4 Track Recorders - Simply the Best!

[@lacedj51]

In the 80s I used a Tascam porta1 and lusted over an Akai MG1212 which at the time cost something like ten grand Canadian. It was the portastudio Rolls Royce. Unable to afford it I eventually migrated to a Fostex model 80 reel to reel with a home built mixer I made out of Radio Shack parts. Now years later I found a mint Akai MG1212 for $280 and could not help myself and brought it home last night. I felt like I "finally" found that elusive dream muscle car that would drive past my window when I was a kid. This morning I wake up, have my tea and the first thing that pops up on my suggestions is your video. The memories pour out like a waterfall and I amusingly think to myself "This Akai is gonna rock.... but I wonder how much a porta1 is these days...". Thanks for the fond breakfast throwback Barry.

[@willisjefferson5886]

That is awaesome

[@lespaul2550]

FOSTEX X-15 owner here!!! In the late 80's I used a Fostex X-15 combined with an Alesis 1622 mixer for an old Akai keyboard and S612 sampler, Roland D-5 synth and Alesis HR-16 drum machine. I used a PC with Texture by Roger Powell (DOS MIDI sequencer program) combined with a Roland IPC-401 with tape sync which I wrote to track 4 of the Fostex X-15. I'd cheat and leave the Fostex speed knob all the way up to +15% just to steal a bit more resolution for the time code sync signal. I'd program all drums and keyboards and try to figure out a way to fit vocals, bass, guitar and leads into the remaining 3 tracks using bouncing. Sometimes writing to track 3 would corrupt the timecode signal on track 4 so we'd have to start all over again. Towards the end of the 80's I got a Kenwood consumer grade stereo DAT deck which we used for mixdown. That's when I'd pump things back through the board and MIDI sync various effects using an Alesis MIDIVerb II, QuadraVerb+ and DeltaLabs Effectron Jr. For dynamics I had a pair of stereo Alesis 3630 compressors and one of their graphic EQ's so I was definitely equalizer deficient back then. No plugins either LOL. Just MIDI in and out from the computer. No Audio from it and no graphical user interface. Texture was for MS-DOS and was all text based with blocks and dashes for MIDI info. Although you could edit the MIDI data with as much flexibility as today's MIDI 1.0 devices and software because everything I had talked the MIDI 1.0 spec. Although I no longer have the IPC-401 interface and can't read the tape sync signals, I do still have the Fostex with all my cassette tapes. I'm sure the belt has dry-rotted by now but it would be interesting to go back into the archives and hear what I was recording back then... track by track. It worked but compared to today it was "Stone knives and bearskins" and forced me to be resourceful with MIDI to gain more audio tracks. Good times!!! Good times!!! I only wish I could send my current system back in time to myself back then as well as the knowledge to run it all. Sucks to have been "born at a more comfortable distance from the appolcalypse".

[@malevahouse]

My 1992 bedroom studio set up: Fostex xr7, Boss pedal delay dd2, Boss dr 550 mk2, Shure SM58 and Korg Poly 800 mk2. I still remember the emotion when I MIDI sincronized the Poly 800 and the DR 550.

[@ToneNailer]

The poly 800 is a rad synth

[@billspectre9502]

Fun video. I helped some friends record a couple of “albums” years ago using a Tascam 4 tracker. The drums had multiple mics into a mixer and then recorded in stereo on two tracks. Bass went onto a track and guitar on the other. This was all mixed down onto an Alesis Masterlink. With effects added. This was all seat of the pants stuff. I knew what I was doing but not really. So then from the Masterlink two tracks in stereo were recorded back onto the Tascam. Then 2, 3 or 4 vocalists were recorded in stereo through a mixer onto the Tascam. Then the final mix was created from the 4 tracks from the Tascam. The other interesting thing was that on occasion I did editing, cut bits out or combined different takes. This was done in my K2000 rack sampler. It had 64 megs of memory. Just enough for these short tunes. What fun!! 🎉🎉 Happy New Year! I enjoy your channel.

[@daved9665]

AWESOME!!! I literally just transferred (to DAW) all my 1990 era cassette demos off my Yamaha MT100 4-track tape recorder/player - dBx noise reduction and 2x tape speed plus pitch adjust. It still works!!!

[@PapaMurphBeatz]

Wowww that's how we doing it today Barry 😂😂😂😂 Classics

[@ramonkey2939]

I still got my 424 and it still works!!!

[@aaronknight9759]

I always wanted one of those units, but I was more committed to using a high quality stereo recorder for documentation of live shows. Anyone I talked to that had the 4 tracks said it was the most fun time of their career. These units really helped develop skills for arranging, playing clean, but for me really help get rid of anxiety and the red light fever. I do recall being on the hunt for tape sales often, boxes of 90m were around $30 for the higher quality ones.

[@MAGloryy]

Still use my Tascam 424 mk2 for certain projects. The RCA outputs are great for sending your individual cassette recorded tracks to your DAW. And for those that don’t know (it’s pretty widely known) Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” was recorded on a four track with a pair of sm57s!

[@willisjefferson5886]

I started with TEAC reel to reel. I ended up with the Akai MG1212. I still own the 12 track version, recorded on Super 8 tapes. The greatest songwriting tool made at the time, Still great. fast forward 30 years, have Neve Broadcast console, Pro tools and every vintage box you can think of, Including 1 Motown EQ which i think there are 40 of. Studer 24 tracks 2 inch. I miss and pine for the Akai 4 track cassette. Beautiful machines

[@EdgardoGiraud]

Wow it's so nice to see a breakdown on these tape recorders. I still use a Yamaha MT400 as a mixer in my studio so that I can use it as a final effect in my recordings. You're so right about the gain staging on these machines - ended up with total garbage in a number of early attempts!

[@JedWunderli]

My first multitrack recorder was a Tascam PortaStudio 4-track cassette recorder. From there I graduated up to the Tascam Syncaset 238 (8-track cassette recorder - I still have it but haven't used it since I got my Alesis ADAT*XT as the first of many digital iterations). I had the Tascam M1516 mixer with my 238 and then upgraded to the Mackie 24*8 when I got the ADAT-XT.

[@davidmcdo]

I started with a Fostex x-15 and eventually graduated to a tascam 388....they were magic to me!

[@EmeraldWoodArchives]

You're speaking my language, sir. My 424 that I got for my 14th birthday in 1996 is still chugging along. It made me a better musician, engineer, and producer.

[@tiadiad]

Yes, but did it make you a better man? Hmmm...

[@dean-marr]

Me too, still have mine and still runs perfect

[@johnvender]

Back in 1993 I recorded some demos for my brother's band on a Teac Tascam Portastudio 144 in the lounge room of the house I lived in. One bounce on each song. Those were the days 😄

[@GeorgeAmodei21]

Yup!… this is what we owned to Record at the age 17 back in Mid 80’s ☺️👍 ( Tascam ) You mentioned it exactly like I remember it happening.

[@johncoxe6329]

I used the TASCAM 4-track. One fun thing I was into was flipping the cassette over and track a backward guitar or vocal. Probably can do similar in a DAW, but haven't pursued it. Used a loop of the audience from Frampton Comes Alive to turn my recording into a faux epic live performance. Still have all those old cassettes.

[@SkidMark_Music5575]

I had the original Tascam PortaStudio until I graduated to the Fostex 260 with the 8 channel mixer. I gained invaluable knowledge on gain staging and level balancing that I still put into use today!

[@JoaquinGonzalez2014]

Yep, yep, yep...had a few of those. What a trip! 🙂

[@joerojas5448]

I still have my Porta 02 and 424mklll. Since the late 90s.

[@michaelbonanno7476]

Yep Barry… in the 90s I used a Tascam 464 Portastudio 4-track. And we liked it lol.

[@dccarsonmusic]

I have a Tascam midistudio 644 and a 688. I’ll never get rid of them because sometimes, it’s fun to work with tape. They also force you to make decisions which is often a stumbling block because even with all the technology, many suffer from paralysis from analysis and choice overload.

[@MultiMeg101]

Spot on mate

[@mvh2275]

I had a Tascam 246 and it was a dream machine at the time. I learned a lot using that recorder. Now with my Mac Studio M2 Max, Reaper and UVI Falcon the sky is the limit. Not to mention all the UA, SSL and PA Plugins I have now. I miss the four track days for sure. Thanks for sharing - Cheers

[@frequincyrecording4286]

Tape sync track opened up the 4 track considerably if you had a sequencer, keyboards, drum machine and a mixer.

[@trebleboost7]

My first rig: VestaFire 4 track (with dbx noise reduction!), Ensoniq ESQ1 fully expanded, a Peavey KB100, Carvin DC-160 and Rockman X100, oh and a Midiverb II and micro enhancer. I did a TON of work with this setup. Currently I have a Sony 4-track minidisk recorder to cover this quick demo approach.

[@jimp.7286]

It's not just the cassette itself, it's also the track count. That number forces a particular work flow that effects the entire process. Most of the biggest hits of the mid 60's were done on four track machines. Sometimes two machines working together. As soon as track count started going up, there was a shift in the kind of music being made. Some of it due to changing tastes but also because of the new tools at the time. I started out with two track reel to reel with simul-sync and bounced to a second machine but later shifted to mulitrack cassette when they came out. Tape quality itself is huge and if you can't get good stuff, it affects everything down to eq'ing. So many companies have gone under or quit making tape. Maxell just ended in 2019 but I remember reading they brought back type 1 for a limited run? It's interesting to sometimes output your daw into a cassette and fly it back again. My sony sounds so good that there's almost no point in it. And it won't allow me to saturate the tape - it goes into clipping and distortion of the bad kind. Still - love cassette though. You know the sound but can't fully describe it exactly. Like a pair of comfortable old shoes. Cheers.

[@shakcmusic]

Great video Barry! You can get a really clean and clear sound from these too. Different from digital clean.

[@plkprint]

Thanks for the recall…yes those days were the best memories…I went from the 4 track Teac 3340s to the tascam portastudio to a Roland 8 track digital to a korg d3200 to computer based recording….

[@terry2315]

I still have my 4 track. I just got it out, cleaned the heads. I have a bunch of blank cassettes. You learned to bounce tracks.

[@monsirto]

Working my way through various Tascam and Zoom products to find something as useful as my old Tascam. Resubscribed. Would love to see more stuff on pro and enthusiast recording gear.

[@recordman555]

My first home recording rig was a Tascam Porta-5 I bought at Kline Music in Sacramento, CA around 1990. Oh - that's when you learned the TRUE meaning of bouncing tracks. Later, I added my one-and-only piece of "outboard gear" - an Alesis Quadra-Verb, which was noisy, but it had every effect I needed at that time. I really miss those days. However - penny-per-pound, look at what we can do today for almost equal money. The modern DAW . . . it's mind-boggling! Today's home producers under the age of 35 have no idea.

[@dean-marr]

Still have my tascam 424 mk11 4 track portastudio and my tascam 38 1/2 inch 8 track and both still work great. Great character.

[@HozerO75]

I would stereo mix a live drum into the 1 and 2, backing vocal and guitar into 3 for left pan and backing vocal and guitar into 4 panned right. Mix those down into a Fostex keyboard mixer that had a stereo tape recorder, that will go back into the 4 track as a stereo mix in 1 and 2. To put back some low end lost add a fresh kick to 3 and bounce with a lead guitar to 4 and put the lead vocal into 3. During the mix down to the tape deck I would play the bass live into the Fostex along with the 4 track. I didn't start using drum machines until velocity controls were added. A few years after that, computer recording became available and switched then.

[@davidchurch8828]

I eventually got a yamaha mini disc 8 track c. 1997. It was pretty exciting at the time.

[@ShreddingFinn]

We were using them in the early 2000s, DAWs just started becoming a thing, and no one was setup to record multiple stems at home because interfaces with several inputs were few and far between for home users if they existed at all. I still have 4 track tapes lying around from then.

[@MaddSanity]

Yup, you were always about 2 yrs ahead of me in recording gear, if I remember right.. I remember getting a tascam porta-one and a tr-505 drum machine when I was stationed in Long Beach. I got the idea when I was home on leave and hooked up w/ you and Jeff…so I blame you for my recording GAS….Thanx👍..Incidentally those recording units had a certain sound that flattered the guitar…kinda of like Blackmore and other guys used the preamp section of recording equipment…I used the direct out from an old Crate G-10 solid state amp and got a great rock tone….yes creativity was crucial, but poor kids from Kentukansas can be quite innovative…p.s Merry Christmas bro🙏🙏🙏👍….p.s how about hybrid all analog (older mixing consoles) into modern digital equipment and routing and such…nothing like real knobs and faders and such for the youngin’s and and maybe some some thing us old guys haven’t considered…

[@BarryJohns]

Merry Christmas Jim!!!!

[@ToneNailer]

I still have my tascam portastudio. I loved recording something and then turning the tape around to hear it in reverse. Good times. That fostex is fancy.

[@fookoo567]

TASCAM was the most popular 4-Track cassette by far

[@brianh4625]

Got a lot of miles out of my 424 portastudio

[@jnorten]

Yeah but they were inferior with DBX, Fostex and Dolby C were better

[@thomasaxelsson6739]

Back in the 90's we had a Fostex 460 in the room. It was a 8 ch, 4 bus and 4-track recorder. The sound was actually not bad, even with a comparison to my daw today. Of course it was 80's -metal back in the days, so seperation ( or crosstalk) didn't really matter. Love these things. One really had to be right from start. No editing, transpose, timecontrol etc.

[@MikeVlcek]

Had an Yamaha like this one from 1998 until 2010. It was my recording school. Still regret selling it.

[@bruce_from_oregon]

Had a Tascam Porta 05, then upgraded to the Tascam 488. Adding a DBX stereo compressor to the tracking path, and Alesis NanoVerbs for the FX sends made the quality quite a bit better! I'd track bass and drum machine songs all at once in stereo, to avoid bouncing those down. You had to be able to play your songs all the way thru on all instruments, to avoid punching in and out, no copy and paste!

[@jeffin8127]

I was using whatever was available to rent from the Doo Wop Shop in Louisville, Ky: Tascam Porta 1, 2, 6, or 424 (which I now own), or the Fostex versions. My poor man in the 90's work process was record all 4 tracks then mix to my JVC TD-W709 (which also has sound on sound recording), then take that mixdown and put it in the 4 track and record two more tracks, maintaining the stereo mix. Wash, rinse, repeat - just remember to have your Dolby B on to limit tape hiss! This process came in handy because I never recorded over the original tracks. Recently I was able to transfer all those original tracks to digital, ready for realignment/re-mixing in my DAW. It wasn't until years later that I discovered the Beatles and others (Toto - Africa) used a more or less similar process.

[@BarryJohns]

Been there a few times!

[@kniferideaudio]

I had a Vestex Cassette 6 track recorder. Super weird. Sounded crunchy in a lot of good ways. I also had over a dozen 4 track recorders in my life. Love cassette multitrack for getting ideas down super fast.

[@aceedmond8053]

I have a dust covered Yamaha MT4X Yes Barry! so true back then we were broke broke broke dead broke lol... seemed everyone was broke most of the time.

[@PharaohLawLess1]

I still have my Fostex FD8 digital recorder

[@williamillington]

I think the distorted vocals was on purpose? You are a genius sir! lol

[@user-vf9pm8sb1l]

LOVE CASSETTES

[@malevahouse]

7:00 Ping Pong Technic. Also you can record a stereo drums in ch1 and ch2 and keep the stereo image doing ping pong.

[@angermanagementstudios]

A 57 was way beyond my budget in 94. I had some non descript heap of sh*t I found for £1.99 in a second hand shop. I must have made 500 songs with that mic alone!

[@user-JM1967]

Eu lembro de um Tascam de 8 canais em 1991. Era incrível.

[@fakshen1973]

I had a portastudio for about... 36 hours. I just couldn't do it. I found an open reel 8 track (Fostex Model 80). I used track 8 for sync, 7 as a guard track and that gave me six tracks to put whatever parts on (vocals, pads, etc). I sync'ed with a Kawaii Q80 sequencer on dumb-FSK. That would in turn send MIDI sync to my Yamah RY30 drum machine. The terrible part was trying to get everything documented, dumping Sysex via MIDI from the drum machine and synth to the Q80, saving all the samples and data to 3.5" disks, etc. Now everything's in a computer saved with total recall. I don't miss the dance

[@afieldbysean]

Where do you all get your tapes for these things now?

[@TheAstroKid]

The second unit I purchased was a Maranz recorder with pitch control 😅

[@studioFiByfi]

I have a Porta 07 sitting on my desk right next to me. Part of the flow. Now finding tapes...

[@jmbj324]

I was lucky enough to have a Tascam 8 trk cassette rec. Man those cassettes wore thin. You had to get the top of the line brand, longest running blank cassettes in order to do anything. But it had 2 XLRs.

[@nicksavage4763]

DID A LOT WITH CASSETTES and DCC DIGITAL COMPACT CASSETTE Only Two-Track Stereo Left and Right However, Great for Mixdown✅ Accurate Reproduction of what went in If Signals were kept clean Going In The Output reflected that Live Recording Too using Mixer Analog Output Got that BOX too with The Recordings. Spring Reverb Good Ole Days of Recording making do with what you had.

[@BarryJohns]

Remember the Sony MiniDisc?

[@paulmiller1746]

I had a Yamaha (can’t remember the model) 6 channel 4 track. You had to put a sticker over the clear section in the centre of the cassette to make it work in four tracks otherwise it only operated as a 2 track. It cost me $2100.00 with a little mates discount. That was 1983 and I was an apprentice earning $77.00 a week while spending $40.00 of that on train fare to and from work. I thought I was king of the world. Would hate to try and do a dollar comparison for today 😢

[@jjdekay6969]

got 2 r2r ,a 488 and a 688. If it wasn't for Craig Anderton books, I would've been screwed............the struggle was real lol

[@trixdropd]

tascam was a big name. I got into digital with the roland vs-840 in 1998. In hindsight... lol

[@aspirativemusicproduction2135]

Yeah, I remember playing the same thing over and over again all night until I get it as good as possible but than the tape is worn out and do more hissing. Now I can just record in my tablet an cut, copy and paste. My four track is collecting dust. I don't even know if it's going to work if I plug it. I don't know why today some people even want to try four track. We did it because we had to.

[@CAROLINABACKYARD]

I’d love to have a custom desk for my studio. Please get back to me with a quote

[@lawrencerasmus]

I've got a Fostex 4 track, Yamaha 4 track ,Yamaha 8 track and a Roberts4 track

[@TheHoolie86]

great Video. Loved these cassette 4tracks. I am not sure but your voice sounds a little crushed. Was there a gain problem? or am i just amateur lol

[@BarryJohns]

I noticed that too after the uoooad to KZbin. Not sure what happened during the upload.

[@trebleboost7]

And the day your child takes your finished 4-track tape to record on the family Radio Shack recorder……

[@AllenPendleton]

Those were extremely noisy. My first real machine was a 1/2 inch Teac 4 track tape machine. It sounded amazing with that big track size. learned the art of bouncing tracks. My next machine was a 2 inch 16 track.

[@ciscofuentes1428]

Play us some demos or it didn't happen! 🤣🤙🏼🤙🏼 (I had a Fostex and loved it)

[@MadACeTeeMack]

4 track? What about the glorious 8 track machines?

[@Souldoubtrocks]

I loved my Tasman. If 4 tracks were good enough for George Martin they were good enough for me.

[@Bhallmed]

I still have my tascam

[@hizhaus]

Tape can last longer than a hard drive

[@armandodiaz3485]

These folks have no idea what “gain staging” really means unless you’ve had to work with these analog beasts

[@laz288]

More great music came out of those then ever. The simplicity allowed the creative process to flourish. Now its hampered by software updates, configurations, too many plugins, distractions and colors influencing the original idea.

[@jamestownstudios8543]

It’s how I cut my teeth.

[@mwarren7436]

I'd spend a week recording a song, and then just when I'd be adding that final tambourine, I'd get a tape dropout! It didn't happen all the time, but the anxiety that it could would always be there. I'm so glad I moved over to digital.

[@giabgr]

From what you say, I'm not sure how these machines are 'the best'.

[@BarryJohns]

It’s the nostalgia man. Read the other comments.

[@StatetrooperBillyBill]

why not demonstrate it? everybody knows how it was done back in the days

[@Mister_Jahn]

Cut my teeth on my yamaha mt120