*Old 8 track recorder*

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moresound

Loud Sun Studios
I was doing some cleaning then low and behold I came across this unit that I had forgotten about 30+ years ago.
It's a "Realistic TR80 cartridge tape rec/play system".
So it's a 8 track (4 x stereo = 8 tracks) Microphone in 1/4 left and right with separate volume controls and a tone knob. Has a headphone jack. and a selection knob for the RCA jacks in the back of the unit -aux in Land R, phono in L and R. then two speakers out L and R.

Now if I remember on a 8 track tape, if you punch out the little tab on the side you can record on any 8 track cartridge correct? there is a local 2nd hand record store near by that practicably gives these cartridges away for free.

This unit may yield some interesting results as to retro first recording then transfer it to an other medium on either tape or protools etc. what are the thoughts about that here?





:cool:
 
The Ghost of FM said:
Seriously, throw it in the garbage. This is not the desired format in which to achieve analog gold.

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

I realize that ghost. I thought as an effect on a song, not to format it in to my recording chain.
I guess just to say that I did it and here is the finished product on this particular song.
Strictly for the novelty.;)





:cool:
 
8-track sounds cool but i believe it is semi-pointless to record on specifically as a format. if that particular deck has a cool sound though, then by all means do it. the sound wouldn't be much different than cassette though.

i personally record on a variety of formats and have a soft spot for cheap radio shack-type handheld cassette recorders. you'll get more of an "effect" out of something like that.
 
Yeah well it's all just been a thought ...way back in the day thou man...........;);)




:cool:
 
moresound said:
I realize that ghost. I thought as an effect on a song, not to format it in to my recording chain.
I guess just to say that I did it and here is the finished product on this particular song.
Strictly for the novelty.;)





:cool:
Click to expand...

Well, if the novelty effect is to show analog at its worst, I'd maybe suggest using one of those micro cassette hand held memo recorders for the truest form of analog's worst case scenario...short of running it additionally through a Big Muff! :D

Cheers! :)
 
IMHO, it may be an interesting tool to experiment with, to get a different vibe, a color... a sound. Clean the heads, use a good tape and put some sounds down. Hey, it may not be high fidelity but then again, maybe you're not after that and prefer something different. Try it. Case in point, I'm experimenting with so called "voice grade" tape, something really old from the 60's and, while many would scoff at the idea, I'm getting some interesting sounds out of it. :cool:
 
cjacek said:
IMHO, it may be an interesting tool to experiment with, to get a different vibe, a color... a sound. Clean the heads, use a good tape and put some sounds down. Hey, it may not be high fidelity but then again, maybe you're not after that and prefer something different. Try it. Case in point, I'm experimenting with so called "voice grade" tape, something really old from the 60's and, while many would scoff at the idea, I'm getting some interesting sounds out of it. :cool:
Click to expand...

Very cool cjacek... when I get something going with this I may post it. that is if it's interesting.




:cool:
 
now if they made a multi-track 8-track cartridge (all 8 tracks at once!), that might be a cool deal at 3 3/4 ips and 1/4" tape
 
I think you should go for it and give it a whirl. It's obviously piqued your curiosity and you don't want to hit 97 thinking "I wish I'd tried a couple of recordings on that thing, what was it again ?!". I'm a supporter of 'stupidity' in the guise of experimentation. 'Stupidity' from the point of view of those that hold that a particular thing either can't be done or yields no lasting value. A painter could just go out and buy black paint. But they might get immense satisfaction from mixing yellow, blue, red and a host of other colours to make black. No one but them could probably tell the difference and probably no one would care but them. But what matters is that they dug their process and people like the picture. So everyone wins.
And then half a century later it gets sold for millions and the artist, having given it away curses the folly of all that time taken to make the black paint !

In all seriousness though, I think it's worth doing.
 
cjacek said:
IMHO, it may be an interesting tool to experiment with, to get a different vibe, a color... a sound. Clean the heads, use a good tape and put some sounds down. Hey, it may not be high fidelity but then again, maybe you're not after that and prefer something different. Try it. Case in point, I'm experimenting with so called "voice grade" tape, something really old from the 60's and, while many would scoff at the idea, I'm getting some interesting sounds out of it. :cool:
Click to expand...

Precisemundo !
Today, in between England getting hammered by the Germans and Mexico folding like a pack of cards against Argentina, I did a crazy recording session. I've got this tune that I've struggled with for 26 years and I've tried it so many ways before finally settling for a reggae type thing that goes into a slower walking paced bit. Anyway, for the sheer heck of it, I was going to use the click that comes with Cubase 5 and build the second part of the song around that and end the track with the actual click fading in then out. But in our toilet there's two clocks {when my friends laugh about it, I tell them one's for males, one's for females as the clocks face each other ! :D} and the ticking of both clocks is usually out of synch with one another. But every few weeks they tick in synch and I made a mental note one day to record them. Today was that day !
Our toilet is tiny, like 155cm by 75cm so it was a struggle to get two mic stands in there and a condenser on each clock. I set up the preamps and my DAW in the bedroom and monitored from there. My condensers were so sensitive, they were picking up the kids downstairs and buses 500 feet away - and through closed doors ! Nevertheless, I got ten minutes of two ticking clocks, virtually in synch. There are lots that will say, "why bother" or "there are much easier ways of getting that effect". But it was fun, it was interesting, it was unique and every time I hear this track when I eventually finish it, I'll smile, if perhaps a little wryly.
I'm always on the lookout for different means and ways. My little five year old keeps making these strange concoctions (it's a surprize when I open the fridge and see some weird brew thinking, "what in the world is this ? Is it drinkable ? Is it some new fangled health drink ?") describing himself as an 'evil scientist'. I wonder where he gets that from ? :confused:
 
You know what might be kinda cool to do with it?

One of the problems with 8-tracks was the order of the tracks. You have adjacent tracks that tend to bleed over on each other, especially if they're recorded really hot (+3 to +9 dB or so). If you could sync it up properly, it might be kind of cool to do four part harmony guitar parts, dripping with tape saturation and crosstalk. Then if you wanted to really get crazy, after you record the tracks, you could tweak the head height adjustment to get the playback head half over one track and half over the adjacent one. Taking into consideration the inherent limitations of the low tape speed in conjunction with the old tapes you're talking about using, it could yield a pretty unique low-fi kinda sound.



Oh, and IIRC, you'll have to put something over where the knockouts used to be in order to record on the old commercial tapes.
 
LDS said:
Oh, and IIRC, you'll have to put something over where the knockouts used to be in order to record on the old commercial tapes.
Click to expand...

Sellotape and even scrunched up tiny balls of paper are great for that. Used them all my life.
 
grimtraveller said:
I think you should go for it and give it a whirl. It's obviously piqued your curiosity and you don't want to hit 97 thinking "I wish I'd tried a couple of recordings on that thing, what was it again ?!". I'm a supporter of 'stupidity' in the guise of experimentation. 'Stupidity' from the point of view of those that hold that a particular thing either can't be done or yields no lasting value. A painter could just go out and buy black paint. But they might get immense satisfaction from mixing yellow, blue, red and a host of other colours to make black. No one but them could probably tell the difference and probably no one would care but them. But what matters is that they dug their process and people like the picture. So everyone wins.
And then half a century later it gets sold for millions and the artist, having given it away curses the folly of all that time taken to make the black paint !

In all seriousness though, I think it's worth doing.
Click to expand...

OK Grim hey that gives me an idea for a song mmmmm, mm mm red door mm mmmm I want paint it black.
What do you think? good possibilities? with potential?:D




:cool:
 
moresound said:
OK Grim hey that gives me an idea for a song mmmmm, mm mm red door mm mmmm I want paint it black.
What do you think? good possibilities? with potential?:D




:cool:
Click to expand...


I dont' think it'll ever go anywhere!!!! :rolleyes::D:drunk:
 
moresound said:
OK Grim hey that gives me an idea for a song mmmmm, mm mm red door mm mmmm I want paint it black.
What do you think? good possibilities? with potential?:D




:cool:
Click to expand...
Yeah, I can hear sitars on it.......
Whatever you do, don't let that Micky guy from the Stones hear it before you've released it. He'll nick anything......
 
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