CASSETTE TAPE questions

so i remember recording mixtapes and stuff when i was younger, that was fun. last year i also bought a cassette deck that plays and probably copies tapes from one to another, i havent delved to far into that yet, but i did record some stuff last year.

anyway, on to my question.

i thought most all tapes had 2 sides usually, so you would flip it when it was done and you could hear the rest of the album.

but i recently bought a few tapes and this one has 4 songs on it, and it seems like when i switch it around, it plays the exact same 4 songs, is this regular?

1. could they have left the other side "blank" so it would play static when you popped it over?
2. do you think they did this so you could flip it instead of rewiding the tape to listen to again?
3. do most bands that dont have enough material to fill both sides do this?
4. ive been reading about different tape specs like the 23 minutes per side, 60 minute and 120 minute tapes, do you suppose this type of tape doesnt support "2sides" like alot of them do? and it is just repeating the other side from this side somehow?
5. tapes are dope.
6. mpc-forums is also dope.
7. thank you

pretty sure the it'd be because of the short duration of the music, all tapes have two sides. I dunno if he's still around here but theres a dude called Gadget who puts out a lot of cassettes with his Jazz Jousters [worldwide] crew if you can find him give him a shout

Not sure why they did that. Just sounds like laziness.

If you record with a 4-trk recorder, you will not be able to play that tape back on anything but a 4-trk (preferably the one that was used to record said tape). You'd be hearing some shit sound backwards/slowed down/'verbed out I guess as opposed to the same songs though.

Using an Akai CS-702DII myself. Usually just used in my "lofi" setup at my house (MPC, 404, cassettes). One of my favorite uses for it though has been setting up outputs for each group/track in my DAW and sending them to my mixing board (with a compressor on the 2-buss), doing live dub mix-downs of my track straight to tape.

What deck did you pick up?

damien907 wrote:1. could they have left the other side "blank" so it would play static when you popped it over?
2. do you think they did this so you could flip it instead of rewiding the tape to listen to again?
3. do most bands that dont have enough material to fill both sides do this?
4. ive been reading about different tape specs like the 23 minutes per side, 60 minute and 120 minute tapes, do you suppose this type of tape doesnt support "2sides" like alot of them do? and it is just repeating the other side from this side somehow?
5. tapes are dope.
6. mpc-forums is also dope.
7. thank you

1. Yes, you would just hear the tape hiss.
2. Yes
3. Depends
4. No
5. Aside from the analog noise floor I agree, Good quality tape can reproduce 20hz-20khz.
6. User experience may vary
7. Don't mention it

Sounds like an endless loop tape.
There are many kinds of tapes out. Some have no lead in so they start immediately. The length of time can be different. They come in various sizes. Commercially people never put music on endless loop tapes.

Cheers,
Ian

@Damien - Are you interested in recording your own tapes?

thanks guys, yeah i kinda am toying with the idea of realeasing a beat tape, and have like 10 or 20 limited editon tapes of it, and like 50 or 100 cds.

i dont know what kind of deck i got, i just packed it up yesterday, but when i unpack it in septmeber, ill let you know.

its not too fancy, ijust found it at goodwill for like 10 bones. it has 2 tape slots so you can copy tapes if yo want.

tapes are pretty dope, but i still like cds more for general listening, i think it woudl be cool to release a beat tape on actual tapes though.

@DAmien,
Cassette listening is on the rise. Cassette labels are easy to run. The problem with CD culture is that people start and stop a song and don't listen to a body of work. Cassette listeners actually take the time to listen to the body of work. You also are hooked into a more worldwide network of people.
I bought a tape duplicator recently so that I can have cassettes for sale at my events. Just add a download card in the package for the digitally inclined.
Cheers,
Ian

seance pretty much nailed it.

but no ian, that is not an infinte loop tape. those are only a few seconds long because the tape has to be, ya know, a loop, and there's not really much room in a cassette for a loop like that.


this picture is from a page that tells you how to make yer own cassette loops. you can actually find these loop tapes commercially - they were used for answering machines.

those cassette duplicators are no joke - so heavy. producing a bunch of tapes takes a long time if you don't have one of those, and unless you have good gear and have it calibrated pretty precisely, it can be real hard to make it sound *great*. if you mass produce these things too expect to break a lot of belts and tape decks - the cheap and old ones can get worn out quicker than you think.

still, that's part of the appeal of tapes - for something quick and dirty it doesn't get any better.

Vingthorthehurler also duplicates and puts out his own tapes, he goes by 'locotesmjr' on here memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=34893

Sounds like a single tape where they would record a single from start to half way and then it would flip and play on the other side the same thing,it has four songs at least per side, a single or EP tape

dope, thanks for all the info guys! im pretty sure it was an ep tape.