How I recorded an album on the four track
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- čas přidán 9. 08. 2019
- Recorded entirely on the four track Tascam 414 Portastudio and mixed down using the 424.
Download the album here
landonbalk.bandcamp.com/album...
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man this video is so inspiring. sometimes i get caught up in the modern world of music, but i can for sure imagine how much fun and creativity this will unlock. album is great. the instrumentation really gives me this 90's vibe.
Totally agree Marvin
Theres a reason the 90s was so much better for hiphop and limitations was a big factor, people had to try. Dudes dont even try these days, everyones sounding the same out here becuase they all go to google and download the same sound packs, i legit hear the same "lofi" stuff all the time because clearly dudes just went and got free or paid for loop packs. ITs shite.
Yup!!
love it! these "old" tools are so powerful!
This is dope as hell and inspiring like crazy !
I'm impressed. This sounds great. You hook up outboard gear to those things and use space creatively, I'ts amazing what you can do.
Really enjoyed and learned from the creativity on this vid and listening to the album. 🤙🏽
The album is 🔥🔥🔥, it was worth every penny!!!
Wow Landon great video. I have the 8 track 488mk1 model, and I've just started work on my own album with already great results. Thanks for sharing.
I'm trying to do this! Thanks you for showing some info and skills!
smh am I the only one who realized the ... auspicious title (facepalm) lol
@Pop Ease i dont get it
Yeah I saw that immediately lol.... oiii
it means greedy
This is a great video! Glad to find you
I immediately checked out the Album after seeing this video. Genuinely really enjoy listening to it. Definite Radiohead feeling with it. Congratulations
You know what’s hilarious about that comment is the first Smee album has the incidental name of Radiohead. I never thought Smee would see such a comparison. 😆
Bravo Mr. Landon Bravo. Fun to watch 👏🏻👏🏻
Oh this is great. I miss this type of passion in people these days
This is inspiring ! Thanks for sharing 👍
Phenomenal !
Thank you
Dope content, dope album! Rain blow is my favorite!
Great stuff and very insightful.... Thanks.
I love it! Great Video! Thank You! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
Great stuff, man.
That track that kicks in around 2:50 has some *major* MBV Loveless era influences for sure. I hear it a mile away.
Beautiful stuff.
I absolutely loved this. It has an organic feeling that gets lost with modern production techniques. I had a Fostex x26 but nobody told me about click tracks so I was a bit lost, then it disappeared and eventually I got into computer recording. But I'd love to do a an album just with a Dx7, Juno60 and Mirage going into.a 4track.
Thank you so much for your share !!!
Sounds really good!
Awesome concept. I also used to have an SK-1. Our house burned down in 1988. The SK-1, though melted some, still worked afterward.
This was dope dude!!!!
This is amazing. Definitely subscribing MAKE MORE!!!
inspiring !! great job.
I've been working on recording with a Tascam Mark III for a while.
It's not as easy as some think but once you learn how it works it's great.
I need help on mixing and compressing my recordings that's where I'm stuck
really nice my mate!!! inspiring
Man... I know what I'm getting myself this christmas...
Amazing video.
Zer0Spinn a rug?
@@magicspiral3323 Yes. Exactly.
that´s the way we used to do...i love it
Impressive. I dig it.
this is great inspiration! Would you make a list of what you used here, and possibly an alternative of setting up a good (budget) 4track home studio with similar potentials? Really enjoyed the music. I'll check out the album! Take care
Great channel dude
I love this ....the reason why I found this video is because I'm reverting back to old tech to capture the essence of live unedited recordings ....Im leaning towards a minidisk recorder....good to know that people are recording this way .... excellent work bro
Thanks Martin, I’m glad you came across my video. Minidisk is a format I have yet to experiment with myself, perhaps that will be in the future. I like physical media and I’m finding others are too - just look at the prices of four tracks right now. What’s leaning you to the minidisk?
@@magicspiral3323 well I have a personal Sony MD player that I picked up on eBay a year ago ...instead of listening to Spotify and the like I am going to record my own music and listen on there ....I never fully utilised the minidisc format when I was younger ....so I suppose it's to see what I missed out on all those years ago ...
@@mb9ether that’s fantastic. I’m curious about your output with the machine!
Genius!
This is pure dope dude
Super cool video! I’m wondering if you could tell me the type of power supply you have/I could get for the tascam 424 portastudio? I have one I’m trying to resurrect and found my power supply missing. I found a couple on amazon claiming to be what I need but just wanted to be sure. Any help is appreciated.
Dude! I need one too. I’ve had the same tascam and have not had any luck with the power supply. The are very hard to find, if it’s the one that looks like a small midi looking cable. I forget the actual model number for the power cable. All I can say is keep looking on eBay
Pick Your Brain is now available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music ect. ✌🏼
People sell out their runs of cassettes on bandcamp like... All the time. It's great for the customer, you get a digital and physical copy. Why everyone isn't on bandcamp... Dunno, it's a no brainier. Also I can't not see magic spiral without thinking of Trent's band mystic spiral from Daria. Bandcamp dude.
cassette
both
Man that rug really tied that room together
Good job 👏🏼
god i'm so jealous of your studio.....
Great job, I just bought the album
¿Can i use a analog mixer in the aux in from the tape recorder, and use it to mix the tracks sounds?
This is awesome. My setup is pretty similar. Curious where you were setting the gain for each track?
You can't go wrong with the cat as Engineer .. Dope!
This is just awesome, imagen what you could do with an 8 track portastudio with a built in CD burner on it.. :D
Very very good
Very very good my friend
Hello,I need your advice,please tell me, how you connect your sp 404 to tascam 424.?im right uderstand inputs tascam 424 have XLR 6.5 jack?Thanks
Man song 2, the riff one is amaaaaaazing
I like how the cat is there checking to make sure youre ok..
Nice!!!
good shit dude
Digging this a lot! Reminds me a bit of the later Tall Dwarfs albums or Chris Knox.
I thought of Chris Knox as well! Also reminds me of when I was in college living with a bunch of elephant 6 members and all the home recordings they were making at the time. Really great stuff!
great video
I have the Digitech RP360XP as well. It’s a great pedal with great tones. Especially if you take the time to create your own tones from scratch.
aaaaaaah the 424. my first ever piece of recording gear ever
Now I want the rug too :'( FeelsSadMan
I Feel Something good about this box ...she sounding fine
This was sweet! Just been getting into my 424 mkii and it’s been a bit of a long learning curve. I wanted to ask, can’t you record the stereo backing track through 5/6 or 7/8? Then use the other inputs for mono and panned tracks?
I’ve been doing this on the mkii but still not really understanding where that signal records to. I think it’s like master bus, but where is it actually going on the tape? Is it duplicated on both channels on both sides of the tape, or first side, or what? Do you know?
Cause then when you pan the tracks after recording, wouldn’t that also pan the recorded info from 5/6 and 7/8?
I’m prolly just not understanding something. the manual doesn’t go into any depth about this as those inputs are usually dedicated to Fx
After everything is recorded to tape what's your process for capturing and converting it into digital audio files for digital distribution. Do you just arm a track in Ableton and hit play on the Portastudio? Any limiting or mastering in a DAW?
Yeah that’s basically what I did. Light mastering to tame the levels.
nice! cool desk hehe
hello this might sound like a dumb question, is it possible to record a full drum set with 2 tracks? (with 6 mics on the drum set)
If I had not already, I would've subbed instantly at 1:43. Laughed my ass off.
really pretty stuff man. just got a portastudio, i appreciate the demonstration!
just had a question if you could help. i've been recording for a couple of years through my behringer umc404hd audio interface, into logic pro x, but i've never had the chance to mess with anything truly 'analog'. i'm not sure how you transfer the audio to your computer, but i should be able to run my portastudio into an audio interface and then into a DAW, correct? i assume so, but am still waiting on some cords to arrive, so i haven't been able to get it up and running yet.
anyways, keep making music! not sure what's up with the annoying comments below.
edit: just saw you have another video describing how to do exactly what i just asked! read my damn mind
Thanks for watching! Glad you found the other video. Hope you get recording soon! They’re fun tools!
hell yes
Where can i get one of those? How much did that cost?
I have a question (might be a dumb one): Do I need to fill up a cassette with a certain amount of songs in order to reach the limit (ie: 30 minutes of music on a 30 minute cassette, 60 minutes of music on a 60 minute cassette)?
Divide the tape length by four. Half because the four track runs twice as fast as standard speed decks and half again because you only get one side. So a 60 minute tape will get you roughly 15 mins of recording time. The manuals for the tape machines explain this. Hope that helps!
Magic Spiral - Nice song.
It's actually quite easy to bounce on tape.
Regardless, you did a good job.
hello, world. I have a question about radio frequency interference. I’ve got a Fostex x-18 that sounds great and works perfectly, but it has a huge RFI when i plug anything in any input. It’s a shame because there’s a lot of potential here for soundscapes and textures if only I could have a RFI free signal. I’m asking this here hoping that someone could help me with that. Sorry that I'm using this video comment session as a forum (: cheers.
Hi Landon, I'm just loving your channel content. I still use a cassette based recorder, it's the Tascam 488 mk1 8 track recorder. It has such a fantastic sound with hardly any noticable noise floor because I record as hot as possible to get a good signal to noise ratio. However I do all my recordings with DBX, but it still sounds great on mix down. Thanks for sharing your videos my friend. Kind regards. Paul.
Tascam 488MK1 Home multitrack recording thank you kindly!
I’m loving the sound of my Tascam 238! Amazing quality for a cassette. Glad you’re enjoying the 488. That’s a beast of a machine. Cheers!
@@magicspiral3323 It certainly is. I'm in Scotland and I bought the machine from Belgium. It wasnt working when I got it but I changed out the capstan motor and belts, an it sparked into life. Its a very clean and professional sounding machine. I'm currently recording an album, but it;s taking time as I got sick. So I'm hoping to get back into it soon. Beest wishes. Paul.
How much does DBX rob dynamics on cassette multitracks?
this may give me an idea with the yamaha MT4X,though I'd prefer to record in audition then bounce each track to tape.
I’ve been looking at upgrading from my tascam 4 track so I don’t have to bounce down but hearing the modern digital multitracks, the sound good, but the tape sounds better, even if it’s just a cassette, but the real to reals sound next level, haaaa one day if I’m lucky and can still find tape
the Beatles: "hold my beers"...
Hold our lsd tabs
I got that same 424 for $50 on Craigslist.. sold it for $200 and now they go for even more
i’m currently recording on a 424 with very similar pre amps and other gear; i’m blown away with how little noise there is in your recordings, was there digital mastering done specifically to reduce tape hiss?
also, how do you bounce the whole mix to a digital interface while retaining certain stereo effects? i have a song with guitars panned hard left and right which sounds great on the 4 track but when i get into a daw it’s sounds like a garbage chorus effect… lol
i have the left and right rca outputs going into the 2 channels of my scarlett 2i2 and then i pan each channel left and right accordingly. you would think this would give you the complete stereo image but it’s really just giving me a complete mono mix on the left and right..
Thanks for watching! I didn't use NR or post-cleanup, so a compliment on low noise is a pleasant surprise. I advise getting a good sound source before you hit the tape. I like to record pretty hot when cutting to tape and bouncing for this project was minimal. I use Type ii cassettes as well, so maybe all that helped keep the noise low.
As far as the 2i2, there could be record settings in your DAW you need to check when setting up a new audio track. I did record the stereo mix through an interface and did some light mastering. No magic, just running with what I gave myself. Keep recording! - Landonious
@@magicspiral3323 you are absolutely right and i actually answered my own question just minutes before i read your comment lol. when selecting a new track in logic pro, i needed to select “inputs 1 + 2” as its own track, which would recognize the stereo image coming out of the 4 track from both inputs. previously i was recording track 1 = left output and track 2 = right output of 4 track
and you’re right about getting a good sound source, i have some noisy gear!
This is what music is all about
How can you sync midi instruments to cassette multi trackers? If I can find a way. I would go back to tape. Its sounds warmer.
I imagine you have to record SMPTE code onto one channel. I used to do this on reel to reel recordings yonks ago. Back then there was a special box to do this. Cubase has a SMPTE code generator built in as far as I know.
I love this video! Did you need an audio interface when connecting the 24 channel mixer to the 4 track?
No, just to record to the computer
Just Now saw thiS--- VERY Good! Great Ideas...Great attitude...I love the 4 track too... What do you film with?? Keep it Up!
Thank you for watching! We used the Canon Rebel T5i DSLR camera.
@@magicspiral3323 Cool! Thank you.
Great video and great sounds. I have an old Tascam Porta 07 which I bought about 25 or more years ago. Used to love mucking about making stuff up. Then the kids came along. End of 'mucking about'. Kids now grown up and I dug it out again. Great old bit of kit. The only real issue I have now (apart from recording something decent ;D) is - how the hell can I transfer my stuff in to my computer and itunes? I'm a bit bemused......
I use an audio interface to transfer tapes to the computer.
Was hoping the xr-5 in the pic was used because that's what I'm looking to use in my production.
A Tascam 424 is the model featured in the photo. the workflow will be very similar. Thanks for watching and happy recording!
Are you familiar with the music of Ariel Pink or R. Stevie Moore? I feel like they have a similar style. Enjoyed the video!
You know, I have heard their music and read a thing or two about them, though I’m not familiar with a ton of their material. I take the similarity as a compliment, so thank you for that and thanks for enjoying the video!
@@magicspiral3323 Check out the musician Larry Wish too. Very cool weirdo songwriter
Hey Landon, what happened to the other channel? Nice to see you back
InThisTwilight hey thanks! Our previous email was deleted when renewed, and our CZcams page was lost with it unfortunately. Don’t worry, we still have videos coming up!
sounds hot
Did you run your bass through a preamp as well or just the sp404?
I think it depended on the song and how much dirt I wanted on the bass
I have a tascam 424mkiii. I've made decent sounding recordings in the past but it's all been dumb luck. Usually I waste most of my time trying to get everything to sound just decent. I don't even use effects or anything...just guitars (2 tracks, one panned left, one right, bass, & drums & vocals. That's it.) It's very difficult to figure out how to get everything to sound decent.
Makes me miss my Fostex x-12. I still have the recordings though. :) All inside a nice, fat, 80's briefcase.
I just found a MR-10 Vesta Fire or $5 at a thrift store.
But it wont turn on unfortunately xD
cool
it's sooooo hard to decide what to buy,,, mk1 or mk 2... dude the meters are soo nice on that... but then the eq's have no mid... it's not an easy decision.
What drum machine are you using? Good video BTW .👍
MPC!
Casset please :)
If you record it onto a sequencer first and then export a sequenced performance from there it's not what I think of as recording onto 4-track. I guess this counts, at least as an awesome callback to the olden days.
Hi Landon, I love how clean the sound is on your 4 track. Kind regards. Paul.
Tascam 488MK1 Home multitrack recording Thanks Paul! 🤘🏼
@@magicspiral3323 Your very welcome dear friend. I just completed a repair project on a 1988 Yamaha MT2X 4 track recorder and it sounds awesome. For a low-fi machine, it doesn't sound that low-fi. I found that using the DBX NR along with recording as hot as possible pretty much gets rid of the noise floor on playback. I'm forever trying to develop ways of achieving really great sound quality with good results. The high speed setting really helps too. Here is a little test recording I made on it below.
czcams.com/video/YmotKqIsrNE/video.html
Great tone at 4:44 reminiscent of helter skelter
You gotta use Type 2 cassettes with a multitrack
Hi Landon! This kind of strange idea popped into my mind: have you ever tried recording the exact same sound excactly the same time on two or more different tracks on a four track? Like duplicating the track, but not in a DAW but in the analog realm? I wonder if it sounds as massive as I imagine it in my head :) or do you think it would just be phasing issues etc.?
That’s a good question. I’ve only done bouncing which doubles the sound, and it doesn’t necessarily make the sound bigger. Maybe you’ll get those results if you feed some sounds through processing or effects.
@@magicspiral3323 ok thanks for the reply :)
Can I connect this traditional 4track to record in mp3 format?
Yes. I took mine to a local studio to have it done. Then uploaded the songs.
Can you connect it to a laptop using an interface if so what cable to use
Yes you can. Typically you’d use RCA to 1/4” cables.
Newbie here. Apologies if it's a super naive question..if I use the stereo outputs on the recorder to connect with the Focusrite interface it will transfer my tracks to my DAW's , correct ?