FC, a faithful inSync reader asks:
“When I make recordings on my portable Casio DAT machine they always sound squashed with no dynamics; almost distorted. The meters never peak though. What gives?”
It sounds like your machine has an AGC active on its input. Many low cost recorders employ this “feature” in place of, or in addition to level controls to make recording of dialog and other non-music sources easier. An AGC circuit can be helpful, but sometimes they are not sophisticated enough to properly handle wide bandwidth music that has a great dynamic range. Some machines allow the AGC to be enabled or disabled via a switch, but in some cases it is unfortunately on all the time. If that is the case with your machine there isn’t much you can do but get something else or try to have it modified by a technician.