4-Track Reel to Reel Tape Recorders

Series Summary

Have you ever considered that just because something is new—whether it’s the next big thing or the latest technology—that it’s not always better? Maybe you were around when analogue was the only way music was produced, and reel to reel tape recorders were the professional standard. Maybe you find digital production to be too cold and calculating, too crisp and sterile, lacking warmth of tone and sense of dimension. Maybe you just remember the good ol’ days and don’t feel like learning how to record music on your computer. Or maybe you’re just interested in making good music, and you’d like to discover how reel to reel recording works. If any of these describe you, then you’re in the right place.

In these free music studio recording and production videos, learn how to use a 4-track reel to reel tape recorder to capture your vocals, guitar parts, drums, record songs, or even make a demo CD. Our expert will walk you through the operation of a fairly simple reel to reel machine in several steps, including the basic and advanced functions, rear components, using mics and connecting to other mixing boards, recording on four different tracks, mixdown, bouncing tracks, and final tips for mastering a CD copy of your songs.

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, I'm Kurt Glaser, Chief Engineer at KGB Studios in Seattle. In this fifteen part series, we're going to be dealing with what is, how to function and how to use one of these, a 4-track reel-to-reel recorder. So welcome. In this session, we're going to be dealing basically with the equipment that we will use, so let's get started. Okay, first let's look at the equipment we have here. You're viewing right now a 4-track, reel-to-reel recorder. This is actually one of a couple of styles that were used in the past. Especially, in the 70s and 80s, when this particular type or tape was used all the time both in studios and out in the field like I used it. One's called the 4-track reel-to-reel recorder, the other is called the cassette. It's a 4-track cassette deck. This one's made by a company by the name of Dokorder. A quarterdeck tells you that each one is used; there are two tracks for the stereo, obviously, and then two tracks for the rear track or the quadraphonic sound, which was kind of big in that era as well. Hence, it's called the quarter track. So, that's the particular layout. Let's take a look at the basic functionality of each of the pieces on this front and then in the next section we'll go a little bit deeper into that functionality. So, let's go to the demo now of the basic functions. Obviously here, we have the reels. Over here is the left reel, followed by the right reel. This is the real reel tape, which follows this particular path here, if you can follow the tape, it goes up and around there. So it just wraps around this center hub here, this darker piece, on the left hand side. So that's the reel. Down here we have the basic function, which of course is fairly obvious. You have fast forward, rewind, play and record over here on the left hand side. When you record, you'll actually use these two particular controls to decide whether you're going record in mono with one track at a time, two tracks at a time, and three or all four tracks at a time. And these guys here, these little red lights, little LED red lights, will light up. You'll see that when we actually record. Over here, of course, you have power and pause and that function's really nice. One of the reasons I bought this deck is because it has an instant pause so you don't lose any tracking of what they punch in. The other basic functions of course are these volume unit meters. The VU meters and you may be able to see them in this shot here. Followed by the basic construction and the basic functionality of these playback controls or your volume control. That's the basic functions of this reel-to-reel recorder. The Dokorder 7140. Join us again next time when we will dive into quarter track deck in a little more detail."