The basics of cassette recording
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2022
- Here is, for everyone and their dog, the absolute beginner's guide to home cassette recording. Enjoy! Also click below, helps me, helps you, whoop-dee-doo!
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Alcohol for head cleaning: amzn.to/34mGjxE
Audio recorder: amzn.to/3JoTEob
Sound interface: amzn.to/34G14Eo
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Phone camera (2/3 head shots and last segment): amzn.to/3Gxrq8w - Наука та технологія
I wasn't a fan of recording to tapes but one time just for fun I recorded myself practicing (synthesizer) and upon reviewing the tape, the tonal quality of the sound from the tape was far superior to anything I've recorded digitally. I'm well aware you can edit your recorded digital track to match the tonal qualities of tape, but for a hobbyist, I think cassette tape is a great way of achieving a very excellent quality recording without spending hours fidgeting with vsts or spending a small fortune on gear.
Great video thanks for sharing!
You wouldn't be the first one to run a track through tape, and then edit it digitally after. I don't know what quality you record in digital, but try 24 bit, 96khz or above, and it gets a lot closer to tape. It won't have the natural distortion and roll-off of tape though. And of course, these are objectively downsides of the medium, but they do create a more pleasant, organic listening experience. Sometimes better is not nicer :).
Judging by what you say though, I do highly recommend you get yourself some reel to reel recorders, one 4 track (4 track, not 4 channel) with the 3 3/4 and 7 1/2 IPS speed, and a 2-track, with the 7 1/2 and 15ips speed. I'd look at the TEAC A-2300SX and A-3300SX for that. Then you'll have varying levels of tape 'ruination' to play with. They don't come cheap anymore (although I neve rpaid more than 60 bucks for an A-2300SX, patience is a virtue) but they are worth it, and rarely REALLY defective.
@@rollingtroll Hey thanks for the excellent advice. Very much appreciate you giving your time to reply!
What brand of cassette recorder and tape did you use?
I own an electronic repair business. I do not recommend you clean the rubber pinch roller with alcohol. They will dry up, stop feeding the tape, and will need replacing. It’s best to leave the rubber alone.
What would you reccomend using instead to prevent this from happening? Is there some sort of DiY cleaner that can be used or a specific type of conditioner/cleaner that can prevent this?
@@bartholomewgc4393 If just cleaning, then water is best. If you wish to restore the softness of the rubber, mg chemicals rubber renew works well. Use it outside and handle with gloves and a mask. Let the rubber roller soak in a small cup full of the liquid for an hour. Wash off with water. In most cases, you’ll get at least a few more years out of it each time. For best results, just buy a new pinch roller if you can find the correct size for your unit.
@@truthorhappinessI’ve seen VWestlife, another cassette content creator, say he cleans his rubber rollers with window cleaner instead of alcohol so it doesn’t dry up, is that cleaner a good choice?
Windows cleaner 😂 alcohol 😂 water 😂 nope isopro alcholic 99% heads
Roller? they are special products for that... hi fi stores
@@thorbampougias311window cleaner has ammonia not alcohol
What a great video, for me it was a blast from the past. I remember there were some noise reduction settings (for instance Dolby NR) on my cassette player, that I used to fiddle with too. Man I miss the 80's sometimes 🤪 I remember that special smell some new tapes had after removing the foil wrapping 😊
I used to record with dolby as a kid, and play back without so I would get some highs 😁. We learn! No need to stop using tape though, it ain’t dead yet!
Great video! Hard to come by these days, everyone is always oversimplifying and giving just a part of the information that is needed for you to understand the whole process.
If you want a good video, you got to make it yourself 😁. Thanks!
Out of the box, this is an awesome video!
What a charming video exactly what I needed I just got a Tape Deck and this is really a great start for me nothing too complicated
So happy to hear that! And it actually isn't that complicated, it never was. All you gotta do is care to do these things right, and you can have a great time with cassette decks (baring in mind that they are 30+ years old and may be faulty, but that's always a risk with old gear).
What deck did you get?
This video really helped me a lot thanks ever so very much. 👍🏿😄😀
You are ever so welcome!
@@rollingtroll: 😄😀
this video is very usefull thx dude
Really happy to hear that! Happy tapin’!
Recorded one chrome cassete yesterday.l on a nak 150. Good sound quality.
Very helpful video & tutorial. Very helpful. thank you kindly. greetings from Trinidad
You are very welcome! Happy I could help. Many analog greetings back from the Netherlands
(Also; Trinidad the country or the city?)
@@rollingtroll oh sorry, my bad, Trinidad & Tobago, islands in the Caribbean. Ah Netherlands. I had a feeling u were from there. Beautiful country. I had the pleasure of visitng there a few years ago & enjoyed it. Ppl are kind and friendly there. Thanks for the warm analog greetings, mate 🙂🇹🇹💯
@@ShazeemKhan I would have guessed right but still wanted to check :D.
Happy you enjoyed your time here! And even more happy we were good to you :D :D
great vid, thanks!
No problem at all!
Ammmazing! tnx!
Nice and informative video about recording on tape, interesting to hear the effects of setting wrong tape types during recording.
I have recently started recording on my NAD 613 deck and enjoying it a lot. For calibration with the Bias adjustment I recording a 315Hz and 10kHz sine wave, separated in the left and right channel, and find a position that on playback gives equal levels on the left and right channel. Any other tips on setting Bias?
Your part on the notches in the different tape types got me thinking. My NAD 613 does not have a tape type selector, thereby I assume that will auto adjust with the notches, as you explained. But what if I have a type 2 tape with the record protection notches removed, and I cover the complete notches in order to be able to record? Will my deck see this type 2 cassette as being a type 1?
Also, what is the purpose of the 70/120 microsecond switch on your Nakamichi? I though the difference between type 1 and type 2 is the either 70 or 120 microseconds? (and is that termed bias, or EQ? what does EQ mean anyway?)
Hopefully you are able to respond to my question. Keep up the nice work with your channel, cool content also with the speaker demo and reviews!
Hello! Typing on my phone so keeping it a bit brief; I personally use my ears for biasing with a piece of music that has a full frequency range. Even if the bias is slightly off you won’t know unless you one on one compare. Many decks don’t even have bias controls and they still sound fine. Don’t overthink it 😁.
If you cover both notches it will record at type 1, yes. So only cover one (just put the tape over half of the notch. It is okay if it just goes from the front to the back of the shell, you don’t have to put it exactly on the top of the tape. Anything works as long as only half the notch is covered.
As for the 70/120; it’s a playback eq only. There are a few type 2 120us tapes and Nakamichi took those into consideration!
Google “120us chrome tape” and you will see some images :)
Thank you for the kind words!
Beautiful CD player and Tape Recorder.
Nah, the CD player is just a budget Marantz DVD player. Nothing special :D.
@@rollingtroll Bu it is a elegant one. I noticed that your Nakamchi tape recorder doesn't show with red lights he overpeak
@@mariocomeq1961 it does look pretty yes. And no, no red lights. And that makes sense as there are high end tapes you can easily record up to +8dB. So if it would show red at 0dB that would actually be incorrect!
Nice work.
Thank you very much!
Tengo el deck Yamaha KX-360, es una verdadera máquina, tiene un sonido muy cálido, saludos.
Great video! Did not know that those eq buttons were a Nakamichi specific thing.
They are a bit left field sometimes. I do feel like they made it a little confusing in order to make sure you actually have their decks adjusted to the correct tape formulation
I had a dual cassette player, with black and white TV and a record player.
Ahhh, the eighties 😁
Every deck is different , if you can monitor the recording you can listen and adjust the settings and level to get the best sound. I made great dubs using Dolby C and Chrome tapes by SONY TEAC Memorex Maxell Fuji TDK , even Radio Shack Realistic had good chrome tapes.
You can also just rewind for that :). Bit more work but it works!
I have an 80s Panasonic 635 deck hooked up to a 70s Sansui 221 receiver. I listen to tapes all the time on it with no issue. I finally tried recording from vinyl the other day thinking it would be easy enough (I also listen to vinyl with no issue).. It’s recording but I can barely hear the music on the tape, I have to crank it and even then it’s mostly tape hiss. I tried adjusting the input levels, the tape select and input select with little to no change. What am I doing wrong? Do I just need to clean the deck? Thanks 🙏
Time for some head cleaning. Also what tape type are you using and did you set the tape type accordingly? Also I assume the levels are looking normal during recording?
Thanks so much
No problem!
@@rollingtroll
Well, the problem that I can not find or choose which stereo cassette recorder that I should buy!
Auto reverse deck with a 4 track head. They do exist and don't depend on an unreliable mechanism.
I only saw that on cheap walkmans, weirdly. Never saw a deck that had it. Can you mention a few?
Great video for cassette recording. Is it advisable to record from my Desktop PC (with external DAC) or a pure audio CD player? Please advise. :)
Depends on how good your dac is! I personally don’t use cd anymore at all. Only high resolution digital audio :). Whatever sounds best to your ears will sound best on tape.
@@rollingtroll Thanks a lot! :)
The first thing you actually need to do when putting a blank tape in his press play for a few seconds so you can hear a little bit of his noise then stop it and then start recording and you will never miss the starting of a song
It's called leader tape. And I figured people would find that out :D.
Can I record direct from the outputs on my audio interface? Or is it recommended to use an amplifier for all applications
You can absolutely directly record from your audio interface. A really high quality amplifier (something high end, not your 'average' consumer sony, pioneer, technics etc.) might pose a small improvement but unless you are working with high res digital audio, there's really no need to worry about this.
There's only a few different analog signals. There's phono signal (comes from an old fashioned record player), microphone/guitar signal and line level signal. Line level is pretty much any modern audio device. So whether it's your cassette recorder, computer, phone, cd player, ipad, tv or even gameboy, if you have the cable to connect it (which just means; the right plugs on both sides, nothing fancy) it WILL work.
Bare in mind; If your audio interface is meant for music production, it may only have microphone inputs and no line level inputs. So if you want to go the other way around (from tape to your computer) you may need to make sure your interface supports that. Your interface outputs though, are definitely line level.
@@rollingtroll awesome and thanks for the quick reply! I just found out recently that my mom still has her nakamichi bx-100 in good condition that she never uses so I have been doing some research in figuring out how to incorporate it into a music production workflow for a little bit of tape flavor. Luckily my interface has switchable mic/instrument/line inputs so looks like I will be good to go on that end. I was originally intending just to record direct from my interface but I found out even more recently that she also still has a Rotel rx-830 stereo amplifier so I guess based on what you said I'll try both to see which one I like better.
How do you tell the difference between Type I Fe LowNoise (LN) & Type I Fe LowNoise_HighOutput (LH) tapes?
Honestly, pretty much every tape from the seventies onwards is an LH tape. Pretty much just means you can record it louder and with how biasing works, I highly recommend using your ears to decide how loud you want to record :)
Thanks for the tip about recording above 0, getting better results now
Louder is better, as long as the tape accepts it :D.
Mijn cassette opnames, van Hilversum 3, met popmuziek uit de jaren zeventig lijken nog steeds in goede(?) staat en de stemmen van mijzelf en mijn broertje uit die tijd heb ik een paar jaar geleden gedigitaliseerd. Maar ik denk dat ik tot in de jaren tachtig het niet zo nauw nam met de verschillende cassette types. Daarna gebruikte ik de hifi stereo video recorder en toen kwam bij mij pas het besef van een goede geluidskwaliteit, uiteraard tegelijk met de opkomst van de cd.
Uitwisselen met video is altijd tricky, maar het klonk groots. Overigens klinkt een goeie cassette niks minder hoor :).
Great video. Question: if i have a tape recorder without any type settings to change, how can I record type II properly?
It will have auto tape detection, it is explained in the video too :). That is what those notches on the top are for. I suggest you watch the whole thing!
@@rollingtroll I did aactually, I must have missed it.
@@connivingkhajiit 5:54!
Hi
Asking here because don't know where to ask
I make new tape recording from dsd512 sources
i would like to know a which level do i must set the bias of the tape recorder of the sweep test signal?
thanks in advance,
have a good day,
rgds,
You set the level of the bias so the recording sounds as close to the source as possible. Just use your ears. You can't use sweeps for biasing unless you use measuring equipment to set it up. Most decks set their bias at the highest level (sound level) at 10khz, but it depends on the deck and you'd need the service manual to be sure.
Seriously though, just grab a song that has plenty of highs and lows, and adjust the bias until you can't keep source and tape apart :).
Did you ever try putting a cassette on fast record and it would always play back in slow motion I used to do that
I have reel to reels, computers and record players for that, but I prefer the music to sound as intended :D.
How do you segment tracks when recording to a cassette instead of having just one long track composed of different songs?
You can't. A tape is always one long track. Some cassettedecks can 'track search' when there's a 3 second (or more) silence between songs. Alternatively you can use the tape counter to see where tracks start, you would then just have to write the counter number on your tape index card, and fast forward to that number :)
@@rollingtroll Thanks a lot, I always wanted to know
@@rollingtroll also how do you go about erasing a type 2 cassette to record something else on it?
@@zromaa The same way like every other cassette. You can simply record over it or you can use tape eraser. So understanding it is not necessary to erase the tape. you can just record it like if it was empty. The deck will take care of erasing the old track and recording new one (of course setting the deck to record type 2 cassette).
My record button wont push in... dont know if im doing something wrong or the tapedeck is broke, im frustrated... Its a marantz sd-155
Isn't your cassette record protected? If you have no idea what I am talking about I suggest you watch the whole video ;)
I'm in the process of recording a cassette with sound coming from my PC's audio interface (scarlet focusrite), and I was wondering if I needed to use the Dolby NR during recording ?
If you use it during recording you also have to use it during playback, that's how it works. I personally don't like it, I can hear it work and I don't care about a little noise. Whether you use it is depending on whether you too hear it work, and on whether you care about the noise. Record with and without, and be your own judge. Just remember, if you record with Dolby, you have to play back with Dolby.
@@rollingtrollperfect, thanks !
@@rollingtrollThank you !
Another question to ask, should I use my PC's audio interface to record a tape or using my phone will set the same quality ? If I play the same audio of course (.wav file).
@@thedarkflowkiller depends on how good your phone sounds 😁. The cassette deck doesn’t care, so use whichever one sounds better to you.
Hey, so I have a pre recorded tape that has the notches removed on the top. My friend accidentally recorded from the beginning and the end of the tape with a 1980 something General Electric recorder. Do you know what’s wrong here?
The sensor things are stuck and always in the up (= notch detection)
@@rollingtroll thank you 😊
Former record to cd in casette
I had an auto reverse deck. Never had a problem with the rotating head. The tape drive motors became worn out, rotating head never failed. Don't know why they are hated so much, Wish they still manufactured them.
I had hundreds of cassette decks. Trust me, it is an issue. About half of them are unusable because of it. Some don’t suffer from it but it’s not worth the risk
@@rollingtroll Mine was a Teac double deck model. It looked like a quality mechanism that rotated the head.
I think some decks are made for music recording and fidelity like the 3 head design while others are intended for recording broadcast radio like sporting events. I liked the rotating heads for broadcast recording. It must have been issues on the really cheap models.
Rotating heads are almost impossible to set up for proper azimuth in both directions. Tapes made on such a machine may play back properly on that machine, but they will not play back properly on other machines.
@@Yoda8945 Never had that problem. Recordings were broadcast quality. Sounded as good as any standard fixed head tape deck and Was the same across players.
@fraudsarentfriends4717 Did you ever check it with a Sound Technology 1500 Test system? Otherwise, you are guessing.
im just about to buy a denon dr-m11 the cost is 25 dollars it is a good deal ?
If you know for certain it works properly, then yes. Absolutely. If you can't do any work on it yourself, make sure you test it properly. Often people don't know what they sell. Bring headphones, bring a source (phone, laptop) with a cable to make a recording. Also bring a known good tape so you can play back, see if it sounds clean, if the speed is correct.
As for the recording; If you use a proper, relatively modern tape then you should not be able to hear a noticeable difference between the source you are recording from, and the tape when you listen back. Good luck!
@@rollingtroll i just buy it and it works great but the speed is slower a already put the adjustment to the max but still around 12hz slower
@@rollingtroll i just find a new motor in some cheap Sharp system and now it works perfectly
This wants me to fix the play motor on my Technics M85 MK 2
Can you still get a replacement motor or are you going to try to fix the motor itself?
@@rollingtroll probably gonna see if I can repair it, if not I have some friends that probably have replacement.
@@subarusensei3685 I wonder, are you on the LTT forum? I remember speaking with someone who has a broken M85 there :D.
@@rollingtroll yes I am sub68....
Much of the business that I had in the 80's and 90's was real time cassette duplication. I used Nakamichi MR2 decks. The best fidelity for Type I Playback was to use Type II (chromium) tape in Type I shells.
On recording, I would use Type II bias but 120micro second (Type I) eq. This gave extra headroom for the high frequencies and allowed recording at about 4dB hotter. These tapes played back properly on a Type I machine as they didn't have Type II sensor holes.
Many decks don't erase properly if you use Type II bias on Type I tape. But I'll give it a shot with one of my naks, see what it does for me :D.
I used Type II Bias but not EQ on Type II tape. Only the EQ was changed to 120microsecond.
Of course, the playback was only correct if you used type I playback which is why I used Type I cassette cases for my duplicates.
Self sensor decks sensed it as Type i. and I marked them as normal 120 playback.
This was something I learned when I was licensed by Dolby.
@@Yoda8945"when I was licensed by Dolby" that's a cool sentence to be able to say about yourself.
Great basic info….milk last always ;0)
Right? That said, milk in tea is completely abnormal here in the Netherlands. Same with vinegar on fries. Seems I was born in the wrong country
@@rollingtroll milky tea is the best …that said I’m partial to mayo with my chips sometimes 😉 you need to experience fish & chips with mushy peas & curry sauce mmmmmm
@@mikesaunders4694 Not with you on the curry sauce, has to be vinegar. Definitely with you on the mushy peas!
(Man that escalated quickly!)
@@mikesaunders4694 FISH with Curry Sauce! You Barbarian!...Saveloy and chips with Curry Sauce...
Whut jumbo magere melk🎉
Aye. Go back to my older videos and you see why that's a good idea ;).
hi buy tape line cassette tapes don't have any makes all over them and the heads that turn be ok if they are service alot
note never use turning heads to record just in case the heads out of line i am a tec all the decks i work on i check moving parts for wear
i am lucky i talked to alot over the years there are alot of poor looking decks out there
my sister had a cassette radio dad got her it hell it was junk of a deck heads were to soft mate had a low end cassette hi-fi the head dead very fast
i had a 4 track mono in the 80's still working the case has had it
i know the fox tapes they something to do with tapeline i have the 1/8 tape pancakes for my otari dp2700 cassette loader
i have been asked to show the deck on the net bob
Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Dolby? Please don't tell me you're one of those who thinks it doesn't work. It does - and really well if you understand it, especially S although that's quite rare - even your Naka there only has B & C.
It works, but I can hear it work, and that's not worth it to me. It does at it promises but has clear downsides that I can't live with, and I can live with a little hiss, so that's an easy choice to make :)
Not many deck have the same NR performance tho. JVC for example have ANRS and Super ANRS on few decks for example in the end 70s and 80s. Even it got an external NR System from JVC (similar thing to DBX 224 Type II Unit). Suprisingly, the ANRS handles better to Dolby B encoded prerecorded tapes. Not at all but i played few Dolby B with HX Pro tapes and it sounded more OG. Even with Chrome prerecorded tape would performe very good.
I mean i have tested to record Dolby B with Type 1. it sounded decent for, the hiss is still there but smoother than harsh. C sounds very good and S is like Lossless. But if i playback to the JVC deck, they sounded bit different to their components. Which in many case, tapes can sound different depending on the gears you use.
My wife likes a good single deck, but she leaves the cleaning up to me.
Spent years in 80-90 even in 2000s with tapes. What is the reason to perform this today ? I also wonder why this casette decks still cost money. Ok for Marantz, Denon some hi-end tech, but also tape-players that cost 100 $ from 30y ago are in trend too ! Wtf :?! ("Old days come to life. Old morning dawn... ?")
2 days ago i woke up and fixed that i want to buy a tape recorder too !!!))) i feel myself not myself !)
Obviously - all this staff sounds quite poor and have many complexities.
Seems like just some magic rite today, is not for listening).
Because there is no better relatively affordable alternative. Great digital audio is more expensive, reel to reel is too. And of course there is a little romance and the tangible aspect.
If it sounds poor, you are doing it wrong. Even in a very serious audiophile setup cassette still sounds great.
Happy to provide you with a recorder depending on where you are!
@@rollingtroll To get =great sound= this will not end just at a casette recorder. Will need to buy all stuff. This will cost. Spent very much time with tapes collectioning them. . In 90s i was doing it like most guys - just diffirent casette deck / system hi-fi, no pro lvl hi-end of cuz.
Then i moved to Cd/tapes, then to Mp3 128, then to 256/320 lame 3.92 codec, then to Mpc/Flac. Avid Mbox pro / Genelec 8040. Still there & some audio CD`s of chosen groups.
I am not so excited about tapes - cause i know what is it to load games Zx Spectrum & Atari on tapes). You need to feel it). Best way when you are a child and do not have experience how does it all works)). Pure anal acrobacy and a taste of a failure after a hours of wait)).
Isn`t it better to move to vinyl if to think this way ?
Vinyl has better quality, lasts long, and also gains a price with time so we can even get some antiq sense...
I mean that was very well done but to be honest for me cassettes can rest in peace
Then you obviously don't know how to use them. Maybe try again with my video ;)
@@OldieTunes I don't need money
this is a great video but i have one question. does the volume amount also apply to other recorders such as a stereo and thing like that. i also do not have a db meter on my deck is that fine?
Then it has an automatic recording level. It's not ideal (because it keeps adjusting) but it is what it is :).
@@rollingtroll ohhh ok thank you!!
@@rollingtroll do you have any recommendations of decent recording decks for a good price
Generally affordable Aiwa and JVC decks are pretty reliable. Go for something mid nineties. Not the very late early 2000's ones, not the super old ones. Biggest chance of them working :).
Also somehow the Akai HX27W always works :D.
@@callmehost7594
@@rollingtroll sounds good thank you so much!
I want those sandwiches!
The recipe is there for everyone to see :D.
(also well done for making it to the end)