Tape.

yeh, tried once or twice, if i use a new tape its nice, if i use my old one it speeds up and slows down, has that tape warp.........it can be nice for listening stuff, not mid way through a 8 bar hook though !!

might do a beat tape one day with that method !

peeping tom wrote:yeh, tried once or twice, if i use a new tape its nice, if i use my old one it speeds up and slows down, has that tape warp.........it can be nice for listening stuff, not mid way through a 8 bar hook though !!

might do a beat tape one day with that method !

There are those on this thread that are more versed with tape than I, but except for a slight stereo "wow and flutter" there should be a constant speed. Either something is warping tapes in the mechanism (if new tapes dont do it) or its really doing it all the time and the belt is worn out?

yeh look thanks for the replies but i really don't care, it was a $20 CASSETTE player, its not something that's close to my heart or something i even want to spend money on........... i'm waiting for my akai GX-77 - Now if that is in bad shape, i will be cleaning it and surely asking the advice of you friendly forum goers to get it sounding right!!!

anyone tried recording vinyl onto the tape and then sampling into the MPC???

peeping tom wrote:yeh look thanks for the replies but i really don't care, it was a $20 CASSETTE player, its not something that's close to my heart or something i even want to spend money on........... i'm waiting for my akai GX-77 - Now if that is in bad shape, i will be cleaning it and surely asking the advice of you friendly forum goers to get it sounding right!!!

Yeah word, I thought you meant R2R. But if its cassette then who gives a **** : )

on my fostex portastudio thing it has a master pitch knob.. I actually forget what it's called on the machine... but it's essentially a speed adjustment. It's one of the coolest features.. during recording you can turn it slightly to create flutter...

also, using non-high bias cassettes is cool. hahaha... you get half way into the cassette (maybe the 3rd song in) and it starts to really stretch the tape.. you can tell it's about to snap so you wouldn't put a 4th song cause of that but by the end of the third one you record on it.... it's really starting to warp lol.

peeping tom wrote:anyone tried recording vinyl onto the tape and then sampling into the MPC???

Yup, I used to work that way because it was my father's turntable, so I had to record what I wanted before he found out. Then I take the cassette to my workshop and sample the stuff. I also used to filter basslines by amping up the lows on the eq and record it to tape then sample it. Bass on cassette is really ill and more of a presence than CD or any other digital format which seems to take the back seat.

Only thing I hated, was the hissing. Yeah you guys love that now, but back in the golden era that shit was frowned on.

peeping tom wrote:anyone tried recording vinyl onto the tape and then sampling into the MPC???

Yeah, I like the way my Marantz distorts things, and with drums, it really makes the hits sound a lot punchier. A lot of it has to do with the tape I'm using though.

Ill-Green wrote:Only thing I hated, was the hissing. Yeah you guys love that now, but back in the golden era that **** was frowned on.

I love tape, but I hate hiss. I mean, it's a nice additive with certain things. Often times, it really kills the space of a song though.

bearhead wrote:

Ill-Green wrote:Only thing I hated, was the hissing. Yeah you guys love that now, but back in the golden era that **** was frowned on.

I love tape, but I hate hiss. I mean, it's a nice additive with certain things. Often times, it really kills the space of a song though.

Yeah, thats why I embraced digital because it eliminated that air (as I call it). I like some debris that tape gives too. I spent 20 years dealing with tape, believe me, digital was like Godsent. But every now and then I fiend for a reel to reel.

Ill-Green wrote:But every now and then I fiend for a reel to reel.

Because tape's got that thing digital doesn't have.

I come from a lofi background though, so it's almost second nature to me now. I use tape with almost everything now. Either pre/post production. But the type of tape you use is really what matters the most, I think. Well, the machine matters too since some are just noisier than others. But still...

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not an analog purist or anything. I really like being able to blend software with hardware, etc.

The best cassettes that never failed me was TDK, Maxell and Sony. I had a 120min TDK and that played well for 5 years straight until I played the tape in my friends 88 Buick and that ate it up dead. So yeah, its the machine too. 30min tapes used to be dirt cheap and thats what I used to record beats and was very high quality.

Ill-Green wrote:The best cassettes that never failed me was TDK, Maxell and Sony. I had a 120min TDK and that played well for 5 years straight until I played the tape in my friends 88 Buick and that ate it up dead. So yeah, its the machine too. 30min tapes used to be dirt cheap and thats what I used to record beats and was very high quality.

Well, the shorter tapes are generally thicker than the longer ones, so they tend to pronounce the highs and lows a little better, and are a lot more durable. That's why 30/60 tapes were always recommended for 4 tracking purposes.

The BEST tape I've ever used, and currently use for almost everything today, is a Basf CR E II 90. I've never had good luck with any TDK tapes, but I've only used type I TDKs. Same with Sony. The UX-S comes close though... Most of my tape collection is flooded with HF 90s. Not sure what kind of Sony tapes you've used, but the HF series is really poor quality. I only use those tapes on my really lofi 4 track stuff.

This kind of stuff:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/65576774/Bearh ... mst%29.mp3

dont know if any one has asked yet but, does anybody have a good website to buy new tape from? i've found a couple but i'd like to weight out my options

i gotta try a basf tape

i just thought of doin this whole cassette thing for trackout comps and runnin it back

then i come here and theres a thread on it lol