Any great albums recorded on 1/2" 8 track?

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ethyrvalve

ethyrvalve

Norman Nanoweber
Hi all,
I was just wondering if anyone could think of any good-sounding records known to have recorded to 1/2" 8 track decks? (I use a Tascam 58 and I'm particularly curious if anyone has done good work on these and similar tascam machines).
I recall reading that Mudhoney's Superfuzz Bigmuff and their early singles were done on an otari 1/2" 8 track.
I suspect that maybe some of those great SST albums from the early 80s would have been recorded in a similar manner.
Any ideas?
 
Offhand I don't know of any commercial recording that was done entirely on this format. It's said that Boston's first album used the 80-8, and Tomita used it too on all his 1970s albums from 'The Planets' onwards.

Nirvana used the 5050-8 in their first recordings, but I don't know if that was their first album or just for their demos.
 
supposedly Jack Endino did Bleach on a 5050-8. I think he probably did alot of early sub-pop/grungey stuff on these decks, like the previously mentioned mudhoney, early Melvins...

If you are into underground/indie/punk and stuff, there is alot of stuff done on lo-fi recording gear. The Black Keys recorded some of their early stuff on a Tascam 388. Some of the trashy punk stuff I like was done on cassette 4 tracks... Hell, Guitar Wolf recorded a record with a little portable walkman microphone.
 
Yes this album did use a teac or tascam 8 track and was done in their atic. With the way modern music is done these days a tascam 58 would be overkill for a quality recording. Descent mixer a few good Microphones and a 58. I dont know or can think of anything more you would need. Maybe a little skill.


Let the Bullshit begin
 

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I had a 58 and can indeed attest to the fact that the 58 is wholly capable of meeting any current or past music demands. Pick any song from the last 50 years and the 58 can do. The only limitation (for some) may be the track count and the quality of the outboard gear and, most important, as Herm pointed out, skill. No bullshit, just keepin' it real.;)

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Just one other thing to the original poster (OP): Be very very careful with the RCA jacks at the back of the 58. Make sure to never pull or twist on these. While I'd give the same recommendation on just about any model, the 58 is especially flimsy in this regard. While pretty much everything on the 58 is top of the line, really robust and overbuilt, really superb, the way the connectors are built into the machine is really shit, much worse than even the budget TASCAM units. You pull or twist slightly, on one RCA jack, and the whole freakin' board moves / flexes along with it and that's where most of the issues are with this recorder, when there are connection problems (intermittent channels etc...).... It's bitch to get it fixed and, amazingly, the XLR's are also affected, cause they seemingly share the wiring. If it weren't for this issue, I'd place the 58 at the top of the list of 1/2" 8 track recorders.

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When the 58 was marketed originally, it was pitched primarily as an audio for video solution recorder so I'm pretty sure the majority of its professional work life was spent in television work, recording dialog, sound tracks done on other larger format machines via transfer and adding folly effects and studio audiences.

None of that should take away from its suitability for tracking smaller budget demo recordings in working studios of the day as it was built for 24/7 operation in pro environments that demanded dependable performance along with full fidelity.

Lower model decks like the 38 and 48 probably saw more actual music multi-tracking sessions simply because they were less expensive and suited to the needs of smaller budget studios catering to working bands who wanted to put out professional sounding demos and commercial releases in smaller markets such as indie rock and gospel.

Cheers! :)
 
jpmorris said:
Offhand I don't know of any commercial recording that was done entirely on this format. It's said that Boston's first album used the 80-8, .............................
Click to expand...

I think Boston's 1st album was done on a Scully 1" 12-track. That's the folklore I've alway heard anyway.
 
Deep Purple's Made in Japan album was done on 8 track. I don't know the tape width.
 
Farview said:
Deep Purple's Made in Japan album was done on 8 track. I don't know the tape width.
Click to expand...
1972, so it would have been 1". 1/2" 8-track didn't happen until the following year, when ITAM's machine came out IIRC.
 
On a similar subject most of the songs on Ocean Colour Scene's Mosely Shoals LP was recorded on a Fostex E-16 1/2" machine belonging to producer Brendan Lynch as the band didn't have a record deal when recording the LP. I remember reading this in a music recording magazine in the mid '90's. Just wondering if I still have the article somewhere?

A couple of songs recorded on 24 track that were released as singles were added to the LP apart from that it was all E-16!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moseley_Shoals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Color_Scene
 
I was a muso on our band's album recorded in 1988. The studio was the best in town. (It has since burned down). Studio A had a Studer 2" 24 track. Studio B had an Otari 1/2" 8 track with dbx.
We couldnt afford studio A and didnt need all those tracks so we booked studio B with the 8 track. But top mics and gear were installed, and they had a killer Yamaha grand.
The sound quality was never an issue. Maybe our musical talent was!

Cheers Tim
 
Thanks for the input folks, very interesting stuff. I was surprised to hear about Eurythmics using one. That said, I've never had any problems with the machine's sound quality and when i do bounces i really can't tell the difference between the bounced track and the originals when A/B-ing.

Thanks for the tip cjacek, i was fortunate in that the guy i bought the 58 from included a custom balanced patch bay. But before I scored a level matching amplifier, I was using the RCAs for the tape's output with my m520 console and I noticed that they were flakey as all get out.
 
Hi_Flyer said:
supposedly Jack Endino did Bleach on a 5050-8. I think he probably did alot of early sub-pop/grungey stuff on these decks, like the previously mentioned mudhoney, early Melvins...

If you are into underground/indie/punk and stuff, there is alot of stuff done on lo-fi recording gear. The Black Keys recorded some of their early stuff on a Tascam 388. Some of the trashy punk stuff I like was done on cassette 4 tracks... Hell, Guitar Wolf recorded a record with a little portable walkman microphone.
Click to expand...

I was gonna mention the Black Keys before I saw your post. Actually, all of their 4 current albums (And maybe their newest album coming out April 1st) were recorded on a Tascam 388 in their concrete-walled basement. I think they used mainly sm57s/sm58s on the recordings, too. An extremely good sound for the situation, if you ask me.

I know the White Stripes did their first couple albums (not sure about their newest two, which I don't like anyway) in their living room on a tape deck, but I'm not sure what width. I would guess 8-track 1/2" however.
 
gooley said:
I know the White Stripes did their first couple albums (not sure about their newest two, which I don't like anyway) in their living room on a tape deck, but I'm not sure what width. I would guess 8-track 1/2" however.
Click to expand...
That was 1" as well, a Studer A80: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toe_Rag_Studios

Everything I've done is on 1/2" 8-track (barring a couple of songs where I synchronized two of them for 14 tracks). I gather the emphasis is on commercial recordings, though.
 
I thought I read something about part of Madonna's first album being tracked on a tascam 388 as well...
 
I've heard some Elliot Smith stuff that was done on 8 track. Granted, they were intended as demos but were released after his death. On one tune (can't recall the name) you can hear tape sraping on the reels.
 
yeah, as far as the indie/punk stuff, and especially going back to the 80s, EVERYTHING was probably done on 1/2" R2R or less. I dunno for sure, but I seriously doubt the Misfits were recorded on wide format tape machines, although its debatable if that stuff sounded "good"... Dead Kennedys?? Black Flag? Bad Brains? some of that must have been done on narrow format machines.

I find the sound quality of 1/2" 8 track at 15 IPS to be pretty damn good. My Otari sounds great and I am realy starting to dig the sounds I get with it. Even the 38 I had for awhile sounded pretty good, the problem with that thing was the maintenance.
 
An interesting recording if you can find it is 'Giles, Giles & Fripp - The Brondesbury Tapes', most of which was recorded in 1968 using only a modified Revox F36 and lots and lots of track bouncing. It includes several versions of 'I Talk To The Wind', which was later used on King Crimson's first album (which was itself recorded on 1" 8-track)
 
phil elverum, uses 8 track 1/2" i think. so the microphones and mount eerie stuff. also thanksgiving.
 
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