A thread for cassettes

The onyl aspect of cassettes that I miss is the snobbery value of buying slick, beautiful high-end tape when I could afford it. I don't know how much difference it made to the sound but it felt nice.

I hear ya, Daniel Giraffe. Sony SMMST in a ceramic shell - I still don't think I ever filled more than half a side of this:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/95/243430994_035127a9f5.jpg

I did fill this, but maybe jazz diva Tom Waits covers were a waste of an MA-XG (Rickie Lee Jones' Ghostyhead on the B-side):

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/91/243433021_ff13cbdb57.jpg

And this is what ultimately happens to tapes when you have kids:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/69/162650828_48d589e16b.jpg

Not pictured: Maxell Vertex, with gold-transfer lettering. I think The Prodigy is on that.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l107/taistar1661/cassette.gif

Boots and WH Smith own brand when I was skint, TDK and Memorex when I had the money.

I love how the SMMST has its own signature. Makes me feel like I should wear a tie when I go to record something onto it

Another similar thread:
What was your favorite cassette brand?

Phwoar, that's tape porn, Michael.

Ha, I posted practically the same images on that other 2005 thread.

http://copshootcop.com/other/images/headkickcassette.jpg

In 2006, Moss did a re-release of their "Tormented" demo tape in a limited run of 50 scary hand-made metal cases. Wish I had got one, they look great.

Here's tape pron:
http://orby.trideja.com/GeneratedItems/cassette/
...the images on this page take a couple of minutes to load.

http://copshootcop.com/other/images/headkickcassette.jpg

I has this EP. Do not be a hater, Alex.

Tapes def best for audiobooks.

I don't think alex is being a hater - that's his favorite band!

I had it on vinyl and stupidly lent it out to someone, never to be seen again.

Releasing stuff on a cassette in 2008 c/d?

classic! I'm planning on putting a cassette out this year.

How is posting an image making me a hater? Next to Killing Joke, Cop Shoot Cop was the best band on the fucking planet. I actually own three copies of this cassette -- one's still wrapped in case I lose/overplay/break the other two.

Oh, and I have it on vinyl as well.

No, I mean don't be a hater because I have the vinyl. But I guessed wrong, eh?

work/death's teenage heavy metal revisionism came in a cassette covered in spikes:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/workdeathtape.jpg

always thought metal and rap sounded better on cassette in the 80s.

and spacemen 3's the perfect prescription!

I used to read the sales pitch on the back of the packaging and get way too excited. 'omg a hyperferric emulsification layer with magnachrome coating!! i NEED this'

i have a big box of cassettes that i sadly have not had room enough in the car to bring back to oberlin with me. but i love cassettes. also, when the old ipod shuffle runs out of batteries in the car, i have over 40 tapes to choose from.

my favorite i've ever found is cassingle of a song by a guy named Joe Bracco. i will up it to this thread soon, it is a barrel of laughs.

thanks, snoball - beautiful!

here it is, folks. "Friend in My Pocket" by Joe Bracco. it gives me the tard tingles every time i listen to it. one of the best tapes i've ever found, hands-down.

Joe Bracco- Friend in My Pocket

and here is a page about him.

i mean, i'm gay and still i can't get over how funny this shit is. sad that he died of the horrid disease, but still.

http://www.queermusicheritage.us/oct2003j.html

(xxpost) Thanks, but I have to say that website isn't mine. Props to whoever made the site as it looks like it was a lot of work to put together. I just found it while searching for info on Memorex dB series tapes. I was lucky enough to score a box of twenty of these in the early 80's basically for free. The quality was only reasonable, but what impressed me was how well made they were and how much re-use they could stand.

I'm glad I'm old enough that my metal band put out a tape in high school. We got it pro duped and everything...it was cool getting the tape master, it seemed so technical and valuable.

For our second tape I had to sit there with a double tape deck and manually record a hundred copies or whatever, that was not as cool.

jordan can i buy a copy of your metal tape pleeze?

i don't think i have copies any more. :( actually i found some tapes the last time i moved, but i haven't had access to a tape player to see what's on them.

here is a review of our second tape that is still online somehow:

Shadowbox - Waiting For Dawn

Waiting For Dawn is Ben Wozak on Lead Vocals and Guitars, Jordan C0hen on Drums, Tom Johnston on Bass and Lew Snyder on Guitar.

Shadowbox is a 2-track demo, tracks are 'Shadowbox' and 'This Day'

The first track 'Shadowbox' is a fairly slow paced metal track reminiscent of early Black Sabbath. There's a good heavy guitar riff. The drums and bass have a good solid sound to them. Ben vocals are good and fit in well with the music. Towards the end of the track the whole thing gather's pace and there's an excellent guitar solo.

The second track is 'This Day', starting with a good heavy riff, good vocals from Ben. There's nice changes in direction and tempo, with some great guitar work and another excellent guitar solo.

After listening to these two tracks, all I can say is I wanted more....

Classic: That be-doo-doo-DOo-YEEP sound before and after most cassette albums released by Capitol in the eighties.

Didn't the first 5-6 seconds of Maxell's tapes start off with a head cleaner?

tapes suck just play cds, they dont get eaten and wont skip if your cat jumps on the table like vinyl

They do get scratched and aren't in analog.

tapes don't skip ever

It takes a lot less damage to make a CD unplayable compared to vinyl.

tapes suck just play cds, they dont get eaten and wont skip if your cat jumps on the table like vinyl.

the complete idiocy of this statement is almost overwhelming.

and yet it's mostly factually accurate

I love tapes. You can touch them.

electric sound, It takes a lot less damage to make a CD unplayable compared to vinyl.

sorry but that's actually right.

i mean, i have records that have scratches all over them and don't skip, don't pop (that much) and sound perfectly fine. i used to have CDs (i gave up on them about two years ago) that wouldn't play if they had a teeny scratch on them. CD players and CDs are fucking stupid, outmoded ways of listening to music, and it will be a fine fine day when they are abolished completely.

Ha: this is, to me, for all intents and purposes, the cover of every Smiths record apart from Strangeways:

http://orby.trideja.com/GeneratedItems/cassette/maxell_xl_2_90_a%5B1%5D.jpg

i don't believe i was commenting on that quote

also 'unplayable' is clearly subjective here

My car only plays tapes, so i still make mixTAPES all the time! Surely I'm not the only one????

i make tapes for friends all the time!
and i buy new tapes, from time to time.

I was quite pleased to find a place still stocking Type II cassettes for 4 track, field recording etc. Nice metal ones are still v. hard to come by.

Next time someone's about to bin their old tapes, please send to me instead.

did i already give you the tapes i had? i think i may have given them to sharr0n when i sold her the 4-track

i was happy when my car only played tapes, i rocked old shit and used the tape adapter for my ipod. then the tape deck broke, and i got a cd player that never doesn't skip. ;_; the direct in for the ipod is sweet, though.

Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes.

That Ralf and Florian eh? What are they like!

people still swear by betamax. or at least that guy at sony who just died never got over the use of vhs over beta.

I think my dad is STILL pissed about vhs winning this one! he was griping about how better blade runner looked on beta for a not insignificant portion of my childhood.

I love how the criterion videodrome dvd comes in a case that looks like a beta tape.

http://www.planete-hd.com/web/images/divers_sup_tests/videodrome_criterion_vhs_cover.jpg

aha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XDR_(audio)

Recording a short test toneburst at the beginning and end of the program material on the cassette, to detect for any loss of audio frequencies in the audio spectrum. The toneburst consists of 11 tones about .127 seconds in length (with .023 seconds of silence in-between each tone), from 32 to 18,000 Hz. These tones are recorded on the cassette, and are read during the duplication process to detect if there is any loss of any audio information.[4]

seem to recall this being mentioned somewhere on my Flat Earth cassette - which sounded like shit, as the bass distorted. replaced it for a different cassette copy, and that was the same.

so i believe i never bought another XDR marked tape after that.

i always thought the tone was to tell auto-reverse players to flip over before hitting the end of the side to reduce tape wear

I Love Tapes

we have a combo CD/cassette radio in our main car so I've been listening to mainly tapes while driving around. kept most of my tapes from back in the day so i've been having lots of fun revisiting albums I had ignored for years. I've found that buying used tapes from thrift stores is a total crap-shoot since, like Scott said, most people didn't think you had to take care of them, so I have a handy cleaning cassette in the glove box for when the heads get all gunked up.

I still play VHS tapes too (never throw media away, huge collection). got back into it a couple years ago and had trouble playing alot of them - wavy lines, stuttering, sound cutting out. almost believed the stories from pro 'digitize your VHS' sites that tape disintegrates after X years and was thinking of finally tossing them out, then found a tutorial on how you can manually clean the head drum (http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/ - how to repair anything). Carefully followed the steps and voila!, tapes look great again, even old SLP shit from the TV (i have a box of 6 hour tapes of random cut-ups from 88-92 as sample fodder, lots of preachers, Geraldo and Morton Downey Jr. lol)

I have a big box of old mix-tapes, sometimes pick one at random for the journey...

Which is why I'd get people asking why A&A were singing "I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, and I'll punch the man who says I'm not.." back in the day.

herb, you don't have a reel to reel do you? got all these cool tapes i kinda wanna hear before i sell them to japan. bitches brew on reel to reel!

wish I did...my very first recorder as a kid was my parents' portable reel-to-reel w/ a built-in speaker. remember making little 'radio plays' and recording monster movies off tv.

remember making little 'radio plays'

I did this. The only one I can remember was a Sherlock Holmes, or Sherlock Holmes inspired one - set in Limehouse in London, I think I just liked that word, Limehouse.

i still have a book of K-Mart cassettes from a few years later, one is the epic 'Detroit Rock City' w/ me playing all four members of KISS

herb, i need to call you. i might need help with records. picking up a big load on sunday the 27th. how's your back? it IS world theatre day that sunday, so you might have plans... (i can give you many many many records in return for the favor)

no pressure though...

sounds like a total blast, I'll bring the vicodin

mmmm, now yer speaking my language. i'm gonna ask tattooed love boy S.G. if he wants to come too. so it would be me, you, S, and Maria. and we would get some help on the other end. could be close to 8k or more records. and i probably won't need 2 or 3k of those. so you will have plenty to feed on before i call in my local hoarders who will take care of the rest for me.

herb, you don't have a reel to reel do you? got all these cool tapes i kinda wanna hear before i sell them to japan. bitches brew on reel to reel!

may not be timely enough if you need to ship your reels, but there are TONS of reel to reel players on ebay for dirt cheap.

or there were a few years ago anyway

if anybody owns the bonus tape of blank unstaring heirs of doom pls webmail me. peace.

― plax (ico), Wednesday, March 16, 2011 10:10 PM (Yesterday)

now you have me intrigued. if you know your way around torrent programs (I don't), you may be able to download it via this Russian site.

(it's listed there as "Blank Unstaring Heirs Of Doom (2006) EP")

ok, never mind the torrent thing: I found it somewhere else. check your webmail :)

i love you

bought my first cassette in prolly 20 years and it arrived today (gonna play it soon)!: Zoom Zoom - the best of Louis Prima.
i enjoy being a Luddite of sorts

http://www.tonepublications.com/old-school/nakamichi-dragon/

A number of non-audiophile friends couldn’t believe I was listening to a lowly cassette, and a pre-recorded one at that. Our resident HMEC (human musical encyclopedia & collector) Tom Casselli sent me a MoFi recording of Dark Side of the Moon. “Dude, if you have a Dragon, you should be the keeper of this tape.” Yeah, it was cool and now the hunt for a few more MoFi cassettes is on.

good read! that's such a cool machine...

Today’s haul:
Toto IV
Pointer Sisters Break Out
Little Feat Waiting For Columbus