Avocado Memories: Photos of long-forgotten blank cassettes

Yeah, i'm not "most people". The music that came out in the first half of the 80s was recorded or released in 1979. That's what makes 1979 part of the 80s.

 

Way back in the 90s I bought a few That’s Suono, which was their übertape. Even then it was expensive, and beautifully constructed. I think I may still have some, perhaps even one or two sealed. First I need to go rummage…

 

Fun thread-brings back memories

 

TDK SA, 60 minutes, 1984, still in wrapper. Just five years after the 1979 cassette on the previous page, but it is a completely different planet: new style for the cassette, the case, the packaging. As sweet as a chocolate bar, definitely not avocado. Mid-late 1980s were the best.

 

Definitely. Those were the days we use to get laid without a single dollar in our pocket.
There use to be a cassette tape way back 1982. When you open the wrapper it smells like bubblegum...

 

I used to buy a lot of these in 90 mins. All around great tape. That and MAs. Great stuff.

 

Avocado babies....

 

For me, this is the point where the quality of the shells and the pressure pad started to dip.

 

I was never a huge fan of TDK's tapes. That having been said, I somehow scored a couple of these monsters, and they were out of this world:



I played around a bit with Sony's tapes - since I had a Sony deck and they looked fantastic - but didn't love them and mostly stuck with Maxell chrome or metal tape for quality recordings during the early-to-mid '80s. I did experiment though with other brands, buying some Denon tape and the occasional cassette from Realistic, TDK, Memorex or BASF. Memorex had some incredibly cheap metal tapes at one point toward the late '80s that were priced more like normal bias cassettes. They weren't as good as Maxell's metal tapes but seemed decent value for the money. I didn't have a cassette deck of my own though and wasn't making tons of tapes anymore so cost wasn't such a concern.

Late in the '80s or early '90s as Fuji made their big push into the US tape market I switched over to their videotape, and loved it so much I started using their audio tape almost exclusively. Great value for the money, especially on sale. I was making more cassettes at that point for the car, borrowing decks from relatives and friends for the occasional recording or using a very nice 3-head Teac deck at the university and my portable CD player.

I actually never owned a recorder or made another cassette after moving away from Phoenix in '95. RIP, mixtapes!

 

Showing my age a little bit here, but the first blanks I had to record with were Sony's CDit tapes. I remember them having a cool, lenticular cover and begging my mom to buy me a pack. "But you don't have a cassette deck, and we don't even have a CD player!" Got my first little Craig boombox for my birthday that year with a 3 pack of the 60 minute CDit tapes so I could record songs off the radio.

 

After recording close to 40 of C-90 tapes (lately) using the Nakamichi BX series. Its a fight between these two tapes in a common everyday type I high fidelity recording and playback. Ive done all kinds of adjustments, settings and approach coming from sound source of LP and Digital file w/ DAC.. I havent done reel source yet. The TDK has brilliancy while the Fuji has the warmth sound. Both are excellent hi fidelity.. Any takes???

 

I preferred the TDK. I was surprised at how good this tape sounds when used with Dolby S.

 

Aaaah.. That makes sense for I don't use dolby. But that's great to know. Thanks!

 

Finally off and just got home RocKi'n. Happy Friday.

 

I saw some cheap Chinese-made 90 minute blank tapes in the old-fashioned blister pack at Walmart last week. They were cheap enough that I was tempted to try them out. maybe I will and report back to you guys.

 

Best of Foreigner in Ferri-Chrome.

 

With Barbra Streisand on the label! Well, they both had hits on the top 10 in 1977.

 

You gotta try recording No End Sight album - Foreigner even on type I. It sounds so syrupy and glorious. One of the best recordings I made. So I ended up demagnetizing Barbara out of the loop...

 

One of the things I did like about tape is that I could dub a digitally-recorded CD and make it sound more analog. Somehow, DAW tape emulator plugins just don't cut it.

 

What interface are you using in transform and connect to the recorder?
There is a question in another site about can tapes sound better than LP or source after recorded?
To me the only answer I know is, I can make the original more listenable to my own preference.
I have simple minds "Live in the city of light" 1989. I really like the way how it was performed on both vocals and instruments and the recordings. But the original reproduction was shy about 6db. This is barely one of the few albums I remastered. I just volume it up to 3+ and run my analog dynamic expander. Bingo.. sounds like it was recorded in Mark Knofler's studio.

 

Back then, i'd just hook the CD outs to my tape deck, dub, then play that dub into the A/D converter of either my DAT or computer soundcard.

Yes. It's all subjective.

For enhancement, I now favor parametric or graphic EQ.

 

software or outboard?

 

Sigh...software.

 

I just got this a few minutes ago. In this tape. I don't know yet...