New tune recorded with Tascam 688

famous beagle

Well-known member
This past weekend I went on a solo “mancation.” I took a bunch of instruments and recording equipment and rented a cabin. Wrote and recorded this tune while I was there. (I did this several years back, too, and posted a song and video about it. Some of you may have seen it.)

I wanted to use my analog synths (Korg Volca Bass and Korg Volca keys) and (analog) drum machine (Korg Volca Beats), along with my Tascam 688.

I didn’t bring enough equipment to do a proper mix, so this is just a rough one. I’ll do a better mix here at home.

I also filmed a bunch of footage of the recording process, so I'll put together a video of that, too, and will post it when I'm done with the real mix.
 

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I listened to this on my go-to headphones. I think it's good! You play well, and I really like your voice. The recording is obviously good (I have to remind myself this is 8-track cassette). The mix is clear and unobtrusive, so I don't see the need to adjust it much. But because you sing so well, I would have preferred more voice. Bring it out!
 
Thanks very much for the kind words. I couldn't tell whether or not the vocal was loud enough. I thought it was, but maybe it could come up a bit more. Or maybe it'll sit better on its own after I've spent more time on the mix.

Yes I'm very impressed with that 688 machine! :)
 
It sounds pretty good for an 8 track cassette recording, but to be honest, I REALLY don't care for the Korg. I think that's one of the things that just turns me off with so much of todays music. The repetitive drum tracks are just lifeless and one dimensional. I know they're supposed to be great for dancing, but for listening, it doesn't cut it for me.

I know it's not an option, but put Pretty Purdie or Clyde Stubblefield on that track it would be SO much better. :thumbs up:
 
It sounds pretty good for an 8 track cassette recording, but to be honest, I REALLY don't care for the Korg. I think that's one of the things that just turns me off with so much of todays music. The repetitive drum tracks are just lifeless and one dimensional. I know they're supposed to be great for dancing, but for listening, it doesn't cut it for me.

I know it's not an option, but put Pretty Purdie or Clyde Stubblefield on that track it would be SO much better. :thumbs up:

Thanks for the feedback!

---------- Update ----------

What's doing the electric piano?

I played that with GarageBand's Wurli sound on my iPad. Just controlled it with my MIDI keyboard and went line out into the Tascam.
 
I think this is awesome...I'm impressed all around; the composition, performance, and mix. I wish I had something constructive to offer but I'm just really enjoying it. Good on you to get away and create, and I think its really cool you captured it on that 688. Thanks for sharing it. :guitar:
 
I think this is awesome...I'm impressed all around; the composition, performance, and mix. I wish I had something constructive to offer but I'm just really enjoying it. Good on you to get away and create, and I think its really cool you captured it on that 688. Thanks for sharing it. :guitar:

Thanks Cory! It was a lot of fun seeing the 688 in action, and I gotta say, it was impressive. Transport worked flawlessly, including the scrubbing (shuttle) mode, which is super cool, as did the scene display, locate points, auto-punch, etc. It really is quite a machine!
 
Thanks for sharing. I agree your voice could be a little louder. A great sound - who would have thought it was recorded on 8-track cassette? It has inspired me to get back to my 244 again. And also make me wish Tascam had got around to making a 16 track cassette - great discussion we had on that here a few years back!
 
Thanks for sharing. I agree your voice could be a little louder. A great sound - who would have thought it was recorded on 8-track cassette? It has inspired me to get back to my 244 again. And also make me wish Tascam had got around to making a 16 track cassette - great discussion we had on that here a few years back!

I think that 8 tracks on a cassette is really pushing things. 16 tracks on 0.15 inches would probably have issues with crosstalk and noise.
 
I think that 8 tracks on a cassette is really pushing things. 16 tracks on 0.15 inches would probably have issues with crosstalk and noise.

Agree, and I would think a 16 tracks on 1/4" tape would probably need to precede 16 tracks on cassette.

Cool tune by the way, reminds me of Thom Yorke's ANIMA release earlier this year - which I loved.
 
Agree, and I would think a 16 tracks on 1/4" tape would probably need to precede 16 tracks on cassette.

Cool tune by the way, reminds me of Thom Yorke's ANIMA release earlier this year - which I loved.

Thanks! I actually just watched that short today on Netflix. I didn't even know he had an album out. Now I plan on checking it out. :)

---------- Update ----------

Cool. It'll be fun to see the production video if you get around to doing that!

Coming soon! I'm doing the real mix now (back in my home studio), and the video is up after that.

---------- Update ----------

Thanks for sharing. I agree your voice could be a little louder. A great sound - who would have thought it was recorded on 8-track cassette? It has inspired me to get back to my 244 again. And also make me wish Tascam had got around to making a 16 track cassette - great discussion we had on that here a few years back!

Thanks! Yeah I'm quite impressed with the machine as well.
 
It really does not have any value. It's a brilliant piece of kit ( I still have a 488 MkII ) but cassette is pretty close to obsolete.

All that being said - so long as you've manged to digitize all your tapes, the least expensive digital solution will work better than the 688 even with dbx.

Sorry, but isn't value pretty much subjective? And if you argue that it's objective as well, and people are willing to pay more for a 688 than the "least expensive digital solution" (which they clearly are), doesn't that even make it objectively more valuable?

And cassette isn't any more obsolete than it was 10 years ago. In fact, it's experienced a resurgence over the past few years, so if anything it's better off than it has been.

Regardless, all of this completely misses the point. Some people like to record on cassette. Why bother going around and telling someone that they should do it digitally instead? Do you honestly think that in 2020 people on a home recording forum don't know about digital recording?

Just seemed like a strange response to this thread.
 
I always take the talk of a "resurgence" with a grain of salt. You see statistics showing how things have increased!

If you used to sell 10,000,000 cassettes and only sold 5,000,000 this year, that's a 50% drop but its still a sizable market. If you sold 50,000 cassettes last year and you sold 100,000 cassettes this year, that's a 100% sales increase, but its still only 10% of what it used to be.

I remember the days of going to Kmart or Target and buying bricks of 10 C90 cassettes. There would be stacks of them in the store, probably 30 or 40 on a single shelf. Type 1, Type 2, Type 4. I have a over a hundred in the basement. Some will even play. (The Memorex chromes with the foam pressure pad are worthless) Today, you'll be lucky to find 1 three pack in a store.

So, what are the real numbers, According to Nielsen Music, cassette album sales were up 23%, with 219,000 tapes sold in 2018 compared to 178,000 in 2017. (Sales were up 35% in 2017.)

I get the sentimental attachment, but I have no desire to go back.
 
I always take the talk of a "resurgence" with a grain of salt. You see statistics showing how things have increased!

If you used to sell 10,000,000 cassettes and only sold 5,000,000 this year, that's a 50% drop but its still a sizable market. If you sold 50,000 cassettes last year and you sold 100,000 cassettes this year, that's a 100% sales increase, but its still only 10% of what it used to be.

I remember the days of going to Kmart or Target and buying bricks of 10 C90 cassettes. There would be stacks of them in the store, probably 30 or 40 on a single shelf. Type 1, Type 2, Type 4. I have a over a hundred in the basement. Some will even play. (The Memorex chromes with the foam pressure pad are worthless) Today, you'll be lucky to find 1 three pack in a store.

So, what are the real numbers, According to Nielsen Music, cassette album sales were up 23%, with 219,000 tapes sold in 2018 compared to 178,000 in 2017. (Sales were up 35% in 2017.)

I get the sentimental attachment, but I have no desire to go back.


And that's really the heart of the debate, IMO. It's more sentimental and workflow-related than anything else. Yes, you still have some people sounding the "warmer sound" debate, but that's not what it's about for me. It's simply that I like turning knobs, I like cleaning heads, I don't like staring at my music on a screen, and I really hate using the mouse (in any app). And yes, a big part of it is also nostalgia.

But what's wrong with that.

I appreciate your civil and thoughtful response. :)
 
Yeah I appreciate the discussion too. My opinion is music is emotional and frankly at this point in time using equipment from a bygone era is emotional too. There are theory-based points that drive my interest in using “obsolete” equipment and methodology, but it is also emotional. So I don’t care if it costs more for media and maintenance, both in time and finances. And as a result it plays a part in inspiration for the music. So...practicality takes something of a back seat.
 
Yes, beagle, I understand it. I just didn't think that the cassette recorders were up to snuff sound wise. Thus, I never went down that road. I couldn't afford the 8 channel reel stuff that came out. I had mortgage payments and baby food to buy by that time.

In a way, using my Yamaha AWs are the same thing. You've got limited space on the hard drive, 16 tracks, of which 8 are in 4 stereo pairs. Everything is in the box from mic input to burning the CD. You've got faders for volume and knobs to turn for EQ. There's no 27" monitor to look at, I never really looked at wav files. But it was fun to track stuff. I caught on quickly to how the Yamaha worked. It was easy to do a quick and dirty track, and portable enough that I could throw it on a table, throw up some mics and record band practice.

I also appreciated how much quieter it was compared to my old Dokorder 8140 or my buddy's 3340. Tape hiss was the worst for me. Its not so much that way anymore. I just wish my ears were as good as the equipment is these days.

Given all that, a good tune recorded by excellent players on a cassette will trump a mediocre player with an average song on pristine, state of the art recording gear.
 
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