Old Tech - Cassettes
I used to have a 'separates' hifi but sold it over 10 years ago and honestly thought that though I would have other 'hifi' equpiment I would never play a cassette again.
How wrong I was! When the label Oakhi Records asked me to submit a track for their Escapism Mixtape I was amazed to find out they planned to release it on physical cassette as well as digital download.
So - faced with the prospect of finding something to play it on I asked around and a couple of people found old walkmans in the attic - but none were working (or working well enough). I think cassette players age pretty badly due to the moving parts and in particular the rubber belts used in the mechanism's perish.
So I bought this refurbished Technics M14 on ebay so that I could at least play the tape! It's not bad sounding - obviously what we consider lofi these days, but I guess that is fitting for this style of music. Ironically a lot of the tracks (including mine) have samples of vinyl scratching intentionally mixed into them to give them a lofi sound.
So we end up with a track produced digitally on a computer, with vinyl noise added to it and then put onto an analogue cassette tape and played back on an old cassette player! If you think this is a bid mad - I hear you!
That being said I did enjoy the nostalgia of putting the tape in, winding it and watching the spindles rotate and my 3 year old son got the hang of using it really quick and took one of the old not good sounding walkmans and sometimes walks around listening to it!
Wondering if anyone reading likes old technolody or if you just thing this is barmy?!
I know Vinyl has had a big resurgence, but does anyone else still have a cassette player that works?
The video is my track Impression from Escapism Vol 1. which came out last year.
Next week Vol 2. comes out and I'm doing some giveaways in relation to it - Check out my Hive Basic Income Giveaways for pre-saves and pre-orders.
I don't have a copy of the new tape yet but I'll be giving it a spin on my Technics deck when I do!
Have a great day Hive!
▶️ 3Speak
I think I have a Technics tape deck in the loft, along with a VHS recorder, I do have a few cassettes lying around and so it is tempting to give them a play. Mind you, they can degrade over time and not play properly. My record deck needed a new belt as the old one perished.
I spent so much time taping LPs and later CDs as I only had a tape deck in my room. Chucked most of the tapes years ago. How times change.
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Yeah I think it would be fairly likely they will need new belts by now. This whole experience of having my music releases on cassette has got me thinking about old tech and nostalgia. I’m thinking about having a mixtape party where everyone brings music on cassettes.
Let me know if you get your tape player out!
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It's real difficult to snap a picture of your forearm while snapping a photo with your non dominant hand, twisting the forearm at the same time. Even describing it was tough.
Wow. Amazing comment and amazing dedication to the humble cassette tape! What was your thinking/motivation for the cassette tattoo if you don’t mind me asking?
!PIZZA
Of course I don't mind. I'm covered about 60% of my body so there's several themes. What you saw is my left arm. It's all music; turntables, headphones, notes, keys, etcetera. I call that arm "Love."
👊🏼
Music must be hugely important to you (as it is to me) - do you make music? What music are you into?
I used to. More than 20 years ago I would do live performances. I created for about 4-5 years in my home studio. I enjoyed recording and mastering other people more, my forte was always electronic music. Instrument of choice is a synth. I enjoyed sampling 70's rock and roll with 180/bpm rhythm on top of it.
Good times. Then life happened.....
Cool! Yeah life has a habit of happening - I had a long break from making music myself and only got really seriously back into it about 3 years ago. Maybe you'll come back to it at some point...
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That's awesome. Old folks rock lol....as a matter of interest, did anyone ever buy the super expensive 'metal' cassettes? I used the CrO2 ones but the 'metal' ones were a huge leap up the price band.
I bought Cr02 tapes as well but I don't think I ever bought metal. I was actually multitrack recording onto cassette when I was a teenager (4 tracks) so I did invest in pretty decent tapes. I don't have any of them now sadly.
There is also the whole Dolby B/C/NR thing to contend with - most people probably didn't use the right settings for the tape they were playing (if they even had those settings) unless they were really into 'hifi'.
That sounds like a Tascam from back in the day or an Akai perhaps.
I used to make a lot of stuff like little mixers and amps from kits or from Practical and Everyday Electronics but they never worked well , probably my poor soldering as much as anything else!
Have a great weekend fella :-)
Yes! It was indeed a Tascam - this one:
Hope you have a great weekend too!
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How funny is this? Releasing digitally and tape. The only part of my HIFI I still have connected up is the amplifier. Tape deck I have in storage somewhere (a working one). Like I have the CD player in storage. Too funny you sold all and now bought a tape deck again hahahaha As if the world is rewinding instead of on forward.
I still have the plan to create Spotify playlist from my tapes, but never took the time to start this project. I have so much music on these tapes I never listen anymore and am pretty sure some gems as well. Those gems I like to rediscover again. Though I LOVE to discover these gems sooner than later, I'm pretty sure this project will not start any time soon. But that's ok, the tape deck is around and resting in the dark and dry place called 'storage' :)
BTW, what is the reason for these guys to release on tape? Also a very limited edition I think: They are Sold Out by now :)
I know - it's silly isn't it but there we go!
You might not want to leave it too many years to digitise your tapes if you don't have that music elsewhere as I do believe they degrade over time. Just did a bit of research and the actual expected lifetime seems to be unclear. I've seen 30 years mentioned a lot, but it depends on the type of tape and that assumes they are well cared for.
I think it's mostly trying to jump on the bandwagon of nostalgia and retro. Vinyl has made a huge comeback so why shouldn't cassettes? People like that different experience of something physical. Tapes are probably the worst quality out of all audio recording formats - but this is a lofi mixtape so it's meant to have that lofi sound and a little bit of hiss is all part of the experience! I guess as well as the 'older generation' finding it nostalgic there might also be younger people who find it interesting to use a retro technology from before they were born too. I've seen bands selling cassettes of their albums at some gigs in London so at least some people must think it's cool!
It is a limited run, though I suspect they will do another run - it's much easier to do another cassette run than it is for vinyl! I think the relative scarcity is also something that people like - this is not mainstream - it's something a bit unusual and physical!
Yea, I know the lifetime of tapes is not endless. Some may be already be degraded too much. That said, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find most of the music online somewhere. On tape, I don't have too much obscure music. Not sure of the type of tape I used, are good, I think they are, TDK and usually the more expensive ones from back in the late 70s and 80s.
Vinyl. At some point, I was seriously working on a concept with some of my friends to get into the vinyl production business. To buy one of these vinyl pressing machines and make a business around it. This was when in the underground, vinyl got attractive again, like a decade ago (or even a little longer, not sure anymore). Some of my friends started to press vinyl, but either they had to pay too much money, or they got shit quality. The idea was to change this again to quality pressings. Somewhere in our 'circles' of peeps knew where we could buy one of these machines, which was the trigger to come up with a concept. But it stayed with brainstorming and a high-level concept. I think, in the end, I personally don't like to run some factory so I never tried to pull this idea into reality :)
That would have been awesome to have a Vinyl pressing facility - there seems to be no sign of people giving up on Vinyl not it has made a 'comeback' so I think it would be a decent business.
Anyway I just ramped up my nostalgia by searching for TDK tapes on ebay - there are quite a few for sale still sealed and unused.
I think these were the ones I used for multi-track recording - very funny that they are branded "For CD"!
the vinyl factory is I believe a high-risk business, in the sense, the cost can easily spiral out of control. the best pressing machines are old machines and hardly any peeps around in the world know how to repair them. maybe one even needs to get parts created from scratch since no replacement parts are around anymore. one of the reasons why I didn't pursue this idea.
hahahaha the TDK tapes are on sale! I may have a few wrapped in plastic as well. not sure, I stored all of them in boxes and moved them to my place of storage. the other brand I used in the past was BASF. maybe have some SONY as well, not sure.
I remember back in the days when CD emerged, the debates on AAD, ADD and DDD. most peeps wanted the DDD, the clean studio quality without all the 'noise'. but I suppose these days a growing group of peeps feel this studio, no noise, quality is too 'cold', less organic and all of that. so funny how peeps are, think, and act :)
Ah ok - I think I'll park any ideas of starting a Vinyl factory based on that! :)
And yeah it is funny how things go in circles - things get 'better' quality and then we have to add back in noise to make it seem more natural!
Hope you're having a great weekene!
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I’ve still got an old JVC system and it’s survived being ditched, sold several times. It’s got MiniDISC! I used to use it for recording music from a sampler, synth, guitar and wot-not back in the 90s. Recently I rescued the old dusty synth keyboard from the loft and got it working. There is something special about rekindling old things and skills from decades ago. I’ve stopped buying new stuff of late.
Good luck with the cassettes that’s so cool. I think we are entering a renaissance period in music!
Cool about your old JVC with the mini disc. I had all sorts of random old hifi and other gear at one point (most of it that I bought second hand when I was young!) - but when my parents moved it all got sold, given away or thrown away.
But anyway potentially even MORE interesting:
Wait - what old dusty synth is that?? I'd love to know!
It is a Yamaha CS2x from 1999, I have some photos of it and right now it's in storage whilst we get ready to move house. Once we've got to that point, I will be able to dust it off again! Do something with it and share!
Ah cool - that's certainly going to be interesting to hear how it works and stacks up against newer stuff - might be a real gem!
Good luck with the house move - I moved 18 months ago and don't want to move again for a long time!
It sounds pretty good, I was able to hook it up to some headphones and via MIDI to my computer and use as a controller keyboard. We are itching to get the move done and dusted now! Then that will be that!!
Awesome - I bet you can't wait! all the best with the move!