Typically, the aim is to make the listeners feel as though they are "really there", listening to the original performance, but you can often use pan positions for special effects, and an unnatural pan position (or change to the pan position) is an attention-grabber. Remember that people listening on mono equipment (AM radio, etc.) won't hear the benefits of this, though. Making the mix When you've adjusted the level, you should: 1 Rewind the CR-4 tape to a little before the start of your recording. 2 If you're mixing to a tape, rewind the stereo tape to a little before you want to start the mix (you don't need to do this if you're recording to disc). Put your stereo recorder in record ready mode. 3 Play back the CR-4 tape, and if your stereo recorder has meters, watch them carefully at the loudest parts to make sure that you are not recording at too high a volume. Adjust the recording level (or if your stereo recorder has no recording level controls, lower the CR-4's [MASTER] fader). 4 Rewind the CR-4 tape to a little before the start of your song. 5 Play back your CR-4 tape. 6 Start recording on your stereo recorder in the quiet passage before the song actually starts. 7 At the end of the song, stop your recorder, and then stop the CR-4 tape. 8 You can now listen to the mixed tape. It's quite possible that you will not get it perfectly right first time, so be prepared to do it again (and again!) until you get it right. B When you've finished, we suggest you clean the tape heads of your CR-4 before turning it off and putting it away. 12 More advanced techniques Here are a few more techniques that you can use to help with your recording. Multi-track recording The CR-4 allows you to record four tracks at once. The example we gave above only recorded one track at a time. If you are recording a group of musicians, you can record more than one track at once, and adjust the balance later. You can record on a pair of tracks (either 1+2 or 3+4). Press one [REC/OL] button, and then the other [REC/OL] button of the pair to arm. You can also arm and record on all four tracks by using four fingers to press all four [REC/OL] buttons together. If you are recording on more than one track, remember that only one track at the most can use the Ampworks effects. Don't try to press more than one [EFFECT] switch at the same time. Expanding the inputs You can use a small mixer to mix together several different instruments (for example, a stereo chorus rhythm guitar and a buttonboard with the bass), and use this to feed two tracks. The other two tracks can then be used for lead guitar and vocals. Typically, you'll create a stereo sub-mix using the small external mixer, and record the left and right outputs of the mixer on two tracks. When you come to mix down, you'll pan these two tracks hard right and hard left. Expanding the number of tracks The CR-4 is restricted to four tracks on a cassette, but you can record more than four tracks in a song if you use a mixdown stereo recorder. B It's probably best to use a digital (CD or MD) recorder as your stereo recorder, to avoid tape hiss and noise building up. 1 Record the first four tracks as described above (^p.9). 2 Mix down to the stereo recorder(^p.12) and rewind your CR-4 tape to the start of the recording (or insert a new tape). 3 Connect the [LINE OUT] of the stereo recorder to inputs 1 and 2 of the CR-4. You may not want to add any effects to these tracks just yet, so make sure all [EFFECT] switches are off. 4 Arm all the CR-4 tracks from 1 through 4 (so that you write over the previously recorded tracks). Move the [TRIM] controls and the faders of tracks 3 and 4 to their lowest level (all the way down). 5 Play back the stereo recording, and adjust the [TRIM] controls of tracks 1 and 2. 6 Start recording on the CR-4 and play back the mixed stereo recording from the beginning. Disconnect the stereo recorder from the CR-4 inputs, and safe all CR-4 tracks. H If you're using a cassette recorder as your stereo recorder, you can take the mixed cassette from the stereo recorder and put it in the CR-4. The stereo tracks will become tracks 1 and 2 on the CR-4. Remember you cannot use noise reduction on your stereo cassette recorder, and because the track layout of the CR-4 is different to that of an ordinary cassette recorder, you must use only one side of the stereo cassette. 7 Now you can use tracks 3 and 4 for new tracks, along with the previous tracks now bounced onto 1 and 2. B Once you've mixed your first four tracks to stereo, there's no way of separating them again! So if you decide after recording tracks 5 and 6 that the bass is too quiet (or you notice a wrong note!), there's not a lot you can do about it. You may want to use a new cassette for the bounced tracks, and preserve your first four tracks on the original cassette. Using the noise reduction As part of the Ampworks effector, there is a noise-reduction system built in. If you're pl...