The Cassette thread

This thread isn’t for releases.
Please read the original post.
I will start a new thread so we can share our music that is on cassette.

Sorry to sound blunt.

LONG LIVE CASSETTE!!!

1 Like

Excellent stuff @bwo

Hey there, really sorry for my delayed response.

After careful consideration I’d like to pitch these questions at you for you to answer in your own time.

  • Why would you want to start a record label?
  • What are the aesthetics of the label?
  • What equipment do you have/need to actually hold a physical release in your hands?

There are probably a million more questions that need answering anyhoo I’m going to list mine beneath :wink:

  • Because I want to give more exposure to artists that I believe in.
  • Aesthetic wise, all artists that I wish to release need to be completely true to their musical voice. You would never see me releasing a copycat. The feeling I get when I hear music needs to strike the originality chord within me.
  • I have a Marantz PMD740 and then could get the duplication job done but I went out and bought a single tape deck from ‘81. It’s cool with lit VU’s and reliable button functions. I did originally buy a twin deck Sony with duo record and a pitch knob. It didn’t work properly though. If it did, although not half as sexy as my ‘81 Denon, it would have eased the work flow. Luckily, I have a pitch knob on my Marantz, no pitch knob = half the happiness.

Musical things aside, a printer, paper, and a software design suite is also needed for me to carry out my workings. Design wise I bought the Affinity suite - incredible stuff for a one off payment.

I think that covers everything.

I am interested to hear your answers @kairos
:wink:

1 Like

Thanks a lot of the reply. This feels like an interview :laughing:. Yeah, I’m coming from a similar place to you, I think - The aim would be to give a tiny platform to some of the many musicians I’ve come across who really should be getting more exposure. To me, some genres lend themselves more to tape than others (Ambient/Noise/Experimental come to mind), though that wouldn’t necessarily be a limitation. A certain degree of originality is extremely important to me too.

All my cassette related gear is long gone, other than crates (and crates) of my old tapes. So phase one will be to track down a useful deck and do some test recordings through Ableton and some mastering plugins (the latter I have very little experience with, beyond tweaking the presets a bit). That’s something I’d want to work on, to make sure everyone’s as happy with the release as possible. Do you do any specific mastering yourself, or do you get help with that?

Thanks again for your thoughts!

Excuse me! I have been bluntly spamming, not considering the original intentions of the topic. I can rave on cassettes objectively too, but at the moment I have this box of tapes and I’d like to present it to connaisseurs of that medium , so where to share? :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

No worries! I completely understand, fella!
I started a new thread and you can find it here… coming across some gems! Our Music on Cassette

Big apologies for the lack of response until now!

Broke up for winter vacation, made a To Do list, and started getting through it…

One thing I’ve been wanting to experiment more with is cassettes or magnetic tape to be more precise.

After watching the incredible Amulets and Heinbach I ended up with this yesterday…

8 Likes
5 Likes

The “inventor” of the cassette tape (the person responsible for it being created) died just a few days back.

He also had a lot to do with the creation of the CD too,

3 Likes

Yoooooooo @kairos!

Sorry again for the lack of convo, pal.
Hope you are well. How’s the cassette deck hunt going? It’s a troubling experience unless you come out guns blazing with cash, cash, cash. A cassette is reliable to play from start to finish. It’s a is reliable as a spade. They aren’t the issue… it’s the aged playback device. My advice is to save up and get something that will give little to no problems. Something recently serviced and/or repaired. I bought a Sony from a used shop (talked about in a previous post on this thread). That said deck was in the premium section of the store, aside from the junk. After I tested it and got it replaced due to its undiagnosed faults. It now resides in the JUNK section for under $20 - almost $100 slashed off the price. Luckily, the store is a 5 minute bike ride. If that was eBay then I would have been so annoyed. The process of it all… ugh.

So my advice, if you haven’t already made your purchase would be to get something very good. I hope my Denon will keep me going for the rest of my days.

Yep! My musical journey seems to have been backwards to most. Started wanting to make music but never learned how to play an instrument. I spent more time with sound design type of stuff. Jerome Mardaga agreed to release his album on my label and although it had been mastered I wanted to give it the same sort of sound that my album had plus I couldn’t help myself. I tried out some things and it simply sounded better to my ears. Mastering for cassette or printing to cassette in general needs a certain touch IMO. There are some wonderfully extensive details explained by @JunkRunner on the other cassette thread. It is entitled Our Music On Cassette.

Sorry again for the really late reply.
Look forward to hearing from you! :wink:

1 Like

Where are folks in Europe buying blank tapes now? My last batch came from Cassette Comeback, but the owner moved to Canada or some such.

Is there another good store that ships in the EU? Looking for some BASF chromes, and SA90s, but anything will do.

The label I am part of DTHXCMP released this cassette a little bit ago
image

I’ve bought mine at Thomann:

2 Likes

This thread is a reminder of incomplete projects laying around.

Both need work.
One will become a tape delay eventually.

9 Likes

I ordered some of those to try out. Any good?

Cassette ambitions:

  • Tascam 424 mkIII black
  • TDK Pro SM20 tapes

(plus money to buy and space to put it somewhere)

2 Likes

I am using these and the ones from ATR with a Tascam 424 MKII. No issues here, so far. But maybe I’m not too finicky, either.

1 Like

Get all mine on eBay, mostly TDK SA, SA-X and AD, but I see loads of BASF chromes too.

I’ll probably end up there.

I got a really nice review from a podcasts that reviews cassettes!

The 8 minute closer, “Cloud Waves,” practically dives into the sound of the crevices of sunlight from under a childhood bed.

3 Likes