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In Reply to: TASCAM 424mkIII 4-Track PortaStudio > HELP posted by recruitingcommunists@hotmail.com on March 11, 2004 at 09:18:05:
I use an old Tascam 246 4-track recorder (in my opinion, the best 4-track cassette recorder made) and get very good results. I think it comes down to knowing your gear in order to get the most out of it. Sure, there's limitations (there always is, with every medium), but sometimes you can make limitations work in your favor. Besides (to paraphrase the Tweakheadz), music made on a "crappy 4-track" that has feeling and moves the listener, will always have more value over boring music "professionally" recorded on the latest 104-track digital recorder. It's more about emotional content than sonics. What's that saying, something like "the more 'audiophile' the recording, the more boring the music"? It's true sometimes!
Here's my current method (for anyone who's interested), which has taken my recording to 4-track cassette to a another level:I record to the 4 tracks, then create a stereo mix to CD. Then, I bring that stereo CD mix back into the Tascam (Program In) onto 2 tracks (still in stereo) of BLANK tape. So I have my stereo mix on 2 tracks, with 2 blank tracks open. I can then record more music onto those 2 tracks and then mix (still in stereo) down to CD again. This accomplishes 3 things that relate to what really are limitations of 4-track cassette recording: (1) it eliminates the necessity of only being to record to 3 tracks and then having to "bounce" those 3 tracks onto the 4th empty track (the drawback being it sends your music into Mono, and also, because of the compression that takes place resulting from trying to fit all that music onto a tiny cassette, starts to degrade the sound); (2) your music can stay in stereo; and (3) since you keep using blank tape for each mix, each stage of the recording process is preserved (which is useful when you have to "back-up" and do something over - using the traditional "bouncing" method, once it's bounced, you're stuck with it - or you have to start from scratch) - sure you use more tape, but the music is worth it, right?
One more thing which I've found to be significant is using high-quality ("mastering" cassette tape) - the lowest minutes possible. If I can get away with it, I'll use 20 and 30 minute tape (10 and 15 minutes worth of recorded music)- and sometimes even 10 minute tape. All those years of using 90-minute tape . . . .
All that combined with some other well chosen, budget "giant killer" gear, I feel can yield very nice results indeed. I've played some of this stuff for people, and they can't believe it's cassette. Warm, dynamic and definitely Analog. So nice that I've held off (for now) on running out and purchasing a digital multitrack recorder . . . .
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Follow Ups
- Re: TASCAM 424mkIII 4-Track PortaStudio > HELP - daveming 23:09:46 03/22/04 (0)
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