Why you should practice recording on analog mediums

I started recording my own music on a 4-track cassette deck that my grandma bought me way back in early high school. A Tascam Portastudio 414 mkii to be exact. I was endeared to the analog side because it felt rebellious. My school life was pretty screen-saturated (although it wasn't nearly as bad back in 2012/13), and as a result I designated my bedroom as a "screen-free zone." I even wrote my school papers on an old typewriter. You probably can't get away with that anymore.

This is technically from 2018, but you can see the same 4-track machine sitting on the banker's box in the middle, along with my brother's drum kit he had since high school.

In the throes of guitar obsession and vinyl record collecting, I was learning the ins and outs of my instrument, pedals, amplifiers, and the like, but had little experience recording myself. I had, however, recorded many of my vinyl records to tape and had experience with tape machines, but nothing with it's own microphone inputs. But that would soon change.

The Tascam Portastudio is the perfect first analog recorder. It has a designated mixing board with 4 channel strips, each featuring a 'high' and 'low' fixed frequency knob for basic mixing, and two aux sends for adding your own outboard effects like delay and reverb. Got guitar pedals? There you go! And then, of course, there is the gain, or 'trim.' This trim fader has a signature natural breakup which has been made famous more recently through its incorporation into a certain popular guitarist's pedal chain (which sadly has raised the price of these units, although they're still very affordable).

Beyond the sound of analog units, there's something to recording on analog mediums that makes you better, faster. If you're at all interested in music creation through the live performance of an instrument, be that guitar, drums, bass, etc, recording with a 4 or 8-track tape machine is invaluable experience - and here's why

Contending with imperfection will make you a better performer

Ok, most will actually tell you that when you press record on analog, it's even scarier! Every time you record over the tape, the sound quality of the next take won't sound quite as nice, so you better make this one count, right? If you're new to recording your own performances, especially if it's in an effort to create a product that' you'll eventually make public, you'll be tempted to make sure everything is perfect. Truth is there is no such thing! And honest "mistakes" sound way better than a pitch-corrected, quantization-neutered artifacts. With analog, you just have to collect the best recording you can muster up and leave it at that. Which leads me to my next point...

You're forced to take your time

In the process of taking the time to get the right recording, you'll also be practicing your instrument. Of course, you also have to wait for the tape to rewind to the beginning whenever you do a new take as well, which you can either spend sweating the next take or practicing that lick one more time. And analog recording is inherently more fun, so, you know, time flies and whatever...

Limitation breeds creativity

Everybody talks about this, but it's true. Having only 4 tracks to get all your ideas down can be difficult. Occasionally this will mean bouncing your first 3 tracks down to the 4th track in mono on a 4-track machine, just to fit more ideas on the first 3 tracks. And considering the aforementioned 2 fixed-frequency EQ knobs on the portastudio (at least mine), there's not much you can do effect-wise. However, you can do vari-speed with tape -- slowing or speeding the tape during recording to alter the pitch of the final product, which can completely change the mood and energy of your recording. Very fun, very easy. These limitations will force you to work to get the result you want, and when you put in more effort, the end is almost always more rewarding.

You're forced to be more attentive

As with digital recording, gain staging is very important, but arguably more so with analog. The right balance between overdriven and drowning in the noise floor hiss can be a delicate one, so paying attention is key. This will translate well over to digital recording, and result in a more discerning ear!