Capitol XDR Cassettes

I remember in the glorious 1980's when cassettes ruled. I picked up a copy of Rubber Soul (seems to be a benchmark in audio comparisons) on Capitol cassette with XDR on the side (Xtra Dynamic Range) I gotta say this thing had punch. Things were louder but I enjoyed the extra volume and clarity. I also had Pink Floyd's Piper album and I wish I still had them to compare with the CD versions which sound more sedate than these XDR cassettes. I know some Beach Boys titles also had this XDR cassette treatment (never saw Pet Sounds with it though). Anyone remember these?

 

Yes, and I always liked that burst of sound at the beginning and end. Some pressings had the burst of sound at a fast pace, others had it a bit slower. Doo doh dah do dee.

 

Oh yeah.
I worshipped my XDR copy of Iron Maiden's Piece Of Mind. I played the crap outta it. Wish I still had it. They seemed to be produced on higher quality tape too. Also, a few months back I needledropped, er...tape-dropped my XDR Missing Persons Spring Session M and I think it sounds great! A nice, natural punch indeed. Hmm...maybe I should go back and add in that "tone-burst" that opens and closes the tape. You're right, it is kinda neat...

 

A fan of XDR (tm) tapes and still have several.
The tape was much better and the processing electronics were revised to give a higher performance.
Digitally sourced material was transferred direct from the digital masters to remove any EQ changes required on the vinyl editions.
Below is a prized example from my collection.

 

Oh yes! I loved how the tone burst was all pretty and such. "When Eagles Dare" was (and probably still is) a great way to follow that bit. Dare I say almost as effective as the 20th Century Fox fanfare leading into a Star Wars film?

I think you need to go back and do that. You have inspired me to do the same with any of my old tapes. This summer has been earmarked as my "Summer of Tape-drops" anyways! Thanks!

 

I noticed they were louder and seemed to have more dynamic range, but I usually wound up with slightly dull-sounding tapes.

 

the first way I heard..Dark Side of the Moon.

 

I still have a few in the collection(I need to copy them to CD). I liked them but my car stereo did not and ate a few of my favorite tapes. I recall these tapes did not have leaders.

 

I know I have at least one tape somewhere but which one it is escapes me...

 

I had Duran Duran's "Rio" and "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" in this fomat. I think my Pet Shop Boys' "Disco" was an XDR too....

 

I remember that too, but I think they had leaders by the mid-80s at the latest. I recall some Angel Classical tapes my dad had with the XDR logo that were leaderless in the late70s.

I have a Blue Note sampler from 1985 that has some technical info in it. I'll dig it out again later. I played it just a couple of weeks ago (when I had a nice Sony deck hooked up for a bit) and it still sounds very impressive. Not as good as vinyl or CD, but impressive for a mass-produced cassette.

Love those tone bursts as well.

dan c

 

I still have my Pink Floyd Works

 

My juvenile mind used to think it was necessary to have the tape play the tone burst, otherwise the XDR wouldn't activate.

 

Too bad Capitol didn't transfer that care and quality to their mastering of CDs...

 

What is this tone burst you guys are talking about?

 

That was a big hit for The Police in the '80's...

 

It's a signal heard at the start of a lot of prerecorded cassettes, used to cue the duplicating machines. Some tapes used a low-to-high sine wave sweep, others used a quick series of tones, others used a steady low-frequency tone.

 

Thanks!

 

Wow, I'm pretty sure I have a bunch of Capitol cassettes with that XDR logo. I had never paid much attention to it; I always just assumed it was another marketing gimmick that, even if it had some benefits, would only be beneficial as much as the cassette format can offer good fidelity. I'm pretty sure I have a bunch of Beatles and Beach Boys titles with the XDR logo.

 

Keep them! I wish I had mine now, they had(have) a unique sound.

 

My Juice Newton Greatest Hits cassette I had but ended up wearing it out eventually was an XDR and sounded great. I have this exact compilation on the LP now and that also sounds great.

 

When cassettes are duplicated, they are put onto a "pancake" of tape, where there might be over 50 copies. The tone tells the machine that winds the tape into the shell where to cut the tape and splice the leader.

 

The first Capitol tape I heard was when a friend lended his Missing Persons tape to me. I was impressed enough with the sound that I bought several titles on XDR tape, like George Clinton's "Computer Games" Thomas Dolby's second album, and and a Billy Squier tape.

 

Thanks! I was wondering that as well.

Anthony

 

IIRC, at least one label tried to claim that these strange electronic noises were part of a sophisticated calibration process to ensure maximum fidelity or some such nonsense. Of course, it was nothing of the sort, just a necessary measure for mass duplication.