Forget Vinyl, Now Cassette Tapes Are Making A Comeback?
from the retro-retro dept
Over the last few years, there have been countless stories about the supposed "return" of vinyl, as people have actually been buying more vinyl records in the past few years. It still remains a tiny part of the market, but it has continued to grow over the past few years. However, if vinyl is making a comeback, what about other supposedly "dead" formats? Brad points us to a report that cassette tapes are supposedly making a comeback as well, at least among a small group of garage rock bands. I have to admit, reading the explanations for why are pretty funny: "Tapes are great because they have a really nice warm and fuzzy sound." I think that's the first time I've ever heard audio cassettes referred to as having a "warm" sound.Others complain that MP3s are simply too disposable, and by giving people a cassette, it makes it seem more tangible, real and permanent. I can understand the thinking, but I wonder if it's more wishful thinking than anything. And I say that as someone who still regularly buys CDs, but is increasingly wondering why I bother with so much useless plastic.
Either way, if we're going to be reviving dead formats, how about the 8-track as well? The band Cheap Trick released their last album on an 8-track, but I haven't heard that it's catching on with anyone else just yet...
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Filed Under: cassette tapes
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Yeah...
Particularly when so much oil is needed to produce that plastic. Often oil from overseas.
Why do you hate America, Mike?
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Re: Yeah...
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I know a bunch of folks that like the 'warm' sound of a tube amp. I suspect that the folks who prefer cassette tapes are looking for that same kind of 'warm' sound. In reality what you are hearing is noise. That noise can sound great in some instances and not so great in others. There is a reason that Dolby noise reduction used to be really popular, but without cassettes you pretty much do not need it.
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Re: I will take your cassettes
If you want to unload your cassettes I will be glad to take them.
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Re:
If you want to unload your cassettes I will be glad to take them.
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Cassettes
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Re: Cassettes
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Re: Cassettes
Enter cassettes. I imagine this is another hipster revitalization. However, this time, only the truly hipstery and those who can't think for themselves will actually buy into the bs. Cassettes were introduced solely as a means to allow a larger collection of music (smaller medium means higher sales), portability, and cheaper to produce as compared to vinyl and 8-tracks. Their quality is crap even with "a decent cassette player".
You want my crappy old tapes that I just found in the attic? You're welcome to them. $20 a pop to feed your hipster needs. Meanwhile, I'll use your cash to buy a real medium for quality music. Hell, I'd even take a low bit-rate MP3 before I start using cassettes again.
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Cassettes
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Rewind/Fastforward
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Move Over DRM...
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Warm and fuzzy
Can't help but think of a friend, a famous video engineer, working on a private HD broadcast of a Trailblazers away game for Paul Allen (in the days before HD was standardized). A local Portland video installer, viewing the HD feed, complimented the pictures, but noted that since all the coax was brand new, the picture would be much sweeter after some number of hours or days, once all the copper got "broken in". Seems he thought that annoying crispness would be "rounded off" and softer once the cables were older.
Bet he was also a Monster Cable dealer...
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Re: Warm and fuzzy
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Re: Warm and fuzzy
/HeadDesk
/HeadDesk
/HeadDesk
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Thats nice and all
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Re: Thats nice and all
*dodders off to enjoy dotage*
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Phonograph Cylinders FTW!!!
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Re: Phonograph Cylinders FTW!!!
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Re: Re: Phonograph Cylinders FTW!!!
Melting Media, old school DRM or ARM rather.
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Recording on cassette tape
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Vinyl
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Why tape is better technology than CD
Even if tape record heards have cut offs as low as 10KHz for even cheap system, the sound distorsion in tape is less..
As far tape hiss, old improperly stored tapes would hiss. The newer TDK tapes have a very good shell life. Dolby B systems dont hont hiss. At any rate, the "noise" is better than CDs distorted upper frequency sounds.
CDs also conveniently "eat away" bass sounds. CD sound is defintely NOT ORIGINAL.
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Re: Why tape is better technology than CD
[citation needed]
"CD rolls of at 16KHz where there is noticeable distorsion"
Where did you get this tidbit ?
"Even if tape record heards have cut offs as low as 10KHz for even cheap system, the sound distorsion in tape is less."
Again, where is this documented?
I agree that the method of producing some CDs these days is subpar, there are many CDs out there that are much better than anything an off the shelf cassette device can produce.
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Re: Why tape is better technology than CD
Even if tape record heards have cut offs as low as 10KHz for even cheap system, the sound distorsion in tape is less.."
C30. C60 or C90? Each one as different properties because the thickness of the tape decreases as the time increases.
As for frequency response, bull twaddle. There are two unrepairable factors on CD recordings that will cause roll off, hiss and other problems the first is the width of the tape the second is the slow recording speed. The slower the recording speed the less fidelity there is.
"Dolby B systems dont hont hiss." Maybe not but DolbyB plays some tricks to get rid of hiss that result in a cut off or depression of certain frequencies in the high end that further reduce fidelity.
Also, all tape deteriorates over time. It's just a fact of life considering how they're made and what they're made of.
And the more the tape is played the more deterioration of the signal there will be particularly on a cassette as you're running the tape across both record and playback heads with the resulting magnetic field nibbling away at the fidelity until both the high and low ends are, to use your phrase "eaten away".
No techology is ideal. Still most of the things you're complaining of are a result of poor mastering and poor manufacturing.
I have CDs that display all the flaws you complain of and CDs that have crystal clear sound across the audible range.
Incidentally no recorded sound is ORIGINAL as no studio recording performance is ORIGINAL in the sense that the band did it all in one take and the producer didn't fiddle with the sliders and knobs.
Closest you're gonna get is a live recording. Maybe.
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Re: Re: Why tape is better technology than CD
I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, the people decrying CD mastering for too much compression apparently have no clue just how much compression went into classic vinyl (and consequently also my tapes).
They really seemed as good as new. Not better, mind you, but also not noticeably worse. Not sure whether self-burnt CDs would have fared as well.
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Re: Why tape is better technology than CD
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Handy but fragile
I rarely bought music on cassette tapes, though, because they were too easy to destroy.
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UUUGGGHHH
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When I want bandwidth, I'll use a lossless compression format like FLAC paired with speakers and an original recording that aren't total garbage.
I don't know about you, but I prefer digital data I can easily make countless backups of any day.
Speaking of which, I don't suppose anyone here knows of a good source for FLAC-compressed orchestral music that hasn't been gelded by dynamic range compression?
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Re:
Possibly, that is why vinyl is still in use.
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Cassettes making a come back?
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Because it is a lossless backup that can be turned into a compressed file of your choice any time.
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several hundred old music cassettes
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Cassette Sound Quality
killed it quick just like DAT.We are doomed to listen to MP3
garbage on ipoodz.It is sad than in 10 years no one will even know what an analog recording sounds like.Some may be hoarding cassette tapes but they will be worthless with no
parts for the cassette decks that play them.Tape heads are no longer manufactured and motors are becoming extinct as well.
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Vinyl, CDs, open reel tape, 8track, cassette. Those are the formats I find myself working with most, CDs the most infrequently. If we have to revive a magnetic medium I'd say go with open reel. That beats cassettes by far and 8tracks by a bit in terms of sound quality. Of course it depends on your equipment. In general I find the difference in audio quality between playback on a cheap and high end unit is highest with cassettes, followed by vinyl, 8track, open reel, and lastly the CD. CDs tend to sound the same to me either played on crap or not. Though that is the "quality" of the player, I always use my same amp / preamp / speakers combo.
Also keep in mind that cassette tape passes the heads not much more than 1 inch per second. Open reel either 3.25 (about?), 7.5 or 15. Not sure about 8track but I assume it's somewhere between two of those.
Tape sounds different than vinyl, which is different than the relatively consistent sound of digital. Personally I always have, currently do, and likely always will, prefer the sound of a well-dubbed open reel tape to any of the other 'classic' consumer formats. But I digress, most of this is likely being done for the "hipster" factor of it, not for sound.
peace
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Revisiting cassettes can be sometimes be fun, but vinyl is still around because of the high quality analogue sound. I haven't listened to cassettes in a long time, but a lot of people say they have crap sound, and CD's are better.
But dig this, vinyl is much better than both CD's and cassettes. If you have the best pressing of an album, only hearing the master tape in the studio itself will sound better.
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cassette
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I want your old tapes
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Hmm...
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Cassette comeback?
Circa 1982:
cassettes were clunky, noisy, prone to wrap-up, wow and flutter, lock-ups, and all sorts of problems. They really didn't sound that great honestly. But it's all we had for the car other than 8-tracks (they were worse).
The best? TDK and Maxell made the best tapes, and the height-of-art was achieved in 1985-1990 (I think, don't quote me) with "metal" and silver oxide, and that was as good as it got.
But a comeback? maybe, but to be any good would make it very expensive.
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It's not just people interested in buying tapes to listen to, but also people using tapes in the production process.
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Cassette tapes
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However a good quality deck sounds great. Good as vinyl. That's right, try a Nakamichi high end deck and be blown away.
Cassettes can sound great. But you cant throw them around the car, leave them in the sun, on top of speakers, play them in an uncared for player etc .... that will ruin them FOREVER.
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digital vs analog
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