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1 An introduction to the Porta02
4
1 – An introduction to the Porta02
The TASCAM Porta02 MiniStudio
allows you to produce recordings which
are not possible with an ordinary stereo
cassette recorder.
We suggest that you read at least this sec-
tion 1 and also 3, “Making your first
recording” before you start using the
Porta02. Spending a little time reading
now will save you a lot of time in the
future. You can read the rest of the man-
ual at any time.
1.1 Multitrack recording – a brief introduction
This section gives you a brief introduc-
tion to some of the terms and techniques
used in recording. If you are unfamiliar
with these terms, you may find it useful
to read through this section so that you
understand the rest of the manual, which
uses the terms explained here.
1.1.1 Multitrack recorders
When you listen to a commercial record-
ing (CD, cassette, etc.), it is quite proba-
ble that the different parts of the piece
will have been recorded at different
times.
This is done by “multitracking”–taking
the different sounds, feeding them
through a mixer’s inputs (“channels”) and
recording them on a special tape recorder
which splits the tape into “stripes”, each
stripe being used for a different part of
the music.
These stripes are called “tracks”, and the
parts recorded on them may also be
called “tracks”. Since there are many
tracks on a tape, the term “multitrack” is
used to describe these tapes and record-
ers.
The Porta02 allows you to record up to 4
tracks on inexpensive Type II (chrome)
cassettes using the same principle as
larger studios–taking inputs into a
mixer’s channels, feeding them into a
recorder which can record tracks inde-
pendently of each other, and building up
the song by recording new tracks while
listening to what has been recorded
before (“monitoring”).
The advantage of working with multi-
track recording is that the whole group of
musicians does not have to repeat the
whole piece if one person makes a mis-
take.
The illustration below shows you how
tracks are arranged on an ordinary stereo
cassette tape, as well as on the Porta02