

The new TASCAM 424 cassette was developed in close coordination with National Audio Company, Inc. But today, any high bias type II cassettes are very hard to find. In the early 1980's TASCAM created the legendary "gold reel" cassettes, which are now collector items.
#Used tascam 424 mkii series#
The 144 Portastudio and other follow up Portastudios such as the 244, 246, Porta One, Porta-02, 424 series and more used inexpensive and easily found Type II High Bias cassettes. The 144 truly revolutionized home recording for the masses, and an infinite number of artists and musicians created their music on a Portastudio.
#Used tascam 424 mkii portable#
In 1979, TASCAM/TEAC created the 144 Portastudio, the world's first portable home studio integrating a mixer and multi-track recorder. The 424 Studio Master C-60 was developed for the 50th anniversary of TASCAM as a tribute to their rich heritage. With that in mind, TASCAM is pleased to introduce the TASCAM 424 Studio Master High Bias Type II Cassette tape-specifically designed for use with the company's Portastudio series cassette recorders.

And considering that many of today's digital recordings are mastered at least partially in the analog domain for the 'warmth' that many musicians feel digital lacks, analog is likely to be with us for a long time.
#Used tascam 424 mkii professional#
To this day, many aspiring and professional audio recording aficionados adamantly maintain that analog recording and the 'good old days' of tape will never be replaced by today's random access digital solutions. Rather it’s a real, functional relic that produces wobbly, warm tones that perfectly encapsulate mediocrity–not quite rubbish, but it good enough to give it that lofi flare.Limited Edition Cassettes Developed & Optimized for use in Vintage TASCAM Portastudios Yes, it’s a relic, but not in the sense of that decrepit Ford Falcon you’ll never really get around to fixing up. So whether it’s your punk band’s first release, or a demo you plan to post to a label, the Tascam MK414 is a lost classic that you should definitely consider revisiting. Not to mention, the Tascam 4-track offers an intuitive and tactile interface that gives the novice bedroom producer something to cut their teeth on, while simplifying the ever-chaotic process for the hardened studio veteran. Its warmth and rounded tones allow you to get away with peaking tracks in a way that would be recording suicide through your modern-day DAW. A lot of people worry when they hear “DIY” and automatically start thinking, “here we go again with those damn lo-fi hipsters,” however, the Tascam provides a DIY sound that doesn’t stoop so low as to sound like it was recorded on an iPhone mic. The democratisation of recording has certainly crowned this piece of gear as the pinnacle of the DIY arsenal. It had suddenly become so easy to whip up your own recordings without needing to spend thousands on studio time, and countless others have released music in this format, including Ween, Iron and Wine, John Frusciante, Primus, and famously, Elliot Smith’s Debut Roman Candle And even though the sound from E-Street was great, the Portastudio-recorded demo version was the version that was ultimately chosen to be released due to the desolate and isolating tone that Springsteen managed to capture as a one-man-band in his bedroom.Īnd with that, the bedroom producer was born. As was tradition, he then took his demo to the E-Street Band, who laid down a studio version of the album. “The Boss” famously recorded a demo for his 1982 album, Nebraska, on a 144 in his bedroom. It didn’t take long for this innovative piece of gear to make it in the big leagues, with one of its most famous success stories revolving around the suburban king of heartland rock- Bruce Springsteen. The original 144 was outfitted with classic analogue VU meters (giving those nascent bedroom producers the illusion that they had finally made it to Electric Lady Studios) and brought the instant classic family of 4-track into the modern era, replacing the VU meters with a cutting edge LED monitoring display. (TEAC is the parent company–Tascam, a subsidiary of TEAC, manufactured later models). Originally marketed as tool to help artists record demos, the TEAC 144 was released in 1979. The 4-track Tascam MK414 gave musicians the freedom to record to analogue in the comfort of their own home. Gone were the days where a band would have to pay some exorbitant fee they couldn’t afford to access a recording studio. While not quite as grandiose as a reel-to-reel recorder, the Tascam Portastudio democratised music production.
