I only intended to watch demos of the portastudio, but now I'm on Mike Baggetta's bandcamp. Very good music. I wish the Trio #2 music is available for listening or purchase.
Sounds great. I recently fixed my Tascam 688 and I’m about the track a band live for their EP. After that I’m hoping to do the same with my group. Fun and sounds good. Great job, playing and the sound/ tascam. ❤
I remember your video from 2020 about this unit. It’s so hard not to fall in love with the 246 when you’re staring at those big, beautiful VU’s. To me, the heart of the matter of recording analog is what you said at 4:23 . That’s it right there. You don’t have to spend years “chiseling” away on a DAW if you appreciate what an analog recording contains. One thought I wanted to share with you since your original video is that the 246 has an interesting characteristic; if you look closely at the manual, you’ll see that the record/playback head only repro’s at a peak frq of 15k (same as the 244). Not amazing, despite still getting some wonderful results. BUT - if you notice, it *records* at 18k (purportedly). I want to share a little “hack” that I implemented where, you can record something on the 246, then use a Yamaha unit such as the MT3X (which has 18k repro/record and DBX) with individual tape outs for your playback/mixdown. And if you’re missing that beautiful mixing desk of the 246, you can send the individual signals back in to the inserts of the 246 from the Yamaha. Sure, there might be a few microns of tape width difference, etc., but I just love discovering ways of squeezing every drop of amazing out of these units. Obviously you do as well. Cheers!
@@oiiiich Nah good question - You could define it that way, higher fidelity. More specifically it has to do with instruments and harmonics that reach that part of the frequency range. For instance cymbals, acoustic guitars, instruments whose sonic qualities contain a lot of high-end detail. It’s rare for cassette multitrackers to reach above 15/16k though some do (688, Yamaha Mt1-3x, a few others) and choosing a unit depends on your fidelity goals. R2R obviously has cassette machines beat there but can’t match the portability.
Great full dimension with the music, and smooth analog saturation. sounds great. In the early 90s i bought a couple of those old Ampex mic pre units, paid less than 200 bucks for them. I just wanted to add one more comment obviously, even though the analog sounds great the fidelity is not top-notch, but it really doesn’t matter the recording. It’s just so good.
I'm with you. For me it gets back to the idea that music makes us FEEL something. I always think of that self-titled Link Wray album from 1971. How would higher fidelity make that record any better?
this is cool! i'm Bryce, i record there often. started out with a Ampex MX10 that I basically gutted and built out with better output amps, into a BG1 stereo compressor and Nagra IV-S, that was the first 3 sides of the Jeff Parker record. the 4th side was the new mixer, fully build in a table top chassis with built in stereo buss compressors, but basically the Ampex and BG1 all built in the same package, just with better transformers and the best I could make it. Thats been my set up since then, 4 channels with 2 line inputs but I made a little box with two more of the same channel preamps so it can actually be a six channel. It also has a little side car that gives it 4 more mic channels and two more line inputs. You could have plugged into my snake there and set up back at the other end of the bar like I do, I ran it up in the attic and drops down in the corner.
I think they mentioned you had a snake! It was easy enough for me to just set all my stuff up and run my four cables across the floor - I should have brought a rug though. HA!
Thank you! And yeah! I feel the same way. Every. Single. Time. They shouldn’t sound this good… but they do! Personally, I think the keys are good preamps & mics to feed the 246 and having incredible musicians and music is the obvious x-factor.
That's sound is great to us!! amazing.. I'm from Sri LankaI and bought a Tascam Porta two.. wanna study bit as well. Is that Tascam onboard eq great? On porta two I have only shelvings. oh listened to Everywhen We Go album.It sounds very big. I noticed that it has been engineered by you. Did you use the same setup throughout the whole album???.sounds phenomenal..
Anywhere to purchase the second set with - Mike Baggetta - electric guitar, electronics David Binney - alto saxophone, electronics Daniel Sunshine - drums? Sounds incredible!
Hello, great recording, I wanted to know how you plug the microphones into the tascam 246 given that it is a mono jack input, how do you get out of the Ampex to attack the tascam, and if i want to plug a dynamic or 48V mic without using a preamp how should we do, should I use a Shure A85F or something like that, Thank u
Thank you! Yes, using an unbalanced XLR to 1/4” to connect the output of the Ampex preamp into the Tascam 246. If you use a balanced cable going in, all kinds of weird (not good weird) things will happen. I suggest using an external preamp with phantom power then taking that line out into the 246.
@@BIGEGO Can I ask you more about this? I recently bought a DB25 to 8x balanced TRS... for the purpose of taking preamp outputs into the portastudio. Is this likely to cause problems, the balanced cables?
@@oiiiich Hey! Sorry for the slow reply... I have tried using balanced 1/4" inputs but the levels are always a bit crazy. Either too loud or too low. The 246 (or any portastudio) is really looking for an unbalanced (or mono) input. You will get much stronger signal that way. I'm sure someone with a better grasp on the electronic details could explain why. I can only tell you what I've tried - go unbalanced if you can!
Sounds great. I just bought a slightly broken 244 on eBay and planning to do something similar with external preamps. Did you connect the preamps to the 246 with balanced TRS cables or something different?
How do you record high speed? By turning pitch control all the way up? I'm trying to understand how to fully use a 246 in my home studio. Any chance you can show how to use it?
Under the tape cover on the far right hand side there’s a little black switch. That will toggle between “normal” tape speed that any regular deck uses and “high speed” which is about 3 3/4ips. Both sound great to me but double speed is gonna give you a little more frequency information to work with.
@@BIGEGO If you ran the switch at high speed, and the tape speed at high speed, and then slow it down in playback for the master, would there be an improvement ? Did you run your external preamps into the front panel of the 246? Should I use unbalanced cables for connecting preamps? Thanks for your help!
Sorry, I'm struggling to integrate this 246 into my workflow, mostly from lack of understanding it better. I guess what I want to try with the 246, but not sure if it is possible is use it as a live tape saturation effect. Run my synths and guitars over the tape live. Is this even possible to monitor the tape head?
I suppose you could try that but I wouldn’t bother. High speed alone will give you enough “tape vibe”. If you want super hi-fi record digital or at 15/30ips on a hi-fi deck. Built in preamps are good for dynamic mics on loud sources but I’m usually using external preamps and sending an unbalanced 1/4” into the front panel inputs. Hope that helps!
I only intended to watch demos of the portastudio, but now I'm on Mike Baggetta's bandcamp. Very good music. I wish the Trio #2 music is available for listening or purchase.
Literally the best music ever used for demonstration purposes! loved the video thanks
That last last track is hitting the spot. All sounds excellent
Wow, amazing music and amazingly recorded. So little signals result in such a great sound. Just wow!
Thank you so much for listening!
Thanks, enjoyed the great sounds and musicians.
Really reinforces what you can do with good musicians, good music and some ingenuity. I loved my Portastudio. I wish I still had it.
Sounds great. I recently fixed my Tascam 688 and I’m about the track a band live for their EP. After that I’m hoping to do the same with my group. Fun and sounds good.
Great job, playing and the sound/ tascam.
❤
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻love my 424 forever 📼 no pc is the way🙌🏻
I remember your video from 2020 about this unit. It’s so hard not to fall in love with the 246 when you’re staring at those big, beautiful VU’s. To me, the heart of the matter of recording analog is what you said at 4:23 . That’s it right there. You don’t have to spend years “chiseling” away on a DAW if you appreciate what an analog recording contains.
One thought I wanted to share with you since your original video is that the 246 has an interesting characteristic; if you look closely at the manual, you’ll see that the record/playback head only repro’s at a peak frq of 15k (same as the 244). Not amazing, despite still getting some wonderful results. BUT - if you notice, it *records* at 18k (purportedly). I want to share a little “hack” that I implemented where, you can record something on the 246, then use a Yamaha unit such as the MT3X (which has 18k repro/record and DBX) with individual tape outs for your playback/mixdown. And if you’re missing that beautiful mixing desk of the 246, you can send the individual signals back in to the inserts of the 246 from the Yamaha. Sure, there might be a few microns of tape width difference, etc., but I just love discovering ways of squeezing every drop of amazing out of these units. Obviously you do as well. Cheers!
Amateur question: what's the audible difference from 15k up to 18k? Slightly higher fidelity?
@@oiiiich Nah good question - You could define it that way, higher fidelity. More specifically it has to do with instruments and harmonics that reach that part of the frequency range. For instance cymbals, acoustic guitars, instruments whose sonic qualities contain a lot of high-end detail. It’s rare for cassette multitrackers to reach above 15/16k though some do (688, Yamaha Mt1-3x, a few others) and choosing a unit depends on your fidelity goals. R2R obviously has cassette machines beat there but can’t match the portability.
Wow! amazing. waiting for that!
Great full dimension with the music, and smooth analog saturation. sounds great. In the early 90s i bought a couple of those old Ampex mic pre units, paid less than 200 bucks for them. I just wanted to add one more comment obviously, even though the analog sounds great the fidelity is not top-notch, but it really doesn’t matter the recording. It’s just so good.
I'm with you. For me it gets back to the idea that music makes us FEEL something. I always think of that self-titled Link Wray album from 1971. How would higher fidelity make that record any better?
Great great great
Sounds great, Chris!
Thanks Joe!
love it! love pitch at end :)
I was getting a little carried awayyyyyyyy
yeah! I undusted an old philips tape deck the other day.
of course, it has a colouring ... but the tape-compression and all. it's real nice!
this is cool! i'm Bryce, i record there often. started out with a Ampex MX10 that I basically gutted and built out with better output amps, into a BG1 stereo compressor and Nagra IV-S, that was the first 3 sides of the Jeff Parker record. the 4th side was the new mixer, fully build in a table top chassis with built in stereo buss compressors, but basically the Ampex and BG1 all built in the same package, just with better transformers and the best I could make it. Thats been my set up since then, 4 channels with 2 line inputs but I made a little box with two more of the same channel preamps so it can actually be a six channel. It also has a little side car that gives it 4 more mic channels and two more line inputs. You could have plugged into my snake there and set up back at the other end of the bar like I do, I ran it up in the attic and drops down in the corner.
I think they mentioned you had a snake! It was easy enough for me to just set all my stuff up and run my four cables across the floor - I should have brought a rug though. HA!
These recordings sound great, well done! I'm also in LBC and have a Tascam 246. I'm always surprised at how good these sound.
Thank you! And yeah! I feel the same way. Every. Single. Time. They shouldn’t sound this good… but they do! Personally, I think the keys are good preamps & mics to feed the 246 and having incredible musicians and music is the obvious x-factor.
Great magical raw vibe!
Sounds great!
Thanks Rick!
mannnn that second night and song on the Harrison cassette is amazing. Is that going to be released sometime soon? I needs to have it
I've recorded two hours of that trio. Now I just gotta mix it for real!
@@BIGEGO Good luck mixing it. Can't wait!
great!
Thanks George!
Damn man so great
Iam about to buy one in very good condition.
Now i want it even more
Jay is probably my top 5 drummers ever.
Absolutely.
Sounds much better than all these digital plugin drenched songs we can't seem to escape from nowadays....
too good
That's sound is great to us!! amazing.. I'm from Sri LankaI and bought a Tascam Porta two.. wanna study bit as well. Is that Tascam onboard eq great? On porta two I have only shelvings. oh listened to Everywhen We Go album.It sounds very big. I noticed that it has been engineered by you. Did you use the same setup throughout the whole album???.sounds phenomenal..
Anywhere to purchase the second set with -
Mike Baggetta - electric guitar, electronics
David Binney - alto saxophone, electronics
Daniel Sunshine - drums?
Sounds incredible!
Not yet but… eventually!?
Second to that ✋🏻
Viva la 246!
Hello, great recording, I wanted to know how you plug the microphones into the tascam 246 given that it is a mono jack input, how do you get out of the Ampex to attack the tascam, and if i want to plug a dynamic or 48V mic without using a preamp how should we do, should I use a Shure A85F or something like that, Thank u
Thank you! Yes, using an unbalanced XLR to 1/4” to connect the output of the Ampex preamp into the Tascam 246. If you use a balanced cable going in, all kinds of weird (not good weird) things will happen. I suggest using an external preamp with phantom power then taking that line out into the 246.
@@BIGEGO 😅 (not good weird) , thank you for your reply, yes I think a preamp should be a good thing, thanks for the advice
@@BIGEGO Can I ask you more about this? I recently bought a DB25 to 8x balanced TRS... for the purpose of taking preamp outputs into the portastudio. Is this likely to cause problems, the balanced cables?
@@oiiiich Hey! Sorry for the slow reply... I have tried using balanced 1/4" inputs but the levels are always a bit crazy. Either too loud or too low. The 246 (or any portastudio) is really looking for an unbalanced (or mono) input. You will get much stronger signal that way. I'm sure someone with a better grasp on the electronic details could explain why. I can only tell you what I've tried - go unbalanced if you can!
Cheap preamps you recommend for four tracking? Love all who are involved with this performance. Sounds great! @@BIGEGO
Sounds great. I just bought a slightly broken 244 on eBay and planning to do something similar with external preamps. Did you connect the preamps to the 246 with balanced TRS cables or something different?
Sounds wonderful!! What stereo microphone did you use to capture the drums?
Thanks! I used an AEA R88 stereo ribbon mic on the drums!
Maybe it’s just cuz I really love silent hill, but it’s sounds so Akira YAMAOKA style)))
Any 246 content coming anytime soon?
How do you record high speed? By turning pitch control all the way up? I'm trying to understand how to fully use a 246 in my home studio. Any chance you can show how to use it?
Under the tape cover on the far right hand side there’s a little black switch. That will toggle between “normal” tape speed that any regular deck uses and “high speed” which is about 3 3/4ips. Both sound great to me but double speed is gonna give you a little more frequency information to work with.
@@BIGEGO If you ran the switch at high speed, and the tape speed at high speed, and then slow it down in playback for the master, would there be an improvement ? Did you run your external preamps into the front panel of the 246? Should I use unbalanced cables for connecting preamps? Thanks for your help!
Sorry, I'm struggling to integrate this 246 into my workflow, mostly from lack of understanding it better. I guess what I want to try with the 246, but not sure if it is possible is use it as a live tape saturation effect. Run my synths and guitars over the tape live. Is this even possible to monitor the tape head?
I suppose you could try that but I wouldn’t bother. High speed alone will give you enough “tape vibe”. If you want super hi-fi record digital or at 15/30ips on a hi-fi deck. Built in preamps are good for dynamic mics on loud sources but I’m usually using external preamps and sending an unbalanced 1/4” into the front panel inputs. Hope that helps!
Only two tape heads on the 246. Maybe check out a Marantz PMD430 or a Tascam 122. Both are stereo decks with three heads.
Quality in ... Quality Out.
was the whole album recorded live within the 4-track k7 machine?
Yes.
Makes me so mad why did epa end chrome