{"id":40,"date":"2015-12-31T06:52:29","date_gmt":"2015-12-31T06:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.duplication.ca\/shop\/blog\/?p=40"},"modified":"2015-12-31T06:52:29","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T06:52:29","slug":"cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassette Tape Track Formats and Recommended Tapes for Tascam Portastudios"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tascam made the popular Portastudio 4\u00a0track cassette recorders. Clients often ask us what tapes should be used with these machines. Well first of all, you need the record tabs to be IN so look for tabs in cassettes (C0-TI). Once you have your final mix you would punch out the record tabs to prevent accidental erasure. The 414 and 424 machines need high bias tapes like TDK SA, Maxell XLII, or BASF Chrome Plus. These tapes came in C-60 and C-90 formats. The C-60 tapes are preferred for the thicker base film and slightly better overall performance. Keep in mind these Portastudios run at double speed (3.75 inches per second) and record all 4 tracks in one direction, so a 60 minute tape only gives you 15 minutes of recording time.<\/p>\n<p>The Portastudios used a propietary track format laying down all 4 tracks with even spacing between all tracks. Regular cassette decks have a larger space between the A and B side, and a narrower gap between the left and right channels of each side. Here&#8217;s an illustration from Tascam&#8217;s manual:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_41\" style=\"width: 659px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-41\" class=\"size-full wp-image-41\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duplication.ca\/shop\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_track_formats_illustration.jpg\" alt=\"Tascam Portastudio cassette track widths\" width=\"649\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_track_formats_illustration.jpg 649w, https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_track_formats_illustration-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_track_formats_illustration-465x300.jpg 465w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-41\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tascam Portastudio cassette track widths<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Tape recommendations<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_42\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42\" class=\"size-full wp-image-42\" src=\"https:\/\/www.duplication.ca\/shop\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_Portastudio_414_tape_recommendations.jpg\" alt=\"Tape recommendations for Tascam Portastudio 414 and 424\" width=\"630\" height=\"711\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_Portastudio_414_tape_recommendations.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_Portastudio_414_tape_recommendations-266x300.jpg 266w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-42\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tape recommendations for Tascam Portastudio 414 and 424<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tascam made the popular Portastudio 4\u00a0track cassette recorders. Clients often ask us what tapes should be used with these machines. Well first of all, you need the record tabs to be IN so look for tabs in cassettes (C0-TI). Once &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cassette Tape Track Formats and Recommended Tapes for Tascam Portastudios - DUPLICATION.COM BLOG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cassette Tape Track Formats and Recommended Tapes for Tascam Portastudios - DUPLICATION.COM BLOG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tascam made the popular Portastudio 4\u00a0track cassette recorders. 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Once &hellip; Continue reading &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DUPLICATION.COM BLOG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/analoguecassettes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-31T06:52:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.duplication.ca\/shop\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_track_formats_illustration.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"George\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@duplicationca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@duplicationca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"George\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"George\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/efa77086fe8e07c8faadcfbfdfc04468\"},\"headline\":\"Cassette Tape Track Formats and Recommended Tapes for Tascam Portastudios\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-31T06:52:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-31T06:52:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/\"},\"wordCount\":212,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.ca\/shop\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tascam_track_formats_illustration.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Cassettes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.duplication.com\/blog\/cassette-tape-track-formats-and-recommended-tapes-for-tascam-portastudios\/\",\"name\":\"Cassette Tape Track Formats and Recommended Tapes for Tascam Portastudios - 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