what tape deck should i buy as a master recorder for my beat

any taperecorder could do the trick?

im asking because i wrote my beats from cd to tape on a standard boombox, and the quality is awful.
was that beacause a boombox isnt supposed to write cassettes in a good quality?

thank you very much

it all depends ... and it varies widely from deck to deck, not mention recording source, tape quality, tape age, deck settings, etc.

a boombox is probably the worst for just recording masters...probably very cheap and not designed with accurate reproduction or musicality in mind.

you might do better with a dedicated unit, you know, one without speakers built in. you can even find rackmount tape decks that are probably going to be really clean. i havent messed with them much, but a 'three-head' machine will probably produce the cleanest sound possible.

more important than deck though is probably tape choice. if you want clean, use new tapes, and make sure you are driving the signal not too hot...a little bit of tape distortion is nice but too much and it can really make it sound like garbage.

things to look for:
- adjustable gain - this is necessary for controlling your recording, and often included on a deck, but not always.
- no speakers - just input and output ports / plugs.
- clean, professional look - i know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but since you can often only judge by look, a nice, clean deck that simply says the model number is likely going to provide better recordings than a cheap plastic deck that has a 'super boom bass' button.
- variable speed - you can get slightly higher fidelity if you record at the fastest speed possible. bonus points because then when you play it back in a regular tape player it sounds screwed out (this is how they did it in h town).

cassette is really tricky because there is such a wide range of quality, with the majority tending towards the total crap end. still, it is possible to get really clean recordings to cassette, you just got to work at it, and accept the limitations. i personally record to cassette because i like the dirty sound, and i often then sample that later. i keep the meters peaking well into the red, but i make sure that most of the time they stay below the red.
i picked up my deck at a yard sale for $5 with a bunch of new tape - it was very dirty but it looked like a nice unit and i have enjoyed it. the best part for me is that i can keep a tape in there on record-pause at all times, and all it takes is one button push to be recording. no set up to do or programs to open and configure.

another option is to start looking for reel to reel machines - however what you gain in theoretical fidelity, you lose in realistic fidelity - because good, clean reel tape is a lot harder to find, and old reel tape can really be filthy and even eventually kill your machine (if you dont keep cleaning the residue off it).

basically, like everything else, you really have to figure out your sound for yourself. also, a lot of this advice might be irrelevant to you because you are only going to find what you can - its not like you can go to the store and say 'i need an old tape deck with this and that and this'...fate plays a big part of gear digging, and sometimes you have to work with whatever you can get.
i hope this helps a little bit though when you go out looking for a deck + tape.

anybody care to comment on bias differences? (yet another factor to consider, but again, totally irrelevant if you can't find any).

thank you very much, this ws the best answer ive ever had on this issue. i live in greece, probably not the best place for second-hand gear digging. if i understood well, i am supposed to find either something similar to this

or something like a portastudio, am i right?

thank you very much.

yea something LIKE that, but again, those are just guidelines. you might find one that is silver or older or newer - but yea i would say look for something like that instead of a boombox.

a portastudio is not really a mastering deck, but it could be used as one if you wanted. it would be cool cause they usually have adjustable speed so you can run it faster. i bet you could have some fun bouncing four tracks of beats to tape, then mastering that back into the computer from the portastudio.

id advise you to not spend a lot of money until you know it will work for you. im not sure cassette is going to give you any 'magic touch', but it will add something unique to your sound.

Tascam 122 Cassette Deck http://www.vintagecassette.com/Tascam/122

Can be had for around $100. Best for cassette tape recording.

tapedeck wrote:
another option is to start looking for reel to reel machines - however what you gain in theoretical fidelity, you lose in realistic fidelity - because good, clean reel tape is a lot harder to find, and old reel tape can really be filthy and even eventually kill your machine (if you dont keep cleaning the residue off it).

There is NO gain in fidedlity when recording to tape instead of digital. Theoretical or real.

anybody care to comment on bias differences? (yet another factor to consider, but again, totally irrelevant if you can't find any).

Bias isn't an exact science unless you have very expensive calibration tools to measure it. Basically, you can set up your machine to have low noise (distortion) or improved frequency response but not both.

Shostakovich wrote:

tapedeck wrote:
another option is to start looking for reel to reel machines - however what you gain in theoretical fidelity, you lose in realistic fidelity - because good, clean reel tape is a lot harder to find, and old reel tape can really be filthy and even eventually kill your machine (if you dont keep cleaning the residue off it).

There is NO gain in fidedlity when recording to tape instead of digital. Theoretical or real.

i wasn't talking about tape vs digital - i was talking about cassette vs reels. lets not bring digital into this homedude definitely didn't ask about that.

Shostakovich wrote:Bias isn't an exact science unless you have very expensive calibration tools to measure it. Basically, you can set up your machine to have low noise (distortion) or improved frequency response but not both.

thanks for that.

Shostakovich wrote:Tascam 122 Cassette Deck http://www.vintagecassette.com/Tascam/122

Can be had for around $100. Best for cassette tape recording.

damn that does look fine.

look for something like that for sure.

How about something like this?



I'm looking for one at the moment... not too hard to find, but i heard from several places now that they should be serviced nowadays to really sound like they are supposed to...

tapedeck wrote:

Shostakovich wrote:Tascam 122 Cassette Deck http://www.vintagecassette.com/Tascam/122

Can be had for around $100. Best for cassette tape recording.

damn that does look fine.

look for something like that for sure.

I just bought a tascam 122b from ebay and had to spend about a month running around and $80 dollars getting all the right parts to get it up to shape: new belts, new idler assembly, new pinch roller. These things are old and can be a pain the a$$.

Some observations: mixes/individual parts do get some extra vibe, especially recording at double speed with HX pro on, then played back with HX pro off. No matter what I do, wow and flutter are going to make my recording speed up/slow down vs. not bouncing to tape. Also the hiss is very noticable but easily brought under control using the Silencer in Logic.

Without first hand experience, but after reading a lot online, reel to reel seems best running at 15 ips or above for lower noise floor/higher fidelity. Cassette is cool, but it really shines if you can live with the above limitations and can drop it back into a DAW for a touch of post processing.

If the OP just wants to get his music off his CD with relatively little loss of fidelity, maybe a ZOOM hard disk recorder? So much less hassle than tape.

atestarr wrote:I just bought a tascam 122b from ebay and had to spend about a month running around and $80 dollars getting all the right parts to get it up to shape: new belts, new idler assembly, new pinch roller. These things are old and can be a pain the a$$.

Some observations: mixes/individual parts do get some extra vibe, especially recording at double speed with HX pro on, then played back with HX pro off. No matter what I do, wow and flutter are going to make my recording speed up/slow down vs. not bouncing to tape. Also the hiss is very noticable but easily brought under control using the Silencer in Logic.

Without first hand experience, but after reading a lot online, reel to reel seems best running at 15 ips or above for lower noise floor/higher fidelity. Cassette is cool, but it really shines if you can live with the above limitations and can drop it back into a DAW for a touch of post processing.

If the OP wants to just get his music off an MPC with little loss of fidelity, maybe a ZOOM hard disk recorder? So much less hassle.

^^ great post.
i dont usually have a lot of luck with the denoiser in logic, but every now and then ill get it set just right - often though it just gets too mp3-warbly-sounding for me.
and yea, if you end up with a nice machine, you will likely have to do some repairs and put a bit of money into it (props to you atestarr sounds like a dope project).
reels are going to be higher fidelity than cassette because yes you can usually run them faster and also the physical size of each track is twice as big (cassette is 1/8" for 4 tracks vs reels at least 1/4" for 4 tracks). a stereo mastering machine takes usual specs even further.
the most important thing is to be aware of the limitations and try it yourself if you can. im all for the do it cheap and local technique - dont get hung up on a particular model or spec - get what you can find / afford / live with and then learn it inside and out.

tapedeck wrote:

atestarr wrote:I just bought a tascam 122b from ebay and had to spend about a month running around and $80 dollars getting all the right parts to get it up to shape: new belts, new idler assembly, new pinch roller. These things are old and can be a pain the a$$.

Some observations: mixes/individual parts do get some extra vibe, especially recording at double speed with HX pro on, then played back with HX pro off. No matter what I do, wow and flutter are going to make my recording speed up/slow down vs. not bouncing to tape. Also the hiss is very noticable but easily brought under control using the Silencer in Logic.

Without first hand experience, but after reading a lot online, reel to reel seems best running at 15 ips or above for lower noise floor/higher fidelity. Cassette is cool, but it really shines if you can live with the above limitations and can drop it back into a DAW for a touch of post processing.

If the OP wants to just get his music off an MPC with little loss of fidelity, maybe a ZOOM hard disk recorder? So much less hassle.

^^ great post.
i dont usually have a lot of luck with the denoiser in logic, but every now and then ill get it set just right - often though it just gets too mp3-warbly-sounding for me.
and yea, if you end up with a nice machine, you will likely have to do some repairs and put a bit of money into it (props to you atestarr sounds like a dope project).
reels are going to be higher fidelity than cassette because yes you can usually run them faster and also the physical size of each track is twice as big (cassette is 1/8" for 4 tracks vs reels at least 1/4" for 4 tracks). a stereo mastering machine takes usual specs even further.
the most important thing is to be aware of the limitations and try it yourself if you can. im all for the do it cheap and local technique - dont get hung up on a particular model or spec - get what you can find / afford / live with and then learn it inside and out.

Thanks Tapedeck. I hear you on Denoiser, it’s terrible. What I’m using is Silencer. First, find an empty section of the track that just has the hiss and loop it, then double click on the whole track and open in sample editor. Click Factory>Silencer, then turn Spike reduction sensitivity to off, Method to Gentle, then under noise reduction, make strength ¾ of the way to max, wait to process, then move the slider closer to min and try again to taste. (sorry to hijack)

thank you guys for the replies, this is great information. i think ill get something from ebay

when you guys record to tape, do you find that if you let the tape sit for some time that there is a differance in sound from natural saturation or whatever? ive always wanted to try this with some drum loops and see if there is a noticable (in a good way) differance.