[shadowfax]

Hi, currently working on a song using only 4 tracks..like in the olden days and boy is it difficult.. bouncing stuff around requires a load of thinking way in advance for the end result...drums have already almost dissappeared

this'll be my next song in the finished songs section so get ready for a laugh

[MartynRich]

Now there’s an idea for a comp if I ever saw one!

[shadowfax]

forgot to mention that I'm doing this to actual tape using an old Fostex 4 track cassette recorder...but I suppose it could still be done on a DAW but it would be very tempting to cheat would it not..(speaking for myself of course)

best, Kevin

[cowparsleyman]

as you said - Blimey.

Good luck, can't wait to hear it, is it Acoustic Gtr and Vocal,...so you have 2 to spare? 

[shadowfax]

Yeah that would be the easiest but this is drums, synth, guitar, piano, bass, vocals...already noticed the high frequency loss when bouncing and tape drop outs here and there..the tape is quite old, recorded mono drums, guitar and vocal,..bounced them to one track, recorded another guitar and synth then bounced them with the first track that I'd bounced too, to the spare track leaving me with 2 tracks ( by now the drums are a distant memory..LOL)..then recorded piano and another vocal then mixed down to Cubase, I think I've got that right, quite easy to get mixed up (which I did a few times and had to start again) I then used a stereo imager to widen the mix in Cubase..it sounds s..t but in the interests of science I'll put it up when the time comes...

[Boydie]

Great experiment @shadowfax

I cut my teeth on my trusty TASCAM 464 4-track cassette recorder so this is bringing back some wonderful memories

I would be happy to restrict myself to 4 tracks on a project but shudder at the thought of going back to cassettes!

With everything I have learnt I think if I had a 4 track I would probably concentrate on getting a great sound with just using the 4 tracks (mono drums, guitar, Keys & vocals) and avoid the bouncing as I think this would give a punchier mix and really challenge the writing/arrangement

I can’t wait to hear the finished song...

[shadowfax]

Great experiment @shadowfax

I cut my teeth on my trusty TASCAM 464 4-track cassette recorder so this is bringing back some wonderful memories

I would be happy to restrict myself to 4 tracks on a project but shudder at the thought of going back to cassettes!

With everything I have learnt I think if I had a 4 track I would probably concentrate on getting a great sound with just using the 4 tracks (mono drums, guitar, Keys & vocals) and avoid the bouncing as I think this would give a punchier mix and really challenge the writing/arrangement

I can’t wait to hear the finished song...

Hi Paul, I must respectfully disagree with you on using only 4 instruments on 4 tracks making the arrangement harder, surely the more instruments there are the harder the arrangement is...particularly on a 4 track tape machine...If I stuck to just 4 instruments it would be a lot easier,  I started this experiment to see how hard it would be to produce something similar to my normal stuff..it's certainly possible but requires a lot of forward thinking, I've finished the song and If I did it all over again I know I would be able to do it better based on the first experience,
@Boydie

best, Kevin

[Boydie]

Hi Kevin

What I meant was the challenge of trying to keep the track "interesting" with just 4 tracks to play with

Either way it is a huge challenge and I bet you have learnt a lot from going through it

[shadowfax]

Oh, sorry Paul I misunderstood...I had great respect for George Martin (without whom the Beatles wouldn't have existed IMHO) I now have even greater respect considering the quality of the Beatles recordings, I suppose fantastic mic's and the worlds best engineers helped a bit though LOL

but thank the stars for DAW's...

@Boydie