, I am using a type I tape as it was one I had lying around. I have a couple type ii tapes on the way that I will test when I get em to see if the popping noise is still there

 

[Phil Tipping]

I'm not sure why cleaning the heads would stop a clicking sound, but they sound regular so this may indicate something. Maybe you disturbed something in the transport mechanism? Have loaded the wave file into Audacity and you can certainly see regular spikes in the quiet parts. Here's a screen shot if it helps anyone else to diagnose the cause. The clicks are very short - if it hadn't been analogue, I would have guessed its a sample rate issue but it could be electrical; are you using condensor mics? They can be prone to clicking if the diaphragm has got damp.

 

[usgishimura]

I'm not using condensers on this.You mentioned sample rate so I feel like I should also mention what I did to record this track.

I did an external bounce of the drums, guitars, and bass into my DP24sd, then recorded it back onto two tracks on the 414 to do the leads. Would that kind of transfer have something to do with the pops? If so, I'll have to test it tomorrow as it's late here in California

 

[usgishimura]

Firmware is updated, unless there's a new update that I'm not aware of. That bounce was done at 24bit and 48khz when I normally would use 16bit and 44.1khz, unsure if that would cause it though.

I'm still very new to 4 track recording, this is my first unit after all. So believe me when I say that I have no idea what degaussing the tape path means. I'm willing to learn if it means the pops will go away lol

 

[Phil Tipping]

There were click problems with 24bit/48KHz recordings on the old DP firmware so worth double-checking. There are 4 different variants of the DP so make sure you check the right one on Tascam's website.
The sharpness of the click does suggest to me that it's more electrical than mechanical/magnetic which imo would give a dull thumping noise, but worth checking as much as you can.
Can you go back to the various recordings in the process (e.g. pre bounce) and try and find where the clicks were introduced?

 

[usgishimura]

The sharpness of the click does suggest to me that it's more electrical than mechanical/magnetic which imo would give a dull thumping noise, but worth checking as much as you can.

Interesting! I do recall a thumping noise when I started the drum track with a hi hat count but only on that bit. I cut it out but I can get that bit when I'm home at my laptop.

The clicks were introduced almost instantly from what I recall. I'll have to check when I get back home.

As far as the electrical explanation goes, I am in a garage that's separate from my house, with all my other musical equipment. The power strip the 414 is plugged into is some cheap household one from Walmart that I do intend on replacing it with Furman power strips very soon. Could that also be a factor here with the pops?

 

[Phil Tipping]

Well almost anything could be the culprit but before doubting everything, I would retrace or repeat each step methodically as it may turn out to be something simpler than you/we thought