5 – Your first song using the Pocketstudio 5
TASCAM Pocketstudio 5 Getting Started 19
3Press ENTER once again to save the data
before you start recording.
NOTE
Audio data is saved every time you stop recording. This
is shown by the
RECORD
key flashing after recording
has stopped, and the display showing a flashing aster-
isk. However, when the audio data is written to the
card, any changes you have made to the tone genera-
tor, EQ or effect settings, etc. are
not
stored to the card
along with the audio data.
For this reason, you should use the song save procedure
described here on a regular basis to make sure that
none of your work gets lost if you are making changes
to the song settings.
Making the recording
At last, we can start the recording!
1Practice your playing. Press the REW m
key to locate to the start of the song, and then
the PLAY y key to start the rhythm. Play
along to get the feel of the piece. Adjust the
tempo and the level, etc. of the backing
tracks as necessary.
2Make your first recording. Rewind the song
to the start (m) and press the REC READY
key of track 1 so that it starts to flash. Press
and hold down the RECORD key (>) and
then press the PLAY key (y). The track’s
REC READY key lights steadily. Press STOP
when you’ve finished recording and wait
until the RECORD key stops flashing before
doing anything else.
Repeat this recording process as often as you
want—unlike a tape recorder, there is no
delay when you rewind to the start. Don’t
worry about getting it perfect just yet, but
make sure that you have the chords you want
in at least roughly the right places!
NOTE
Turn off the track’s
REC READY
light when you want
to listen to what you’ve recorded, and turn it on again
when you want to record. Remember to turn it off
before you record the next track, or you’ll undo all your
hard work so far!
Adding vocals
1Now we’ll move onto the vocals. If you
haven’t plugged it in already, your headset
microphone (red plug) should be plugged
into the microphone input jack 9 and the
mic/line selection switch E should be set to
the BUILT IN position (this works both for the
built-in microphone or any microphone con-
nected to the mini-jack). Use the MIC position
if you have a dynamic microphone connected
to the 1/4” jack.
TIP
You can use the built-in microphone
M
, and switch the
selection switch to the
BUILT IN
position, but the
sound quality will not be so good as using the head-
phone microphone. You can also use your favorite
microphone instead of the headset microphone, but it
may be simpler to use the headset here.
Unplug your guitar, and turn down the input
level of INPUT A, so that you won’t record
any unwanted noise from that input while
you are singing.
2Assign the microphone to track 3. Press and
hold down the INPUT B MIC key, and press
the REC READY for track 4 to turn it off so
that track 3’s REC READY light is the only
one flashing rapidly.
Speak into the microphone and adjust the
level as required using the microphone level
control 8. Use the INPUT B meter to adjust
the input level.
3Assign a vocal effect to the microphone sig-
nal, using the EFFECTS key as you did ear-
lier for the guitar (“Adding a guitar effect”
on page 17). Remember that the input here is
input B, not A. A different set of effects is
available for this input (as it’s unlikely that
you’ll want a vintage tube stack sound on
your vocals!).
4Adjust the EQ for your voice as you did for
the guitar.
5Start playback from the start of the song and
adjust the level of the recorded guitar on
track 1 and 2.
