Cassette Tapes

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Anyone else into the format? They've had a bit of a revival in recent years and as a result I'm looking into setting up a cassette record label as part of my post grad(we need to start some sort of music related business). I've already found an artist who's agreed to let me release his EP which I'm hoping to do in April.

That sounds kind of interesting. What is your label's main genre going to be?

A few years back, Radioshack was selling a receiver that was specifically set up for CD-Tape-Record-Axillary. Sure, you could hook up multiple tape players, or what have you, but it was one of the few receivers that presumed a person was looking to set up all three.

Needless to say, I bought it because it was under $100 and my old receiver hadn't been working for some time. Sure enough, I set it up for my record player, my tape deck, and my CD player. Point being, I guess enough people still use that set up for Radioshack to sell it in the first place.

Only problem is that while the pre-amp for the record player sounds phenomenal, and the CD player is in good shape, the tape deck is touch-and-go, and I don't know if it's worth fixing...or even possible to get fixed anymore. Cool thing about it is that (when working) it can record anything being played on the receiver, whether it be AM/FM radio, the record player, the CD player, another tape, or anything installed in the axillary.

That said, I can't see cassette tapes having the appeal they once had, now that digital recording on computers and digital "walk men" make the process more convenient.

I have a standalone cassette deck that I have used to transfer cassette recordings to digital. Now I am glad I have hung onto it; maybe I can make a buck transferring digital recordings back to cassette.

I'm probably going to release mainly acoustic music as there's no other cassette label like that at the moment in the UK however I'll probably do other genres too. I don't think cassettes will become a dominant format like before but at the moment they seem to represent a cheap and easy way for new artist to give fans a physical product and are also seen as a bit of a reaction against the ubiquitous nature of MP3s. I'll post a link with the first release once its ready.

the last cassettes made by firms such as B&O and sony and studer and NAD and nakamichi, equipped with things like closed loop assymetrical capstan drive and 3 heads and dolby S/metal tape, are the ones to use. 4 channel sound is something that cassettes can do easily, that would open up a market for all these quad master tapes that were produced in the 60s and seventies. imagine the beatles' sergeant pepper with its 4-track studer master tape copied direct to a 4-track [used all unidirectionally at once] double-speed metal cassette, that would be WILD! similarly the quad mix of pink Floyd's dark side of the moon on a 4-track high-spec cassette would be a mind blower! I sorta thing that the Elcaset got the short end of the marketing stick, it sounded pretty good as far as sound quality is concerned.

I will use them however only because I can get them for 10cents-$1 at thrift stores and some rare and usually valuable recordings can be had for very low prices compared to their CD counterparts. Usually I still drive an old vehicle that has a tape deck so it all works out. Not being able to switch tracks easily is a huge drawback though so CDs are my first choice followed by cassettes for their good sound and economy pricing. I always joke to the neighbourhood kids who make fun of my cassettes that they stopped selling cassettes about the time they stopped making good music so why do you need CDs and MP3s?

I have quite a few cassette tapes.

I used the Another Night by Real McCoy Cassette single that I have to compare my Sony MDR-V150 headphones, with my New Koss PortaPro headphones, using the Built-in headphone jack on my Sony Cassette deck. I used a cassette as it was analog and repeatable, as you have to wait two hours before playing a record again, so the vinyl goes back to normal. The PortaPros sounded a lot better than the Sony headphones, as the sound was "Wider" and not boxed in, like on the Sonys, and just sounded better. Later cassettes sound better than the earlier copies, as they improved the technology, even when using only Type I tape.

Thie thing that I hate about cassettes is the fact that most of the top line machines are approaching 30 years of age, so you will have to deal with maintainance issues such as replacing electrolytics, head relapping, and alignment as well as tuning bias circuits. That being said, though the Nakamichi Dragon was The S**t back in the day. Also there is the fact that most of the traditional maufacturers of Analog tape have moved on from production.