Anyone still into audio casettes?

aaronjmill

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Tripredacus, your collection is great. I'll post a pic of mine in here sometime, I'm just over 200 at the moment, mostly thrash and death metal. Tapes just sound right for those genres to me. I can't listen to Nuclear Assault on wax, it kills the vibe. I need that analog hiss.

Great thread, gents. Lots of awesome info in here.
 

FilthyRear

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20160201_211252_zpsqkqrvifo.jpg

This is like looking at the wall in Strawberries back in the day.
 

ki_atsushi

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EQ is NOT bias!! You guys are confusing the two concepts. EQ != bias. You can record Chrome tapes at 120us EQ using high-bias (which Chromes need).
For starters: http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=26505
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....us-and-120us-equalization-really-mean.436401/

And yes as I mentioned there could be a single button/knob controlling both, but many early piano key style decks allowed independent settings for each, as well as higher end decks such as Nakamichi throughout their lifespan. And even if both were controlled with the same button they're not the same thing.

No offense to him, but that deck is not higher end, it's not even a 3-head deck.

And to Trip, HX-PRO is used during recording only so that's the only time you should see it light up. All decks can play back HX-PRO tapes as HX-PRO relates to bias, which I'll say again only affects a recording.

Most players don't seem to differentiate between the two, often there's only one switch for the type of tape you have.

What is the advantage of recording at 120μs on a metal or chrome tape?


P.S.- Just because a deck doesn't have 3 heads doesn't mean it can't sound good.
 
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norton9478

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I don't know what the advantage of recording a chrome tape is at 120 is, but lots of commercial tapes are recorded at that setting.
 

ki_atsushi

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I don't know what the advantage of recording a chrome tape is at 120 is, but lots of commercial tapes are recorded at that setting.

120 is standard for Type I (Ferric) tapes, which are what 99% of commercial tapes are. Chrome and Metal tapes need more power so they are recorded at 70. I have no idea why you would reverse that. Seems like it would make for a shitty recording.
 

norton9478

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120 is standard for Type I (Ferric) tapes, which are what 99% of commercial tapes are. Chrome and Metal tapes need more power so they are recorded at 70. I have no idea why you would reverse that. Seems like it would make for a shitty recording.

I don't know, But about half the commercial chrome tapes I've had were all 120.
 
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madman

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Here's a deep dive on recording chromes at 120 vs 70: http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=23741
Here's a post in that thread from an engineer at BASF at the time talking about the switch to pre-recorded tapes being made at 120us EQ: http://www.tapeheads.net/showpost.php?p=336629&postcount=21

The pre-recorded type IIs at 120us are in type I shells (holes in the top) so that even if you have an auto detect deck, they will play back at the proper EQ.

I've started recording my type IIs at 120, sometimes I choose to use Dolby, sometimes I don't. I don't really listen to music with a lot of quiet passages so the hiss isn't a big deal to me and my recording deck has manual adjustment for record azimuth, bias and levels on each tape so the quality is about as good as the format will allow.
 

ki_atsushi

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TBH, I kinda like the low hiss of tape. I can live without Dolby NR for the most part.

But if I don't want it, my WM-D6C will take care of it... :)
 

aaronjmill

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Here's my current collection. Had around 500 but sold off most of the filler in favor of most of the killer.





Some of my favorites:

Spoiler:
Demo tapes from Buried Alive,
Re-Animator, and Whiplash


Spoiler:
Morbid Saint, Bolt Thrower, and Demolition Hammer
XI9U36I.jpg


Spoiler:
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son (Israeli press), Best of the Beast (Indian press in snapcase)


Spoiler:
NYC Crossover.
Carnivore is sealed.


Spoiler:
MF Doom - Operation Doomsday box set

 

Kiel

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That morbid saint
 

aaronjmill

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That morbid saint

It's so good. If I'm gonna listen to that kind of thrash/death hybrid shit, I find myself listening to Demolition Hammer way more, tho. Epidemic of Violence is the meanest album ever recorded.
 

Kiel

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I'm gonna have to check that out then
 

NGT

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After the movie Guardians of the Galaxy came out, my son was into tapes and my old walkman. He's 5 now and still lives cassette tapes and vhs.
 

Electric Grave

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My man Aaron with the Judas Priest love!!!!

Also Kreator...oh man, so awesome! They just played the other day over here in Boston, Miles is getting old but he's still the man and so is Ventor!!!

Edit: Overkill Feel the Fire...that album is gold! Nice to see some Death tapes as well. Awesome tape library!

Gotta take pics of mine, their mostly from the underground tape trading days, recordings, but I also have some originals.
 
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norton9478

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If I lived in Buffalo, I'd keep an eye out for that Cannibal Corpse Self Released cassette.
 

F4U57

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About 1/3 of my original tape collection before I lost the rest to flood damage. It was a painstaking task of salvaging a lot of these; drying out the tapes and sleeves. Considering the dubs on most were backyard garage shithouse, a few extra pops and hisses does not make a difference to me.

The biggest loss would have been my Emperor - Wrath of the Tyrant demo. This was an original numbered edition that was distributed by Samoth back in the day, not the dubbed bootleg.

After two years I've finally started to buy music again. Below are a small sample of rarities.

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Spoiler:


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Spoiler:
Carved Cross - Untitled

2dtdguh.jpg

2z7juxy.jpg


Spoiler:
Tasmania - Various Artists

28cdnon.jpg

2s13wib.jpg


Spoiler:
All aboard the Greasy Faggot Starship!

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Spoiler:
Drowning the Light - Through the Noose of Existance
Winterreich Productions ‎ WRR074 2/188 numbered in blood

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2w4gy2e.jpg


Spoiler:
Various BM, dark ambient, power electronics. The large Blackline collection pouch has dirt filled with the tapes - go figure.

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Fetish Ritual - F & R (flood salvaged)

2wc48yb.jpg


Spoiler:
Malefices demo collection (tape sleeves destroyed)

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Spoiler:
Clandestine Blaze demos. Controversial On the Mission tape w/ insert

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Spoiler:
2r7vp8y.jpg


Spoiler:
Funeral Mourning - Pallid Coffin Spirit promo tape. Limited to 40.

xbfgq8.jpg
 
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Electric Grave

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Damn...Under the Sign of the Black Mark...treasure.

Terrible Certainty if my favorite Kreator Album. Storming...with MENACE!!!
 

norton9478

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I got some more thrash and speed tapes.

And I'll agree that many of the tapes sound better with the Dolby turned off. Especially when playing at lower (say -30 db THX reference) volumes.



EQ is NOT bias!! You guys are confusing the two concepts. EQ != bias. You can record Chrome tapes at 120us EQ using high-bias (which Chromes need).
For starters: http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=26505
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....us-and-120us-equalization-really-mean.436401/

And yes as I mentioned there could be a single button/knob controlling both, but many early piano key style decks allowed independent settings for each, as well as higher end decks such as Nakamichi throughout their lifespan. And even if both were controlled with the same button they're not the same thing.

Thanks for clearning that up.

My last deck was a piano key style with an indepentent setting. I could have sworn the Cr02 bias setting made a difference when playing tapes. But it could have been in my head.
 
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Tripredacus

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If I lived in Buffalo, I'd keep an eye out for that Cannibal Corpse Self Released cassette.

I keep a look out for anything metal related. It is just that the days of finding metal tapes is past here. I'd say my last big haul was probably 10 years ago.

EDIT: regarding Cannibal Corpse, I had them all at one point, up to Gallery of Suicide. Except Gallery was eaten a couple months ago. I have them on CD also, so it is no big deal.
 

aaronjmill

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Thanks for the comments everyone.

F4U57, that's a fucking boss library. Black metal tapes are so deep, I can't even begin to fathom trying to collect that genre. I'm more of a thrash/death guy anyway, but for real those are some impressive tapes.

norton, lemme see those thrash and speed tapes :)

I end up getting most of my tapes on Facebook groups or through Discogs. Very rarely do I find a tape in the wild that I'm actually interested in.
 

andsuchisdeath

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I've lost almost all of my tapes. Missing for years, this one turned up Easter Sunday.


legion.jpg
 
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