Recording lofi garage rock on a 1980s 4-track cassette tape machine | TASCAM portastudio
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 พ.ค. 2021
- having friends is important
We messed around with Collin Stanley's "Time Future" go listen: collinstanley.ffm.to/timefuture
today's lineup
Collin Stanley - guitar & friend
John Horne - drums & friend
James Quesada - photos, assistance & friend
Collin Stanley links: ffm.bio/collinstanley
Pencil Factory Recording Studio: pencilfactoryrecording.com/
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What I loved about cassette multi-tracks was how they created the necessity for inventive problem solving. When you only have a limited number of tracks available you have to figure out methods and processes to achieve a quality outcome. Honestly, working with less makes you a better musician and engineer.
I had a Tascam 4 track in the early 90’s which allowed for some home-made demos without spending tons in the studio. Drums, guitar, bass, vocals. We ran the drums into the mixer for live performance then used the singing signal out into track 1. Track 2 was SM-57 on the Guitar cab. Bass was same on 3, and vocals were on 4. Put everyone in separate rooms and record live. Came out awesome and got us by. When we went into the studio, we basically setup the same way just with nicer equipment.
that isolation was probably super helpful! thank you for sharing your experience 🙏
The snare sounds magical
"Electron Plumber" hit hard
John has a lot of wisdom and i hope to bring him back on soon. thanks for watching 🙏
Owned a Porta 02 in the late 90s. Had a really basic GM sequencer on my PC, so used to feed a line out from my computer which had drums, bass, and synths into one track of the recorder, then use my Line 6 POD 2.0 to track guitars, and the final track was for vocals.
No EQ at all. Just level balancing.
It sounded rough, but as a songwriting tool to pass to band mates, it was ideal.
thanks for sharing! the limitations definitely help with creativity 🙏🏻
this channel bringeth the warm hissy joy
that makes me think of a motherly snake 😂
thank you for watching 🙏
Knowing Vance personally, I'll pass along your enthusiasm for his work. He always appreciates those who take a moment to acknowledge his work. He is such a wonderfully humble person, you would like him a lot.
He's incredibly generous in interviews and his humility shines through, too. Thank you for the comment and checking out this video, I appreciate it!
This is the greatest fucking thing i have ever seen
🙏🤘
Glasses make also a good analog sound!
Awesome! Would love more content on recording bands with a four track. Also would have been interesting to hear an entire take with that snare glitch.... lol
hahaha luckily that was discovered during sound check, so there are no takes with the snare glitch
Midas is a awesome sound board
yes indeed!
Very cool video, again. Yes, please, more of this kind, too. It inspires to make more music, brilliant. I could learn a lot, too. And I always anticipate the moment I get to hear how it sounds from a tape. Thank you. Cheers!
happy to hear that! happy recording!
Tascam,linea professionale della teac.ottimo
I had the High Speed version of this machine. It loved TDK tapes. I have boxes of HS 4track tapes I can't play back now. LOL.
i hope your 4 track tapes get played again!
I am about to record with my Tascam 424 in two 100 ft culverts.I am bringing roll-ups filled with beans.
bean roll-ups heck yes
I love that boink snare sound!!
🥁 🥁 🥁🤘
This is really making me crave a ton of brooklyn brews and wild times with you 3. Rock in 🤘
we can make that happen!
Nice! I still have my Tascam Porta Studio 4 track cassette recorder! Mine is from 1987 and has only four channel faders with a master fader…..
it's all the instruments and playing. this balance would be good enough for a modern (lo-fi) single. sounds amazing, cool channel!
thanks for the nice comment! Collin's tune is a fun one, and we'll feature more stuff like this down the road
Me and my Songwriting partner used one of these Tascam Porta II Mini-Studio recorder back in the late 80's, early 90's until I purchased
an 8 track Fostex reel to reel tape recorder. They both served there puposes. Both were great sounding machines. I sold them both to my
Songwriting partner after we stopped playing. a Few weeks ago I purchased a "new" Tascam 8 track digital studio. I have yet to use it.
But Ive heard nothing but great reviews about it. Lots of Musicans have recorded their new albums with it and are selling them on line.
So thats an option I like to do once I finally start recording my songs! 😍💖🎸
heck yes! enjoy and happy recording!
Noice! Big fan of Jack White here, too! Love that garage sound, I'm actually part of two-piece garage band myself. Sounded great 🤘
🤘 the Jack White rabbit hole can go very deep in many directions
The whole of the white stripes elephant album was recorded on a cassette 4 taack and that's one of the biggest albums and songs in seven nation army. Sounds awesome.
@@gavinthegoliath This is what the wiki says:
Jack White produced the album with antiquated equipment, including an eight-track tape machine and pre-1960s recording gear.[15] As stated in the liner notes, White did not use computers during Elephant's writing, recording, or production.[16][17] and none of the recording equipment was more recent than 1963.[18]
sounding good boys
Entertaining and a well put together session and video!
thank you for watching! 🙏
Very nice guys 👏🏻
Sounds great, I love it!
thank you for listening!
This is so cool, more please. Subscribed.
Fantastic video..... love 4-Tack recording.... keep it up please..........
planning on it! 🙏🤘📼🎼
Whoah, man, I really dig what you’re doing. So cool! Obvious you love music and love sound. Great stuff!
thank you! this means a lot and welcome to the community 🙏🤘
Would love to see what you could do with an 8 track Tascam. With a bass guitar, second guitar and vocals added..... cheers.
i would love a 388
Great video!!!!! Thanks for sharing
thanks 🙏 for watching!
I plug my guitar directly into a dbx 163x and it sounds just fine..
love direct guitar!!! so funky!
Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and techniques for recording it helped me a lot God bless you keep up the good work
thanks so much for this comment! i’m happy to help and love creative people!
why i feel like he is hosting a cool audio engineering show, i like it
more coming down the pike! thanks for watching 🙏
Sounds good to me!
I think the cassette fits the song a lot better, nice!
maybe more down the road! thanks for watching!
4:59 sounds good brah hit record 1234!
yah perfect. that's your platinum-record snare sound
YESSS!!!!!!
very nice!
Thank you! Cheers!
I always do stereo overheads, never mono, I like the natural stereo-ness it does to the track with minimal effing around! Mono is just so flat and dull. For basic demos maybe, but even then, I use M/S mode on my room mic and point the mono mic at the kick drum and the left mic at the guitar amp then the right mic at the bass amp (it is one mic recorder but has 3 separate mics inside the small portable mic) I use it as a room mic or as a back-up in case sheet hits the fan in the main recording desk, still got the room mic back-up. No mono crap! I angle it as best I can to get everything separated into it as best I can just in case and so we can move easily without it getting in the way. In fact, several of my songs I uploaded, the drums are ONLY from using this one room mic and you'd never know which songs those were vs songs I uploaded that had a fully mic-ed up kit!!!
M/S is my favorite stereo mic on drums! My ears are usually on very classic recordings so mono is still my go-to. All is fair in art! thanks for watching!
Ahhh I see an Aston Stealth. Awesome mic.....
yes! I recently moved and can't readily locate it... it's around here somewhere great mic! I love the origin as well. Thanks for watching!
Awesome video
many thanks 🙏 let me know if there's anything you'd like to see on the channel!
I remember these Portastudios featured in GuitarPlayer during my late-70s Uni days. They were fascinating but outa reach then. FF 2022 & have re-adopted vintage/retro analogue hardware (never really embracing computer/digital .. TomSholtze anyone?). A serviced Tascam 246 is the core of my “home-studio” .. nothing ambitious/just experiments in JazzGuitarStudy. Found the Tascam electret mics & remote 4 it. Am about 2 sell off a Teac Model-5B mixer & wood-panelled dbx-160 comp/limiter units as too ambitious now (was looking @ 4ch 1/4” open-reel tape recorder 4 it). Still, there’s nothing like good ol’ knobs, dials & reels .. hands-on “play-flow”. I’ve even been sourcing vintage vinyl JameyAebersold jazz study playalongs. Plenty 2 take away here👍
love the tactile nature too! plugins just don’t have it!
Awesome! Subscribed!
welcome to the community! thanks for watching!
You remind me of the keyboard player in spinal tap.
do you know how much shame i have in admitting this: I STILL haven't seen Spinal Tap all the way through
I think that takes a lot of courage to admit publicly lol
Quality infotainment. I should try this on my tascam 388
ooohhh you have a 388? 😍
@@MadeOnTape I don't leave home without it.
AFAIK the album "Equinox" by JMJ is recorded on 4 tracks.
it's a fun workflow! in 2023 I want to make a video laying out the workflow for DAW users, too. thanks for watching!
It would be cool to see someone record a band with a 4 track the real way most bands did back in the day. We usually only had two crappy dynamic mics, record the drums on track 1 , a mic inside the bass drum, and a mic above the drummers head pointing at the snare. There would probably be a guide guitar at the same time but it didn't get recorded (it would just bleed into the drums!) bass usually got plugged straight into the 4 track recorded on track 2, then guitar recorded on track 3, micing an amp (although some bands insisted on plugging their guitar straight into the 4 track after their boss metal zone or whatever pedal for a fizzy mess) vocals on track 4 with any backing vocals getting sung at same time, then guitar solo's been recorded also on track 4 (hoping theres no overlap). Then mixing it all down to a cassette recorder, maybe with the help of a zoom studio 1201 or something for adding some reverbs, or even something like a Boss BE5 (the delay being perverted into a cheap slapback sounding echo) Some bands went crazy and bounced down the first 3 tracks onto track 4 then started adding more stuff on top, even bouncing again until eventually the backing sounded like it wasn't recorded in the same century (let alone same session)....we instead used to play guitar along with the mixdown to ensure our mixdown had the only copy of that guitar solo so when the tape snapped and we had to mix down again it was lost forever! I love 4 tracks!! :)
that’s a killer idea! finding the band that wants to do it…that’s a bit of a challenge! hopefully as my reach grows i can attract some bands to make that happen.
thanks for watching and sharing your experience! 🙏🤘
Great channel!
thanks for checking it out! welcome to a growing community 🙏
Bruce swedien was double mic’ing instruments back in the 70’s and 80s. Including drums. If you wanna become a great engineer there’s no one better to learn from
Bruce is a master! i mean, Thriller… can’t argue with those results!
Very good
very thank you 🙏
Ah man, loving the process vids! Now play us a riff!
VRRRRREEOEOWWWW
Nice bass! I have the guitar version of that.. a '74 Les Paul Signature semi-hollow, gold top. Same body and whatnot. I'd like to get a matching Jack Casady bass someday though! 🤘
that bass is sick. Sounds so good even acoustically...aggressive tone all on its own
I had the first Teac 144 in 1981, and I still have a Yamaha MT 100 (sic?). Even knowing nothing about production as a teen/20s, the 1 and 1/2- chord punk / garage rock we Sid Vicious/Louie Louie at-the-same-time wannabes puked out would sometimes turn out good-sounding enough on playback that we would look at each other all, "Is that really US?". Lol. And this was half a decade before I knew what a compressor was, and we had ONE Radio Shack SM58-lookalike mic. We always recorded the 1st track doing guitar and drumkit on one track with that one cardioid mic in the middle of the room, pointing at the ceiling, held in place between two books -- hoity toity mic stands were for hippies, I guess we thought. I didn't know we were using the mic "wrong". Lol. I'd plug the bass straight in. Yet some of it turned out sounding better than it deserved to nevertheless. Ahh, the early punk rock days... In small town Texas, 1981 was still "1977"; we didn't know, lol. Cassette 4 track is great.
thanks for sharing! Bass still sounds great direct! 4-track forces a limitation on you that really breeds creativity, and I love your recounting of tracking guitar and drums together. Probably sounded gnarly in the best way! 🤘
Nice.
yo Will thanks brother 🙏
🍓. Loved this one. Shoving studio-quality pres into a Tascam is just what I’ve been dreaming of... You should buy some rechargeable C batteries and do some field recording next!
it’s definitely gonna happen! NYC is only starting to open up June/July
@@MadeOnTape I’ll be in the area around then - not a bad idea to bring a PortaTwo and a mic or two to Prospect Park 🤔
I made my first Live recording of my band in about 1970-71(?) My band played a chorus concert at thjr, high and we were like halftime entertainment. Two songs. Let It Be and In-A-Gadda-Da -Vida Single mic. Near the guitars, Poiknted up for Omnidirectional effect as it had a pattern. Some early EV mic looked like a shotgun mic with the EV664-666 vents and holes. Came out well except vocals got buried from the gym PA speakers. Did some home recording after that with the schools two Wolensaks bouncing tracks like in the real old days. I was also working on a radio play, that's why I had the schools stuff at home. A few school gigs with my BF's band at the High school Cafeteria With a 4 channel mic mixer and a line off the PA head. That's how I found out about maintaining a reel deck. Second set was a mess. Didn't fine out until I played back the tapes. Also the M8 style AKAI machine was in desperate need of RUBBER RENEW for it's drive tires. Wasn't until 1978 when I met my BF in Ann Arbor And we got together at his friend's house Ivy Hunter Motown Writer performer I got to work with my first TEAC 3340. My friend bought himself a 3440 with mixer and meter bridge soon after and I bought a three head deck we ended up using for echo. My friend brought in different people to help with his demos. During that time I got access to do mine. Jump to about 1998 I started at home to rerecord some of the demo's with things we didn't have back then Still TEAC 3340 and a hi-fi VCR Mackie tiny mixer. The computer didn't really happen til about 2004. Most tracks mastered at 44.1khz and 16 bit. Now everything is at least 96k/24bit. And my sound card is 4 channel for dubbing the 4 track the right way.
Abreciated history of my life recording. U have stuff everywhere on the internets including my youtube channel. I have 4 of those. I had the bug and had to record everything.
thank you for sharing! love hearing the history! I did my undergrad in Ann Arbor and have fond memories of that town
@@MadeOnTape Lived in Ypsilanti under the shadow of that water tower. YES THAT ONE! About 6 years, Worked at WIQB FM 103. Never took a class but understood the systems better than my friend that did take specific classes for recording. All those mistakes helped me learn a lot. Same with Radio. NO specs Howard. Just started in a back woods station and worked my way up until I realized THERE'S not much money in it. Radio that is.
Keep em coming! Just bought a tascam to record a local band here on Aruba! Would love to see a video about mastering (tape workflow)
Analog mastering is a dark art! I also try to always get someone else's ears on my mixes to master, so the only mastering I've done myself is with Izotope Ozone 9...
Do you mean a video on mixing? thanks for watching! I used to work on those damn cruise ships, so I've been to your lovely island.
@@MadeOnTape Thank you for the reply! Hahah yes our island is a bit of a tourist destination. My cousins own a bar right in front of the cruise terminal. Six pack will be waiting! lowtidefy is where I am uploading some future music but here some footage of the island and some tunes
th-cam.com/users/BruceHarms
I've been looking for ways to integrate more of my Tascam 424 into what I'm doing in the DAW. The sub-mix with the mixer is an incredible idea, and friends have told me about that in the past, but seeing it here helps a ton. The biggest issue we have with the four track is, well, the four tracks (even for a three piece band). The other big issue we have with integrating the DAW and the tape machine is that the tape machine speeds up toward the end of the song as opposed to the DAW -- which stays in computer time and the tape goes into its own weird tape time.
So let's say we record live drums and scratch bass/guitar/vocals on a ZoomR16 digital recorder, dump those tracks into Reaper, then bounce those drums into the 424 for that sweet tape compression and those incredible EQ knobs, then bounce the tape mix back into the DAW and try to line up with the original it becomes a huge wobbly delayed mess before the end of a 3-minute song. Perhaps we will have to bounce the final mix-down to tape and see what that does, or only use the tape machine for short overdubs/effects. I do love the sound of distorted tape drums.
i don't have a great answer for you! I love drums on cassette too. Maybe, track as a live band with the drums, then overdub the other parts in a DAW afterward? If you're SUPER committed to the tape thing, you can always do an external bounce, and bring back a stereo track into the portastudio, freeing up two tracks for more overdubs.
the machines are imperfect, so time-aligning them in a DAW is a BEASTLY task
some people have succeeded in linking tape machines to DAWs...hopefully I'll tackle that down the road
thanks for watching!
@@MadeOnTape Thanks for the response! We will probably just keep doing what has kinda worked for us, and my bandmates think my obsession with the cassette machine is a bit silly. But for isolated effects that are fairly short, transitions between songs or parts of songs and other cool stuff like flipping the tape for backwards sounds, I'm sure we can find a good use. There's probably a reason most professional studios don't track all their stuff on cassette Portastudios. But for us DIY folks these things are legendary because it's what allows indie musicians who otherwise could not afford to record in a real studio to create music and have control over our aesthetic. If nothing else, I can use the preamps on the 424 and use it as mixer/submixer in conjunction with the 414 and the ZoomR16. Thanks for these videos, I really enjoy them and they're giving me ideas.
Some of the drawbacks of cassette tape recording are covered up by high-energy, high volume music. Acoustic music is a whole different situation. I have an old Tascam 424 that I used for acoustic work in the late 90s, but eventually computer DAWS made life much easier. However, I still occasionally use the tascam for tracking a strummed steel string guitar. I have trouble getting that "sugary" sound on anything except saturated, or near saturated, tape.
thank you for sharing! totally agree: and if a person wants to get a certain intimacy, cassette recording can lend itself well. cheers 🙏
8:44 yes,
...but hey, work with what you got :)
...thats the way ;)
The snare issue LOL had me laughing !! glad you worked it out 😂
Right?! thanks for watching 🙏
Great job! I've got to get myself some of those friends. Does Sweetwater sell those? 😁
you gotta call your rep 😂
Yep so cool until the tape twists or breaks or wraps around the pinch roller
then you have a party! 🤘
🍕 because you can eat it for breakfast also!
The recording was awesome guys, lots of fun! yet technical issues aren't important at all when you're enjoying the process 🎶
PS: I have a Fostex X28H that's broken, due to an overload using a Sansamp in front of it ;) Lessons are learned!
ooohhh but those Sansamps are so fun so I understand it's easy to do. Thanks for watching!🙏
I'm working with two 4 tracks, a 1994 Yamaha MT4X and a 1979 Teac 144. since the Yamaha MT4X has a studio out I'm thinking of just running that into the Teac 144's track 1 and then record tracks 1-4 from the Yamaha's tape onto a another tape which is known as ping ponging (a 5th track if you will) then record that into a computer running adobe audition 1.5. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone.
"Pencil Factory?" Is that a David Lynch/Eraserhead reference? PS: Great video! ✌️
i wish i were that cool! no, it's literally the name of the studio space because it's in a big building that used to be a pencil factory.🤘
Pencil fight!!!!! Band name!!! Called it!!!
@@MadeOnTape i got a tape deck put back into a modern car.
If you take away your options you can increase your creativity and output. Get a decent song, decent players, get decent sound then release it to the world. Rinse and repeat. Looks like you guys are having a blast.
I bet you could fuss more and send all 4 drum mic’s to tracks 3 and 4 pan them in your mixer to get a little stereo effect. I think you could do similar with the guitar. Pan one mic left and one mic right then run them through track 1and 2 in stereo.
If you like the mono drum sound with some messing around you can find a sweet spot with just one mic. Then you wouldn’t have to overdub the bass.
Sounds great 👍
thanks for watching and your insightful comment! couldn’t agree more
love the vid! did you know that Jeff Lynn mics up top and bottom snare too? check it out.
I am wondering if you can directly plug a guitar amplifier directly to scarlett 2i2 and record to a software without clipping and hearing what you hear ambiently would this be possible?
hey there! lot to unpack here.
1) not all guitar amps have a direct out, but a lot do. If you’re using an amp, may i inquire why you’re not miking the amp?
2) the direct signal will be different from what you hear ambiently, but that could be cool! depending on what you want
Ultimately, i’d say go for it and don’t worry if you don’t like it!
@@MadeOnTapemany thanks! i'm planning to do a fresh start in recording and i have zero idea regarding this endeavor , but i've order a scarlet online the moment i commented on this Video. I'm just curious how 80's guitarist did their recording if it's the same principle as to the modern.
Time future's melody reminds me of The Waitresses "I Know What Boys Like" lol
you know, you're not the first to point that out, so i'm starting to think that Time Future's melody is similar to the Waitresses "I Know What Boys Like" 😂
I'm thinking of getting a tascam 424, but I don't know how to master the tapes or how can i digitalize the recording tapes, should i get an audio interface or a tascam, I'm really into velvet underground stuff
Hi YamiNog!
so, the TASCAM 424 gives you 4 tracks to work with, then you "mix down" to a stereo file, which is standard format for listening to music. Back in the day, you would mix down to a "master" tape, like a reel or even a fancy cassette.
You can do this straight to an interface as well. So, (hopefully this makes sense), you need TWO inputs of an interface. One for your Left Channel, and one for your Right Channel.
Physically, this means taking an RCA cable from your 424 and plugging that into an interface. Long story short, if you plan on digitizing and distributing your cassette music to all streaming platforms, you need an interface. Luckily, inexpensive interfaces are very good these days.
Once you have a stereo file in your DAW, then you can master it "in the box" (on the computer). Let me know if this helps and I'm happy to answer any further questions!
@@MadeOnTape thanks a lot for answer me, it helped me with the decision of "what can i buy" xd
Give me analog his distortion and plenty of wow and flutter
ask and ye shall receive 🙌
This is probably a dumb question, But can I just use guitar pedals instead of those fancy thousand dollar compressors and eqs with a 4 track tape recorder to get similar results?
yo! not a dumb question at all! In this video there were no compressors being used, just the tape itself. Absolutely you can get a great vibe with guitar pedals and that's what I use on most (if not all) of my personal recordings. thanks for listening!
now do it JUST using the 4 track
different flavor of music but we almost did that here! (still an external preamp for bass n guitar n drums). th-cam.com/video/1tTtmaXoqik/w-d-xo.htmlsi=NjxzzwuutF7Lcb2t
I Now loving this method of recording, i trying to make some aproximation in reaper, I liked how simplifying the recording method, great results are achieved, I'm learning a lot! I would also love to have a recorder like yours!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣
I would love to make a video one day showing cool ways to use a DAW like a 4-track. It's on my bucket list!
I believe music is for everyone, and that there should be no barrier-to-entry. I have only one beef with this analog format that I've fallen into: not everyone has access. Keep making music and rock on!
I would of record that error sound in a daw and make for a sample for midi lol
still could! great idea 😂🙌🤘
@@MadeOnTape l0l k00l let me kn0w hehe. i did that bef0re seen a video 0f a guy showing LinnDrum sounds that they use in the 80s like Michael Jackson.. then i use audacity t0 make a stereo mix t0 rec0rd the s0und 0ff vide0. then made s0me cuts and sample t00k t0 t0 fl studi0 and lmms f0r kicks it was like i was in te 80s again l0l
I can't remember whether the Portatwo can record to all four tracks at the same time or not.
yes indeed and that’s what we did
1-guitar
2-kick drum
3-snare
4-overhead
@@MadeOnTape I posted that before watching the whole video.
Vocals in the next session?
many topics to cover: will surely tackle vox down the road
Hello there. I have been left a Tascam Teac 244 that I am selling. I can't use it and wish to find it a home where it will be loved. I am in Ireland. Do you know how is the best way to show that it is for sale.
hello! take lots of pictures. i’m not sure if there are other marketplaces in Ireland, but i would post it on
ebay
facebook marketplace
and craigslist
you’re bound to get hits!
I'd never thought of that! Thank you 😊
I had to pause the video and check to see if the DBX was on. It would appear to be off! Considering this, I would say that your 4 track is missing some of it's high end. Oh course I realize all the limitations of that technology...but even then the kick drum should sound much better than that? You should still be capable of capturing an 8 kilohertz bandwidth with that tiny track width. Assuming of course that your recording at 3 3/4 ips?
this machine only goes 1 7/8 ips! great ears!
Digital also has major problems!
that's right, and we're very spoiled to live in a world with both! Thanks for watching!
Hey, sir. I’m near Boston Mass, and you hav made a new fan( no not a window fan, more a Red Sox fan… or human-wise, you mentioned Jack White, who is very interesting, but my Jack White analog(-he)-I just had to get the”A” word in there-would Be Jason Faulkner (ex-Jellyfish). So I’m about to try to record an album onto a Korg32xd, which I’ve never used and I am openly a “Digital Dunce.” So after watching a bunch of your videos, I’m thinking I should pick up an old but working well Fostex or Tascam 4 track ( 7 tracks if you bounce. Right?) Because the 359page Korg manual is so daunting I’ll never finish/nor start anything. So thanks for the ideas. I’ve always been a fan of making more with less, whereas computer recording seems to all too often be: making less with more. Hasta Las Vegas.
hey thanks so much for the kind words! I know how you feel: some digital recorders are not intuitive at all, and that can be a creative buzzkill. You can get up to 7 tracks with internal bouncing on a four track, if you limit yourself to just one "generation loss" bounce. however, if you're really ok with some lofi grunge, you can certainly do more than 7 tracks. You gotta be happy with mono hahaha and then stereo effects on your final mixdown.
good luck and keep me posted!
@@MadeOnTape/Helloooo there. Thanks for the response. All I need to know about analog, is that Brian Wilson did most all his Beach Boys recording with one ear so it had to be in mono ( unless he had a “stereo ear,” like a stereo mic.) Don’t know if he ever had the hearing restored…I live near Boston/ Cambridge Mass., and one of the legendary garage-punk bands around here is The Lyres. And you kind of remind me of their founder/leader Jeff Conolly…looks wise, voice quality, passion for the music, attention to detail…I’d recommend checking them out on You Tube with the song of grungy inspiration: “Don’t give it up now.” It can really get you out of a fog-bog disillusionment, that I find happens to often. Sometimes music is the only cure.
@@h.markhorton8188 i'm listening right now and it's awesome. thank you for suggesting!
Funny you mention Brian Wilson's hearing issues... I recently had corrective ear surgery in one ear
th-cam.com/video/lyAu6maXrHQ/w-d-xo.html
Hi. Long time no contact, but I still watch your videos. Here’s my situation. I’ve written a bunch of songs ( that signal board you have is impressive. I don’t have anything like that). That I want to record as “ predemoes”, so I don’t need an expensive digital 32 track. But my question is basic: for this purpose, cassette (4trk)vs. cheap digtal.( 8 track). So that’s the first issue. I know you can get 7 tracks from a cass recorder with bouncing. But one guy said you could get 10 tracks without rebouncing,( ?.. Does renouncing require a second cass deck). 1-So how Could you get ten tracks? ( the cass machine I looked at was Tascam 246 which has 6 inputs. (But I do need at least 8 tracks) 2. Which 4 track recorder would you recommend? Tascam Porta one 250? (is that what you use?) or Portastudio 246.or others. ( the 8 track cass decks are way too expensive) 3. The basic question cassette vs. digital for demo/ demoed? And what would be the main reasons for your choice? Thanks a lot, and keep up the entertaining and informative videos (and if you see Jack White tell him the Racinteurs were no Jellyfish or the Grays, and as talented as he is, he could learn a few things from Hason Falkner. ( my current favorite). I know this getting long, but if you have time, who are some of your current musical faves, famous or not. ( I tend to for some reason go for people are Not famous, but imho”should be.” Thank you, sir.
Just as a p.s. most of those spelling mistakes are due to the hated “SPELLFUCKEDCHECK.”
How much of the top and bottom snare did you use? Each mic you add is just another opportunity for phase issues… i mean nobody is listening to drums with their ears right on the drum (hopefully). We experience everything (most of us) via 2 mics aka our ears.. so theoretically you should be able to get a great drum sound with 2 mics. Same with kick… less mics will also help with the obnoxious cymbals… also drummer etiquette… the technique for playing drums at a show and recording are two different things. Check out Khrungbin tiny desk video… watch how their drummer barely hits the drums and the recording sounds fat AF. Ultimately there is no wrong way… just sharing what i learned..what works for me.. hope I’m not coming off as condescending. (As I’m typing your guitar player touches on what I’m getting at). I enjoy ur videos. Thanks you
i LOVE getting minimal drum sounds! this comment opens up a pandora’s box that would take too long to unpack.
I hear you, and i would have been asking similar questions if you caught me a few years ago.
Now that we have had nearly 100 years of recording, really you just have to ask yourself, what drum sounds do you prefer? none is “better” than the other, although most experienced engineers would agree that a foundational drum sound from one or two mics is key.
I love drum sounds from early Art Blakey to Ringo to Danny Carey. and there were vastly different approaches to get these sounds…
hope this helps!
in terms of this recording, i recall that the snare is just barely augmenting the mono OH and kick drum.
Is there a reason you went from mixer to preamp and not preamp to mixer?
that’s a great question with a long answer that has to do with
1) the way monitoring is set up in that studio
2) desiring the color and eq of a Neve style preamp while
3) combining microphones into one signal path to have it end up on one track on the cassette.
let me know if i am unclear or if you have any specific follow up questions!
I get it, you bus the two guitar signals and send that to the neve. Now I have to try on my fostex!
@@tylerjones2292 📼🎼🤘
Now I've got "I Know What Boys Like", by The Waitresses (1982) in my head, lol. No offence intended! It's just the exact same melody :)
LOVE that song! vocals have such attitude!
Next time, please do a video of you making a recording using just the mics and the Portastudio, and nothing else (no other outboard gear, no big mixer, no preamps, )…. Just a simple setup with no more than four mics plugged directly into the Tascam.
Not everybody watching this can afford all that extra equipment that you were showing in the beginning.
that's a great idea! I hope you check out the rest of the channel because that's the kind of stuff I do most of the time! thanks for watching 🙏
a lotta people spending a lotta money trying to make digital sound good for bands but really analog is still miles ahead esp if you've got drums, trumpets and vocals going on, which to my ears all sound a lot worse straight into the box. hybrid always for band shit
There's something irreplaceable captured when people get in a room and record together! love your take and thanks for commenting 🙏
Awesome stuff, but "lo fi"? C'mon now.
hahaha, I hear ya! sometimes we are beholden to SEO search terms. Glad you enjoyed it!
This experiment is pointless if you are using outboard preamps and sub mixers. Unless you are plugging the mics directly into the 4 track then this is a lame experiment that doesn’t really prove anything except that any recording medium sounds ok through a bunch of front end gear.
hey Scott! Great points!
It's been a while since I re-watched this video... I don't recall trying to prove anything other than having fun recording your friends in an interesting space on a portastudio.
The word "experiment" usually implies intent to prove something and involves a control subject, and neither of those elements are present in this vid.
Again, thanks for watching and happy playing and recording ✌🤘
@@MadeOnTape I expected in this video to see you use the 4 track to make a recording so as to actually hear how the 4 track sounds. I began recording on a TEAC 3340 4 track in the mid 70’s. We had a mic that we plugged into the front of it and a little switch box that summed 4 tracks to 2 with switches that gave you Left, Right, or middle. I made hundreds of recordings this way mixing to a two track stereo cassette deck. These recordings all have a unique low-fi quality to them that has a lot of charm.
However using a professional studio on the front end doesn’t really give you the same thing because of the much higher end preamps and signal chain.
Currently I have an API console and if I record through that into a transcription device it’s going to sound like the API console. So it doesn’t matter so much whether the device doing the transcription is a cassette tape, digital interface, reel to reel, minidisc, VHS, etc it’s still going to sound more like the API. Sure there will be some sonic differences due to format limitations, but each format will sound more similar than different because of the front end on the recording.
In the case of this video I was expecting to see the four track in action as a portable all in one studio rather than a simple transcription device for your pro studio. It’s a lot simpler to sum drum mics in the Midas into one or two tracks than it is to figure out how to record the drums using the mixer built into the machine. I guess that was my point?
@@scottbaxendale323 I can't control the algorithm and which videos of mine get pushed and why. You might enjoy some of my other content! All of my music is recorded like you've described here, and all was mixed down to a TEAC a-2340.
Honestly this video is kind of an outlier! I think the title and thumbnail are clickable. Sorry it didn't meet your expectations as I try to always be very clear on my titles and thumbnails. Cheers from NYC!
I just started recording at home again and am planning on using a new digital 12 channel Teac mixer into Studio One. Once I have everything recorded and sounding the way I want I’m going to play it back into the room through my system because that’s when it usually sounds the best. Then I’ll use my Ribbon mic to record the mastered song into a 1968 Teac 3 mixer and from there into a cassette. The deck recording will then be fed back into the computer. I’m assuming they recorded a lot like this in the 50’s but I can’t really find out much about this method. I thought of this method because I do it all the time with my cell phone. Any suggestions?