Interesting article about the history of home recording

To me...home recording didn't really begin until the first 4-track with simultaneous synchronization of tracks was available at a home recording price so that a solo musician was able to do multitrack recording in his home.

I mean I was "home recording" when I was 10 years old with one of those little portable 2-track recorders with plastic 7" reels...but you couldn't do much AFA actually recording songs...etc.
Sure, people had basic recorders years before the multi-track capability...but I don't count that stuff as home recording. People would just record basic stuff, just for amusement...not much different that 8mm home movies.


Still...nice article, gives a quick overview of how we got to where we are today.
 
Interesting read. I did get started doing live overdubs while bouncing back and forth between tape recorders, and I doubt I'm alone here. The Fostex 280 cassette 4 track I bought in 1995 was the start of better things.
 
Robus said:
Interesting read. I did get started doing live overdubs while bouncing back and forth between tape recorders, and I doubt I'm alone here. The Fostex 280 cassette 4 track I bought in 1995 was the start of better things.
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I started with a Fostex 260 - can't remember when exactly but I'm thinking it was maybe very late 80s - if it was around then. Maybe early 90s. I thought it was magic.
 
I never got into making recordings bouncing between tape recorders, but two of my friends did, with pretty amazing results, considering the medium. One of them must have done a hundred songs across several cassette albums during the late 70s and through the 80s. He also pioneered the use of samples in songs, again using ordinary cassette tape. Absolutely staggering.

Myself, I started with a Tascam Porta One. Absolutely loved it.
 
I did the cassette bounce thing in the very early 80s but went from there straight into studios with a couple of bands, (Pro studio, amateur studio & pro again). I then figured I could try doing something at home & a friend, (thanks Kevin U), loaned me his Yamaha MT100 which he'd had for a couple of months and had done some excellent work on. I had one m'self by 87 and went from that to Cakewalk ProAudio 9.3.
I still have the MT100 & a spare as well.
 
I started recording with a pirated version of Cool Edit Pro 2 and plugging a karaoke mic straight into the stock internal soundcard of my PC - was actually my first PC, got it in late 2001 while I was doing my MSc. I think I downloaded some drum loops when on campus and brought them home on a floppy disk 'cos I never had an internet connection while I had that computer.

Stayed with that set up until about 2008 when I bought a Line6 TonePort and used GearBox. But I didn't really record that much until about 18 months when I started getting into it again and started using this forum.
 
Bubba po said:
Myself, I started with a Tascam Porta One. Absolutely loved it.
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Although I had borrowed a reel to reel (2 track) recorder for a few albums before, eventually the Tascam Portaone became my first true multi-track recording device. As soon as I could afford a decent PC I moved to Cakewalk 9, Sonar 8, and now Sonar X2 and X3.

The tools we have today, compared to when I started in 1991... insane!

The hours of time.... memories!

Tascam Porta One.jpg
 
Right from the beginning, I was linking my 4 track portastudio to a sequencer program. That allowed me to use MIDI for the keyboards and drum loops, the cassette tracks for vocals and guitars. The first program I used was something called SEQ Max, long gone. I wish I could find a copy as there are a few old things that I would like to convert to standard MIDI. Then I moved on to Cakewalk Home Studio, then Cakewalk Pro Audio 7 and 8. I still used Cakewalk as a MIDI sequencer as I was not sold on the sound quality of digital recording back then (late 90s). At some point in the early 2000s I got a Roland VS880EX, an 8 track hard drive recorder in 16 bit audio. That was a mistake. That would have been the right time to jump to a computer based DAW. I still have that Roland, still have the Fostex 280 too.
 
I started with the "record on one boom box, play that back and record on another boom box" method. That was maybe in 1990/1991. Then I didn't try again until I got a Soundblaster with a breakout box around 2001/2002. I quickly realized that it sucked and got a Delta44, a preamp, and an SM57. And the collection has only grown ever since :)
 
Pinky said:
Although I had borrowed a reel to reel (2 track) recorder for a few albums before, eventually the Tascam Portaone became my first true multi-track recording device. As soon as I could afford a decent PC I moved to Cakewalk 9, Sonar 8, and now Sonar X2 and X3.

The tools we have today, compared to when I started in 1991... insane!

The hours of time.... memories!

View attachment 97670
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I cannot use Sonar. It's the worst recording program I've tried. I've tried Presonus Studio One, Audacity, Sonar and Reaper. Sonar is pants. :D
 
prod_img-3394699.jpg.thumb.319.319.png
 
Bubba po said:
I cannot use Sonar. It's the worst recording program I've tried. I've tried Presonus Studio One, Audacity, Sonar and Reaper. Sonar is pants. :D
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*shrug*

Okay, not sure why you're telling me. I don't work for them. It's quite easy to use, which is why I use it. lol
 
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