Could a cassette tape be used as a master?

Sometimes I dream about what I could do if I had record-cutting technology in my garage. I think of some of my favorite albums that never made it to vinyl, a couple examples include Phish "Billy Breathes" and Deconstruction's self-titled album. Those did however make it to cassette tape. Since that technology is analog, could you theoretically use it as a master if you had the right equipment?

 

Of course. You can use just about anything for a master, though not if you want the best quality.

Wasn't there a Bruce Springsteen album that was recorded on a cassette recorder?

 

Well, I guess my question is whether, if you were able to use top shelf equipment, you could preserve the special characteristics of analog by doing it this way over using the CD as a master. Most people wouldn't consider cassette tape sound better than CD. Wouldn't that format preserve the high frequency stuff, among other things?

One of the other reasons I'm asking is that my dad is a pianist and he actually recorded a piano session in the 1970s using professional tape recording equipment. In the time since, he transferred to CD, but if he can find the original tape I really want to make a vinyl from it!

 

I seem to recall that Jeff Buckley's Live a l'Olympia was sourced from a cassette (likely a board tape).

 

Yes, I'd say you could. The best cassettes I've heard sound better than many CD's.

They are both compromised media IMO, but in different ways.

The CD has problems with low level linearity. A cassette doesn't have this problem, but it's low level info may be partially obscured by noise. CD's can have better frequency response, but not in all cases. Cassette technology really improved towards the end of their lifespan with the better tape formulations.

Generally, I'll prefer a CD over a cassette, but not in all cases. I'd try to avoid using either as sources if I could, but sometimes that's all there is.

 

I think Nebraska?

Don't you think Billy Breathes will make it to vinyl? I can see that for sure since the others are happening.

The '58 Monk/Coltrane release was a cassette "master". I also have a Brotzmann date from The Cooler that was a cassette master. Actually, quite a few from back in the day. Especially more marginalized artists and live dates that are archival in nature.

 

If you're talking about using a cassette tape to directly cut an LP, you'd have to figure out a way to have a preview signal. Ordinarily, this would be a digital delay, so you'd be cutting a digital copy of the cassette to the laquer even though you'd be doing it in real time. So, just for ease of use, if all you had on hand was a cassette, you'd be better making a digital copy of it first.

 

Springsteen's Nebraska album was recorded on a cassette

 

Well a preview signal is not essential. It is if you want to try to maximize your level or playing time on the side, but you can surely master without one.

 

If the original tape could be found it's possible the you could end up with a better final product than the CD (provided that you make better decisions and use equal or better equipment than used in the 'to CD' transfer) .

 

Fair enough. How about my theory that Billy Breathes, having come out in 1996, was probably high speed duped to cassette from a digital source and therefor probably doesn't hold any special "magic" over an available CD?

 

So shifting from the original question, since the more practical and important question concerns my dad's music, is there reason to believe that a vinyl made from that cassette could sound better than the CD that was produced? He recorded it in a barn and I have a feeling that there are live atmospheric qualities that are not nearly as present on the CD.

 

Ah, was wondering about that. So sad that each format was not always maximized for its potential. Indeed, that seems to be a real rare thing

 

The first transfer was done by a family friend as a gift and I really doubt a whole lot of attention was paid to fine detail. If I were to do this, I would pony up for a pro mastering job. Frankly, I want to play that record!!

 

I'm all for a pro mastering job. Heck, I had a guy who'd be on a majority of this forums top 5 mastering engineer lists transfer my old reels and DAT's (won't say who, but those who know me as a significant facilitator in a distant group endeavor need not wonder who that engineer might be) .

As I continue to think about this there's something else to consider (and I say this as a vinyl fan). Once you go the route of vinyl you've thrown another (and perhaps the most unpredictable) entity into the source to final product chain. It's more than likely you'd approach a smaller, not quite world class presser with a small run in mind (250-500 copies minimum?). As a result you could end up with the vinyl being the weak point in the chain.

Unless there's anything beyond sentimental significance (historic/ musical or marketable aspects wherein it's value can be assigned to every single vinyl copy pressed) your wishes might be an overshoot. I'd suggest you'd be better off to pony up on the mastering and transfer effort to a medium that is easier to duplicate bit for bit.

 

Sure, but why would anyone want to?

 

Probably for the many reasons the OP has stated in this thread.

 

No, it wasn't. Cassettes weren't available in the USA until 1964 (1963 in Europe). Monk/Coltrane at the 5 Spot was a reel-to-reel audience recording (with Naima Coltrane running the machine).

 

I have to wonder if the two albums you cite as examples were either recorded or mixed in a digital format. If so, perhaps the CD would be a better source for a cutting a record than a cassette would be. For all we know, the cassettes might have been recorded with a CD-quality digital source.

 

Cassette tapes stretch overtime, gets wrinkled, and there is friction between the tape and tape-head. This will result in sound quality loss overtime. And of course, it's subject to erasing by magnetic fields if you're not careful. But if you really want to use cassette, maybe you can master to DAT (digital audio tape).

 

Doh... DAT has a plethora of its own problems, especially considering that they stopped making the machines and tapes years ago. It's much tougher than you might think to play back a 1990s DAT today.

 

Thanks for the correction, I knew better. It WAS a portable tape machine of specious quality though and in my haste to answer this came to mind immediately.

I stand by my reference to the Brotzmann Cooler date however.

 

I've got an SV3800 and two boxes of HHB DAT unopened blanks for sale.

 

This was the case for Devo-New Traditionalists Live 1981, released last year.

 

Actually there are ways to get a preview signal without going digital or having a mastering playback deck, if one thinks outside the box a little.