Can You Record A Full Band on 4-Track Tape in 2020? 

Thanks so much. I’m really happy (and a little surprised) at how this EP turned out.

HA! The 246 is the gift that keeps on giving!

Where on earth did you find it for 35 bucks!! Deal of the century :)

Where did you go for repairs?

Yes! Exactly! Thanks for watching and listening.

Thanks! It was a fun day in the studio!

@@BIGEGO just fantastic Chris. I use my trusty Tascam 488mk1 8 track cassette recorder. Tascam really made some great analogue home recorders. Keep up the great work dear friend. Kind regards. Paul.

this sounds fantastic btw

Thank you! We just did another couple of projects on the 246. I gotta get a new vid up soon.

Yes, I agree. And let’s not forget great engineering and musicianship.

@@marcusmagellan The MOST important ingredients!

@@GeekTherapyRadio yep!!!

Obviously there's a lot of ingredients but one thing that was really surprising to me was pairing the 246 up with some high quality preamps. I guess I consider the amps on the 246 to be closer to line amps than preamps. They sound awesome but are pretty limited. Using high quality external preamps allowed us to use some ribbon and condenser mics (+48v) and we compressed a bit on the way in. Once you add it all up with great songs and musicianship there's something pretty special there.

Thank you!

Marantz made great equipment for decades. Their tape recorders were among the best around.

@@BIGEGO I got a 1986 unit, I believe. You can get them on Ebay for a good price. Around $70.00. I don't think it was used, maybe a display model.

It sounds great. I’ll get another video up showcasing a rock band on the 246.

It was definitely a minimalist set up but with great musicians and microphones. One advantage of using external preamps is that we could use both phantom power for a pair of Sony C38B mics (on bass and violin) and a Coles 4038 ribbon as the single drum mic. Drums were recorded live but in an iso booth with the door slightly ajar. Hope that helps!

Yes, and the repair/maintenance is a fortune.

@@marcusmagellan nah just learn to do it yourself

@@robertcrystals how?

@@freddiesmith-wright7531 this site. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m47xepcKIB8.html Tetrakan Supermonobloc is a great start, there's tonnes on here. I've fixed samplers, 4 tracks, reel to reel 8 tracks, MPC 3000, SP12 and more just by watching tutorials on here

Definitely. Surprisingly hi-fi sounding. As long as you’ve got good preamps and mics (and musicians) the 246 will acquit itself quite well.

The 424 was my first multi-track device and I still have a bunch of those tapes! I have to say, the 246 feels like the king of the portastudios and I know the built quality (and transport) is part of the reason some techs still work on them and not the newer units.

Sorry to hear that!

In all fairness, the Tascam doesn't have microphones or songs or musicianship so there will always be a few external factors. That said, we really did the whole project on the 246 from recording to mixing so I think it's an honest representation. We sent a mult directly out of X8P into the line ins of the 246 (folding 6 channels down to 4). Then we just sent a stereo out from the 246 on mixdown back into the Apollo on two channels. Hopefully that helps make sense of it. A deeply rewarding experiment!

BIG EGO ... But you also had the outstanding benefit of the Apollo going in, right, Unison technology, and the ability to flavor your pre’s sound however you wanted via the amazing software emulation of the some of the world’s greatest mic pre’s going in, right?

@@SteveHacker , hello. Thank you for seeing that side of it. The feel and boundaries can create magic. Ya feel me? “I love it when a plan comes together.” Cheers

Sorry, just seen you’ve already answered that question 🥸

@@flypieTV I wanted to ask, if you're using external preamps, is there any reason you ran into the front inputs instead of the rear "inserts" to bypass the onboard pre amps?

Yep. We used the Apollo X8P preamps with the direct outs straight into Tascam 246.

Thank you! Yes, Tascam 246 (and 244) are still available on the used market. They are robust machines so I would recommend buying one that has already been serviced.

@@BIGEGO Nice one! Yes I'd love to get one of these machines to experience again that magnetic tape warmth... and re listen to my first demos I recorded on a Tascam 07 back in the early 90s :)

Coles 4038 on the drums, Sony C38B on double bass and violin/mandolin, RE20 on vocals, Beyer M160 on guitar amp, and Gefell UMT70S on acoustic guitar.

And thank you! There’s a link to the full album in the description.

BIG EGO Outboard preamps?

@@keithh5106 Yeah, I think we used the Apollo X8P unison preamps with the Helios or Neve 1073's. Honestly, the preamps make all the difference with getting strong signal to tape on these Tascam units. Their built in preamps are not so great, especially for ribbons or mics that require phantom.

The routing on the 246 can take a little getting used to but I tracked this session with channels 1 & 2 panned hard left / right which allows for independent mono separation. Then channels 3 & 4 were summed to from 3, 4, 5, & 6 in a stereo submix. Then when I'm playing back the four tracks, I've got mono on 1/2 and stereo on 3/4. If you switch your assign buttons and "phones" buttons you can use EITHER the faders or the monitor knobs. Kinda confusing only because there are a few different options. I hope that helps a little!

@@BIGEGO exactly what i'm thinking every time i'm using the phones/monitor buttons. so confusing! I will try this out for sure. Thanks for your tips!

Definitely! But the way we recorded this project allowed us to use all six inputs simultaneously and submix four tracks into a single stereo group.

Hey Adam! Yes! You can use all six inputs simultaneously. However, you can only record on to four tracks. So, you've got to submix live, while you're recording. In this case, I threw the drums, bass, fiddle, and second guitar onto channels 3-6 and submitted them to bus 3/4. So you can still keep your stereo panning information and, in a pinch you could tweak your left/right balance but, for the most part, what you mix and what you get. I hope that helps. Keep in mind, the workflow here has a full live band recording at the same time. If you were recording one thing at a time, you have less options and would have to do a lot more bouncing, etc.

Yes.

I suppose you can but it would take a bit of work to approximate what happens instantly with the tape. It's all a trade off and really depends on what your goal is before you start recording. In this case, we went into it knowing we'd cut the whole EP live in the room in a single day and cut 2 or 3 takes before moving on to the next tune.

Submixing! And I think it was six mics into four channels.