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

[thefiremelted]

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!

[Farview]

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.

[MadAudio]

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?

[thefiremelted]

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 ?

[MadAudio]

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.

[thefiremelted]

http://tinypic.com/195tmu
http://tinypic.com/195to8

those are 2 pictures of it if that helps

[MadAudio]

You just can't take "no" for an answer, can you? 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.

[thefiremelted]

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!

[MadAudio]

That's cool. Cross posting happens! I hope my last post didn't sound too parental, LOL!