How Many are for Rehashing Cassettes?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Vaughan, Sep 28, 2017.

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  1. Remote Control Triangle

    Remote Control Triangle Forum Member Rated 6.8 By Pitchfork

    Location:
    Las Vegas
    I bought a Nakamichi ZX-9 fairly recently just for experimentation, it had been years and years since I even heard cassettes. Bought some good metal tapes and some type II's, did some needledrops and wow, the right kind of tapes can sound absolutely amazing on a good deck. But here's the key, you have to be able to calibrate the azimuth and bias for the tape type and then you need good quality tapes made within a certain time period. But when everything is right and planets are aligned, cassette will sound damn good and be hardly distinguishable from the source.
     
  2. Jama

    Jama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    They're a physical medium that's cheaper than vinyl, what's not to love?
     
  3. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    anorak2 and vudicus like this.
  4. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    The only thing I'm interested in doing with cassettes is ripping them to digital, I've done this with a couple that I own and really liked the results.
     
  5. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Good to see hyperbole is not dead.

    Can't say the same about cassettes.
     
    xilef regnu, Nostaljack and mbrownp1 like this.
  6. mbrownp1

    mbrownp1 Forum Resident

    Oh and mix tapes...the all important, can't miss, chick melts in your arms mix tapes.
     
    16s, WahWahHoWah, keef00 and 4 others like this.
  7. mbrownp1

    mbrownp1 Forum Resident


    Homemade tapes were lots of fun until alternatives came along.
     
    snowman872 likes this.
  8. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Yes... In the 80s and part of the 90s. Then there was the mix CD. Then Napster happened and playlists didn't have the same cache.
     
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  9. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I knew I’d see “Nackamichi” mentioned within five posts here. That vendor is evoked in every cassette thread like it means something. LOL!

    Ed
     
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  10. citizensmurf

    citizensmurf Ambient postpunk will never die

    Location:
    Calgary
    Forget about nostalgia or audiophile sound concerns, the cassette resurgence is a very niche segment of the marketplace, and it's main raison d'être is it's cost. Tapes are cheap, and while CDRs are probably less so, there are a ton of cassette only labels which are for independent artists and micro-budgets. I regularly buy them, and yes I play them, but mostly it's because I like to collect something physical, and paying for a piece of vinyl + shipping from overseas vs. a tape with a download code is just more appealing to me. Also so much of it is only offered on tape.

    I'm willing to bet 90% of this forum hasn't even heard of Z'ev, let alone be willing to listen to his early works. So clearly this release is for a very specific kind of music listener. The most shocking thing would be if this was remastered and pressed to vinyl. The content alone dictates which format it should be on.

    If you're into virgin pressed MSFL vinyl with some old dudes initials in the deadwax, then buy it and feel good about it. But if you want cheap tapes with experimental music, then spend away and enjoy it for what it is.
     
    rebetis, Jaffboy151, ispace and 3 others like this.
  11. mbrownp1

    mbrownp1 Forum Resident

    1. Spell it right.

    2. Being the best cassette deck maker of it's time w/many still running perfectly means something indeed.

    3. When are we going to get a "don't like" button around here for Christ's sake?
     
    Wingman, ericc2000, rebetis and 7 others like this.
  12. citizensmurf

    citizensmurf Ambient postpunk will never die

    Location:
    Calgary
    It's called the "ignore" button, and it works like a hot damn.
     
    Nostaljack likes this.
  13. Morton LaBongo

    Morton LaBongo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Manchester NH
    Wow, they were a big part of my youth starting at about 9 or 10. As a kid I'd hardly go anywhere without my 4 C-battery tape recorder and a couple tapes, and I thought that was high tech! I haven't been into cassettes since the mid-90s or so but they were much easier to manage in the car than 8-tracks. Once I could record mp3 to CD cassettes were pretty much yesterday's news to me. Still interesting for the nostalgia factor though.
     
  14. MelodyFair

    MelodyFair West Coast Suburban Hausfrau

    Location:
    British Columbia
    There is a company who did a release of a 78 collection recently pressed on vinyl... so I guess not compatible with a phonograph, but almost! Also a band in England did a cylinder "pressing" recently, they are very expensive and limited. As for cassette, I did a cassette about 3 years ago, dropped them off at a handful of stores and it was fun to see them disappear over the years. It's such an inexpensive medium for distribution and very fun to design.
     
  15. SurrealCereal

    SurrealCereal Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    It's funny how they claim the purpose of this release is to "remedy the injustice" of people not knowing who Z'EV is, yet they chose to release it on cassette, as if anyone except absolute die hard fans is even going to consider buying that.
     
  16. Dan Steele

    Dan Steele Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    I have one. While out collecting Steely Dan CDs, I came across this cassette, and figured for $1 I'd get it for display. I have nothing to play it with and if was $2 then I probably would have passed. It has the pre-Dan material that has been put out under several different names - Android Warehouse, Sun Mountain to name a few. Don't think cassettes sound very good on normal playback systems and inconvenient, can't skip a song like on a cd.

    Edit - wait, I just discovered I have an old boom box in the workroom that has a dual cassette deck. Looks like I'm going to start collecting Cassettes!

    [​IMG]
     
    Bananas&blow and xilef regnu like this.
  17. The Killer

    The Killer Dung Heap Rooster

    Location:
    The Cotswolds
    That's one type of media I'm happy never to get into ever again in the whole wide world.
     
    SammyJoe and Daily Nightly like this.
  18. willie john

    willie john Forum Resident

    I still have hundreds of cassettes that I listen to regularly. I prefer Minidisc which unfortunately was not a commercial success outside Japan.
     
    Mateo Sanboval likes this.
  19. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    You are correct sir! My Dragon is an amazing piece of engineering. Most people who bash cassettes have never heard playback through a quality deck.
     
  20. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Man, I'm really curious about this set. Z'EV used to perform at Maxwell's during my years working there. Steve would book him on special occasions, such as The 4th of July - "Fireworks by Z'EV!" I remember talking to him briefly a few times, but I didn't realize that his work covered so much ground or that he was internationally recognized and respected.
     
  21. Rodney Toady

    Rodney Toady Waste of cyberspace

    Location:
    Finland
    I'm just about as enthusiastic in welcoming cassettes back to my life as I am keen to ditch my mobile phone for that phone booth that used to be a mile and a half up the road.
     
  22. Thievius

    Thievius Blue Oyster Cult-ist

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    Seriously. What a weird campaign this is. Makes no sense at all, unless their goal was to shrink their audience as much as humanly possible. :crazy:
     
  23. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    New cassettes, like the Prince and Guardians soundtrack ones, are not very good as they don't use Dolby anymore as apparently they can't afford to licence it. And the new decks are not very good, no one makes a good mechanism these days.

    I was a big fan of cassettes back in the day and still have loads but nothing to play therm on anymore. Need to get a cheap secondhand deck.
     
  24. mbrownp1

    mbrownp1 Forum Resident

    Awww man...that isn't dramatic enough.
     
    BurtThomasWard likes this.
  25. billy1

    billy1 Forum Resident

    Only 80 copies available. So presumably there will be a CD release.
     
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