ZERO TO INFINITY AND BACK
For the musician readers…
It’s the early 80s. I was learning guitar and writing my first songs, but I couldn’t afford any real recording equipment. Dozens of $99 audio interfaces bundled with powerful recording software didn’t yet exist. To record my songs I had to be very creative, extremely patient and set an exceptionally low bar. I would record my guitar to a boom box. Then I’d play that back through my Radio Shack sound mixer, while playing another part or sing a vocal onto another cassette deck. I’d go back and forth with this to build up a production. My final product would have equal parts music and tape hiss. But I was 14 and having the time of my life making this music.
THE ENDLESS PURSUIT
By 1985 I was able to buy this Yamaha 4-track cassette mini studio. It wasn’t much, but it gave me 4 tracks to work with. I would record parts on 3 tracks, mix them down to the 4th track, then record more new parts over those first tracks. I might have repeated this 2 or 3 times before mixing down my final master. It was the most fun I’d ever had. I don’t remember watching any TV in 1986 because I was too busy writing songs and wearing out the heads on this little guy. It sounded horrible, but I blissfully didn’t know it.
A couple of years later I moved up to this beast. It still used cassette tapes, but it was top of the line for that format. It recorded at twice the standard cassette speed for much improved dynamic range, had pro mic inputs and it looked like real studio gear. I recorded my first solo album on this beauty (unreleased, mind you). I still didn’t know what good sound was, but I knew that this was closer to it. Still, I only had 4 tracks and I needed more…
In 1989 I moved up to a 1/2-inch 8-track reel-to-reel with a Carvin 16 channel mixer. It was still entry-level as compared to anything found at a real studio, but to me it was amazing. With the murkiness of cassette recordings gone, the cleaner sound revealed weaknesses in my engineering work. My “glue” was missing. This pushed me to become better at my craft.
In 1991 a friend and I partnered up, putting his 1-inch 16-track and Tac Matchless mixing desk into my studio space (Thanks Eric). While it wasn’t mine, this was the first truly professional recorder I’d ever had in my own space. The recordings I made on this machine are the first to stand the test of time on any sort of quality level.
My buddy with the 16-track eventually realized that I was getting most of the benefit from our partnership, so he decided to take it back to his place. Soon another bestie and I went in on a set of ADATs (Thanks Dave). Those familiar know that they were simultaneously loved and hated by all. But at a time, when an entry level 24-track machine cost $30k, you could get 24 tracks of ADAT for just $12k.
I recorded a number projects on these, and began to do a fair amount of label work on them. But it wasn’t good enough. I needed more…
I came across a guy in the desert who had my dream machine: A late 70’s MCI JH16 24-track. He wanted to trade it for my ADAT setup. My buddy and I drove his pickup to the desert with a bag of beans, and drove home with a pot of gold.
It was vintage even at that time, and better sounding than many modern units. I finally had a machine that some of my favorite albums had been recorded on: Eric Clapton, the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, the Bee Gees. Paired with an MCI 400b Mixing desk, if I couldn’t make good recordings on this setup, I had nobody to blame but myself.
Eventually even the best sounding tape recorders gave way to the digital era. I ultimately migrated to Pro Tools. I finally had more tracks available than I knew what to put on them. More importantly, I had unlimited options and quantities of Equalization, Dynamics, Effects and more. Along with a nice assortment of vintage outboard gear, my dreams could finally be realized.
I could record dozens of passes of drums, and edit together the best measures from each take. I could edit my bass playing to give a solid impression that I am a great bass player. Don’t get me started about 100 tracks of vocals and Auto-Tune.
SOMETHING HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE EVERYTHING
I’ve had an evolving iteration of that last setup for the last twenty years or so. Chips get more powerful, allowing for faster bit and sample rates. Better sounding interfaces and plugins come along here and there. Time consuming editing processes have become more automated. AI will probably handle everything but the microphone placements in the next couple of years.
I eventually got out of producing music full-time for various reasons. The largest of those reasons being there was no longer a challenge. For twenty years there was an almost impossible goal: To make great recordings. At some point it could all sound great. Not just by me, but everyone around me. It’s hard for my teenager to record a song and not have it sound like it should be on the radio right now.
I missed all those hard choices I used to have to make: Limited number of tracks. Limited number of microphones. One decent reverb and delay. If we want to redo the vocal, the old one will be wiped out in the process - with no undo button. Even more, I miss mixing without automation. The whole band would sit at the desk. Everyone was responsible for turning up or down certain channels at exactly the right time, Turn up a long reverb tail to a vocal at a certain time, and back down the moment the verse starts. We’d get it wrong 25 times until finally there was a magic take.
People who have all the money in the world often say it gets boring. There are only so many times you can watch Monaco Grand Prix from a Yacht. Only so many times you do Cannes first class, or buy whatever you want on Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Why are all my examples in France? Surely rich people do things in other countries too.
I NEED TO SEE IF MUSIC CAN BE AN ADVENTURE AGAIN
Even though I got tired of sitting in front of a computer all day editing 100 tracks of vocals, I never lost the passion to make great music. It’s the thing that I aspired to my whole life. It’s the only challenge that I put my 10,000 hours into 2-3 times over. But with unlimited tools, it lost its magic along the way. A year ago I thought about setting up an analog 24-track studio with that old MCI machine and a nice analog mixer. Perhaps that was the golden age of recording music. Perhaps that’s a silly notion. I ran down every scenario of how I would use it - who would I record? I realized that it’s too in-between. It’s too modern to be old-school, and too limiting to be desirable my most. I couldn’t justify the cost, space, and maintenance with my very limited spare time while running a software company.
For a real challenge I needed to go way back to the beginning, so I bought this little guy. The Tascam Portastudio 246, straight out of 1985. There’s no undo button. No editing. No automation. No USB-C port. No Wifi.
Can I make a great recording with all these limitations? I don’t know. I hope it takes me several years of fun to find out.
I won’t record my own music on this. As a musician I need all the Pro Tools I can get. No, my idea is to record my real musician friends. Perhaps I drive to a drummer’s house with some tacos or whiskey (or both) in exchange for him playing on my little machine. Then I’ll drive to another friends house and perhaps she’ll play some guitar. Maybe another for some Hammond organ, vibes, or baritone sax. Another to sing a vocal or a flute solo.
When the 4 tracks are full, the song is done and I’ll mix it right in the machine. The idea is for it to be fun. I’m not sure how many of my friends will play for food and booze, but I’m going to give it a try.
I’ll keep you posted.
