Cassette Tapes are back?

All about the tools and techniques involved in capturing sound, in the studio or on location.

Moderator: Moderators

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by Drew Stephenson »

I had a couple of nice cassette decks (and a very nice, last-generation panasonic walkman) and agree that with appropriate care you could get a decent recording.
But any device that requires a bic biro as part of your long term maintenance kit is flawed.
Hopefully as networks speed up and memory continues its ever decreasing cost we'll soon be dumping MP3 and everything will just be wav files.
User avatar
Drew Stephenson
Jedi Poster
Posts: 24450 Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2015 12:00 am Location: York
(The forumuser formerly known as Blinddrew)
Ignore the post count, I still have no idea what I'm doing...
https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by Ariosto »

Personally I never found cassette tapes to be much good, and very liable to break or get tangled up. Reel to reel on a good machine was excellent especially on two track quarter inch tape at 15ips.

But nothing comes up to digital in my opinion - 24bit wave files.

Interesting programme on Radio 4 Extra today on recording and it's history, even if very long winded ...
Ariosto
Frequent Poster
Posts: 920 Joined: Sun May 04, 2008 12:00 am Location: LONDON, UK

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by ManFromGlass »

blinddrew wrote: But any device that requires a bic biro as part of your long term maintenance kit is flawed

I know. Try to find an original biro these days . . . . . .

On the serious, well semi, serious side - after setting up a turntable et al I realized I was too lazy to stand up every 18 minutes to flip the lp over. At least with cassettes certain decks could play side 2 after side 1 automatically. I have a vague memory of side 2 played this way often sounded like crap, where turning the cassette over to play side 2 sounded fine.
User avatar
ManFromGlass
Jedi Poster
Posts: 6645 Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:00 am Location: O Canada

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by Martin Walker »

ef37a wrote:T2 HF "self erasure"? How would one know unless you played one in a magged up deck?

A tape with frequency response that slowly degenerates, sounding duller over the years?

(or have I missed something? ;) )

Martin
User avatar
Martin Walker
Moderator
Posts: 20599 Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:44 am Location: Cornwall, UK

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by ef37a »

Martin Walker wrote:
ef37a wrote:T2 HF "self erasure"? How would one know unless you played one in a magged up deck?

A tape with frequency response that slowly degenerates, sounding duller over the years?

(or have I missed something? ;) )

Martin

I was been a little flippant Martin but I really don't see why any tape format should lose HF over time unless exposed to a magnetic field? My point about a magnetized deck was that IF there is some "wives tale/myth" about this it could have started with someone with such a poorly maintained machine?

I also reiterate my point? Unless the tape had reference tones recorded on it (as studio Dolby A tapes always should) how could you know the HF was down on 5 years ago?

Dave.
ef37a
Jedi Poster
Posts: 16448 Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 12:00 am Location: northampton uk

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by Hugh Robjohns »

ef37a wrote:I really don't see why any tape format should lose HF over time unless exposed to a magnetic field?

It's entropy innit? The signal recorded onto the tape via the orientation of magnetic particles degrades as those particles gradually attempt to revert back to their non-oriented state.

This happens on all tape formats, but is generally worse for thinner, slower tapes, and higher magnetic flux levels. So use standard-play tapes rather than long play, higher tape speeds where possible (open-reel, not cassette, obviously), and don't thrash the record meters to force heavy saturation!

Although gradual self-erasure affects all frequencies, it is the higher frequencies that are affected most quickly and most obviously, although keeping the tape cool helps to minimise the problem for long-term archives. The magnetic field embedded within adjacent layers of tape can also advance the self-erasure process (as well as leading to pre/post echos in some cases).

Moreover, the self-erasure issue with cassettes tends to appear worse than it really is because of the almost ubiquitous use of Dolby B, such that a slight loss of HF from the tape is further reduced by the mistracking action of the Dolby B decoder.

I also reiterate my point? Unless the tape had reference tones recorded on it (as studio Dolby A tapes always should) how could you know the HF was down on 5 years ago?

The obvious answer is to compare the (cassette) tape with the source. I have often done exactly that in my previous career, and can state that self-erasure really isn't a myth... although it might not be quite the huge problem some would claim!

H
User avatar
Hugh Robjohns
Moderator
Posts: 38835 Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 12:00 am Location: Worcestershire, UK
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual... 

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by ef37a »

Thank you Hugh, I am enlightened. Although, being 20dB down at 2kHz from age about 50 (73 now) I dare say the effect was lost on me!

The cassette medium was never I would aver designed to archive music for decades? It was a very convenient (and spoken as one who has installed more than one Philips 45 player in cars!) method of having black discs handier to play and with good equipment, tape and accurate setup gave nothing away in quality, other than the fact of course that you were making a copy.

I really never had problems with cassettes jamming or tangling up myself, although I did have a quite a few machines come in for repair in that state. If you bought decent tapes to start with, kept them wound up in their boxes and use a decent, CLEAN machine you should very rarely have an issue. You only have to take vinyl out of its sleeve ONCE and it is buggered in some way!

I am sure if people chucked NAB spools of their current work about the back seat of the car, out of box and amid yesterday's lunch some dropouts and stickiness might have ensured?

Dave.
ef37a
Jedi Poster
Posts: 16448 Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 12:00 am Location: northampton uk

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by The Bunk »

ManFromGlass wrote: On the serious, well semi, serious side - after setting up a turntable et al I realized I was too lazy to stand up every 18 minutes to flip the lp over. At least with cassettes certain decks could play side 2 after side 1 automatically. I have a vague memory of side 2 played this way often sounded like crap, where turning the cassette over to play side 2 sounded fine.

I remember that! Presumably it because that tape basically played backwards which, well, surely just isn't right.

I had a decent-ish set-up at home years ago, in the old days of Turntable, Cassette Deck and Amp and always though that the sound quality of my vinyl recorded to cassettes was better than the vinyl original.

But is this whole cassette (and vinyl for that matter) thing something to do with the real drive behind it being the hardware manufacturers being in cahoots with the record companies, trying to convince us that it's the new (again) big thing?? I mean...the CD, way back when...best ever sound quality (well, maybe but let's not go there now), scratch-free (no) indestructible and playable anywhere in any condition (nonsense). Didn't they try that with DAT as well before getting rumbled?
User avatar
The Bunk
Frequent Poster
Posts: 1345 Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:00 am Location: SW London

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by Hugh Robjohns »

ef37a wrote:The cassette medium was never I would aver designed to archive music for decades?

Nope. It was designed and intended to be a mono voice dictaphone format! It was really only the advent of Dolby B and better tape formulations that enabled it to be upgraded into a consumer stereo music format.

I really never had problems with cassettes jamming or tangling up myself, although I did have a quite a few machines come in for repair in that state. If you bought decent tapes to start with, kept them wound up in their boxes and use a decent, CLEAN machine you should very rarely have an issue.

Yes, keeping the machine clean is paramount, and using decent tape stock (avoiding the ultra-thin extra-long play tapes).

You only have to take vinyl out of its sleeve ONCE and it is buggered in some way!

That seems a little overly pessimistic! ;-)

I am sure if people chucked NAB spools of their current work about the back seat of the car, out of box and amid yesterday's lunch some dropouts and stickiness might have ensured?

You've worked in BBC Local Radio then? :lol:
User avatar
Hugh Robjohns
Moderator
Posts: 38835 Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 12:00 am Location: Worcestershire, UK
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual... 

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by James Perrett »

The Bunk wrote:
ManFromGlass wrote: On the serious, well semi, serious side - after setting up a turntable et al I realized I was too lazy to stand up every 18 minutes to flip the lp over. At least with cassettes certain decks could play side 2 after side 1 automatically. I have a vague memory of side 2 played this way often sounded like crap, where turning the cassette over to play side 2 sounded fine.

I remember that! Presumably it because that tape basically played backwards which, well, surely just isn't right.

Nakamichi thought it was wrong too - which is why they came up with this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrFU9kQrvNk
User avatar
James Perrett
Moderator
Posts: 14250 Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2001 12:00 am Location: The wilds of Hampshire
JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration. JRP Music Facebook Page

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by ken long »

ef37a wrote: The cassette medium was never I would aver designed to archive music for decades?

No, but that didn't stop a ton of people from archiving to cassette!
User avatar
ken long
Frequent Poster (Level2)
Posts: 3510 Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:00 am Location: Somers Town
I'm All Ears.

Re: Cassette Tapes are back?

Post by ef37a »

I wonder how many here experienced the video equivalent of the Music cassette, the Philips Video 2000 system?

The mandate from On High was that it had to be a flipover cassette on 1/2" tape and NO tracking control was allowed to adjust for replay of tapes from other machines.

The Philips engineers succeeded famously and despite the half tape width the results were easily as good as VHS or Betamax.
Unfortunately the first machines were huge and pretty unreliable. The next generation were far more compact and reliable but The World was not interested in yet another formats war and the system died out.

Philips kept the "dynamic track following" technology however and used it in their VHS machines. That, as they say is another story!

Dave.
ef37a
Jedi Poster
Posts: 16448 Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 12:00 am Location: northampton uk
Post Reply