4 track reel to reel recording - 2 tracks on each side?

thefiremelted

New member
hello, i am new to analog recording

my friend has an old wacom 4 track reel to reel recorder, and i was thinking about buying some tape for it. i was curious though, since these machines record 2 tracks on each side of the tape, does this mean i can only do multitracking with 2 tracks at a time? it seems if i would have to flip the tape to do the other two tracks, i would be starting out blank again. can someone help me out? thanks!
 
Actually, you can't do any multi-tracking on it. It is set up for stereo use (from what you describe) Think of it like a normal cassette deck, you don't have access to 4 descrete tracks, you have 2 sides in stereo.
 
Yeah, if you're sure it only records two tracks, then Fairview's right. And think about - if you flip the tape then it would be running in the opposite direction. The 2 tracks you recorded would be playing backwards.

I've got an old "Quadrophonic" reel-to-reel that I used to use like a multi-tracker, but this Wacom unit sounds like a consumer hi-fi deck. Can you give us any more details?
 
i was under the feeling that it could do multitracking though, because it has a switch where you select either track 2/3 or track 1/4

what would be the point of the selector ?
 
I'm not sure. I'd have to research the deck more. But I'm almost positive that's a consumer deck. There was a time when there were two different formats for stereo consumer reel decks. One used tracks 1/2 for one direction and tracks 3/4 for the other direction (just like a cassette). The other used tracks 1/4 for one direction and tracks 2/3 for the other.
 
You just can't take "no" for an answer, can you? :D Seriously, all the answers are above. You need to read and understand.

Let it go. You can't do what you want to do with this deck.
 
haha well i posted the picture before i read the previous post. i really just wanted to make surte this couldnt record, because i was planning on buying tape off ebay, but if i cant multitrack, i guess there isnt any point. thanks for clearing everything up!
 
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