Tape cassette production

[cdog]

Cassette is an obsolete format and VERY few people own the equipment that plays them, let alone look to purchase releases on such a format.

You could probably make 1-200 copies yourself over the course of a couple weeks using a high speed duplicator, which can be had super cheap used.

[Adam A7]

Originally Posted by cdog

Cassette is an obsolete format and VERY few people own the equipment that plays them, let alone look to purchase releases on such a format.

You could probably make 1-200 copies yourself over the course of a couple weeks using a high speed duplicator, which can be had super cheap used.

Many labels offer limited runs of cassette tapes! not going into which labels but many of the labels I listen to offer this. Just as people said Vinyl would die out and places such as OUR PRICE stopped selling Vinyl it crept back in.

Now before anyone starts I know Tape Cassettes are not going to make a huge come back but as I said many labels I listen to offer this and I know it is bespoke to say the least.

There is a resurgence of Tape cassettes and a couple of labels I know of actually only accept demos on Tape Cassette. I found many companies that do duplication just wondering if anyone had used any and had a preference to which service was best.

May go the high speed duplication myself but would be cheaper to use a professional service.

[Hxd Ped]

Hipsters like them. They've heard that tape is good and now think that casette tapes are good. That, and their cheap, ironic cars have tape decks in them.

I just threw away all my tapes except for about a dozen that I know I can't get on any other medium. I put my old tapes by the dumpster and they were gone the next morning. It wasn't even trash day.

Now I need to find a good tape deck to digitize those few tapes I kept.

[LimpyLoo]

Originally Posted by Hxd Ped

Hipsters like them. They've heard that tape is good and now think that casette tapes are good. That, and their cheap, ironic cars have tape decks in them.

So much anger...


1) Not everyone thought mp3's were the way forward


2) A cassette is much more personal and exciting

[filipv]

Originally Posted by LimpyLoo

2) A cassette is much more personal and exciting

excuse me, but.... what? what does that mean?

[LimpyLoo]

Originally Posted by filipv

excuse me, but.... what? what does that mean?

Holding a physical object in your hand is more exciting to me than an mp3.

[audiogeek]

Originally Posted by LimpyLoo

...

2) A cassette is much more personal and exciting

I'm not tape cassette apologist,and am among the many that decry the medium for it's shortcomings and limitations, but I will say this: LimpyLoo has hit a nail on the head here.

There has never been, before or since, a more 'personal and exciting' medium than cassette tape.

I'm not sure why. The ability to make mix tapes? Make your own tape covers, like a small and unique work of fine art? The tape that forces you to listen to every song, in order, without the ability to simply 'skip' to the next track? The visceral act of using a pen, with your own hands, to commit words to paper when creating a track list? I dunno. But I do miss it.

Incidentally, the common practice for hipster-types to refer to a CD or playlist that contains songs by an assortment of artists as a "mix tape" is somewhere between mind-bogglingly dumb and mind-bogglingly infuriating. It's not a tape. Stop it.

[valerianroot]

CASSETTE: A Documentary Film about the Cassette Tape. by Zack Taylor and Seth Smoot — Kickstarter saw this a while back, I don't have a cassette machine anymore as they all broke. but they are still being used. I can watch the video again as I'm at work at the minute, but I'm pretty sure there's talk with a few manufacturers that are still going featured in the video.

[donnylang]

I've put out free cassettes to promote my albums. People always take all of them wherever I leave them and sometimes email me about how they like it.

I just dub them myself, usually in runs of 50-100.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by LimpyLoo

Holding a physical object in your hand is more exciting to me than an mp3.

I hope someone doesn't beat me to this... so to speak... but...

It depends on the physical object, doesn't it?


I've held a lot of cassettes in my hand. I've owned probably at least 30 cassette decks (not counting portable cassettes, blasters, or my 10 reel decks, five of which were multitracks).

And I would say that I conservatively have several thousand cassette tapes.


Maybe it's a familiarity breeds contempt thing.

Although, I have to say, I was utterly horrified by the crap sound from the very first, incredibly expensive Sony stereo deck I heard (hooked up to a high end stereo). The deck cost about $600, as I recall it -- in 1969. (About $3750 today.) It sounded like utter shit. The flutter was incredibly bad. The high end was nonexistent.

But they did get better. And I warmed up enough to them that, after my reel deck was stolen (along with most of my stereo, a guitar, and 300 of my most recently played LPs), a few years later I broke down and bought one. One great thing: a good 90 minute cassette was about 1/4 the price of a decent 7" reel of tape.

And, let's give the format its due -- it made tape easy enough for fumble fingered consumers who could never figure out how to thread a tape deck to start the 'home taping revolution' of audio and video.


Anyhow, I still have a nice, 'pro' deck. But it's only for playing old tapes. Just for fun -- spurred, in fact, by nostalgia generated by a thread here at GS, I ran one of my recent mixes off onto a cassette. And, guess what? It sounded like a cassette. Ugh.

[Adam A7]

Originally Posted by LimpyLoo

Holding a physical object in your hand is more exciting to me than an mp3.

Totally agree with you on that LimpyLoo.

[Brent Hahn]

One thing to bear in mind about bulk cassette duplication is that it's probably not going to be done in real time. Generally, cassettes are duplicated using a loop bin, in which the master tape runs at a speed as high as 100 times the normal cassette speed of 1.875 ips. Meaning a musical frequency range of, say, 40 Hz to 15 KHz is turned into a frequency range of 4 KHz to 1.5 MHz. Yup, MegaHertz. Needless to say, neither the electronics nor the tape are going to handle that well.

[Adam A7]

Originally Posted by audiogeek

I'm not tape cassette apologist,and am among the many that decry the medium for it's shortcomings and limitations, but I will say this: LimpyLoo has hit a nail on the head here.

There has never been, before or since, a more 'personal and exciting' medium than cassette tape.

I'm not sure why. The ability to make mix tapes? Make your own tape covers, like a small and unique work of fine art? The tape that forces you to listen to every song, in order, without the ability to simply 'skip' to the next track? The visceral act of using a pen, with your own hands, to commit words to paper when creating a track list? I dunno. But I do miss it.

Incidentally, the common practice for hipster-types to refer to a CD or playlist that contains songs by an assortment of artists as a "mix tape" is somewhere between mind-bogglingly dumb and mind-bogglingly infuriating. It's not a tape. Stop it.

Wow love the way you put it audiogeek.

I just prefer owning a physical item be it Vinyl, Cassette or CD. Without wanting to sound too nostalgic, my room is stacked with Vinyl and Cassettes and each cover holds some sort of story from a time and a place be it good or bad. Each play may have a little click or pop here or there or scratch or warp but it is because they lived along side me.

This I do not get from downloads. I am not knocking digital downloads at all it is just I cannot connect the same way I do to the psychical object.

[Adam A7]

Originally Posted by valerianroot

CASSETTE: A Documentary Film about the Cassette Tape. by Zack Taylor and Seth Smoot — Kickstarter saw this a while back, I don't have a cassette machine anymore as they all broke. but they are still being used. I can watch the video again as I'm at work at the minute, but I'm pretty sure there's talk with a few manufacturers that are still going featured in the video.

Hey thanks very much, got a Tapeline LTD link from the video. Look good will give them a call.

[mattseidel]

Googling "cassette duplication UK" yields several legit-looking places.

Cassettes are not dead at all - I have a smallish collection and a friend of mine runs a small cassette-only label, Geweih Ritual Documents. He's definitely not the only one - it's a small niche audience but there are lots of folks out there that are extremely passionate about cassette tapes.