Cassettes

[Jules Gray]

Great feature about ‘mix tapes’ on tonight’s The One Show.

Not that we ever called them that this side of the Atlantic.

Jules

[Lubiloo (Lorna)]

Great feature about ‘mix tapes’ on tonight’s The One Show.

Not that we ever called them that this side of the Atlantic.

Jules

True, just quoting what they called them in the show. I mean in the telly programme  

[DarrenWilliams]

Great feature about ‘mix tapes’ on tonight’s The One Show.

Not that we ever called them that this side of the Atlantic.

Jules

True, just quoting what they called them in the show. I mean in the telly programme  

What did we call them? Just a compilation tape? I can't honestly remember but I do remember doing them, and also copying albums for friends (and inadvertently killing music) and sticking a few bonus tracks on the end of other bands I thought they'd like.

[GubGub (Al)]

Great feature about ‘mix tapes’ on tonight’s The One Show.

Not that we ever called them that this side of the Atlantic.

Jules

True, just quoting what they called them in the show. I mean in the telly programme  

What did we call them? Just a compilation tape? I can't honestly remember but I do remember doing them, and also copying albums for friends (and inadvertently killing music) and sticking a few bonus tracks on the end of other bands I thought they'd like.

Yep, compilation tapes. I still have quite a few of mine and have replicated some of them as playlists on my various digital devices.

When I was in my teens I had two record decks and a little four channel stereo mixer (from Tandy. Remember them?) so I used to make my compilation tapes and cross fade between the songs. Of course it took a bit of preparation because I had to do it all in real time so all the records needed to be to hand and in the right order to precisely fit one side of a C90. I was very proud of some of those cross fades. My brother recently found two compilation tapes that I put together for my sister in law's 30th birthday party (33 years ago). Apparently they still play perfectly. I'd like to hear them.

[Jules Gray]

I used to make my compilation tapes and cross fade between the songs.

Too cool, Gub!!

Jules

[Lubiloo (Lorna)]

Great feature about ‘mix tapes’ on tonight’s The One Show.

Not that we ever called them that this side of the Atlantic.

Jules

True, just quoting what they called them in the show. I mean in the telly programme  

What did we call them? Just a compilation tape? I can't honestly remember but I do remember doing them, and also copying albums for friends (and inadvertently killing music) and sticking a few bonus tracks on the end of other bands I thought they'd like.

Yep, compilation tapes. I still have quite a few of mine and have replicated some of them as playlists on my various digital devices.

When I was in my teens I had two record decks and a little four channel stereo mixer (from Tandy. Remember them?) so I used to make my compilation tapes and cross fade between the songs. Of course it took a bit of preparation because I had to do it all in real time so all the records needed to be to hand and in the right order to precisely fit one side of a C90. I was very proud of some of those cross fades. My brother recently found two compilation tapes that I put together for my sister in law's 30th birthday party (33 years ago). Apparently they still play perfectly. I'd like to hear them.

Lordy, you were advanced! I had an Alba mono cassette player and Fidelity mono radio til I was 18 and bought myself a JVC radio cassette recorder...I thought that was advanced as it had ‘tweeters’ and ‘woofers’  


Now I have my new cassette player, I found a compilation that my one friend (male) sent me when I was at college..with talking in between the tracks! That WAS weird to hear again as haven’t seen said friend for 21 years! It was just chit-chat ...no mobile phones, social media so that was quite a nice idea  

[GubGub (Al)]

I have spent the day digitalizing two compilation cassettes that I made for my sister in law's 30th birthday party. These tapes were made in April 1987 and I have not seen or heard them since the night of her party. I was 23 when I made them and digging back all the way to 1957 for some of the source material. My own music collection was much less comprehensive than it is now and I had only just acquired my first CD player. I had very few CDs so all but about two of the songs on the tapes were copied from vinyl album tracks, a few pre-recorded cassettes but mostly my 45s, dating as far back as 1963 (I had been given some old records by a neighbour when I was about 10, many of which were older than me). Sam Cooke, Ben E King and Marvin Gaye had come to my rescue by having reissued singles in the charts recently which filled out some of the earier years. Otherwise for the period from 1957 - 1962 I'd had to buy a couple of cheap MFP and Pickwick compilation LPs (where I first grew to love the music of Eddie Cochran amongst others).

I was excited and it has been fascinating to hear these tapes again, knowing that it was an almost entirely analogue experience and the limitations of the source media would be clearly audible so to preserve the authentic listening experience from April 1987 and especially from some of those very old singles, every click, crackle, rumble, pop, wow, flutter and piece of tape his has been lovingly retained on the digital copies. Bliss.

[Jules Gray]

the limitations of the source media would be clearly audible so to preserve the authentic listening experience from April 1987 and especially from some of those very old singles, every click, crackle, rumble, pop, wow, flutter and piece of tape his has been lovingly retained on the digital copies. Bliss.

*shudder*

This is exactly why I continue to embrace CDs.  I know I'm out of step with most other old music fans with this.

Jules

[Jim]

the limitations of the source media would be clearly audible so to preserve the authentic listening experience from April 1987 and especially from some of those very old singles, every click, crackle, rumble, pop, wow, flutter and piece of tape his has been lovingly retained on the digital copies. Bliss.

*shudder*

This is exactly why I continue to embrace CDs.  I know I'm out of step with most other old music fans with this.

Jules

No you're not.
I cacnt fwthom the idea of cassettes being remotely fashionable, i have problems with wondering why anyone would pay £25 for an lp rather than  a tenner for the cd.
    I like cds but since i joined Amazon music i find little need to own physical copies of most records.

[GubGub (Al)]

the limitations of the source media would be clearly audible so to preserve the authentic listening experience from April 1987 and especially from some of those very old singles, every click, crackle, rumble, pop, wow, flutter and piece of tape his has been lovingly retained on the digital copies. Bliss.

*shudder*

This is exactly why I continue to embrace CDs.  I know I'm out of step with most other old music fans with this.

Jules

I think part of it for me is that on everything that was released before the CD age, the background noise was part of the experience of hearing those records for the first time and for a long time afterwards. It has become part of my DNA along with the songs themselves so in some cases the music doesn't sound quite right without it. My memory or my subconscious or whatever it is has been programmed to expect a crackle after 20 seconds or a pop after a minute & a half. For example, The Kinks You Really Got Me just sounds too clean and pure on CD compared to my 1964 mono single, which was the first way I ever heard it.

i have problems with wondering why anyone would pay £25 for an lp rather than  a tenner for the cd.
    I like cds but since i joined Amazon music i find little need to own physical copies of most records.

In a way you have answered your own question there Jim. It is about fetishising the physical artefact. It is not about the music. A vinyl album is a nice thing to hold, to look at. Mostly new albums are released in coloured or patterned vinyl which gives them an extra physical appeal but they almost all come with a download card and it is the download that actually gets listened to.

I don't buy very much vinyl but I am occasionally guilty of craving the physical object even though I will rarely listen to the format (though I am getting great pleasure from listening to my old vinyl albums from time to time even though they have mostly been replaced in digital format). During 2019 I was enticed by South of Reality - The Claypool Lennon Delirium (orange & purple vinyl), Souvenir - OMD (clear vinyl) and White Xmas Lies - Magne Furuholmen (white vinyl). The first of these in particular is a joy to own in this format for the artwork alone.

[davidmjs]

It is is hardly a surprise that materiality become ever more important for a small number of people, particularly those people who a) used such objects in the past or b) have grown up in a world where music exists largely in computer code.  Loving cassettes (or CDs or Vinyl) is not specifically about listening to music on those objects (although that can be important for some whose ears can tell the difference) - it's about what the cassettes represent.  If you don't get it, please don't waste too much precious energy trying to do so.

[GubGub (Al)]

It is is hardly a surprise that materiality become ever more important for a small number of people, particularly those people who a) used such objects in the past or b) have grown up in a world where music exists largely in computer code.  Loving cassettes (or CDs or Vinyl) is not specifically about listening to music on those objects (although that can be important for some whose ears can tell the difference) - it's about what the cassettes represent.  If you don't get it, please don't waste too much precious energy trying to do so.

Yes, exactly. Apologies for slightly hijacking the thread to talk about vinyl but when I used to blog I wrote one about my fascination with record labels. I made the point then that my music fandom did not begin with the music. It began as a toddler with a fascination with the physical object, the pieces of round, usually black plastic and the variety of coloured designs in the centre, along with the hardware that played them (in our house a mono record player, possibly made by Ferguson. It was red with a grey vinyl hinged lid and had an auto change facility). To a large extent that love of the object and later on what it represented as a repository of the music I loved has never left me. I imagine it is the same for those who love cassettes. It is not about what they do but how they look and feel and for older afficianados what they represent as part of their life experience.

[Ian_]

 For some of us, the preference for physical over digital product partly comes from the relative lack of disposable cash around then. If an LP cost a good chunk of your paper-round money you'd want to get every ounce of value from it that you could - audible, visual, even tactile value. If someone had said to me then "you can own this but you can't hold it" my response wouldn't have been polite!  

[davidmjs]

 For some of us, the preference for physical over digital product partly comes from the relative lack of disposable cash around then. If an LP cost a good chunk of your paper-round money you'd want to get every ounce of value from it that you could - audible, visual, even tactile value. If someone had said to me then "you can own this but you can't hold it" my response wouldn't have been polite!  

'They' do have some very clever methods of parting us from our cash, don't they?  And the artists still get eff all.  Same old, same old...

[Andy]

I abandoned vinyl when CDs became prevalent. I had just bought an album of acoustic guitar on the Wyndham Hill label and, on my fairly decent stereo of the time it was perfect the first time I played it. Then I played it again and the pops and crackles from static drove me bananas. That was my last record.

As for cassettes, all the different DOLBY hiss removal systems that I tried were marketing hype. At that point my hearing was good enough to detect wow and flutter as well. Especially in the car.

CDs, DVD-A and digital music files don't hiss, crackle or pop. That's enough for me.

[Glen S]

Just recently I have been having much fun with this Tascam Porta One which I bought back in the 80s to tape band rehearsals...I think I paid almost £300 for it which was a major outlay at the time ...It actually still works great, although to be fair it has been stored away for over 20 years... ...As a complete technophobe I am loving the simplicity of the cassettes, but how long it will survive is anyone's guess?...I do have spare rubber drive belts!!...

[GubGub (Al)]

Just recently I have been having much fun with this Tascam Porta One which I bought back in the 80s to tape band rehearsals...I think I paid almost £300 for it which was a major outlay at the time ...It actually still works great, although to be fair it has been stored away for over 20 years... ...As a complete technophobe I am loving the simplicity of the cassettes, but how long it will survive is anyone's guess?...I do have spare rubber drive belts!!...

I have one of those! Slightly later model I think. I still have all my 4 track demo tapes too. Endless fun bouncing down from one track to another to accommodate more than 4 instruments (I was recording solo). Like yours, mine has not been fired up for more than 20 years, about the same length of time since I last picked up a guitar.

[davidmjs]

I got offered one of those Tascams for £100 the other week.  Didn't have the cash (ironically because I've spent so much on cassettes recently) but regretted it instantly.  There are a fair few on eBay though.  £300 in 1983, for instance, is over a grand now... (£1019.96 at 2019 prices according to the Bank of England inflation calculator).

[Glen S]

Just recently I have been having much fun with this Tascam Porta One which I bought back in the 80s to tape band rehearsals...I think I paid almost £300 for it which was a major outlay at the time ...It actually still works great, although to be fair it has been stored away for over 20 years... ...As a complete technophobe I am loving the simplicity of the cassettes, but how long it will survive is anyone's guess?...I do have spare rubber drive belts!!...

I have one of those! Slightly later model I think. I still have all my 4 track demo tapes too. Endless fun bouncing down from one track to another to accommodate more than 4 instruments (I was recording solo). Like yours, mine has not been fired up for more than 20 years, about the same length of time since I last picked up a guitar.

It's been great fun Gub and has actually rekindled a love for playing an instrument again...I have been using a tiny Blackstar Fly amp (just £50 ) which is superb and has an emulated line out for silent recording (I so wish these existed back in my youth ), and an elderly Alesis SR16 drum machine which has some pretty decent natural drum sounds considering its vintage...

[Glen S]

I got offered one of those Tascams for £100 the other week.  Didn't have the cash (ironically because I've spent so much on cassettes recently) but regretted it instantly.  There are a fair few on eBay though.  £300 in 1983, for instance, is over a grand now... (£1019.96 at 2019 prices according to the Bank of England inflation calculator).

It's incredible that it's now possible to purchase a brand new mini digital Tascam Portastudio for a little over a £115  ...Nice to see that there are still some cassette versions on ebay though...I'm guessing folk probably hung onto them having forked out a lot of cash ...So glad I still have mine...