Cassette?

[ta240]

When I looked last year at used cassettes the prices had gone crazy too.

 

[thefsb]

As someone who listens to ambient & drone music a lot, cassettes make a lot of sense for certain albums. You add randomness (hiss and breaks for example) that you couldn't have with plugins (even with some automation), and that's the only way to achieve it as far as I know.

William Basinski made a career from it. Bjorn Olson has used cassettes in production to good effect. And, of course, there is no forgetting Chromdioxidgedächtnis by Felix Kubin.

 

[thefsb]

You think in about 20 years CD will make a comeback?

Maybe but not for the same reasons. Digital is fundamentally different because of the prefect reproducibility.

 

[restorer-john]

Eurorack modular ambient

That sure is obscure. Did you make up that genre?

 

[restorer-john]

Maybe even a portable one!

We could name it "walkperson" (no gender specific names in 2021)

 

[thefsb]

It it makes it easier to buy a new cassette player, I'm in favor. I have a few critical recordings on cassette that I'd like to be able to play.

 

[thefsb]

That sure is obscure

No it's not very obscure.

 

[Robin L]

I've been ordering new music recently and noticed an odd trend. Every site I've visited recently is offering cassette tapes alongside LPs, CDs and downloads.

Some examples:

• https://shop.aurora-music.com/
• https://shop.adele.com/
• https://usstore.edsheeran.com/music-1.html
• https://store.billieeilish.com/collections/music

Who is buying cassette tapes and why?

Martin

One reason is that indy artist don't have the access to pressing plants that majors do, so in order to send a fan a tangible souvenir the band resorts to dubbing cassettes. It brings in ore revenue than streaming, that's for sure.

 

[Robin L]

As far as I know, nobody is making the older chromium type tapes which are the only ones which had any measure of performance (such as it was).

Metal tapes were better.

 

[USER]

At this point in history, when new forms of media are created at a rate impossible to imagine during the last century, they lose a lot of their aura and become their own aesthetic. There's nothing wrong with this. It's fashion. Enjoy your life and strut your stuff.

 

[restorer-john]

No it's not very obscure.

Ah, I see. The pieces I listened to are very reminiscent of Chicane's early output or some of the relaxation/nature/rainforest/chillout style CDs I used to sell in the 90s.

So, basically, hipsters going back to analog patch-bay linked synthesizers like Jarre (Oxygene/Equinox/Magnetic Fields etc) did in the 1970s?

 

[Sombreuil]

Ah, I see. The pieces I listened to are very reminiscent of Chicane's early output or some of the relaxation/nature/rainforest/chillout style CDs I used to sell in the 90s.

So, basically, hipsters going back to analog patch-bay linked synthesizers like Jarre (Oxygene/Equinox/Magnetic Fields etc) did in the 1970s?

The tl;dr is that Eurorack is just a type of racks for modular music. Modular music is everywhere, Aphex Twin being the most popular name.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Metal tapes were better.

I don't think anyone is making those either. I know RTM is making cassettes, but these are based on their regular mastering tapes.

 

[ThePracticalPeasant]

This blows my mind.

If I were an indie artist releasing physical media, trying to keep production costs down, I'd most definitely use my 48x CD burner. Throw on a movie to keep me entertained, whenever the tray in the desktop opens, toss in another blank and start again. 2 dozen by the time the movie is done. Better yet, I'd have the printer set up as well so I could print the face of the CD as soon as it came out of the burner. A movie a night makes for 150+ disks per week without actually spending any time...

Plus, there's more room for a label/booklet that is also easier to print than the jacket of an audio cassette.

The idea of using a format that is prone to distortion, has crap quality from the get-go, requires lengthy time to dub... blows my mind.

Must be hipsters. Nobody else would think this is a good idea.

 

[thefsb]

Ah, I see. The pieces I listened to are very reminiscent of Chicane's early output or some of the relaxation/nature/rainforest/chillout style CDs I used to sell in the 90s.

Yup. Mostly pretty dreary music. Which is a pity given how much creativity goes into the hardware. That part of it is a cool scene.

 

[Killingbeans]

So, basically, hipsters going back to analog patch-bay linked synthesizers like Jarre (Oxygene/Equinox/Magnetic Fields etc) did in the 1970s?

 

[restorer-john]

Which is a pity given how much creativity goes into the hardware. That part of it is a cool scene.

Sure is. I have some pictures from the 1970s of Jean Michel Jarre's private studio with cables running everywhere from synth to synth. He built a bunch of gear too. I was fascinated in my teens with quality electronic music as it seemed so authentic when they built, adapted, connected and played a roomful of gear.

 

[restorer-john]

Jarre in the Oxygene period:

Jean-Michel Jarre: how we made Oxygène – Record Collecting Vinyl & CD New, Rare, Reissue & Box Set News

blog.eil.com

 

[Vini darko]

One major impediment to a comeback is that only one company makes tape mechs ( tashin I think ) and they are shite. So even if the tape itself is well recorded there's no players worth a damm being made.
Techmoan covers this a lot.

 

[thefsb]

Sure is. I have some pictures from the 1970s of Jean Michel Jarre's private studio with cables running everywhere from synth to synth. He built a bunch of gear too. I was fascinated in my teens with quality electronic music as it seemed so authentic when they built, adapted, connected and played a roomful of gear.

TD was a huge influence on me in the late 70s. Rubicon and Phaedra are monuments in my life.