A tascam 388 and Madona

[Herm]

If you do a little reading on this page there is some small info about the use of the tascam 388 http://reubania.blogspot.com/2005/03/erotica-diary.html

And who said it is not a pro machine?

 

[MadAudio]

I really hate reading white type on a black background. So does Madonna use a 388 or what?

 

[curtiswyant]

Madonna sucks, man.

 

[jpmorris]

I really hate reading white type on a black background. So does Madonna use a 388 or what?

Her producer did. Like Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips and Larry Fast, they laid down the core of the album at home on an 8-track machine (the others I've mentioned used Brenell mini-8s) and transferred the best bits on to 24-track to finish off in the studio.

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Madonna sucks, man.

Only if you don't like pop. Otherwise she's QUITE the innovator.

Anyway, from the article:

"When it came time to record demos, we laid down a track of SMPTE on the last track of my 8-track Tascam 388 Studio 8 reel-to-reel, which has dbx. Usually we'd put the track down on tracks 1 and 2 in a stereo mix, and then bring Madonna's vocals in on 3 through 7 - a lead, a double lead, the harmonies, and the background parts. Ninety-eight percent of the time, the vocals recorded in my apartment were the keeper vocals, the ones you hear on the album. It took about two or three days to write a song from beginning to end."

 

[SteveMac]

The thing I love about that is, not that it's madonna but that you can't get anymore "professionally" "commercial" than Madonna and it was done on a 388.

But what about Boston. Does it really get much better than that. And it was done on an 80-8?

 

[Muckelroy]

I gotta admit ---- Boston's first album is still, in my mind, the POSTER CHILD of the capabilities of 1/2" 8 track. It'd be interesting to know exactly how they did it -- the studio size, how/if bouncing was use, and all. How it was mixed

-callie-

 

[SteveMac]

I gotta admit ---- Boston's first album is still, in my mind, the POSTER CHILD of the capabilities of 1/2" 8 track. It'd be interesting to know exactly how they did it -- the studio size, how/if bouncing was use, and all. How it was mixed

-callie-

I was wondering the same thing. I'm thinking a good room, some good out board gear and Tom Sholz know how. I know the board was a Tascam board too. I was also thinking, If I ever go see Beatlejuice again I could ask Brad Delp himself! They play around here all the time. That's if he can remember and could give me a basic idea without taking up too much of his time.

 

[EDAN]

I gotta admit ---- Boston's first album is still, in my mind, the POSTER CHILD of the capabilities of 1/2" 8 track. It'd be interesting to know exactly how they did it -- the studio size, how/if bouncing was use, and all. How it was mixed

-callie-

Well, first you had some great songs and great playing, something many people (not implying you) don't seem to grasp, Great songs and playing make a huge difference no matter what you record to. I never knew that was done on an 80-8, wow.

You know, Alanis's 15 million selling first CD was done on 16 bit black-face Adats (they go for next to nothing these days) using the onboard A/D converters. Plus, many of those songs were only 9 tracks in total.

Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" was recorded on 16 track 2", but everything was second generation. But lets put things in perspective as far as quality goes. The recorder is only one piece of gear, one of the biggest, but there are other just as or more important things to consider such as high end processors and mastering that make a huge difference in the end result. The average 80-8 owner doesn't have tens of thousands of dollars worth of high end gear to "sweeten" the mix like the pros do.

 

[SteveMac]

I think it would be interesting to get a list going of do it yourself recordings that became popular. I know the Cars first single "just what I needed" which got heavy airplay in Boston before they got signed was done in Ric Ocasek's basement. Though I don't know if it was the same single that made it to the record or what it was recorded on.

Peter Framptons first record was done in a mobile recording studio.

 

[mikey@thecave]

yea it was done on the 388 but what did they do after..??they ran it thru some expensive gear in the mastering..So it really is no longer just the 388.
But i agree that a good song can sound good on low end equipment

 

[Carbona]

Beastie Boys did some stuff on a 388 for the "check you head" album if I'm not mistaken.

 

[studiodrum]

Boston's First album!

I apologize for resurrecting this post after all this time, . . But I thought you guys might want an update!

A producer that I have worked with a few times in the past is friends with Brad, and Barry, . . and I was hoping to post some cool and exciting new details regarding how the first Boston album, was recorded using a Tascam 38. But, unfortunately, I have some bad news . ..

Here is an email from Barry Goudreau that I received this morning.

Sorry to disappoint you Ray, but the first album was recorded on a Scully 24 track recorder in Tom's basement. If you get the new Boston re-releases, there are pictures of Tom's studio. Barry

So, there ya have it, . . wah, wah, wah

 

[sjjohnston]

the first album was recorded on a Scully 24 track recorder in Tom's basement.

Okay, a myth bites the dust. But ... it was in his basement.

Wasn't he a baby engineer for Polaroid for something when he made that album? I'm not sure what inspired, or enabled, him to buy such a hefty piece of equipment....

 

[studiodrum]

Okay, a myth bites the dust.

I know, . . its a damn shame, . .'Cause I was really diggin the idea, . .that the first Boston album was recorded on a Tascam 8 track 1/2" recorder.

But ...[/i] it was in his basement.

Yep, true! Ya gotta give that some merit, to be able to record an album like that in a basement studio in the fricken 70's!!!!! no less, . .

Wasn't he a baby engineer for Polaroid for something when he made that album? I'm not sure what inspired, or enabled, him to buy such a hefty piece of equipment

Yep, he was a senior product engineer at the time, . . Also, he earned his Masters from MIT, and was some kind of electronic genuis at the time. . . My guess is that they already were signed by Epic, and Tom negotiated some type of deal with the label to record the album in his basement, . . especially since he had access to all of this high tech sound equipment, . . and then just cut a deal with Epic to buy or lease the 24 track Scully, and a Mixing board. . . This would have sounded very attractive to the record company since it would have saved them a crap load of money to record the album, rather than shelling out all that doh to pay for studio time, . .BUT!!! This is purely speculative ,. .I'm totally guessing here. . .

 

[SteveMac]

I wonder if Barry Goodreu could be mistaken considering Tom Sholz recorded most of it on his own. I still think there was and 80-8 and an early Tascam mixing board involved in the beginning stages. Maybe the Scully came later. I could swear I've read that right from a Tom Sholz article. Well, heres the Boston web site. It tells a little about the beginning. http://bandboston.com/

 

[Doc Holiday]

My record will be done in my bedroom on the cheapest of equipment, with no acoustical treatment whatsoever. Complete with the sound of barking dogs outside and passing cars(it's getting harder to edit all that stuff out). It will be a commercial flop, but the critics will hail me as a master of lo-fi. But I will still be shunned by family and friends as some kind of recluse who spends too much time locked away in his room recording things no one will ever hear. And I will die penniless, kind of like Mozart.

 

[Beck]

My record will be done in my bedroom on the cheapest of equipment, with no acoustical treatment whatsoever. Complete with the sound of barking dogs outside and passing cars(it's getting harder to edit all that stuff out). It will be a commercial flop, but the critics will hail me as a master of lo-fi. But I will still be shunned by family and friends as some kind of recluse who spends too much time locked away in his room recording things no one will ever hear. And I will die penniless, kind of like Mozart.

All the elements of greatness... you can't miss.

 

[antispatula]

I've read that article. Even though madonna is a rancid piece of ardvaark earlobe, it's cool to know pro stuff has been done on a 1/4" 8 track.

 

[Dr ZEE]

All the elements of greatness... you can't miss.

..maybe...., except for the last one? . Mozart was just a man and he was an O.K. composer and entertainer. "Greatness" is what we apply to the chosen ones. We do it either by choice, either by requirement, either by inertness (aka laziness) , so we comfortably leave something that was once applied in place .

...And I will die penniless, kind of like Mozart

I suppose you refer to THIS ONE, not THIS ONE ?
....
hmmmmmmmm.....,
let's see, let's "imagine", how could it be in reality and not in a movie ...heh heh
......."he was OK. He wrote some fine tunes, you know.... and he was fun to be around. Nobody wanted him dead.... He was one of us. Let it go, folks..."