Teac Tascam reel tape recorders • Teac TCA-43 • the Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording

Teac 3340 1973

Brochure above for the Teac 3340 donated by Steve N. Counter

Steve shared the following information about this the Teac 3340 donated to MOMSR

Hi Martin,

The machine was purchased around 1973 - 74. The band I was in at the time had a band house and we decided to build our own recording studio in the basement of the house because no one told us 'hey, you can't build a recording studio". We had only the vaguest notion of what we were doing but we thought we'd figure it out as we went.

A couple of us had taken a road trip from Denver to LA where I had a family connection who was high up in the Hollywood entertainment sector. That got us a tour of Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank where we got to see a real recording studio, a sound stage in fact - really big studio - and drop by a session in progress. The session was a vocal comping session but i wouldn't know until much later what exactly that meant. The session was for a film soundtrack project, the song was The Way We Were for the film of the same name and the artist was Barbra Streisand.

Armed with that experience we went back to Denver and set to work building our little four track recording studio with the Teac 3340 as the centerpiece. We outfitted the control booth (yeah it was literally a booth) with the 3340, A Pioneer 1/4 track stereo tape recorder for a mix down machine, a pair of DBX 117 companders for noise reduction, and a trio of Shure microphone mixers. We used a Kenwood hifi amplifier to drive a pair of Auratone Cubes for monitoring and a separate Kenwood amplifier for headphones. We built a homemade patch bay to connect everything together and Presto! Recording Studio...

The upshot of all of this that I got pretty good at jockeying the 3340 and discovered I had a little bit of a knack for this recording thing. I started recording other bands, friends and musical acquaintances which eventually led to a 40 year career as a professional recording engineer and mixer working in studios in Denver, Phoenix and San Francisco Bay Area where i've recorded projects at Starlight Sound, The Plant, Prairie Sun Recording, Coast Recorders,Fantasy Studios and FM Recorders where I was Chief engineer for 15 years., I'm retired now but I had a good run and a few multiplatinum projects over the years with En Vogue, Digital Underground, Tupac Shakur, Tony Toni Toné, Club Nouveau among others. Despite not using it since the late 70's I've kept the 3340 all these years for sentimental reasons as it is the machine that literally "started it all" for me. I have rather fond memories of it.

I'm extremely pleased that it is going to a group of analog tape recorder enthusiasts for whom "analog" is something more than a promotional buzzword for selling plug-ins. Yes I work "in the box" now as does most of the world, but I've also done more audio alignments on Studier, Sony, MCI, Otari and even a Lyric or two, tape machines than anybody should have to, and I'm one of the few people in the world who can fly a Euphonix 2000M-96 console. All in all, I was very happy to discover your museum and very pleased that you can add my "old reliable" 3340 to your collection.

Cheers,

---Steve Counter

(Comments from Lynn on the photos above) Hi Martin, One of Steve’s old band mates was able to locate a photo of the TEAC in place in the studio on Gilpin Street, in Denver Colorado. The first photo shows the TEAC in place in the studio. If you have questions about the set up or other gear, Steve can fill in the blanks.

The second photo is of Cliff Eager at the Gilpin street studio. He was a friend of Steve and the band, back in the day. Cliff Eager worked with Energy, the Doobie Brothers, Charley Pride, and Ray Wylie Hubbard, to name a few. He hand built a lot of gear back in the day because it didn’t yet really exist in the wild. Again, Steve can tell you more if you’re curious.

Hope you enjoy the photos! Best, Lynn

Teac 3340 ads in the MOMSR collection

Back to the Teac Tascam main page • Go to the company's history

Year	Model	Ad	Unit in Museum collection	Specifications

1973	Teac 3340		Teac 3340 four channel recorder donated by Steve N. Counter	Freq Response 25 - 24,000 cps @ 15ips 30 and 25-18,000 @ 7.5ips Harmonic Distortion 1% at 1,000 Hz Signal to Noise 55 db Speed 3.75 & 7.5 ips, or 7.5 and 15 ips Motors 3 Reels 7" and 10" Timing accuracy .04% @15ips .06% @7.5ips Weight 50 lbs Price $849
Teac 3340 1973 Brochure above for the Teac 3340 donated by Steve N. Counter Steve shared the following information about this the Teac 3340 donated to MOMSR Hi Martin, The machine was purchased around 1973 - 74. The band I was in at the time had a band house and we decided to build our own recording studio in the basement of the house because no one told us 'hey, you can't build a recording studio". We had only the vaguest notion of what we were doing but we thought we'd figure it out as we went. A couple of us had taken a road trip from Denver to LA where I had a family connection who was high up in the Hollywood entertainment sector. That got us a tour of Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank where we got to see a real recording studio, a sound stage in fact - really big studio - and drop by a session in progress. The session was a vocal comping session but i wouldn't know until much later what exactly that meant. The session was for a film soundtrack project, the song was The Way We Were for the film of the same name and the artist was Barbra Streisand. Armed with that experience we went back to Denver and set to work building our little four track recording studio with the Teac 3340 as the centerpiece. We outfitted the control booth (yeah it was literally a booth) with the 3340, A Pioneer 1/4 track stereo tape recorder for a mix down machine, a pair of DBX 117 companders for noise reduction, and a trio of Shure microphone mixers. We used a Kenwood hifi amplifier to drive a pair of Auratone Cubes for monitoring and a separate Kenwood amplifier for headphones. We built a homemade patch bay to connect everything together and Presto! Recording Studio... The upshot of all of this that I got pretty good at jockeying the 3340 and discovered I had a little bit of a knack for this recording thing. I started recording other bands, friends and musical acquaintances which eventually led to a 40 year career as a professional recording engineer and mixer working in studios in Denver, Phoenix and San Francisco Bay Area where i've recorded projects at Starlight Sound, The Plant, Prairie Sun Recording, Coast Recorders,Fantasy Studios and FM Recorders where I was Chief engineer for 15 years., I'm retired now but I had a good run and a few multiplatinum projects over the years with En Vogue, Digital Underground, Tupac Shakur, Tony Toni Toné, Club Nouveau among others. Despite not using it since the late 70's I've kept the 3340 all these years for sentimental reasons as it is the machine that literally "started it all" for me. I have rather fond memories of it. I'm extremely pleased that it is going to a group of analog tape recorder enthusiasts for whom "analog" is something more than a promotional buzzword for selling plug-ins. Yes I work "in the box" now as does most of the world, but I've also done more audio alignments on Studier, Sony, MCI, Otari and even a Lyric or two, tape machines than anybody should have to, and I'm one of the few people in the world who can fly a Euphonix 2000M-96 console. All in all, I was very happy to discover your museum and very pleased that you can add my "old reliable" 3340 to your collection. Cheers, ---Steve Counter (Comments from Lynn on the photos above) Hi Martin, One of Steve’s old band mates was able to locate a photo of the TEAC in place in the studio on Gilpin Street, in Denver Colorado. The first photo shows the TEAC in place in the studio. If you have questions about the set up or other gear, Steve can fill in the blanks. The second photo is of Cliff Eager at the Gilpin street studio. He was a friend of Steve and the band, back in the day. Cliff Eager worked with Energy, the Doobie Brothers, Charley Pride, and Ray Wylie Hubbard, to name a few. He hand built a lot of gear back in the day because it didn’t yet really exist in the wild. Again, Steve can tell you more if you’re curious. Hope you enjoy the photos! Best, Lynn Teac 3340 ads in the MOMSR collection Back to the Teac Tascam main page • Go to the company's history

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