Is this what people use to record lo-fi shit...

Is this what people use to record lo-fi shit? I heard a lot of people use reel-to-reel recorders but they're like hundreds of fucking dollars it seems
What exactly are these used for other than listening to the tapes? Would I theoretically be able to record a shitty DIY crust punk album on this? If I managed to, how would I make more than one copy?

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Look for tascam 424 4-track, or similar

nah mate this is what you really want for that trashy DIY lo-fi tinny sound

I just bought one of these for 3 bucks. Everyone is going to tell you not to use them, but they are actually just jealous cucks who want to make gold before you do.

Check out Placid Audio’s microphones, like the Carbon Phone w/ filter box

This is the easiest way user
You record on a 4-track like that, then you mixdown to a stereo tape and make copies of it with a double-sided deck like this.

Some people like R. Stevie Moore did overdubs without a proper multi-track recording machine using two stereo reel-to-reels and a mixer and bouncing from one deck to the other but that's much less accessible than cassettes nowadays, and more difficult to work with.
You could technically do the same thing with two normal stereo tape decks but the drop in quality with each overdub would be much more severe.

The machine in your OP is only good for completely live simple stuff like Daniel Johnston-core, or as a deliberately grungy track used as an effect on one instrument within a more complex mix, like vocals for a bandcamp-core twee indie song mostly otherwise done on a computer (which would require more technical recording knowledge than you seem to posses)

But if you have an actual crust punk band you could try recording a performance on that, it would just be very noisy and indecipherable

Plus R. Stevie Moore sexually harasses people on Facebook.

sauce

I really really want a 9/80's 4 track recorder but fuck man they aint cheap

call me a fucking hipster all you want

Craigslist, pawn, and instrument shops are the place to look. They're overpriced online

dropping even like 50$ idk man if it breaks repairing it would be pretty fucking difficult

everything I have seen in person is in really poor condition sadly

repairing tape players aint that hard usually. most of the time its a mechanical mysfunction (atleast in my experience) and not electrical. just replacing the band or lubricating a few parts

The main thing that would go wrong is the belts and that's a cheap fix, though the ease of installing them depends on the machine.
Hope you get lucky though, I've had access to like 5 of em through friends and it's all of our favorite way to record. Just a lot of immediacy to it, no need to worry about lag or any other technical problems (so far), and the later models that do high-speed really don't sound too shabby, and can even have a bit of that low-end analog sweetness that you can only try and emulate digitally.
Sometimes I do mixdown on the deck and other times when I want more control over the levels and pannng I use the channel outs into an interface and mix on the computer.

sorry but I'm completely retarded and have never fucked with this kind of shit in my life
So what exactly is a 4 track? Does this mean that you can record four separate layers on top of it? Do they have headphone ports or something so that you can hear the shit you already recorded while you add more layers? About how much would an average setup cost?
And I do have a basic idea of how to record and mix using shit like FL Studios and Audacity but like I said I never even bothered with this kind of shit, but I want to get into the DIY scene
Also do the double sided decks allow you to just listen to cassettes, or are they exclusively for production?
thanks for info though

don't be a soyboy and just pick up an audio interface

stop recording music digitally

Real lofi is using your laptop's inbuilt webcam to record everything. Buying new equipment is so not lofi of you

>he doesn't garbage pick instruments/gear from the street

no joke I love living in a hipster hive 2 fucking guitars a uke a flute audio interface speakers etc etc all found in teh trash with in 2 years

Google manual for Tascam Portastudio 424 and read it.

>So what exactly is a 4 track?
>Does this mean that you can record four separate layers on top of it?
Basically, cassettes have four separate audio channels. For a normal tape this means two stereo programs, one on each side going in opposite directions.
A cassette 4-track runs all the tracks in the same direction so you can record music with 4 different instruments (or more, if you record multiple simultaneously, or mix down onto another tape in stereo to free up extra 2 tracks) and control the levels and panning individually.
>Do they have headphone ports or something so that you can hear the shit you already recorded while you add more layers?
Yes.
>About how much would an average setup cost?
Really depends on how lucky you get. I'd say if you keep a close eye on Craigslist (using the terms "portastudio" and "tascam") you can probably get a pretty nice one between $50-$100 eventually. Or look around in real stores. Sometimes you can luck out and find them much cheaper at thrift or pawn
>Also do the double sided decks allow you to just listen to cassettes, or are they exclusively for production?
They're actually meant for listening, they're double-sided for mixtape/casual piracy purposes. But you can also use them to make copies of your own music. You can find those at any Goodwill/thrift/charity shop if you check often enough. Look for a later model, one with Dolby C - you won't use that but it means it's from the 90s and those are the best ones, and won't break down as soon because they're relatively recent.

These are extremely cool

in my experience they were only good for playback and not recording anyway.

thanks for info my dude

Not even that good for playback as they're usually mono and only play the left channel.
They're good for recording if you're trying to have a REALLY grungy, stripped-down demo sound

sauce

Yep, I’ve got his Carbonphone, Copperphone, and Resonator B. Good stuff

Record it with inexpensive things.

youtube.com/watch?v=iGBM4OqZvd0