Cassettes Are Back, and It’s Not About the Music

[restorer-john]

It pained me to watch it tossed into the garbage truck's crusher.

So why on earth did you throw it into a crusher if it pained you so much?

 

[BigVU's]

Reel to Reel - Fantastic - big fat tape for big fat dirty sound.... what!? where can I get one of those... with Big VU's of course!

Cassettes were never my thing - clattering and all that- made it easy to dup my friends store bought BoC release but never really liked them and CD's were really fast to take the market.

I had a DAT machine for some home studio recordings that some friends and I got into for a spell. Not even sure I have any of those around - going to go see if I can dig them out.

Honestly I need to do some crude personal sound testing, phono, 8 track, cassette, disc, dat, and digi formats at some point for my own sanity.

 

[LTig]

Use the tip of the pen to turn the spool.

 

[LTig]

[..]
I also want a DAT deck. I have no actual use for one, but I think they're really cool.

I own a Tascam DA30mk2 which I don't use. I'd be glad to sell it to someone who loves it. It's running at 230 V and located in the EU.

 

[Hypnotoad]

I was fascinated with Nakamichi cassette decks back in the day, so several years ago I bought a nice 3 head one, recorded one album on it, listened to it once and then sold it on for what I paid for it.

 

[Zerimas]

DAT decks are very cool, but they are not zero maintenance devices. Much has to be done to decks to ensure ongoing reliability and there are few techs equipped with the knowledge (and desire) to keep them going. I love mine. It's still incredible to hear DATs I recorded in 1991 as perfect as the day they were recorded.

I think both Sony and Alpine made in-car DATs, but you can forget using DATs in the car. Heat is the big issue and there's no way I'd be subjecting those 30+ year old tapes to our summer in-car temperatures all wrapped around a 30mm head drum. A good cassette head unit is the go for retro car-audio. I'd pick a TOTL logic controlled Alpine with dolby B/C etc.

That never occurred to me regarding the heat. Car audio has never really been a thing that I've had the opportunity to explore. I only had my own car for a brief period of time. I did feel like a straight-up "G" blasting Graceland in my 2001 Toyota Corolla (circa the year 2012). My dream is to get "retro" car. I want something like Mazda RX-7 FC (with impractical Wankel rotary engine) or Datsun/Nissan Z-car. I like the whole 80s aesthetic (even though I was born in 1989) so in my dreams (because that is only place I am ever going to have a car) I'd keep the audio interface more-or-less contemporary with the period in which it was manufactured.

I mean unfortunately the whole is pretty much a pipe dream. Even if the car isn't expensive, insurance is pretty pricey. There is also maintenance. Sigh.

 

[DDF]

So why on earth did you throw it into a crusher if it pained you so much?

Aah, it hurt me more than it hurt you John

My friends and I were huge fans of underground music and crossed the US border monthly to load up on LPs we couldn't buy in Canada. On a thin university budget, we'd tape each other's album on my brothers slick Rega/Hafler rig and I amassed ~200+ cassettes. Good memories those were.

Progress marches on, and the cassettes were replaced by Tidal & Spotify which surprisingly has 95% of even this obscure stuff. I tuned up the deck to give it away but was surprised when not even the hipsters wanted it, even after advertising it free on Kijiji. Memories are sweet but I need the space for the future projects cluttering up my work bench.

I expect I'll soon do the same with my old vintage race motorcycles...

 

[Wombat]

Use the tip of the pen to turn the spool.

Not the tip. Use the body of the pen. Its hexagonal shape engages with the spool hub for winding.

 

[DDF]

DAT decks are very cool, but they are not zero maintenance devices.

I used DAT machines heavily in my work for DBT ("the birch canoe slid on the smooth planks...") and real time capture of network impairments to tune DSP algorithms. The DAT tapes would stat to have horrible drop outs after a couple hundred plays. Wacky combination of digital technology with analog reliability: graceful failures these weren't!

 

[Blumlein 88]

I bought (count'em!) ONE prerecorded cassette back in the day.

It didn't sound good at all.

A cassette rip of the album itself was far superior.

Yes, I've wondered about this. Pre-recorded cassettes were truly puke like in quality. LP's are lower fidelity than we realized at the time, and they are no shit clear as day far better we don't need a blind test to know its better difference vs pre recorded cassettes. And cassette recorded LP which necessarily lowered quality some more was also clear as daylight and a winter's night in Finland better than a pre-recorded cassette. I've seen all the reasons why (high speed duplication), but those were so horrible.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Funny this thread came up now. I pulled out of a storage box at a relative's house my old Nakamichi BX2 yesterday. I'd still planned to do the original vs 8th generation cassette copy thing.

My brother was throwing out his old TEAC dual dubbing cassette a few months back and I have it. So was going to measure it and the Nak and do an 8th gen of it too.

Alas my old Nakamichi needs a belt on the take up motor. I understand it is basically an o-ring so I'll need to pull the cover and go get the appropriate sized one. So when I get time, if things slow down for a minute, I'll do that.

There is also that VHS HiFi video deck from Sony which still works. Should I do the 8th gen copy with that. No, I think not.

 

[Sal1950]

I expect I'll soon do the same with my old vintage race motorcycles...

Let me get the spare bedroom cleared out and I'll come pick them up.

 

[Snarfie]

Not the tip. Use the body of the pen. Its hexagonal shape engages with the spool hub for winding.

You know what was pisses me off
when the damm cassette got stuck in mine car cassette deck. The heads were way back in the maschine so you had to carfully pull the spaggetie out if you wanted to save the tape.

 

[Hypnotoad]

You know what was pisses me off
when the damm cassette got stuck in mine car cassette deck. The heads were way back in the maschine so you had to carfully pull the spaggetie out if you wanted to save the tape.

I know right, you had to destroy the tape to get it out. Reminds me I parked next to a girl where I worked and noticed she had a pencil sticking out of her cassette player, I asked her why. She said Tracy Chapman is stuck in it, and after listening to her what seemed like hundreds of times the only way I could get it to stop was jam a pencil in it.

 

[jsrtheta]

Use the tip of the pen to turn the spool.

Thanks. I was just sitting around, thinking wouldn't it be swell if someone reminded me how frickin' old I am.

 

[jsrtheta]

I know right, you had to destroy the tape to get it out.

"We had to destroy the village to save it."

 

[Sal1950]

I know right, you had to destroy the tape to get it out. Reminds me I parked next to a girl where I worked and noticed she had a pencil sticking out of her cassette player, I asked her why. She said Tracy Chapman is stuck in it, and after listening to her what seemed like hundreds of times the only way I could get it to stop was jam a pencil in it.

Was she a blond?

 

[Snarfie]

I know right, you had to destroy the tape to get it out. Reminds me I parked next to a girl where I worked and noticed she had a pencil sticking out of her cassette player, I asked her why. She said Tracy Chapman is stuck in it, and after listening to her what seemed like hundreds of times the only way I could get it to stop was jam a pencil in it.

Those were the day's. To get it more or less fixed you could buy a cleaning tape totaly crapp.

 

[jsrtheta]

I don't think the people who are getting into cassettes are seeking hi fi.

Getting retro and lo fi is the point, IMHO.

I read that cassettes were making a comeback due to brand new bands with no money needing a medium to get their work out to the public. I remember in the '80s, and even into the '90s, bands were selling their cassettes at their low-rent gigs in small clubs because it was all they could afford to produce, since even vinyl was prohibitive on a low budget. (Plus, vinyl was disappearing like cockroaches who hear the light switch.)

No one thought they were hi-fi, but they did grow the fan base. In the '80s I had about a zillion of them made by bands that have long since bit the dust. But I also had cassettes from little known bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Material Issue. Bloody priceless now, lousy medium be damned. I'd wager there's still a lot of material from successful bands that is still only available on cassette. Of course, those bands now would rather their cassettes stay out of circulation. Not for the lousy quality, but for the lost royalties!

 

[Blumlein 88]

Let me get the spare bedroom cleared out and I'll come pick them up.

@DDF I don't know where you are located, but somehow I just know I'm closer than Sal. I've got some room that is already empty. Just notify me when you are ready to clear out some old stuff with two wheels. I'll even split it with Sal.