advertisement


Tapeheads, what do you record onto tape?

ToTo Man

ToTo Man

the band not the dog
This is primarily aimed at R2R users but I guess cassette enthusiasts have a legitimate claim to participate too given the crazy high prices of NOS blank cassettes these days! :eek:

I'm curious what content you record onto tape and why? For example:

Do you record from analogue sources such as vinyl and other tape machines to preserve the 'all-analogue chain'?

Do you record digital content that was originally mastered on tape to get the music 'back where it belongs'?

Do record sterile-sounding all-digital productions to add some 'tape warmth' to the sound?

Or do you fill yer boots and record anything and everything to tape because you just can't get enough of it?!

(I did consider running this as a poll but I'd much rather read comments than count scores, and I'm hoping I might learn a thing or two :)).
 
Recording to cassette for me now is as much about the process as anything else. A bit of nostalgia, the physical interaction with the tape, calibrating it, and still being pleasantly surprised how good a recording can come off this thin strip of stuff in a plastic shell.

Being a teenager in the 80s tapes were a big part of my world, either copying albums or more usually recording stuff from the radio, so once I knew what one was I bought a 3 head deck as soon as I could. I still have the deck and lots of those tapes but despite occasional brief appearances they've mostly sat gathering dust for the last couple of decades.

Since starting to work from home though and having plenty of time in the office (my listening chair with the laptop on my lap :D) I've been going through them and removing any that I no longer want so they can be recorded over, which means I now have quite a stack of used tapes, including a lot of Type IIs and a fair few metals. Some of the slightly rarer stuff too, like That's and a couple of the posh TDK metal-shelled metals. It seems a shame to just let them sit there and as I can't be arsed trying to sell them (though some of the prices used tapes are fetching now are tempting I have to say) and I have two good 3 head decks plus a D6C Pro Walkman away for service I needed some reasons to use them.

There isn't that much on the radio that I want to record, so - and getting to the point eventually - I've been making up cassettes of B sides of vinyl singles from a few bands I have enough of, or EPs or odd tracks from compilations where I would likely only want to play one or two tracks from a record and so don't that often as it is a bit of a faff.

Then last month internet streaming came to deebsterworld and I've since found a few live concerts and sessions that I have a tape of from the original broadcast that I don't want to throw away but equally am not too chuffed with soundwise. Some of my recordings were a bit too hot (I blame my Denon's meters) plus for a crucial few years the azimuth had gone off meaning the tape doesn't now play back as well as it first did. So, now I can redo some of those recordings on my other (serviced) deck and reuse plenty of great tapes. And the odd album of new stuff I've come across from Radio Paradise and will record over as soon as I stop the streaming subscription, honest sir.

Next up might be to adjust the azimuth on the Denon the tapes were recorded on to get it as good as I can and then copy the bits of them I want to to a new tape, but I'll probably bite the bullet and learn how to record them digitally first as it's stuff I can't replace and so want to make sure I preserve it.
 
deebster said:
Recording to cassette for me now is as much about the process as anything else. A bit of nostalgia, the physical interaction with the tape, calibrating it, and still being pleasantly surprised how good a recording can come off this thin strip of stuff in a plastic shell.

Being a teenager in the 80s tapes were a big part of my world, either copying albums or more usually recording stuff from the radio, so once I knew what one was I bought a 3 head deck as soon as I could. I still have the deck and lots of those tapes but despite occasional brief appearances they've mostly sat gathering dust for the last couple of decades.

Since starting to work from home though and having plenty of time in the office (my listening chair with the laptop on my lap :D) I've been going through them and removing any that I no longer want so they can be recorded over, which means I now have quite a stack of used tapes, including a lot of Type IIs and a fair few metals. Some of the slightly rarer stuff too, like That's and a couple of the posh TDK metal-shelled metals. It seems a shame to just let them sit there and as I can't be arsed trying to sell them (though some of the prices used tapes are fetching now are tempting I have to say) and I have two good 3 head decks plus a D6C Pro Walkman away for service I needed some reasons to use them.

There isn't that much on the radio that I want to record, so - and getting to the point eventually - I've been making up cassettes of B sides of vinyl singles from a few bands I have enough of, or EPs or odd tracks from compilations where I would likely only want to play one or two tracks from a record and so don't that often as it is a bit of a faff.

Then last month internet streaming came to deebsterworld and I've since found a few live concerts and sessions that I have a tape of from the original broadcast that I don't want to throw away but equally am not too chuffed with soundwise. Some of my recordings were a bit too hot (I blame my Denon's meters) plus for a crucial few years the azimuth had gone off meaning the tape doesn't now play back as well as it first did. So, now I can redo some of those recordings on my other (serviced) deck and reuse plenty of great tapes. And the odd album of new stuff I've come across from Radio Paradise and will record over as soon as I stop the streaming subscription, honest sir.

Next up might be to adjust the azimuth on the Denon the tapes were recorded on to get it as good as I can and then copy the bits of them I want to to a new tape, but I'll probably bite the bullet and learn how to record them digitally first as it's stuff I can't replace and so want to make sure I preserve it.
Click to expand...

Excellent post, deebs! Sadly my stash of recorded cassette tapes has dwindled over the years, - I suspect a lot of them were lost/tossed when we moved house 18 years ago, and others probably eaten by ghettoblasters and car radios, as I remember having a lot more SA90s and XLIIs than I can locate now. I played a few of them last week when I revived my Technics RS-B11W. Most were compilations I made during the early/mid-90s from my dad's LP collection and sound decidedly "mid-fi" (my dad switched to the cheapest Shure replacement styli after my brother and I broke a valuable one!). I did however re-discover some demos of own keyboard/synth compositions I made during the late 90s and these sound surprisingly good (I was far more knowledgable about the recording process by that time!). It's been fun taking a nostalgic trip down memory lane...
 
I have absolutely no need to record anything these days, but have done so sporadically to keep my Nak 1.5 exercised. I've mostly recorded some of my favourite albums where their duration matches the tape length. Back in my youth when I made mix tapes, I'd diligently add up the duration of every song so I wouldn't need to fade out prematurely or leave minutes of tape unrecorded. I haven't got the energy for that kind of faff now.

Having recently subscribed to Tidal and bought a Bluesound Node 2i, I suppose I can easily make up a playlist of the exact duration for each side of a cassette and make mix tapes again.
 
I basically no longer use cassette but I keep machines for....well I guess for a little nostalgia and to be able to play back a very few tapes I have that are not available on CD or record any longer or I recorded live from gigs on the radio... not that I've actually done so in the last 10 years...

R2R's (PR99, A77, B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Sony TC-377 and Fostex 80) are for recording live music. I can't think of any other use for them. Again at least 10 years since I did so! Also just nice to have somehow...
 
I don’t record anything any longer. I just like the sight of them these days. Hear them clunk.
Revoxes (A77 and G36) and Beocords (1500, 2400). A Royal de Luxe and a TC-399 which trounces them all – this probably has the best heads.
I also have many cassette decks, and a superb Philips DCC deck which probably sounds better than any of the above...
But my favourite one is the G36!
Recording digital onto R2R makes no sense, obviously.
I have always wanted to buy original tapes but this is a lottery.
 
I just make up playlists and record them to tape, I could just listen to the playlist via "J River Media" software but I just love to use my tape decks :D

Alan
 
Time shifting radio mostly using cassette. There are far easier solutions of course but it keeps the old kit limbered-up.
The biggest threat to old decks is lack of use.

When I have my B77 in use I play compilation tapes made from CD, or long Radio 3 concerts.
 
I’m another one that just makes up Playlists , mostly from my vinyl collection
I know it’s 100 times easier just to plonk on Spotify but there’s just something satisfying imho about playing tape , especially 10.5 Reels
 
I have a NAK CD1 with adjustable azimuth to play old cassettes recorded on different decks I owned (still got my old Pioneer CT-F2121, too). I record occassional new and old records I find on Tidal and elsewhere.
My Revox A77 Mk IV Dolby I use for recording oldies from Tidal and play back old tapes.
I have kept ALL my tapes since the middle of the 70s. The dynamics of the old live recordings from FM radio still amaze me (had a top Yammie tuner) and the cassette tapes have stood up well to the test of time.
 
Having just picked up my first R2R this year (a Technics RS1700), I've made a number of compilations from my BN 2 x 45rpm vinyl releases, and I've recorded a few Prom 2020 gigs. This week I've recorded a few streams from the EFG London Jazz Festival, especially the Seed Ensemble's tribute to Pharaoh Sanders.

I have yet to get bored of watching those reels revolve :)
 
Last edited:
Back in the day my father used to record stuff off Radio 3 to listen to later. He recorded a lot of "Composer of the Week" . Helped to broaden the range of music he listened to.

He wore out a Ferrograph 7. Then he had a big reel Teac? grey import. The reels were at a funny angle when it came out the box, it must have been dropped in transit. Within half an hour it was in bits. The heavy reel motors had pulled the bolts out of the mounting pillars. Luckily reversing the pillars allowed the bolts to get a fresh hold. It gave years of service after that.
 
Just sold my Sony Betamax to someone intending to use it for Audio recording! 'Super' Hi-Fi!
 
My R2Rs are used to duplicate and archive my collection of 15 IPS 1/4 in 2 tr production masters. Tapes are copied onto new tape stock (either SM900 or LPR90) with Dolby SR. The copies are used for listening and the originals stored.
 
I used cassette and reel to record John Peel shows from the late seventies, spanning the beginning of punk to 1980 at which point I got married and everything changed. In fact on the eve of my wedding Tommy Vance played a 2 hour Genesis gig from the Lyceum (Duke tour) It was the 11th July 1980 and the end of an era for me.
I used to keep sessions that I liked and of course "in concert" recordings. Now all of these are available in flac form via torrenting sites so my cassette collection dwindled over time to an assortment of commercial pre-recorded tapes which I still have.
I have just disposed of my last reel to reel machine and tapes so there is no going back (sniffle) My bridges have been burned.
I did have a spell of recording dab radio onto minidisc via an optical lead to keep things digital. I still have a large collection of minidiscs which I shall keep as at least they do not deteriorate with age.
My only tape machine now is a Nakamichi LX3 which has two jobs to complete, I need to transcribe a collection of Alan Bennet cassettes and a set of Asimov's Foundation Trilogy on 10 tapes so I can listen to the in the car on a memory stick. I already have the Foundation thing on digital but the version I downloaded was badly transcribed so I want to do my own.
These days I am drifting into classical due to working from home, and a lovely Tandberg 2075 in my office into some Ditton 15s
 
ToTo Man said:
Sadly my stash of recorded cassette tapes has dwindled over the years, - I suspect a lot of them were lost/tossed when we moved house 18 years ago, and others probably eaten by ghettoblasters and car radios, as I remember having a lot more SA90s and XLIIs than I can locate now.
Click to expand...
Or not.... While looking for something unrelated in our attic this morning my dad unearthed two boxfuls of cassettes I haven't seen in years. There must be at least 100 tapes, probably more. What a wonderful early Christmas present! :)
 
Since bringing an old Nak BX300 back into service last winter I've regularly been recording the Jamie Cullum Jazz show off Radio 2 on a Tuesday evening. Sound quality off the FM tuner, bar a bit of compression, is nicer than the 320kbps stream off iplayer and it makes playing back the show much less faff than firing up iplayer. Its been a great way into discovering new Jazz music and I quite often just pop in one of the tapes even from a few months a go when I just fancy something different to listen to.
I've also been using it to record some Spotify play lists or the odd album that I like off spotify and also been using it to record some live performances from Youtube via my laptop and USB DAC. Some surprisingly good sound quality on a YouTube HD stream if the recording is good in the first place.
 
I record some vinyl onto tape at 3.75ips via my A77 mk4. I have a small led spotlight which I can train onto the reels so I sometimes grab a beer, switch off the lights and watch the music. I think it is visually most atmospheric at 3.75ips.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top