Before your time. My big sister used to order the dollar tapes from Columbia House. Depeche Mode, The Smiths, A-HA, The Police, U2…them were the days. A subscription service before the internet took off.
Back in the day,I recorded instrumental music on the end of my cassettes, when I selected songs.... Also if you had a high end deck, they automatically skipped the end of the cassette ... It is funny for people like me, that we grew up with cassettes, hearing this things... But you know, it was better days.... We usually memorized all of our cassette's songs and we loved them....
I'm a huge fan of cassettes. I first got into them in the late 70s when I started recording my favourite songs onto mixtapes from the radio. I still have all those mixtapes! My previous position as mastering engineer for Red Manor Records in the UK actually came about due to the RMR CEO, Tony Villa being a huge fan of cassettes too. We connected because of that shared passion. I'm in the process of preparing my own record label, Strange Attractor Records for launch, and I plan to have some of our artists available on cassette and even open reel. I have quite a large stock of mostly 80s unopened blank cassettes and also have some high end decks (a Nakamichi 582, a 582Z and a Harman Kardon CD491). I'll be making special order cassette releases of some albums using these decks and cassettes. They will be recorded by me in my studio and will be for dedicated fans at a higher price point than the mass produced runs. These will be very high quality recordings on some of the best tapes from TDK, BASF, Maxell, Denon, Sony and the like.
I started collecting vinyl in the early 2000’s when it was still barely making a comeback and it was so easy to find great albums for $5-$10. I sold my collection a few years ago and lately I’ve been looking at it again and I’m shocked that the standard record is like $25-$35 now.
I’m 61 & I remember in the 70’s all record stores had very large cassette walls around the store & sold loads of cassettes..I still remember my parents buying cassettes at the record store in the 60’s…I listen to cassettes from the 60’s & they still sound great !!!! I remember in the late 80’s record stores would display on the end cap the vinyl..cassette & cd release of the artist of their release so u could choose which format…
Very good video. However, few more points to make. There are different types of tape: 1, 2 and 4. Currently, I think only type 1 (Ferromagnetic) is being produced. Type 2 (Chrome or Cobalt) or Type 4 (Metal position) are way more rare, as type 4 are not being produced anymore, though there are options for Type 2 cassettes (Cobalt instead of Chrome these days) - TASCAM 424-S, NAC C799. Type 3 (Ferrichrome) is something that you'll never see, that's blast from early 70s. Depending on what you do, you might consider producing some Chrome / Cobalt for those, who want long lasting superior quality. Metal position is for master cassettes, indistinguishable from CDs, new players can't play it well, they go at $100 / piece, so you don't need it, unless you are using it as the master cassette in the cassette duplicator, which is rather silly, as you'd better use CD as your master media. So, the type 2 cassette itself costs from $4 to $20 these days. Another thing is that you'll need to prepare separate master for cassette, unless you want to deal with unexpected frequency glitches - if your frequency is too high or too low for cassette, you simply don't know how it will sound, because you likely don't know what tape will be used for production. And, since you are preparing a separate master, why not to make it truly unique? Create a version of your song just for cassette. And, of course, you'll need to give your cassette buyers a digital copy of your album. Like author said, the margin for cassette is lower, so when someone will buy a cassette, you'll likely earn less, unless you'll do something to justify the higher margin - e.g. the unique master, unique bonus track, signature, different license, you name it.
Guess it's the same as how I like playing 78s because they were from before my time. Most of us who used cassettes back in the day would never want to see one again, digital is better in every way except that physical media give you something to fiddle about with.
As with turntables, buying a decent secondhand cassette deck requires research. There are millions of hi-fi cassette decks out there from the 90s that used variants of an Alps mechanism that performs very well and only has one very easy to change belt. It doesn't use an idler tire for fast forward or rewind as many mechanisms had over the years that always led to failure, so that's one less point of failure. They have very low wow & flutter at typically 0.05% WRMS. A small sample of the decks using variations of this mech are the Denon DRM-650S, Pioneer CT-S410, Pioneer CT-S450S, Teac V-1050 and Yamaha KX-580. The first, third and fifth are Dolby S decks. None of them cost a fortune secondhand. At the risk of sounding like a sales exec, Dolby S brings unrivaled levels of transparency to cassette recording, although you do need a Dolby S deck to play them back properly. In 1989, Dolby Labs collected a group of audiophiles together to audition a CD versus a Dolby S cassette recording. At normal domestic listening levels, they couldn't reliably distinguish one from the other. As well as providing huge amounts of noise reduction, it's designed to very effectively combat the effects of tape saturation giving excellent high frequency response even from a typical Type I tape. It's estimated that around 30 million pre-recorded cassettes were released in Dolby S, and many of those are still available secondhand today. I think that was an impressive last gasp from a format that had already been around for over a quarter of a century and had gone from little more than a mono dictation machine format to something that was a surprisingly close rival to CD. Lou Ottens and Ray Dolby, RIP.
i'm 55 but i skipped cassettes entirely, somehow. as a kid, i was vinyl only and in my pre-teens i was reel-to-reel and vinyl. by the time i was a teenager with money, cds existed. i never formed a relationship with them good or bad.
Cassette decks are significantly more complicated and fragile compared to turntables. Decks require more general maintenance due to this. I love the way tapes sound and all the ambient/weird new stuff coming out but it can be frustrated needing to fix or swap out players.
Cassette tape are cool. But if you like to make funny illustration, you might like to make a calendar. It is the size of a Vinyl disc, 12 funny , illustrations, 12 QR codes, 12 lyrics and it is a nice conversation starter. But cassette also fit in the pocket and can survive a mosh pit inside your pocket. I truly believe a DVD case is the perfect size for a physical media.
That so called walkman you buy has no Dolby noise reduction, auto reverse or normal, chrome dioxide or metal positions (sure they will play but you won't get the benefit). You'll also have to drill your own hole in the cover to adjust the head in a year or two 😊
How about over $1000 for PRO version? Either way, old stuff is better, as it contains technologies not replicated in new players - from Dolby to actual mechanisms. What we see in newly produced players, are what was the cheapest trash back in 80s - simplest mechanisms with least functions and nearly no sound control.
@@bocagoodtimes1460 pro mastered tapes from the majors always sounded good especially on a car with a built in cassette player. In the early 2000s I drove around in a 1987 Mercury Cougar and tapes sounded warm and punchy. The car door ding sound was analog. However good luck finding that car, mine was used and the engine caught on fire. Tapes also sounded great on my grandfather’s 1984 Oldsmobile. People with audio systems in their car preferred cassettes because of the bass. Magic Mike Feel the bass that type of boomy music.
Thanks for watching! Download my FREE guide to making cassettes! otherrecordlabels.com/tapes
Before your time. My big sister used to order the dollar tapes from Columbia House. Depeche Mode, The Smiths, A-HA, The Police, U2…them were the days. A subscription service before the internet took off.
Thanks for watching, Stephen!
Back in the day,I recorded instrumental music on the end of my cassettes, when I selected songs.... Also if you had a high end deck, they automatically skipped the end of the cassette ... It is funny for people like me, that we grew up with cassettes, hearing this things... But you know, it was better days.... We usually memorized all of our cassette's songs and we loved them....
I'm a huge fan of cassettes. I first got into them in the late 70s when I started recording my favourite songs onto mixtapes from the radio. I still have all those mixtapes!
My previous position as mastering engineer for Red Manor Records in the UK actually came about due to the RMR CEO, Tony Villa being a huge fan of cassettes too. We connected because of that shared passion.
I'm in the process of preparing my own record label, Strange Attractor Records for launch, and I plan to have some of our artists available on cassette and even open reel.
I have quite a large stock of mostly 80s unopened blank cassettes and also have some high end decks (a Nakamichi 582, a 582Z and a Harman Kardon CD491). I'll be making special order cassette releases of some albums using these decks and cassettes. They will be recorded by me in my studio and will be for dedicated fans at a higher price point than the mass produced runs. These will be very high quality recordings on some of the best tapes from TDK, BASF, Maxell, Denon, Sony and the like.
I started collecting vinyl in the early 2000’s when it was still barely making a comeback and it was so easy to find great albums for $5-$10. I sold my collection a few years ago and lately I’ve been looking at it again and I’m shocked that the standard record is like $25-$35 now.
I held on to tapes well into the 2000's due to due to my car which had a tape player. My present car has a CD player so I started collecting CDs.
I’m 61 & I remember in the 70’s all record stores had very large cassette walls around the store & sold loads of cassettes..I still remember my parents buying cassettes at the record store in the 60’s…I listen to cassettes from the 60’s & they still sound great !!!! I remember in the late 80’s record stores would display on the end cap the vinyl..cassette & cd release of the artist of their release so u could choose which format…
Very good video. However, few more points to make. There are different types of tape: 1, 2 and 4. Currently, I think only type 1 (Ferromagnetic) is being produced. Type 2 (Chrome or Cobalt) or Type 4 (Metal position) are way more rare, as type 4 are not being produced anymore, though there are options for Type 2 cassettes (Cobalt instead of Chrome these days) - TASCAM 424-S, NAC C799. Type 3 (Ferrichrome) is something that you'll never see, that's blast from early 70s.
Depending on what you do, you might consider producing some Chrome / Cobalt for those, who want long lasting superior quality. Metal position is for master cassettes, indistinguishable from CDs, new players can't play it well, they go at $100 / piece, so you don't need it, unless you are using it as the master cassette in the cassette duplicator, which is rather silly, as you'd better use CD as your master media. So, the type 2 cassette itself costs from $4 to $20 these days.
Another thing is that you'll need to prepare separate master for cassette, unless you want to deal with unexpected frequency glitches - if your frequency is too high or too low for cassette, you simply don't know how it will sound, because you likely don't know what tape will be used for production. And, since you are preparing a separate master, why not to make it truly unique? Create a version of your song just for cassette.
And, of course, you'll need to give your cassette buyers a digital copy of your album. Like author said, the margin for cassette is lower, so when someone will buy a cassette, you'll likely earn less, unless you'll do something to justify the higher margin - e.g. the unique master, unique bonus track, signature, different license, you name it.
My best recordings are on cassete. I used one 3 weeks ago to jot down some harp for a lesson on fixing my solo. Got a super cassette recorder
Guess it's the same as how I like playing 78s because they were from before my time. Most of us who used cassettes back in the day would never want to see one again, digital is better in every way except that physical media give you something to fiddle about with.
Number 2, I have found the biggest obstacle in selling tapes.
As with turntables, buying a decent secondhand cassette deck requires research. There are millions of hi-fi cassette decks out there from the 90s that used variants of an Alps mechanism that performs very well and only has one very easy to change belt. It doesn't use an idler tire for fast forward or rewind as many mechanisms had over the years that always led to failure, so that's one less point of failure. They have very low wow & flutter at typically 0.05% WRMS. A small sample of the decks using variations of this mech are the Denon DRM-650S, Pioneer CT-S410, Pioneer CT-S450S, Teac V-1050 and Yamaha KX-580. The first, third and fifth are Dolby S decks. None of them cost a fortune secondhand.
At the risk of sounding like a sales exec, Dolby S brings unrivaled levels of transparency to cassette recording, although you do need a Dolby S deck to play them back properly. In 1989, Dolby Labs collected a group of audiophiles together to audition a CD versus a Dolby S cassette recording. At normal domestic listening levels, they couldn't reliably distinguish one from the other. As well as providing huge amounts of noise reduction, it's designed to very effectively combat the effects of tape saturation giving excellent high frequency response even from a typical Type I tape. It's estimated that around 30 million pre-recorded cassettes were released in Dolby S, and many of those are still available secondhand today.
I think that was an impressive last gasp from a format that had already been around for over a quarter of a century and had gone from little more than a mono dictation machine format to something that was a surprisingly close rival to CD. Lou Ottens and Ray Dolby, RIP.
i'm 55 but i skipped cassettes entirely, somehow. as a kid, i was vinyl only and in my pre-teens i was reel-to-reel and vinyl. by the time i was a teenager with money, cds existed. i never formed a relationship with them good or bad.
Cassette decks are significantly more complicated and fragile compared to turntables. Decks require more general maintenance due to this. I love the way tapes sound and all the ambient/weird new stuff coming out but it can be frustrated needing to fix or swap out players.
Cassette tape are cool.
But if you like to make funny illustration, you might like to make a calendar.
It is the size of a Vinyl disc, 12 funny , illustrations, 12 QR codes, 12 lyrics and it is a nice conversation starter.
But cassette also fit in the pocket and can survive a mosh pit inside your pocket.
I truly believe a DVD case is the perfect size for a physical media.
That so called walkman you buy has no Dolby noise reduction, auto reverse or normal, chrome dioxide or metal positions (sure they will play but you won't get the benefit). You'll also have to drill your own hole in the cover to adjust the head in a year or two 😊
We Are Rewind ⏪ are nothing but looks though 😕I do love how they are trying to do with it but the RTM player I think maybe a little bit better!
Got cassette for books too
Bought the Fiio cassette player,best I can find out there.📼🎧
I have No Jacket Required on vinyl
Margins being in pro con is weird is this business or music we’re talking. Also it should be a pro since we’re buying them
The fiio is good
A new cassette deck that is good is the TEAC W-1200 for around $350AU
U get it: *FUN*
THANK U!❤
Man the price of used walkmen is insane. I saw a "parts / not working" unit for $180 😢
How about over $1000 for PRO version? Either way, old stuff is better, as it contains technologies not replicated in new players - from Dolby to actual mechanisms. What we see in newly produced players, are what was the cheapest trash back in 80s - simplest mechanisms with least functions and nearly no sound control.
I had a we are rewind and it chewed up my tape
Mine broke down after about 2 months and had terrible wow and flutter.
lol phil collins
Once the CD came out..........Cassettes were blow away! I'll never understand the modern return.....the sound is horrible.
@@bocagoodtimes1460 pro mastered tapes from the majors always sounded good especially on a car with a built in cassette player. In the early 2000s I drove around in a 1987 Mercury Cougar and tapes sounded warm and punchy. The car door ding sound was analog. However good luck finding that car, mine was used and the engine caught on fire. Tapes also sounded great on my grandfather’s 1984 Oldsmobile. People with audio systems in their car preferred cassettes because of the bass. Magic Mike Feel the bass that type of boomy music.
@@bocagoodtimes1460 but yeah it’s pretty much novelty however if you have a nice tape player, vintage stereo equipment tapes sound pretty good.
@@stephenwatson672 I agree that in the car cassettes sounded pretty good….of course the kind of speakers mattered as well.
Yeah like a vintage music instrument or a vintage corvette, whats the point right dude ? Lol
@@stephenwatson672 yes analog bass over digital