I am v v pleased to announce that PSV #004 is now online. “The 4-track in 2013” looks at the possibilities that an old-school cassette 4-track machine offers when used in conjunction with a digital audio workstation. We do this through the work of John Panos, aka KINGS. Panos’ music is some of the best new stuff I’ve heard in a while, and he has some really insightful things to say about tape noise and distortion and how these things work as both an arrangement element and a sonic frame, situating parts of the track within an historical context informed by the legacy of cassette-distributed popular music. Check it.
For more about KINGS, check out:
KINGS website / Blog / Music / Twitter
13 replies on “New Video: “The 4-Track In 2013” : featuring John Panos, aka KINGS”
Chris, this is awesome. Very interesting and pithy video. Keep them coming!
Although KINGS’ music is not my taste, I very much respect his creativity and clever weaving of 1980s technology into modern music releases.
Regarding cassettes, you younger home recordists should play around with that medium. A three-head cassette deck is the cheapest way to get a whole bunch of tape effects (saturation “slam” of various flavors depending on tape type, levels, NR, etc; tape delay; screwy pitch stuff if there’s a pitch knob; etc). You get an even wider “pallet” with a 4-track, most especially including over dubbing and bouncing. Definitely experiment with different kinds of cassettes because they all react differently to saturation and present different hiss profiles and frequency anomalies even under the best circumstances. Cassettes were definitely NOT an output=input format, even when they tried.
The way the KINGS guy uses tape before and after DAW software is a very creative twist on things. It’s the democratization of CLASP and other high-priced studio technologies using multi-track reel machines.
One thing to definitely experiment with if you get a cassette machine is tape compression. I happen to like it moderate but not super-slam so it’s too gritty. Cassettes saturate quickly if you use Dolby B NR and drive it slightly above recommended peak (a couple dB above nominal zero, or keep your average level right at zero so the peaks go near-pin if you’re playing with wider dynamics). Your end result should sound something like 80s rock FM broadcasts but without the brittle or fuzzy top end.
— Tom Fine
Hi tom. Glad u dug the videos! Yes we have many more in thr works.
Ive been wanting a three head deck for a while, for the very reason u describe,
But everyone i have found so far is non functional. C.
Chris, one good three-head model that shows up often is the Tascam 130. This was their late-era budget-priced but still good-quality deck for broadcast and church production. It didn’t have the features or the hearty mechanism of a 122mkIII (their best 3-head deck), but it will easily serve the purpose I described above, and the sound quality is quite good. I’ve had one of these for a while and am using it in a large-scale cassette transfer project right now. You can get one non-working for almost nothing (the thing most likely to break is the motor and/or cam that raises the head into the cassette well) and Russ at NJ Factory Service can restore it for about a C-note.
As far as consumer 3-head decks, they were mostly top-end so therefore not as common as 2-head decks. Technics, Pioneer, Teac and Nak had 3-heads in the middle of their ranges.
Between the variety of cassette tape types, and three different NR options on later-era decks (no NR, Dolby B, Dolby C), there are a lot of different “sound flavors” to be gotten out of a cassette deck.
— Tom Fine
Great advice tom – thank you. I would not have guessed that the 130 is a 3-head, cos there does not appear to be a “tape/input” monitor switch on the front panel? Is it hidden?
And I am gonna look into NJ Factory Service – I was not aware of them, thanks! c.
Hi Chris:
See page 6 of the manual:
http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/325/130_manual.pdf
They actually did a nice automation thing with the monitoring, which can be overridden at any time with the front panel button. When it’s in rec-pause, it automatically monitors the source. When it’s in rec, it switches to monitor the tape. When it’s in play, it monitors the tape. The front panel button allows switching back and forth by the user.
— Tom Fine
Got it; that makes sense. Def gonna hunt for one of these… thanks Tom – hey BTW – do you have any sense of which model of 1/4″ tape (7″ reel, if that matters…) would give the best quality with my ancient magnecord PT6 (it’s a 7.5 ips model). I don’t wanna overspend but I honestly have no idea… i used to use 456 and 499 back in the day with my 1/2″ machine, but that was am 80’s tascam… Any thoughts pls LMK! thanks – c.
Hey Chris,
Regarding the PT-6, I think you want to use something akin to the ancient brown-oxide low-bias tapes of that era. Ampex/Quantegy 632 or 642 might do the trick. I think a high output tape of the late-analog era would have problems with bias and erasure on a 1950s tape deck. And maybe back-coated won’t work as well with that transport?
I’m not sure who’s expert on those machines. Maybe ask John French at JRF Magnetic. There is a lot of knowledge about Ampex, Studer and a few other tape machine brands. But Magnecorder was never ubiquitous enough, and got out of the tape machine business so long ago. So I’m not sure how much living knowledge exists on those machines. It’s too bad Bert Whyte is long dead, he was the man on those machines.
— Tom Fine
Chris do you still have this video with John Panos?? I have been trying to watch it again but it’s been deleted from YouTube. I used to watch it all the time and would love to see it again.
Hi Aramis. No sorry we took them down. too many trolls. youtube is a nightmare. sorry.
Hi Chris,
Been reading back through the archives since finding this site and was wondering if you have given any more thought to looking up former Scully employees and trying to interview them about their work, per this post. Would make for an awesome episode in this series, I’m sure.
Hi steve. That is an excellent point. I have yet to find any scully-folk who want to talk. So ladies & gents, if yr out there and you want to go on record, drop us a line!
I’m loving these videos. Very inspiring! Cheers – Tim
Thanks man! Got some really great ones coming up this fall, keep watching and pls spread em around! best, c.