Portastudio refers to a series of multitrack recorders produced by TASCAM beginning in 1979 with the introduction of the TEAC 144, the first four-track compact cassette-based recorder. A TASCAM trademark, "portastudio" is commonly used to refer to any self-contained multitrack recorder dedicated to music production. [1] [2] [3]
The Portastudio is credited with launching the home recording revolution by making it possible for musicians to easily and affordably record and produce multitrack music at home, [4] [5] [6] and is cited as one of the most significant innovations in music production technology. [7]
The first Portastudio, the TEAC 144, was introduced on September 22, 1979 at the AES Convention in New York City. [5] The 144 combined a 4-channel mixer with pan, treble, and bass on each input with a cassette recorder capable of recording four tracks in one direction at 3¾ inches per second (double the normal cassette playback speed) in a self-contained unit weighing less than 20 pounds at a list price of US$ 899. [8] The 144 was the first product that made it possible for musicians to affordably record several instrumental and vocal parts on different tracks of the built-in 4-track cassette recorder individually and later blend all the parts together, while transferring them to another standard, two-channel stereo tape deck (remix and mixdown) to form a stereo recording. [9] In 1981, Fostex introduced the first of their "Multitracker" line of multitrack cassette recorders with the 250. [10]
In 1982, TASCAM replaced the 144 with the 244 Portastudio, which improved upon the previous design with overall better sound quality and more features, including: parametric EQ, dbx Type II noise reduction, and the ability to record up to four tracks simultaneously. [11] [12] [10]
TASCAM continued to develop and release cassette-based portastudio models with different features until 2001, [13] including the "Ministudio" line of portastudios that offered a limited feature set and the ability to run on batteries at even more affordable price points, and the "MIDIStudio" line which added MIDI functionality. [14] [15] [16] Other manufacturers, including Fostex, Yamaha, Akai, and others introduced their own lines of multitrack cassette recorders. [3] [17] [18] Most were four-track recorders, but there were also six-track and even eight-track units. [14]
In 1997, TASCAM introduced the first digital Portastudio: the TASCAM 564 which recorded to MiniDisc. [19] Later Digital Portastudio models, some with the ability to record 24 or even 32 tracks, utilize CD-R, internal hard drives, or SD cards, and commonly include built-in DSP effects. [14] [20]
The Portastudio, and particularly its first iteration, the TEAC 144, is credited with launching the home recording revolution by making it possible for musicians to easily and affordably record and produce multitrack music themselves wherever they wanted, [4] [5] [6] and is cited as one of the most significant innovations in music production technology. [7] In general, these machines were typically used by amateur and professional musicians to record demos, although some Portastudio projects, most notably Bruce Springsteen's 1982 album Nebraska , have become notable major-label releases. Beginning in the 1990s, cassette-based Portastudios experienced new popularity for lo-fi recording.
In 2006, the TEAC Portastudio was inducted into the TECnology Hall of Fame, an honor given to "products and innovations that have had an enduring impact on the development of audio technology." [21] In 2021, in conjunction with TASCAM's 50th anniversary, a software plug-in emulation of the Porta One ministudio was released by IK Multimedia. [22]
MD Data is a type of magneto-optical medium derived from MiniDisc.
The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released in August 1963.
An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present-day form, it records a fluctuating signal by moving the tape across a tape head that polarizes the magnetic domains in the tape in proportion to the audio signal. Tape-recording devices include the reel-to-reel tape deck and the cassette deck, which uses a cassette for storage.
A hard disk recorder (HDR) is a system that uses a high-capacity hard disk to record digital audio or digital video. Hard disk recording systems represent an alternative to reel-to-reel audio tape recording and video tape recorders, and provide non-linear editing capabilities unavailable using tape recorders. Audio HDR systems, which can be standalone or computer-based, are typically combined with provisions for digital mixing and processing of the audio signal to produce a digital audio workstation (DAW).
Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive whole. Multitracking became possible in the mid-1950s when the idea of simultaneously recording different audio channels to separate discrete tracks on the same reel-to-reel tape was developed. A track was simply a different channel recorded to its own discrete area on the tape whereby their relative sequence of recorded events would be preserved, and playback would be simultaneous or synchronized.
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the supply reel containing the tape is placed on a spindle or hub. The end of the tape is manually pulled from the reel, threaded through mechanical guides and over a tape head assembly, and attached by friction to the hub of the second, initially empty takeup reel. Reel-to-reel systems use tape that is 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 1, or 2 inches wide, which normally moves at 3+3⁄4, 7+1⁄2, 15 or 30 inches per second. Domestic consumer machines almost always used 1⁄4 inch (6.35 mm) or narrower tape and many offered slower speeds such as 1+7⁄8 inches per second (4.762 cm/s). All standard tape speeds are derived as a binary submultiple of 30 inches per second.
Alesis Digital Audio Tape, commonly referred to as ADAT, is a magnetic tape format used for the recording of eight digital audio tracks onto the same S-VHS tape used by consumer VCRs, and the basis of a series of multitrack recorders by Alesis. Although originally a tape-based format, the term ADAT later also referred to hard disk recorders like the Alesis ADAT HD24. In 2004, recognizing the ADAT for "beginning a revolution of affordable recording tools," it was inducted into the first-ever TEC Awards TECnology Hall of Fame.
TEAC Corporation is a Japanese electronics manufacturer. TEAC was created by the merger of the Tokyo Television Acoustic Company, founded in 1953, and the Tokyo Electro-Acoustic Company, founded in 1956.
TASCAM is the professional audio division of TEAC Corporation, headquartered in Santa Fe Springs, California. TASCAM established the Home Recording phenomenon by creating the "Project Studio" and is credited as the inventor of the Portastudio, the first cassette-based multi-track home studio recorders. TASCAM also introduced the first low-cost mass-produced multitrack recorders with Simul-Sync designed for recording musicians, and manufactured reel-to-reel tape machines and audio mixers for home recordists from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. Since the early 00's, TASCAM has been an early innovator in the field-recording and audio accompaniment to video with their DR-series recording platforms. TASCAM celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021.
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.
Home recording is the practice of recording sound in a private home instead of a professional recording studio. A studio set up for home recording is called a home studio or project studio. Home recording is widely practiced by voice actors, narrators, singers, musicians, podcast hosts, and documentary makers at all levels of success. The cost of professional audio equipment has dropped steadily as technology advances during the 21st century, while information about recording techniques has become easily available online. These trends have resulted in an increase in the popularity of home recording and a shift in the recording industry toward recording in the home studio. The COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in a dramatic global increase in the number of remote workers in 2020, which is anticipated by experts to remain a permanent shift in the field of sound recording when the pandemic ends.
The history of sound recording - which has progressed in waves, driven by the invention and commercial introduction of new technologies — can be roughly divided into four main periods:
Foster Denki KK is an electronics company that manufactures loudspeakers and audio equipment for other companies or sells them under the trade name Fostex. It is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Multitrack recording of sound is the process in which sound and other electro-acoustic signals are captured on a recording medium such as magnetic tape, which is divided into two or more audio tracks that run parallel with each other. Because they are carried on the same medium, the tracks stay in perfect synchronization, while allowing multiple sound sources to be recorded at different times.
Women in Technology is the second studio album by British recording artist White Town, released on 25 February 1997. The album is most known for the song "Your Woman" which was its only top 40 single. The song received much acclaim and reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart. A second single, released as a promo, was made of "Wanted" and failed to chart anywhere. The album's third single "Undressed" reached 57. The album was recorded entirely at Jyoti Mishra's home studio.
John Denison Keane is an American record producer based in Athens, Georgia, who has worked extensively with R.E.M., Indigo Girls and Widespread Panic. He owns and operates John Keane Studios in Athens, his hometown, which opened in 1981.
Bright Ideas is the fifth studio album by the American indie rock band Portastatic. It was released on Merge Records on August 23, 2005
The DA-88 was a digital multitrack recording device introduced by the TASCAM division of the TEAC Corporation in 1993. This modular, digital multitrack device uses tape as the recording medium and could record up to eight tracks simultaneously. It also allowed multiple DA-88 devices to be combined to record 16 or more tracks. The first models in the series recorded at 16-bit resolution. TASCAM later introduced the DA-98HR and DA-78HR, which recorded at 24-bit resolution and sample rates up to 48 kHz and 192 kHz. Audio data was stored in the DTRS format on Hi8 video cassettes, allowing up to 108 minutes of continuous recording on a single tape.
Rock and Roll Night Club is the debut mini-LP from Canadian artist Mac DeMarco. It was recorded in 2011 in DeMarco's Montreal-based studio Jizz Jazz Studios and released through Captured Tracks on March 13, 2012.
Quadraphonic open reel tape or Q4 was the first consumer format for quadraphonic sound recording and playback. Pre-recorded tapes in this format were introduced in the United States by the Vanguard Recording Society in June 1969. Specialized machines to play these tapes were introduced by electronics manufacturers such as TEAC Corporation at about the same time.