NIN's Alessandro Cortini on Using a Tascam Portastudio in a Live Set | Reverb Interview

Alessandro Cortini's work with Nine Inch Nails has garnered him massive acclaim as a recording artist. Touring and obtaining that studio-quality sound without losing the freedom of live performance is a different beast, but one he's well-equipped to tame using a trusty Tascam Portastudio and cassette samples.
Compare Prices on Tascam Portastudios on Reverb: goo.gl/Pcui9n

[@amuletsmusic]

I first saw Alessandro use a tascam 4 years ago and it inspired everything I do. I took the concept of using a 4 track as an instrument and blew it up into a full live setup and combined it with handmade endless cassette tape loops. Thanks for sharing your process, it inspired me so much - I will be sure to pay it forward!

[@dlvnmedia]

AMULETS you are the one that inspired me to start trying to find one - and I am a huge nin fan

[@amuletsmusic]

that's so awesome!

[@resofactor]

Sort of one of the reasons why I picked up a Korg Electribe II Sampler. Tapeless. But can use similar approaches.

[@camiolisaza6280]

You are a huge inspiration for me as well!

[@AlessandroCortini]

😘

[@michaelkonomos]

Man, Alessandro is such a talented and sincere artist. How anyone could possibly improve on the original, I could never imagine, but he managed to do it. He gave even more of a sense of vulnerability to a beloved song. And his own music is just so special. So glad he is featured here.

[@joekovach5789]

I've always loved the sound of the synths on "Hurt."

[@xeraph02]

I like this approach to finding beauty in defects and making it sound each time a little bit different. In todays perfect pitched/automated world things like this add to the realness of the music. Theres still not enough bands like NIN in the world that have achieved the freedom to do this.

[@jacobreece1971]

Amen to that. We need real records, real instruments real music. Mainstream music is just generic beats played on a drum pad connected to a computer.

[@leeschuna4226]

I️ had the opportunity to see him perform with this rig at Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge, MA earlier this year and it was incredible. One of the most beautiful + moving sonic experiences I’ve ever had. This guy sure knows how to prep his sounds for a live system. An incredibly loud, yet absolutely clear wall of sound. He’s a wizard.

[@MadeOnTape]

look this is still amazing. i wanna bring back the conversation.

[@NineInchFailz]

After watching this video I immediately went to craigslist and found someone 80 miles away who's selling one of these and now I'm picking it up. Thank you Alessandro

[@brucewang3113]

That’s awesome bro! How’s it been?

[@hERETICSiNtHElAB]

Using the four track as a synth is just brilliant.

[@Elias_Frost]

what's next??? are they gonna start using a moog synth as a porta-studio???

[@_Only_Zuul]

FNM angel dust t-shirt...dude gets my respect instantly.

[@roryhensen]

FANTASTIC

[@aaronsadrin]

What have i become, my sweetest friend.

[@mcdude0192]

You can have it all.

[@viniciustorquato5483]

2:20 I think Kevin Shields would love this

[@asleepghoulshow]

The Erbverb is strong in this one.

[@usnk666]

THAT song, THAT tone... U.U'

[@glitzersuite9556]

what a genius

[@atetraxx]

damn, thats amazing. Found a new way to use my old cassette recorder.

[@kennylee5621]

That's kind of how 10cc got that sound with the voices on I'm Not In Love.

[@stevewills735]

unbridled badassery! cheers!

[@MatheusLeston]

what a nice guy

[@Klangarchitektur]

Very interesting technique! Good idea.

[@jonb4145]

This is amazing. Makes me wonder where my old Tascam 4 track went. It was more robust than that one. ALSO: Does anyone have recommendations for videos similar to this? This is exactly the kind of stuff I want to watch and can never find anything like it. It's practical, inspirational, offers new techniques, all the while still being interesting and fun. (And awesome.)

[@TheIntentionStudios]

Old reply, but you may want to check out Hainbachs channel; he has quite a few videos on interesting techniques sort of (?) similar to this.

[@fangPS]

AMULETS, Hainbach, LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER are all working in the weird equipement sector. Worth to check them out!

[@EclipseAtDusk]

I just got a Portastudio 414 for Christmas, after coming back to this video for Years to just wish - the EHX 45000 was a very good, much cheaper in the long run, digital substitute, but still not as fun. I plan to keep it all the same, it’s an invaluable tool, but exploring this? Oh it’ll be so fun

[@mistrrey5562]

wait a minute, no tape in the player?? didn't know I could manually bend sounds on portastudio like that without having to put it down on tape first. I've owned my tascam 4 track for over 25yrs, wow can't wait to try this

[@lucianos1990]

come on man, these are allready expensive enough here

[@kennymester]

I remember when these were going for right around 100ish. Now they're pushing 300 used.

[@音姫soundprincess]

my thoughts exactly

[@daleweber2579]

You could do same thing with a fostex 4 track which are very cheap.

[@breakalime]

I got one off Gumtree in the UK for £50 including the original box and manual. That was about two years ago.

[@mrfacephone]

Good thing I hung onto mine!

[@424Recording]

Yesssssss

[@Reprodestruxion]

Portastudio + clouds + infinite jets

[@allrain]

I kept figuring a portatudio on the sky with airplanes and stuff 'til i googled that.

[@Reprodestruxion]

allrain it does sound trippy

[@ElBlancoPapi]

I started out with that EXACT 4-track recorder......Wow, that's All we had back then unless you had many many Thousands of dollars.....

[@maxlee7977]

The same thing using couple of portable tape players came to my head recently!

[@barbamatteo]

Grande Alessandro!

[@turdferguson9190]

This is brilliant!

[@scotty3034]

I dig your shirt.

[@joaquinodriozola4963]

Wow fascinating!

[@WisersPlace]

Brilliant!

[@AllanHathaway]

@1:52 did Alex G sample that in Blessing???

[@benjohnson8200]

Sounds like it tbh

[@noprob250]

Nice one!

[@evbxyz]

Outstanding. Love "Modern," But more and more of us are going Back To Some Analog Gear. It is just THE SOUND!!! Yes, many in the Music App Business try to emulate "Analog." I myself have many apps that attempt this. Guess what? Analog is better for some things. Not all, just some. A great person once said, "IT'S ABOUT THE SOUND STUPID!"

[@JohnsDough1918]

That Faith No More shirt, tho,

[@fh6572]

funny though cause i used to have a tascam 4 tracks tape recorder as a teenager & used to listen faith no more & nin at that exact same time - midlife crisis & march of pigs were two of my anthems back than !

[@marcel1372]

i believe this is also what CONTAINER does but with beats and noise instead

[@jocknarn3225]

What an original idea, ay?! Portastudio as instrument😉👈👌

[@MrGpb93]

Guys, I cant find hurt without voice and I like the synth. where can I find on youtube?

[@allrain]

How can you assign a specific chord to a track out of a cassette tape? Dumb question, probably, but i'm a noob.

[@ChristianIce]

a cassette tape has two stereo sides, so if you read all the tape together you get 4 mono channels. If you put that tape in a normal tape deck you would have channel 1 & 2 on Left and Right of "side A", channel 3 & 4 on Left and Right of "side B" played in reverse.

[@amuletsmusic]

here's an E chord using a 4 track and tape loops - kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnvIZWeOeNepr6c

[@187onasimp]

It's a multi track recorder this one has 4 channels. You can record record chords to each track channel and then fade them in and out like anything else. It just records on different sections of the tape but you can't play the tape in anything other than a Tascam porta studio.

[@sebastiandeases1139]

Can some please tell what chords those are in the chorus

[@ronin0843]

Cool.

[@Anonymous-bc6zl]

ahh Warm Place!

[@mixtape_boy]

he used tape cassette or tape loop?

[@NULLANDV0ID]

Tape Cassette

[@i-never-look-at-replies-lol]

It's a 4-track, so you can actually make a loop tape and then put up to 4 different notes across those tracks and mix the notes in and out to "play" them.

[@amuletsmusic]

tape loops ftw kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnO3i5Knf9uJprM

[@gd34n]

"a poor man's mellotron" lol ... I Can't even afford the Tascam

[@johnchiappone2163]

What happened to his studio?

[@Fallingoverbackwards]

Which Tascam is this, the 464? Can the porta one or two do the same variable speed on the fly

[@awjaaa]

I know this is a year late, but answering in case anyone else wonders. He's on a 414 MKII... things you might want to consider making sure any model also has are aux send/receive and a separate set of controls per track (so 4 sets). Those two things open up entire universes of fun on these. On the One and Two, the pitch control is a slider and the knobs for the rest are little discs that you may or may not find as easy to tweak quickly as normal knobs. You do get external send/return, though. A tip: hit the actual Reverb resale site and search for models, then check photos for panels and zoom in. You can usually learn 95% of what you want to know just from all the photos on their site. What did you end up going with?

[@cmousdale]

So does he have to load a different cassette for each song?

[@jojojiles]

I thought the same thing right away. My guess is he does.

[@jojojiles]

Unless he has it all cued and knows exactly at what point in the counter everything he needs is. Very cool though, super inventive. I don't know if I would try this in particular, but I love stuff like this.

[@breakalime]

If you watch the Sonic State rig rundown video he did a couple of years ago you can see that he has a cassette rack with a different cassette for each song, though that set up seems to have been much more expanded than the one showed here. It would be possible to cue different samples for different songs on a single tape using the counter.

[@ChristianIce]

+Chris 100% sure he uses different tapes, one for each song. Moving the tape with the counter would take forever, the counter could reset if you touch it, the setlist can always change so it would be a pain in the ass. Changing the tape at the end of the song? 3 seconds and you're set.

[@ElBlancoPapi]

No, cassettes last a while.....usually 60-120 minutes

[@rafs20PR]

What was the original chords from Hurt recorded with?

[@EthanAnderson1]

What cassettes do you need to record four separate tracks

[@maciekomis]

type-II cassettes (they're some kind of metal) are used in four tracks. don't know about any others.

[@vanitycaserecords7088]

Any will work, you don’t need special tapes

[@staggjazzmaster347]

Congratulations even Jesus Christ was a fan of Nine Inch Nails Stagg Jazzmaster 10/30/17

[@5VDC]

I clicked on this video because of the guy's t-shirt

[@alexistoumpouris2351]

I am wondering: can you play these loops on tascams without any tape in it? cause on the video there is no actual tape in the tascam

[@ChristianIce]

Yes, there is the tape while he's playing. Other the fact that you can see the button pushed, the pitch control wouldn't have any effect without an actual tape being pitched.

[@genocrisp6689]

Thumbs down for literally what!?

[@genocrisp6689]

Giving up a secret that’s not a secret? Definitely don’t run your drums through vocoders then.... or use resonators for harmonic feedbacks then... ya know.... don’t... do those

[@genocrisp6689]

#transparency #reverbistheonlyneededeffect

[@genocrisp6689]

#invetedfriedchicken...yea...thisguy

[@genocrisp6689]

#thewordinventeddoesnthavetwonsanymore

[@NimbusOptica]

Nice! I didn't know Danny Devito was in NIN

[@allrain]

You don't know shit, Nothing Head

[@saintjabroni]

Nothing Head lol