Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Gadgets & Tech Help! Sound question

WTF is bias?

I pressume its something to do with bass spatializer? (stereo bass only echo?)?



searched but with no answers

(BTW i am recording mp3`s from my pc to an Aiwa AD-F450 Tape deck) lol don`t ask.

I think its usually to help increase the sound quality on tapes, it controls the high frequency range of tape recordings so you can add/remove a certain level of hiss.

The results can be similar to Dolby NR (I think it would be similar to A and B anyway) but to be honest I have never really used a bias adjuster as I just tend to use Dolby NR instead (B or C dependent upon how much I want to clean the tape).

If its not this type of bias then I dunno about anything else lol.

I should add it should only affect the playback of a tape recorder and not the recording, unless its on a pre-mixer etc (ie. its some pro piece of kit, most Aiwa stuff is lower end Sony except for the odd late 80's/early 90's piece of kit so usually it wont be pro)...

Thanks matt, what do u think i should set it to?
the bias has been set to +10 but i`m gonna equal it, what dolby should i use? b or c?
Sorry, not to good with these, lol

I aint got a clue what to set it at, best to record an MP3 to a tape and then play back and see what sounds best.

As I say, it shouldnt make any difference on recording, only on playback (although I may be wrong), so its something that can be adjusted at any time.

With regards to NR it depends what you want to be honest. Dolby B is -10dB, so its less intrusive then C, which is -20dB. Dolby B has become quite acceptable and is used by some FM radio stations and although C can generally do a better job at cleaning up a recording, it usually leaves the resulting audio quite low frequency/bassey.

Best to play about with it and see which suits you best, its the only way. If the recorder can record in NR, id say go for B if any, as C is a bit extreme, especially for headfone use.

Of course, if you can record in C and playback in B its quite acceptable, but other then this I would never say use C for recording.

Thanks for that, just i haven`t got enough leads to plug the "monitor out" to the pc at the mo (dont want to keep swapping them)
Thanks for your help, dolby b it is, lol

Lol no problemo matey, its a pity customice isnt about he would have been a better help for this lol, i only scratched the surface on all this NR stuff lol, I was a kid when it died out along with tapes lmao!

Still love me "chrome" tapes and dolby b from time to time though haha!