Recording to tape

I've been thinking that I'd like to get back into tape recording, 4 track. I used to have an excellent Yamaha back in the day, and I really do miss it for sketching. I don't have a computer at home, and I'm not all that interested in hard disk recording per se- I guess I'm a bit of a low tech fetishist. But I was looking at this by tascam:

The 414mkII. Anyone else ever use it, or have any other 4 track recommendations? Thoughts on tape recording in general?

Thanks for the info.

Back in the day I recorded with a friend that had an old Tascam reel-to-reel with the 1/2 inch tape, and I must say I was totally floored by the sound quality and rock solid transport control. They still make tape for those things, and that may yet be something to look into. This may just be a bullshit rumor, but I've heard that the width of tape has something to do with how pristine the track separation will be, but hearing that 1/2 incher was certainly impressive in terms of quality, clarity, and warmth.

  LJG said:

Thanks for the info.

 

Back in the day I recorded with a friend that had an old Tascam reel-to-reel with the 1/2 inch tape, and I must say I was totally floored by the sound quality and rock solid transport control. They still make tape for those things, and that may yet be something to look into. This may just be a bullshit rumor, but I've heard that the width of tape has something to do with how pristine the track separation will be, but hearing that 1/2 incher was certainly impressive in terms of quality, clarity, and warmth.

I used to record to a 1/2" TEAC machine which was lovely. It had really low self noise and crosstalk. Also really good top end response (for tape at least). I used to also record to VHS sometimes. Those were the days.

mkIIs are the shit. i use mine daily, it has a real personality to it. there's actually a lot of wierd shit you can cook up once you're familiar.

i have nothing useful to add. i'm just posting about my love for tapes.

actually, i will add that the tapes themselves have a great deal to do with the sound, but of course it's all in the way you record and what you're going for, etc...

try and find some cheap metallic tapes. also, the shorter time length the better the fidelity, but again, it's all in what you're going for.

  Pilchard said:

I used to also record to VHS sometimes. Those were the days.

Lol, I have a friend that used to record live shows to VHS. You can't beat it for a durable, portable, and warm medium for stereo mixes. Or at least COULDN'T back when everyone had a vcr at home...Kinda strange having a vcr next to the mixer though. "He was so fat he had a vcr for a beeper" etc.etc...

  ieafs said:

i'm not sure if you've ever heard of this band - the olivia tremor control - their first record ("dusk at cubist castle") was all recorded on four-tracks and it's got this amazing sound. they're very similar to late-60s beatles in a lot of ways (and i'm sure they're aware of how much they owe to them), but i was amazed at how nice that record sounds when it was made with cassette four-tracks. very creatively done... even if you don't like that sort of music it could be nice to have a listen what they were able to achieve with reasonably minimal equipment.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll look into it. Reading these replies has really got me thinking of the possibilities of using a 4 track as an instrument actually, in terms of transport tweakage and whatnot. So many uses- I'm sure it's worth having one around.