4track not working correctly?

[ShadowOfDeath]

i seriously think somethings wrong with my phone track. I'm not a good music tech person to bear with my idocy. I tried recording some material i've worked on today. Only to find out it likes fucking around with the volume. Sometimes the lights come on and the volume works the way i want. Then it basically turns off. The lights don't come on and it basically mutes with the exception of the volume on my instrument.

It does this off and on which really fucks up my sound and makes it a pain in the ass to listen to myself...i almost puked at how shitty it sounds...if you want i'll upload it just so people can see what's wrong.

Does anyone with a 4track know how to fix it? I have no money to buy a new one or get it repaired...perhaps if it has a 1 year warrenty i'll see what the company says...but i'll have to get it out quick because i got it on my birthday which is only a month and a half away.


EDIT: After cleaning some crap off the volume area it seems to be working fine but i'll take any advice on what i should do if this happens again

 

[ShadowOfDeath]

Again today when i tried to record it worked for about 20 minutes then started doing the same thing

 

[TwilightSymphony]

This recording problem is showing up on the recordings themselves? Here's a small troubleshoot:

Check all your wires, first. There could simply be a bad connection going from whatever sound source (i.e. guitar, microphone, speaker simulator) you're trying to record that is cutting out (shorting). There's been many a time where I've been frustrated in attempts to record simply because of a damaged or broken wire not making the full connection. If the wire has gone bad and it isn't bent in just the right way, no electricity can cross the path and no signal will be picked up by the recorder. Always make sure your wires are in good working order.

If your wires check out okay, try using another channel to run your signal through. It may be possible to simply do a left-right recording by panning your signal over to a single track on your tape (or whatever recording medium you're using). If the problem is occuring on more than one channel, you may have to pull the casing off and check to make sure there are no loose wires inside (something I only recommend professionals do). There may be a loose connection on one or more of the channels you're trying to plug into. Otherwise, you may have to put a sample up so we can hear what's going wrong on the recordings.

 

[ShadowOfDeath]

This recording problem is showing up on the recordings themselves? Here's a small troubleshoot:

Check all your wires, first. There could simply be a bad connection going from whatever sound source (i.e. guitar, microphone, speaker simulator) you're trying to record that is cutting out (shorting). There's been many a time where I've been frustrated in attempts to record simply because of a damaged or broken wire not making the full connection. If the wire has gone bad and it isn't bent in just the right way, no electricity can cross the path and no signal will be picked up by the recorder. Always make sure your wires are in good working order.

If your wires check out okay, try using another channel to run your signal through. It may be possible to simply do a left-right recording by panning your signal over to a single track on your tape (or whatever recording medium you're using). If the problem is occuring on more than one channel, you may have to pull the casing off and check to make sure there are no loose wires inside (something I only recommend professionals do). There may be a loose connection on one or more of the channels you're trying to plug into. Otherwise, you may have to put a sample up so we can hear what's going wrong on the recordings.

Well all the wires are plugged in fine...sometimes one of my guitar wires buzzes a lot but if you bend it at a certain angle it works fine. I should get a new one of those. The cords seem to work fine in other output mediums(Aplifiers, etc) but perhaps the wire used to plug my 4 track into a source of electricity could be the problem?

I'll try the left-right panning, but i'm afraid there may be loose wires in the casing or something possibly so maybe i should check with some professionals about that.