Recording to cassette

[Ugly Nora]

I loves me the sound of the band Zomes. For instance the tracks below. I have read this was recorded on cassette. Do you think this means an old Tascam 4 track for example, or literally one of those shitty tape recorders we all had when we were kids (at least us old people had when we were kids). In summary, how would I create this crappy sound (besides being a genius musician that is).


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb2m-Lc0RII[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbJBTlkWY2M[/youtube]

[Chankgeez]

Sounds like probably a 4 track.

Might be too much separation for it to only one mic.

[Ugly Nora]

Thanks. This is a pretty minimalist project so I had no idea. I wouldn't be surprised at anything.

Do you or anyone have any suggestions for a fair priced 4 track? Brand/model?


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL0UqiT_PuY[/youtube]

[Chankgeez]

You're welcome.

Yeah, minimalist to say the least. I kept waiting for something to happen in those songs. Nothing. Very little movement if at all.

So, I'm guessing you want an old analog 4 track, not a newer digital one?

Maybe an old Tascam?

[Ugly Nora]

I just think it would be fun to mess around on and I like that old crappy sound. So yeah, I assume it would have to be analog . I already have a DAW ( Presonus Studio One 2) so I already got that covered. And I honestly don't find recording on a DAW that much fun. I think I would enjoy the more manual process of tape. When I was a kid we used to do lots of stupid shit with recording (not necessarily musical) and I think it would bring back a lot of those fun memories. And that is what this is all about. For me at least. Fun.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, I'd look for a used Tascam.

I'm not a DAW fan either.

[rfurtkamp]

Spend the bucks on a non-terrible one. 414/424 will work just fine but you're not stuck with the limited inputs and awful mixers of the dirt cheapies.

Don't be tempted by the real true cheapies unless you like pain and unusable levels of hiss.

Me, I couldn't be more glad to be done with the format. I gave away my Tascam analog 8 track a couple years back because it was taking up space.

[Ugly Nora]

Sorry I was confused by your response. Are you saying the 424 is good or not? Does it have an unusable amount of hiss? If bad, do you have any suggestions for a good one? Thanks..

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

peep your local CL. peeps are giving old cassette 4 tracks away on it usually. like 20-40 bucks?

[echoraven]

A cassette recording adds hiss and lowers dynamic range, both achievable digitally. How about a stand alone recorder? Something like the Boss BR600? It would give you the feel of recording old style while preserving the fidelity of digital, so you can control how much of the hiss and range reduction you want.

BTW, love the track.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, furtkamp's saying the 424's a good one. He wants you to avoid the more basic 4 tracks and I concur.

A certain amount of hiss is inevitable. The cheaper you go, the more hiss there'll be.

[rustywire]

The notion that any cassette 4track will be inherently lofi is a misnomer. Most of them (that aren't children's toys) are in fact considered HiFi capable of 20Hz-18kHz or higher with metal tapes. Very few will do 20-20k like open reel tape machines, but they do exist.

The first track Op linked sounds like it was done using the cheapo stuff, both mikes and recorder. The second one sounds like an upper tier model with better mikes and more effective technique. Nice material, nonetheless.

The Tascam 400 series has always been highly recommended for seekers of a cassette multitrack, but personally I swear by the Tascam 246.
An overwhelming majority of the Sublime album Robbin The Hood was done on such a 246...and a tr808+sh101 were also used, and both have a full, interesting sound AFAIC.

It's an example of the potential interesting sounds cassette/portastudio recording setups are capable of capturing. Another is GBV Bee Thousand although I don't know what machine they used.

[Ugly Nora]

peep your local CL. peeps are giving old cassette 4 tracks away on it usually. like 20-40 bucks?

I'll check but I am in a small town area, and I am not willing to really travel more than like 15-20 minutes. Plus I am always afraid of getting robbed, raped, or murdered- or possible all 3 using CL.

A cassette recording adds hiss and lowers dynamic range, both achievable digitally. How about a stand alone recorder? Something like the Boss BR600? It would give you the feel of recording old style while preserving the fidelity of digital, so you can control how much of the hiss and range reduction you want.

BTW, love the track.

I'll look into, thanks.

The notion that any cassette 4track will be inherently lofi is a misnomer. Most of them (that aren't children's toys) are in fact considered HiFi capable of 20Hz-18kHz or higher with metal tapes. Very few will do 20-20k like open reel tape machines, but they do exist.

The first track Op linked sounds like it was done using the cheapo stuff, both mikes and recorder. The second one sounds like an upper tier model with better mikes and more effective technique. Nice material, nonetheless.

The Tascam 400 series has always been highly recommended for seekers of a cassette multitrack, but personally I swear by the Tascam 246.
An overwhelming majority of the Sublime album Robbin The Hood was done on such a 246...and a tr808+sh101 were also used, and both have a full, interesting sound AFAIC.

It's an example of the potential interesting sounds cassette/portastudio recording setups are capable of capturing. Another is GBV Bee Thousand although I don't know what machine they used.

Yeah see that is why I wasn't sure it was possibly something lower tech than a 4 track. I think your assumptions are valid since that first clip is from an album older than the 2nd clip. So that might make sense he upgraded. Their newest albums was actually recorded in a studio. So that you know who this is, if you ever heard of the band Lungfish - this is a project by the guitarist Asa Osborne. Good stuff.

Yeah, I remember reading the liner notes about Robbin the Hood and the home recordings when I bought it 20 years ago. God damn, I am old. Interesting that it gets brought up all this time later. And yeah, I enjoy the sound of that album.

[Chankgeez]

... So that you know who this is, if you ever heard of the band Lungfish - this is a project by the guitarist Asa Osborne. Good stuff.

Great guitarist. You wouldn't be able to tell based on the Zomes material though.

[Ugly Nora]

Yeah, he is one of my favorite.

So, I just bought this tascam 424 mkiii $299 shipped. I have no idea if that is good, but I don't care. I liked it because it came from a real "store" with a return policy, had the box, manual, power supply, some cables, an extra mic, a tape. I figure that would save me some money and time spent buying those particulars. The only real downside of this though is that I will have to post some "music" when I figure out how it works. This is your first and last warning.