Help! - Akai GX-95 MkII, Bias, Recording level

[zstoja]

Hello,

It is Akai GX-95 MkII.

I have two questions.

- I set calibration, level and bias.
If I playback this part of tape there is just tone for right channel, for left is nothing.
But, if bias is changed during music recording both left and right channel are fine.
Is it OK, else how to fix this?


- I set calibration, level and bias to correct values.
During recording I always get that tape level is almost 3db less than source level.
To correct that, I increase recording level almost to +3db (maximum).
How to fix this?

Thank you.

[royphil345]

Are you saying that the deck records a test tone to auto-set the bias? And that it is only recorded on the right channel? I don't have that deck, but it seems like there'd be no reason to use both channels for bias calibration. Everything's probably OK.

I also remember from my cassette days that the VU meters just about always read lower when playing back than when recording on most decks. Again, nothing to worry about.

What I usually found to be the "right" way of doing things was to adjust the levels according to the meters while recording, and not worry about a lower reading during playback. You can play a pre-recorded tape and see how the levels look during playback for comparison.