tkingen
Djembes Rock
Great story about how Nebraska was recorded and mastered -
http://www.tascam.com/Press/UserStories/Bruce_Springsteins_Nebraska.html
http://www.tascam.com/Press/UserStories/Bruce_Springsteins_Nebraska.html
M
mawtangent
New member
Yeah I've read this before...a roadie acts as the recording engineer (using a humble cassette 4-track)...the mix-down deck is a battered boom-box...He carrieds around the mixed-down cassette in his jeans pocket...the songs end up being a pro-release album...Its inspiring to those of us with questionable gear and questionable recording skills. A good song and a good performance (in front of the mic) is the foundation. I like the song "Used Cars" on that album.
ssscientist
Info you can use...
Absolute bullshit.
The songs that WERE finished on Tascam 144 sound quite rough. My favorite song from 'Nebraska', 'State Trooper' is one that may or may not be 4 track all the way.
On 'Atlantic City', 'Highway Patrolman' and the already mentioned 'Used Cars' the vocals were done on a top quality microphone in a first class studio by an experienced engineer. The crisp, clear, clean vocals are, plain and simple, something that cassette tapes --- with their 1/32nd of an inch track width --- cannot reproduce. The Tascam 144 ran at the normal cassette speed of 1 7/8 ips, not 3 3/4 ips like some of Tascam's later machines and that compounded the fidelity limitation.
I really wanted to hear a commercial release recorded entirely on cassette 4 track because that was the format I was using at the time and I had read all the advance publicity about Nebraska. I went to the record shop the day it came out, brought it home and right away figured out that the story that it had all been recorded on cassette 4 track was a lie.
I've since made my peace with that record, but I felt betrayed by Bruce Springsteen even more by Columbia Records for telling the big lie that a major label record could be recorded on the older model of the machine I was using at the time.
Today you could make that record on a laptop with a $100 Chinese condenser mic, but back in 1982 the human-priced tools did not exist, and Tascam's rewriting of history baffles me.
.
The songs that WERE finished on Tascam 144 sound quite rough. My favorite song from 'Nebraska', 'State Trooper' is one that may or may not be 4 track all the way.
On 'Atlantic City', 'Highway Patrolman' and the already mentioned 'Used Cars' the vocals were done on a top quality microphone in a first class studio by an experienced engineer. The crisp, clear, clean vocals are, plain and simple, something that cassette tapes --- with their 1/32nd of an inch track width --- cannot reproduce. The Tascam 144 ran at the normal cassette speed of 1 7/8 ips, not 3 3/4 ips like some of Tascam's later machines and that compounded the fidelity limitation.
I really wanted to hear a commercial release recorded entirely on cassette 4 track because that was the format I was using at the time and I had read all the advance publicity about Nebraska. I went to the record shop the day it came out, brought it home and right away figured out that the story that it had all been recorded on cassette 4 track was a lie.
I've since made my peace with that record, but I felt betrayed by Bruce Springsteen even more by Columbia Records for telling the big lie that a major label record could be recorded on the older model of the machine I was using at the time.
Today you could make that record on a laptop with a $100 Chinese condenser mic, but back in 1982 the human-priced tools did not exist, and Tascam's rewriting of history baffles me.
.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
Remember that 'Atlantic City' has three vocal tracks...It seems reasonable to me, given Bruce's ability to write great tunes, that he spent time polishing it with a solid lead vocal. I had heard this story before, in an interview with Bruce and another one with Jon Landau.
Obi-Wan zenabI
Active member
I have the LP-- the liner notes mention something about this. I had heard/read about the tascam/boom box thing.
I bet that the truth is somewhere in between it having been home recorded and pro.
Great album, though.
I bet that the truth is somewhere in between it having been home recorded and pro.
Great album, though.
B
Beck
Guest
I used to have the TEAC Model 144 like he used. It was a good tool in capable hands. He did take that tape into the studio for polishing. Still, it did in fact start in his house on the first model portastudio ever made, so the point is well taken that you can indeed take something that started out on a cassette multi-track and build an album around it.
My compositions sounded pretty darn good on the 144 and even better on the 246.., especially compared to what a lot of people are doing today on their PCs.
With comparable digital solutions as the reference my old tapes sound better all the time. 
A talented individual can do great things with modest equipment. Tom Scholz laid down many of the original tracks of Boston’s debut album in his basement on an old Scully reel-to-reel, which were later transferred to a 24 track in the studio.
Madonna used a TASCAM 388 reel-to-reel portastudio in a project studio in the same way… the original vocal tracks also ending up on her Erotica album.
And going further there are more examples of albums starting on semi-pro analog recorders than you can possibly list. Once the Fostex E-16 hit the market, home studios became a common way for many established artists to record initial tracks that would ultimately make it to the final product… and on occasion an entire song or album was done in the comfort of ones home.
My compositions sounded pretty darn good on the 144 and even better on the 246.., especially compared to what a lot of people are doing today on their PCs.
With comparable digital solutions as the reference my old tapes sound better all the time. A talented individual can do great things with modest equipment. Tom Scholz laid down many of the original tracks of Boston’s debut album in his basement on an old Scully reel-to-reel, which were later transferred to a 24 track in the studio.
Madonna used a TASCAM 388 reel-to-reel portastudio in a project studio in the same way… the original vocal tracks also ending up on her Erotica album.
And going further there are more examples of albums starting on semi-pro analog recorders than you can possibly list. Once the Fostex E-16 hit the market, home studios became a common way for many established artists to record initial tracks that would ultimately make it to the final product… and on occasion an entire song or album was done in the comfort of ones home.