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... it works anyway
https://elsewhere.bandcamp.com/album/mrs-oscillator-her-pocket-calculator-limited-cassette-edition
read the liner notes - and maybe try to get that sound quality on whatever DAW
ps: never mind the graphic design, it doesn‘t match the beat...
I rented an 8 track portastudio for a short while, to see what it was like. The crosstalk was just about evident (primarily from the sync track on 8) and the sound quality was distinguishably lower. I stuck with my 4 track.
I must point out that I’d never recorded synths or drum machines to a Portastudio – from the start I’d had a DAT machine and a Tascam MM-1 midi-mutable mixer, and everything went into DAT through the mixer, the Portastudio was simply for the vocals and guitar, slaved to sync on track 4. I’ve never used a portastudio for the whole production culminating in the final output.
This is what we used back in the 90s. Or was it the 80s. Can't remember. Synced to Notator on an Atari ST. Not so much fun but lots of good memories and was pretty amazing to have at home in those days.
This is a reject out-take I found from those portastudio days, it’s what happened when the tape synchroniser lost sync and the seq in the SY77 (no computer sequencing) progressed with stuck midi notes, so I cut the synths but left the portastudio running with the vocals and the drone from the now-stopped SY77. I thought it was quite funny to find this on DAT.
I had a Fostex R8 reel to reel. Whilst each track was the same width as a casette 4 track, it ran much quicker so the quality was pretty good.
I did exactly the same thing. I ran my synths and samplers via MIDI and mixed that down along with the tape tracks to DAT.
I could control the tape from Logic with full remote control; fast forward rewind, punch in etc.
I also had a little Fostex 1U mixer that I bought for next to nothing when they were discontinued which had full midi control of the mixer.
Probably want great sound quality but the automation was great. I made an environment template in logic to control everything and it had a midi only controller.
I still have all this stuff. I am going to try and plug it all in again one day. I’ve already started and the EPS16 Plus has completely ignited my nostalgia :-)
I got so much done with this setup in those days. As much as in-the-box is incredible, if I ever win the lottery I’m building a proper hardware studio in my new mansion :-)
Beautiful! The Tascam 688 MidiStudio was their attempt at a full blown MIDI recording solution and also the first in the PortaStudio line to record eight tracks on a 1/8” cassette tape width. The 488 was their more normal featured eight track machine, color scheme similar to the 424.
http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/song/1581505
First and last thing I ever completed on a PortaStudio.
A version of Zevon’s “Charlie’s Medicine”
Nobody mentioned this...
I’ve been using the TASCAM DP008ex the past few months, it’s been a pleasantly comfortable workflow and keeps me on task when I’m planning out my tracks. I used a Fostex MR8 and bounced down stereo masters to a minidisc recorder through most of the early 2000’s so the few improvements implemented in the TASCAM were a welcome upgrade (I never really got comfortable using a desktop or laptop as the centerpiece of my studio).Combined with the many loopers and multitrack recorders on iOS I have a pretty capable setup that travels easily. Between the TASCAM and iPads I have good enough mics to capture recordings and quality effects processing too. Old school and new school together is where it’s at for me.
You know, that’s weird that it hasn’t been mentioned yet.
Is was the Sgt Pepper’s of PortaStudio recordings
(but better)
It is still my favorite Springsteen album.
The Nebraska cassettes were Springsteen‘s sketchbook to introduce the tracks to his band and then do a proper studio recording.
Which never worked out and the spririt of the original takes couldn‘t be reproduced.
Eventually Springsteen decided to try to recover the (meanwhile battered) content as good as possible and that was a really big job in a big studio with every trick available at the time.
So it‘s not a Portastudio work on it‘s own - but you can do the same using a(ny) DAW today...
They were trying to cut to vinyl which was often a compromise with any of the original formats of the time. I'm sure whatever the "tricks of the time" were, there are more advanced capabilities on our phones now!
Anyone with a 424 MKIII and can me tell what this switch is doing?
https://tascam.com/downloads/tascam/318/Porta_424mkIII_manual.pdf
Page 38
I'll see your classic made on a 4-track and raise you one:
I recall hearing the tape freekout in Hardcore UFOs the first time and thinking "wtf, these guys are actually embracing the format".
Oh, yeah, that's "Dubly".
Thanks man. It’s the DBX
I love my 424mkii to death. I see it more as an instrument than a musical sketchpad. The different ways you can manipulate the tape fascinate and inspire me to no end. These tape techniques have been well documented, but imo can not be replicated with the character a real chrome tape can. Time can move in reverse, become compressed, or expand. My cats purring became a sleeping beast, my spring reverb a dripping cavern.. An old machine like this can even be the master of a midi set up with the right gear (which can generate FSK sync or clock triggers, etc.). Record your track's fx 100% wet to tape in reverse, and then flip the tape back forward. Clock your sequencer with a trigger from track 3 or 4, and you've got a lookahead effect you can perform with live. The fun begins when you slow the tape down 50%, but your sequencer still clocks from the triggers. The fx will be an octave lower than their 'dry' channels. Lots of fun to be had with real tape.
The first album I ever became obsessed with, Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt was 100% 424. My ears were met with pure novelty - there were many effects that were new and beautiful to me, but at the same time bizarre and challenging. These psychedelic effects turned out to all be tape manipulation. Clipping distortion, tape hiss, and imperfect playing - the album was considered deeply 'flawed'. But it was the most honest and emotive music I had ever heard.
The entirely untitled pieces of the 2nd album, Usually Just a T-shirt were presented in the order they were recorded, documenting a unique glimpse into the descent of madness. I listened to this album for the first time in about 5 years tonight, and still got shivers from head to foot. This album sent the younger me onto a path of musical discovery, which I'm still on today - leading to a fascination in analog recording, experimentation, synthesizers and effects. This music challenged me, but led me to listen past 'perfect' recorded forms and appreciate art, ugly warts and all.
Just bought a 424 Mkiii for 150€
Excited to hear it finally. I really hope the missing slow setting in tape speed is not a big of a downer in this machine? Although I cannot understand why you would remove a feature like this from a Mark III generation... 🤔
Well you can still do half speed by recording to 'high' and playing back on 'normal'. So you still have an octave in either direction depending on where you record from. I never felt inconvenienced by it. You also get +/- a 5th or a 3rd (can't recal) with the pitch knob. I guess they removed it from MkII and III because the loss in audio quality was too great on such slow settings.
The extra range would sure be nice though. Thanks for reminding me I should track down a MkI someday!
@aleyas haha you are welcome. I will see how it goes with my ideas and how I want to use it. If it’s not suitable I will trade it into a 424 MKi also
Springsteen is a bit of an unreliable narrator when it comes to the technical parts of recording, etc. McCartney is the same way, I guess it's some sort of effort to be humble or sound like they're brilliantly naive.
He's told the story the same way through the years in interviews and he always said he had "the tape" of Nebraska's songs loose in his pockets during the E Street Band rehearsals of the songs, and when they couldn't match what he'd done on the demos he had to "use that old tape" and just release the demos.
I think he's thinking of the stereo mixdown cassette he probably made of the songs since the Tascam 244 he had only records at 3¾ ips (double the standard cassette speed), meaning a 60 minute tape went down to 30 minutes. Then since four track cassette multitracks record the 4 tracks on the entire width of the tape, turning a tape over to record on the "other side" just wasn't possible.
So now that 60 minute tape only has 15 minutes of recording space available. So a full ten song album wouldn't fit and it wouldn't play correctly in any tape player except for a four track cassette recorder running at 3¾ speed. The "tape" Springsteen has mentioned over the years is most likely the mixes he made directly from the Tascam 244, through the Echoplex (his lone studio effect) and into a cassette deck.
Nebraska has upbeen compared to Sgt. Pepper earlier in the thread which is true but for another reason. Both records are given this aura of "only four tracks!" for Pepper & "on a PortaStudio!" for Nebraska that really discounts their true production. Pepper WAS recorded on Studer J37 1" four track but it was recorded with more than one. External bouncing (i.e. material recorded on tracks 1, 2, 3, & 4 are played back and recorded to one track on a second machine & seperate tape.) was what really made it possible.
Similarly for Nebraska, the four track cassette recordings were transfered onto a 24 track where multiple tracks of the same recording could be manipulated and crafted with the technology of the day. For instance one track of the guitar would be mixed to focus on the low end, giving the sound body and depth; another track of that same guitar sound/performance would be mixed to accentuate all the highs and details, careful to avoid any excess noise and hiss.
Then the two tracks would be played during the mix, careful to avoid phasing or phase cancellation, to get the best possible guitar sound they could. Sort of like an analog version of multiband compression/parallel compression/mid side EQing combined.
After each song was remixed using this technique calling it a "PortaStudio" only record is a bit misleading. The sounds WERE originally recorded on cassette; but they were also worked on extensively in the studio. There are bootlegs floating around that are most likely Springsteen's first mixes off the 244 and you can certainly tell the difference between it and the released version.
WOW. Crazy, beautiful shit. Thanks for this.
As a kid growing up in the 80s I was inspired by bands and artists that did it themselves, made their own independent labels and self-produced their own music.
The fact that it was possible to record your own band in a bedroom with tools like a 4-track portastudio are what made me actually get into music in the first place. Knowing you could actually make a commercial release on your own was enough inspiration. It didn't matter how much polish would be needed in the studio, it opened the doors to actually making music.
And that's what I did; I spent every penny I could on music gear and had a blast making music every minute I could in the days before mortgages, wife and kids meant an inevitable change in priorities.
I Bought a keyboard, a drum machine, a sequencer a couple of midi modules and a tape machine to make music on my own. When I recorded my band, we borrowed mics and anything else we needed as we went along. We got stuff done. We made our own cassette albums, made our own artwork and sold tapes at gigs. I had to record every Casssette in real time one after another on a tape to tape machine! It was a lot of fun. I was made up when people actually wanted to buy a tape.
Anyway, from my perspective, all that mattered was that I could make music in my bedroom and record my music or my band and make demos. The fact that it was even possible to make a demo that could get released in one form or another was good enough. If we'd ever got signed we looked forward to being able to do it all again in a real studio.
Never happened but never mind, eh? ;-)
Portastudios were amazing. They democratised music and allowed people like me to make music without a record deal or having to book a studio.
I’ve never heard that Sgt. Pepper was “only four tracks” but that it was made during a time when only four track was available to them and they stretched the technology to the max to do the things they did. I think that’s an impressive feat of creativity and engineering on the part of the Beatles team.
As far as Nebraska, I brought it up because it did originate on a PortaStudio (a 144 from what I have read) but I didn’t mean to imply that it was “PortaStudio” only. Just like Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles, Springsteen was big enough as an artist that in spite of their misgivings his production team was able to make it happen with the technology of the day because that’s what Springsteen wanted. This gives some idea of the story:
https://tascam.com/us/support/news/481
It was great in its day - I had a cheap Fostex 4-track - and allowed you to record what was in your head in a way that was just not accessible any other way. But compared to what you can do now, it was of course very limiting. I’m glad times have moved on, but have fond memories of tracks done on it at the time.
So far, this has been an amazing thread. Thanks to all the contributors.
Earlier this year, in a manic fit, I bought a Tascam Portastudio. I bought a bunch of tapes. This has motivated me to get it going and experiment. I have experience with one as a budding songwriter with a pal of mine and his portastudio and him doing all the work! I do recall the hiss, noise, running low on tape fidelity as we did another take ... and the magic of being able to actually record an original song. Holy crap what a buzz. Thanks for these stories ya'll.
@anickt I hope I didn't come off dismissive brother because I appreciated what you said and I'm totally not taking anything away from the Beatles or Springsteen. I just meant both records have this shorthand applied to them ("Sgt. Pepper was done on four track" & "Nebraska was made on a cassette PortaStudio") that while true doesn't tell the entire story.
I'm with @kinkujin, this thread has been great and it's really cool that the technology of the cassette multitrack recorder while eclipsed is still being used and discovered by young producers today.