![tascam 424 mki tascam 424 mki](https://thumbor.offerup.com/hDDAkBgOBdPfcVHPH5QVIPe8Nus=/333x250/6b86/6b864874a8334a83a4b4ac5fc68e56e9.jpg)
Finally, the finished master could be copied to as many tapes as necessary, for distribution. Using the built-in ‘mixing desk’, the four sounds could then be mixed into a balanced, stereo output, which would be recorded to a cassette ‘master’ on an ordinary stereo tape deck.
![tascam 424 mki tascam 424 mki](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/EOQAAOSwwZhhCkCd/s-l640.jpg)
For example, drums on Track 1, bass on Track 2, guitar on Track 3, and vocals on Track 4. Fundamentally, four separate sound sources could be recorded or dubbed alongside each other, each on its own channel or track. Most of these four-track home multitracking devices insisted on the use of Type II high bias tapes. No one was under any illusions about what these contraptions did: they recorded up to four simultaneous tracks of audio onto a single standard cassette tape – although when I say “standard”, I just mean the format. Of course, the concept of a recording studio in a desktop casing was always going to have huge compromises and limitations. This is a Tascam 424 Portastudio – a multitracking device which gave home recording enthusiasts (often musicians, but sometimes amateur producers) their own small recording studio, in the days before hard disk digital multitracking became available to the masses. I thought I’d do something a bit different today and take a concise look at an archetypal piece of tape recording equipment.