I think my main goal in recording is to recapture the feeling I had using a four-track cassette recorder as a teenager. And I do mean the feeling rather than the sound. Although I have nothing against the sound, the main thing I loved about the four-track was having a gadget dedicated to doing what seemed like magic: layering multiple tracks. It also looked cool.
Unlike a laptop, it was a single purpose device. All you could do with it is record things. This allowed one to get into a focused state, where your entire attention was devoted to recording. Also, because the device emitted low information—here’s a fader, here’s a pan knob—you could only go down the rabbit trail of your own imagination rather than the rabbit trail of adjusting infinite fiddly little fake knobs in a plugin.
I don’t want to make it sound like I produced good music back then on the four-track; in fact, I’d hate to make it sound like I produced good music by any other means or at any other times. That’s not even for me to decide, but I don’t particularly feel like a “musician.” I feel like someone who enjoys writing songs and then recording them. However, from a purely experiential perspective, recording on the four-track was so compelling that I eventually wanted to recreate the feeling later in life.
I know some folks actually find old four-tracks and record on them, and I am totally supportive of the idea and will probably try it someday. Since I mainly wanted the experience rather than a specific technology, I have always been drawn to the standalone digital recorders, which now seem to be a dying breed.
The Tascam DP 24-SD ended up being my final choice, although I went through some other units. First, the Tascam has the look and feel that I want. Second, I’m not sure how much longer such devices will even be made.
I’ll expand on my process some other time, but let me say I don’t do everything on the 24-SD. I basically use it for tracking. I enjoy sitting in the living room, away from the computer, and just plugging whatever instruments I want into the 24-SD sitting on the coffee table. I find this to be both fun and a quick way to work.
I also have the Zoom R4, and it’s great in a different way. I find it better for quickly getting down ideas. I like to immediately flesh out ideas with multiple tracks about 80% of the time. Even though I will iterate on the idea later, I feel like getting an early version of that layered sound helps me imagine how to develop the idea better as a one-man band. Sometimes, I’ll import a rough mix of a song that already has the basics and track some guitars or vocals on the R4, but if I have a bit more time I’ll usually do that on the 24-SD.
I mix in the box, and I find that part of the process actually enjoyable in a DAW. I just don’t enjoy tracking in the DAW as much.
It’s sometimes strange when the process of doing something is just as rewarding—or even more so—than the result.