Tascam Portastudio

The Tascam Portastudio put multitrack recording in the bedroom. TEAC launched the first one, the 144, on September 22, 1979: a four-channel mixer and a four-track cassette recorder in one box for $899. For the next two decades Portastudios were where demos, mixtapes and home beats were made.

History

The Portastudio runs ordinary cassettes at double speed (3.75 inches per second) in one direction to get four tracks. The Portastudio 244 of 1982 added dbx Type II noise reduction, sweepable parametric EQ and the ability to record all four tracks at once. The 424 series (MkII and MkIII) followed. From 1997 Tascam moved the Portastudio name to MiniDisc, CD-R, hard disk and SD recorders. Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (1982), recorded on a TEAC 144, is the most famous major-label Portastudio record.

In hip hop

Hip hop production history treats the Portastudio as the standard of the 1980s home studio. Its biggest rap connection is Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers): Mixdown Magazine reports the album was mixed down to a Portastudio 244 after it was recorded and mixed at Firehouse Studio, part of the story behind that album’s raw, murky sound.

Buying one today

Working 244s and 424s are collected for their lo-fi, saturated cassette sound. Expect to service them: heads, belts and pinch rollers usually need cleaning or replacing, and the transport should run at a steady speed. Many listings are for the later digital Portastudios, so check for “cassette” and the model number.