Tascam 388 Studio 8

Classic mid-80s 1/4″ 8-Track Tape Recorder with Mixer. A “complete 8-track production centre” (to quote the manual!) Dating from 1985, this was the first combined eight track mixer/tape machine and is definitely not a Portastudio! They’ve become somewhat popular of late – perhaps unsurprisingly given their use by such varied luminaries as Dan Auerbach (Black Keys), Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) and Madlib. From the manual: The Studio 8 is a complete eight track production system. It contains a full function 8 x 8 x 2 mixer with 8 channel monitoring; combined with an eight track recorder/reproducer with full servo control, remote capability, and SMPTE/EBU/computer interface. It is an ideal turn-key production facility for off-line audio for video, jingles, commercial radio and television spots, and music. As a complete system, the Studio 8 virtually eliminates the time consuming and confusing patching normally associated with multi-track audio production. The most frequently used functions are engaged automatically and many complex operations are internally wired to reduce work by reducing the number of steps necessary to get things done.