Could a cassette tape be used as a master?

There have been some very smart people involved in getting cassettes and vinyl to sound as good as they do. It is actually very impressive applications of math and science. So much to overcome.

 

As I recall, mid-priced cassette decks also got a lot better toward the end because of all the advances being made in VCRs and their components - control electronics, motors and the like. You started to see advanced features crop up in relatively inexpensive decks, in addition to Dolby S - auto bias and such. Tape itself had gotten a lot better too at the mid/high end - physically superior, smooth surface, better binders, better backing, tighter tolerances on the shells, better guides, much better formulations and so on.

 

Except...the quality of decks got worse.

 

Did it? At the low-end I thought they got really junky toward the end, but the mid-high end stuff seemed really nice for the money, great specs.

They might not have been as durable, though...

 

I think we need to remind ourselves where the cassette format came from - it was developed for Dictaphone machines and was never intended to be used for anything other than a LoFi voice recording.

For anyone who was into audio in the 70's, vinyl was the only thing that most people had. A few of us had open reel machines, but that introduced a whole other level of cost, complexity and inconvenience.

When they started to put cassette players into cars, everything changed. You could record your LP's, songs from the radio and your kid's birthday party. The oldtimers might remember the Anti-Piracy campaign that ended up with a tax on all blank tapes - there was that much concern about making copies of LP's.

The problem that I had with my Revox B77 1/4 track machine was that it was a lot of work to put together a 3,600 foot tape - with a total of three hours music at the 3-3/4 speed. If I had lived somewhere that pre-recorded tapes were available it likely would have made a difference.

Back to the cassette - in the later 70's, as others have mentioned, the issue of tape to head alignment had a number of viable technical solutions on the better machines. That along with metal tapes and Dolby noise reduction to improve the signal to noise ratio made that cheap little 1-7/8 ips tape do things it was never intended to.

But all that was to be short lived. Only a few years later the CD came along. The enthusiasm of the labels for that new format was certainly not diminished by the fact that they could sell their back catalogs to us again, but also due to the fact that they were impossible to copy. Sure, you could record it to a cassette tape, but not many did that as it was seen as a step backwards.

I sold my B77 in 1994, it hadn't been in use for a few years before that. I think the last cassette player that I had was sold in the early 80's. I never did buy that schmancy Revox cassette player that I had my eye on - it was obvious that the format was doomed.

And doomed it was - when they started to put CD players into cars it was all over for the cassette. I think it's now something for the museum.

I never did give up on vinyl, and I'm glad I didn't. I was late to the CD party - I didn't care for the sound of a player I could afford and didn't like the $25 price tag much either.

It's interesting when you consider the lifespan of the different formats for media storage. Whether with the audio or computer worlds, some of them have been awful short.

 

I didn't know there were two versions.

 

That's what i'm talking about: quality construction and durability.

 

Well yeah, VCRs had the same problem toward the end. The performance was better than ever, but a lot of them were flimsy things and didn't last.

Of course, they didn't really need to last...

 

Some of the last decks made by Denon and Aiwa had amazing electronics with auto cal and HX--Pro. Their sound was gorgeous. More of the quality went into those advancements than sheer weight. The mechanisms were not as rugged but the heads were very nice.

 

Back around '90, I bought my first real nice cassette deck. I remember that I bought it at Sears, and it was the most expensive Sony deck they had. Dual auto-reverse, dual record, Dolby B & C, all push button electronic controls. I had never seen such a nice deck. For me, it was awesome, and I know it sounded pretty nice too. The deck served me well until it went into storage about 15 years ago.
I got it back out a couple of years ago to digitize a couple of cassettes. The electronics in it must have flaked out. Both sides would just unravel and eat the tape, and it wouldn't let the heads down, or unpinch the caspian. The two tapes are still stuck in it.
But a 30ish year old cheap Technics deck that I have still works. I don't use it because it's speed isn't right.

 

Probably not. According to the following post, the rarer stereo version is probably a mixdown of his 4 track Portastudio that was rejected by Bruce. He liked his original mono demo cassette mix better.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...ka-cd-original-mix-japan.147156/#post-3429839

 

The early 90s was when Sony got into problems The performance of their products was absolutely fantastic, but the failure rate was high, even among their ES series. Cheap parts and construction, and the drive to crank 'em out at cheaper price points, did them in.

The last two Sony decks I owned in the early 90s sounded great, but flaked out in two years. Both of them. But, the cheaper JVC dual deck has lasted and still works well.

 

"Nebraska" was mastered from a cassette tape, or have you not been paying attention?

 

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/releases-sourced-from-cassette-tape.242245/

Ok, now how can we get the Beatles worked into this thread.

 

read the title. That's what this is about.

You apparently have not read this thread. Please do.

 

If it's about cassette, no matter how much enjoyed by some of our members, you can be sure it takes this form eventually. It's a shame.

 

I wasn't trying to bait you. That's not my style. But, I see you are trying to back your way out of your error. That's OK. We'll let it slide. I've done it, too.

 

You could master from a cassette, but I would say Steve and virtually everybody in the industry would much rather you bring in a proper analog reel of tape in industry professional standard formats (full track mono or half track stereo at 15 or 30 IPS). And I am sure the cassette source would also cost you much more to master from too than doing it the proper way.

 

I agree, but a professional will make do with whatever is handed to them.

 

One late, lamented Nashville mastering engineer once said, "The Secret To Great Records Is Great Tapes". Or to paraphrase, garbage in/garbage out. This quote was said by Denny Purcell of Georgetown Masters fame.

 

But judging from what I have heard, Pollard never seems to WANT better SQ. His approach seems to justify recording with almost anything, SQ be damned. It's a shame, because I think the man makes some decent music, but it's hard to listen to.

 

I prefer GBV's earlier lo-fi recordings (but I realize I'm probably in the minority here on the SH Forums).