A pretty neat trick when you’re recording to tape if you ever accidentally clear out your count off, flip your tape around listen to what would be the beginning of the song and tap a rhythm with a high hat, rim, or what ever you want to use. when the Music stops which you are hearing backwards tap out four more taps past that point Make sure you’re on an empty track. Now when you reverse the tape around, you’ll have four beat count off which will be either a backwards, high hat, or whatever percussive sound you have used. This ideal saved me on a song back in the early 80s.
Such wondrous days. Before the studio. Before ear surgery. Before scripts. Before having figured this whole youtube thing out. Raw. Silly. Groovy. Made on tape. Good times. Good times. 😊
I wrote/recorded in a home studio setting for more than 2 decades. I began in 1995 with the purchase of a Tascam 424 Portastudio...recorded/produced approx. 30 song with that unit over a period of 5 years. My point? 😉Videos like yours do a good job of glamorizing the cassette recording experience, but do little to caution about the negatives. I"ll list a few: 1) Tape hiss (track noise) - every track you record contains a certain amount of unwanted hiss. Because of that, it's wise not to get carried away with track bounces. When you do as was shown here, bounce (combine) 3 individual tracks onto one, that final bounce track contains the noise from all 4 of the originals. Discretion is your freind. 🙂 2) Tape slippage - when performing auto-punch overdubs, your "in" & "out" points often slip after that first couple of takes. Unlike digital recording, once you've corrupted existing audio, you're stuck with the result. Analog aoffers no "undo" function. 3) Variation in tape speed - tape speed, unlike digital playback, can vary slightly. Not a huge deal, but it can get a bit irritating when trying to duplicate tuning for mulitple guitar tracks. 4) Timing accuracy - there is no way aritificially correct poorly timed performace. For the most part, you'll hear it as you played it...flaws & all. 5) Tape bleed - unlike digital recording, ghosts of existing tracks tend to bleed through onto new ones. And yes, I did hear address the issue of correct panning in the video, but in my experience, correct panning doesn't totally negate the issue of bleed. Case-in-point...recording live drums. I'm also a drummer, so I used live drums on my 424 recordings. But I quickly discovered that I couldn't use a "fixed" metronome track to record my drums. I tried recording a metronome click to track 1, then recording drums onto track 4, then erasing the previously recorded metronome track. Thng is, even when the original click track was erased, you could hear faint ghosts of it in the track 4 drum recording. To the best of my knowledge, some bleed is unavoidable. The only time it becomes a real issue is with something like a click or musical guide that you don't wish to hear in your final recording. 6) If I recall correctly, machines like this will not record stereo tracks. Bottom line - drum tracks, keyboards tracks, etc. will all be mono in your final mix. Between 1995 and 2015, I recorded with 3 generations of Tascam Portastudios...a 424, a 788 digital and a 2488. Tascam makes a good product, but IMHO videos like this should spend a wee-bit more time discussing the downsides of analog technology. One final thought ...everyone raves about how much warmer & analog recordings sound, but the biggest differnce I noted was in how the drums sound. Try as I might, I could never get my drum recordings to sound the way the did on tape, but everything else was fine. For the majority of you, who use software generated drums, analog should offer no advantage in percussive texture. Thanks for bearing with me.👍 Oh... 1 more thing. The tape heads on these machines will require replacement. After my first 18 songs, the record heads on my 424 had to be replaced. Not the end of the world...just another pitfall of analog recording.
Wow I really like to see your little tutorials with this tascam , I got a porta One but I bought a porta two at nice price tonight. I will check if it is ok with recording process and later will see what I can do with this beautiful machine. Made on tape ❤
Very cool video. Like it. Glad cassette recording is making a comeback. Theres a warmth about analogue tape. That cannot be beaten. Its alot of fun too. And very hands on. I always felt music production has lost something with computer software.
thank you! I think one of the biggest differences is that tape forces you to get a great performance. It's very difficult or impossible to edit like you can in a DAW. Too many people lock everything to the grid arbitrarily. Working on tape also informs the way I work on a computer. Oh, yeah, and "the sound" comes so easily with the tape machine!
@@MadeOnTape Yes I always remind myself the Beatles recorded their Sgt Pepper album on a 4 track. Thats all you need to know. Keep them coming. You are refteshing to see on youtube.
I too am glad that cassette recorders are making a comeback. I used to use Fostex and Tascam 4-track cassette machines, and I consider them to be easier to use than digital gear.
You crack me up Love these videos and got a fairly similar set up so this is helpful as hell and I wouldn’t want my education any other way Big praises from across the pond 🍑
This video is great. I recently acquired a tape base for track after wanting one for a while. I work in music retail, so I have access to the new stuff but the old stuff always has a special place in my heart. Although I think I’m also in need of an analog mixer because there’s no XLR inputs on my Yamaha MT 400 and for the life of me I can’t figure outhow to get a good signal without one. I appreciate this content though because there’s not much tapering stuff out there.
Dude thanks so much for this vid! I'm learning so much right now about primitive guitar, keyboard, bass, drum machine recording on my "new to me Porta Two. However I wish you would start at the beginning of what you're doing here. What output jack are you using on the TR-505, what kind of cable (is it a standard instrument cable or a TRS cable). What jack in the Porta Two do you go into. You are assuming we know too much lol. Great vid man, subscribed!
yo! I use a standard instrument cable for the 505. I'm thinking of doing a new version of this video because I think I've gotten better at making videos😬
great question! in general, i use the effects send for things like reverb and delay to be applied to multiple instruments in the mix. (you can use it for anything: skys the limit) and i view the insert jack as a tool to adjust track one or two individually. do you have extra channels on your portastudio? If so, you can use the “tape out” as a pre fader send and bring it through effects and back into a different channel hope this helps! there’s a lot more to this but i’m trying to give a quick overview
@@MadeOnTape Do it dude! I finally got around to fixing my 488 mkii the other day which had a fried opamp, busted gear and gooey belt. I've been eyeing a few of these machines being sold for parts, def going to gamble on one at some point and try to fix it up. I'm a sucker for the old school vu meters. Reminds me of my old teac 80-8 reel to reel 8track.
@@MadeOnTape hell yeah! I loved the wood side paneling, your rtr 4track looks quite similar. I sold it a few years back as I didn’t have the space for it anymore. When I have the space I’d like to either grab a tascam 38 or 388.. the 80-8 didn’t have have a pitch control which was a bummer
Sorry if this is a dumb question. If you were to mess up while recording, would you have to re-record all of what you already had or could you delete the track you messed up on?
hey there! Not a dumb question at all! So, if you mess up while recording, you just go back and record over your part that you messed up. In other words, there are 4 tracks available. I would often put the drum machine down first, say on track 1. Then I would record the bass on track 2. Then I would record guitar on track 3. But if I mess up while recording guitar, that will not have any effect on what happened on tracks 1 and 2. Does that make sense? Hope I'm explaining it well enough via writing!
Hey there! Got a Porta Two recently. Where do you tend to go for replacement parts, repair guide resources, stuff like that? Mine is actually in decent condition but there's a few things here and there that I feel slightly out of my depth on.
hey there! I'm very lucky and haven't needed much done on the machine. I would point you to a very active and helpful group on FB called "Portastudio and other 4-Track Cassette Recorders" It's run by a great guy who repairs on RU-vid too: ru-vid.com depends on your location ultimately. I'm in NYC and could point you to specific resources here.
heyo! just got one of these babies in the mail today and yours was the first when i looked up tutorials for it, awesome vid!! however, i’m having trouble putting the cassette in the machine, lol. there are these little metal bits on the heads that prevent me from just putting it straight on, plus the pinch roller is pressed up right against the capstan and it needs to be pushed back a little for the tape to get on there. is there something i’m missing or a special technique to it or what?
@@MadeOnTape i actually fixed it; it was a pretty common malfunction in these machines. i just had to open it up and turn a gear to trip it back down, and now it works perfect. i got it “untested” for cheap, so that being the only repair i had to do is pretty good!
i wouldn’t necessarily recommend always using a channel strip… curious what mic you’re using and where you’re placing it? and what are you trying to record? thanks for watching!
@@MadeOnTape I was recording drums, guitar and bass. I was using two SM58s on guitar and drums and an old Shure Unidyne on bass (this is all we've got haha). And the level on drums was especially low, so I'm thinking I need something before the 4 track to crank the level up
@@absolving Drums don't usually need help getting louder. Also as a bassist, I would always recommend taking a direct signal if you can (use a DI and the amp for the performance) but take that with a grain of salt! Recording is too complicated to be solved in a RU-vid comment section. Keep experimenting and go for the sound you want! Believe me, EVERYONE makes "bad sounding" recordings, so I hope that's not discouraging. thanks again for watching!
yo! In Final Cut there's a stock plugin/effect called "Bad TV"! I had half a mind to film this channel with my family's old camcorder but there's an electrical issue that's beyond my knowledge or skills....
I’m currently looking into getting one of these, what’s the purpose of 5 and 6 if there’s only four tracks. Apologies if this is simple, I’m very new to this
that’s an excellent question! Think of these machines as a mixer, plus four track recording. so, those extra two channels can have many purposes during mixdown… also, with those extra channels, you can record two inputs onto one track. Imagine double miking a guitar and committing to the sound… possibilities are endless, and now that i have used portastudios for a while, i love the ones with extra channels hope this helps!
I’ve just bought a Tascam porta 05 and Roland 505 (waiting for them both to arrive) found your channel while trying to find tutorials on how to use the 505, think I’m gonna find your channel really helpful over the next few weeks!
yo! that's the EHX Canyon reverb pedal set to Shimmer reverb, but the real magic is coming from that doodad. It's an Ebow check out this awesome vid if you wanna learn some ebow techniques. Thanks for watching! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VmugDwAKZ-o.html
I have one just like this but my capstan is constantly Moving wether or not the tape is being played. Is this a problem? It almost makes such an obnoxious squeaking noise and I was wondering if you have any type on how to fix that
The Porta Two appears to have 6 faders at your disposal... so if I get a 8 track tape cassette and load it into the PT, will I be able to record up to six tracks live, using the PT? 🤔 Thinking of using this to track a whole band jam setup.
hey there! great question! the Porta Two is a 4 track machine, and the extra two faders/channels can be used for a multitude of fun mixing and recording techniques. Honestly, most portastudios are 4-track. TASCAM does have the 488, which is truly 8-track, and Sansui made a strange 6-track format. let me know if you have any more questions and thanks for watching!
@@MadeOnTape Oh, ok thanks for the answer. I was thinking of getting a Porta of some sort (maybe the 488) and going DAWless. My computer is starting to gag out on me when I record and I am getting system overload more than actually doing anything, and it's a literal pain to mix. What would your recommendation(s) be for a portastudio (preferably tape based) either by Tascam or others, that would be good for professionally recording and producing music that I can sell/distribute? I'm working with a simple metal band set up, of two guitars, bass, 1 drum set, samples and vocals, and trying to capture that epic 80s thrash/speed Metal vibe (check out my EP Upon A Bloodied Earth on Bandcamp for a general idea of what I mean). Thanks for your help. I am one of your new subscribers btw (I subbed yesterday).
When I bounce anything from one track to another, it’s degrades it heavily… i seen your other video that says it would take a couple bounces before severe degradation… is this normal, or could it be because I’m also using type 1 90min Maxwell tape? lol
the type 1 might be a factor on these machines 😬 you can always mitigate degradation by adding high EQ: have you checked out my video on generation loss? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-unkfgDh6wsM.htmlsi=Cn_mlnZTswfeoS_M
@@MadeOnTape oh shit I didn’t see this video, thank you! Ima check out this one. And yes I ended up bumping the hi end on my drums all the way with the eq lol
there is 6 channels though? Does this mean I can connect 6 external microphones and they will somehow be consolidated to the 4 tracks of the tape? thanks!
hey there, great question! I thought the same thing when this machine came to me from my dad. I don't know if it's the same on all machines, but yes, if you "direct assign" channel 5 (or 6) to a track (1-4), it should record the signal simultaneously with the other input as well. This is a GREAT feature. But, there's even more you can do with channels 5 & 6 during mixdown. I recently did a video where you should fast forward to the third type of reverb. It's here where I show one of the ways to use channels 5 & 6. Thanks for watching! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--oKYSXNpt88.html
@@RandyRan9545 you can not hear all four tracks individually while recording or summing, only after its on tape. You can get some separation with panning, depending on what you're after. Hope that helps answer your question!
@@MadeOnTape Thanks sir! I’m green hand in Tape recording,😅😅, Suppose I wanted to track my Drum Kit : Kick, Snare, Hihat, overhead , and separate them on the channels of Porta two, How can I operate? Can you teach me please.
My porta one is not erase the track correctly… always I can hear the last track I recorded before … it’s a pain . I’m using a bad quality tape … but I think it has to erase and you would no hear anything in any tape or any quality ? I don’t know if my erase head is in bad condition…. It could be
there might be a mechanical issue in your transport that is causing the heads to make poor contact. I'm not sure without seeing it or asking a really good tech! do you have access to any tech people in your area? There are some online as well.
@@VANVASSS only if they totally fix it, clean it, and send it back in full working order. Obviously labor is the biggest cost and if they are good, I believe in paying for good labor
DBX is a noise reduction circuit. Something has to be recorded with DBX on for it to work properly on playback, otherwise you're bypassing it (which is my preference). Sync is when you record a midi sync track and then can use that to control things like Synthesizers and keep them in tempo (tape time fluctuates naturally, especially on cassette) Trim knobs are used depending on if you're hitting the preamps with a line level signal (like a compressor) or a straight microphone. You'll have to turn up the "trim" when you plug in a Mic to hit the tape hard enough.
@@MadeOnTape man, I might have to get back into guitar again to try that out. Thanks for the reply! I love your videos man, happened to see this cause I was considering picking up a porta two and you earned an instant subscribe. Looking forward to watching more recent videos!
@@MadeOnTape It’s The right channel altogether if you put in headphones all you hear is left unless you have selected CUE which is always mono anyways. That’s been my work around I’m afraid I used the wrong kind of headphones at sone point and blew out an amplifier. I didn’t know you had to use stereo headphones until I purchased a second machine (Porta 1) and began reading the manual for that machine very closely. It says in the manual that if you use anything but stereo headphones that eventually circuit failure will occur and I’m wondering if you know anything about it/what kind of headphones do you use lol
@@TylerShackleford well if the headphones work in CUE then we know it's not the headphones. Did you try the stereo RCA outs to a set of speakers? I can help troubleshoot but this type of repair is beyond my skill set. There's a FB group called "Portastudio and other 4-Track Cassette Recorders" and that community has a lot of friendly helpful folks. The admin runs this youtube channel: ru-vid.comfeatured
Very cool. I picked one up recently & I'm going to try recording on my Portastudio soon. Your guitar sounds a little flat compared to the bass though, or vice versa - the bass is slightly sharp.. Either way, they're not perfectly in tune with each other. Idk, maybe that's on purpose though. 😅 Just an observation.. Not critiquing you. Anyways, thanks for sharing! Looks like I better get to recording. 😎
oh big time not in tune. It was a choice... a choice to sound bad lol thanks for watching these! my old videos could use some re-working or re-visiting...
MixChecks i was born into the era but was too young to have done much. consumer Cassettes were of course stereo, 2-track, but “side a” goes one direction and “side b” goes the other, which is four total. basically on a Tascam, you have four tracks by always recording in one direction 👉👉👉👉
