Do you Still Have Tape Decks?

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I went to my parents' place last weekend for a visit. My room is still there, mostly untouched for about 15 years since I moved out Grin meaning there is still a stereo set there with one of those double tape decks I actually got used from my brother (he bought more expensive strereo gear and left me his stuff).

I never bought pre-recorded tapes/Cassettes but used to tape lots of DJ Mixes and radio shows.

Out of curiosity I tried out if the stuff is still working and it did!


So fellow subverts, how many of you still have their tape decks? Do you still use it even?
Music critic for the Tally Ho
yes Smile

though I hardly ever buy tapes any more

recent ones... (as in the past five years)

Chugga - Memphistophelis
Imminent Starvation - Emergency Provision (reissue)
Aaron Martin - Stitched in Fire (or did someone give me this? I can't remember)
Repetition/Distract - Old Weevil Neighbourhood

Fauxpas
Oh at a second thought, I DID buy a few prerecorded tapes. Namely children's tapes with my pocket money lol (ya know, fairy tales and stuff)
Music critic for the Tally Ho
nope.

still have cassettes kicking around in storage and stuff. and i'm sure i have a batch of unused blank cassette tapes in that lot as well.

if you think about, it really hasn't been that long since we were still using them. last haul i was still using them for recording radio sets & broadcasts, then we all started making cd's, and then its all been digital, mp3, etc. to add to that, it wasn't that long ago when I was last doing radio sets then would try to burn the set live to cd in real time with actual stacked cd burners - which was hit or miss, depending if you knew how to set it up properly. lol.

memories.

we all must have those key mixtapes on cassette, that you never listen to because you don't have a player anymore. you still hang on the them tho, cuz they're nifty little things right? heh. of course!
I still have a couple tape decks lying around. I think you can still buy blanks across the street as well. I don't use them much for listening, but I might end up using them for production at some point down the line (who knows how much good it might do). Hahaha
My parents have my Panasonic 5CD/analog radio/2 tape all-in-one from 12 years ago. Around this time I also bought a Panasonic portable cassette player as they were cheaper than MiniDisc/Walkman, and they were more practical as I could hook up my decks to record amateur mixtapes. I still have the portable cassette player, and the all-in-one still works tooo.

+ToRMeNT+ Wrote:if you think about, it really hasn't been that long since we were still using them. last haul i was still using them for recording radio sets & broadcasts, then we all started making cd's, and then its all been digital, mp3, etc. to add to that, it wasn't that long ago when I was last doing radio sets then would try to burn the set live to cd in real time with actual stacked cd burners - which was hit or miss, depending if you knew how to set it up properly.

I thought about live CD burners at the time as well, but I declined as a) they were too expensive in studio magazines and b), the main reason, is that I was a complete amateur for the first year of mixing, from late 2003 > 2004.

Quote:we all must have those key mixtapes on cassette (...) you still hang on the them tho, cuz they're nifty little things right? heh. of course!

yeah, when Andy C played better stuff (Nightlife 1) and a collection of tapes from 2002-2006.
Statto Wrote:Aaron Martin - Stitched in Fire (or did someone give me this? I can't remember)

I bought this for you in 2012
To me those live CD burners, unless you are either 1) an accomplished, 2) confident in ability 3) confident in longevity of recording producer (or DJ), a waste of money, since a) there's so many duff recordings that can arise personally for someone, and leading to b) a greater collection of non-essential products from the producer. Whereas if you simply record as a temporary (and possibly saved) .wav in your sound editor, you have something you can choose to do something with, instead of everything being dubbed as release-worthy.
greenleaf504 Wrote:I still have a couple tape decks lying around. I think you can still buy blanks across the street as well. I don't use them much for listening, but I might end up using them for production at some point down the line (who knows how much good it might do). Hahaha

You'd be surprised. Much discussed on here years ago. Great fun chucking stuff onto tape red hot and sampling back in again. Ultimately useless maybe but great fun.
Muttley Wrote:
Statto Wrote:Aaron Martin - Stitched in Fire (or did someone give me this? I can't remember)

I bought this for you in 2012

Kisskiss
got that new Krust tape the other day
will have to try the tape deck out with an old tape first, make sure its not in chewy mode

i got the morphy/dubmonger tape last year, and kontext/dissident
I still have a recording tape deck, and a few random tapes kicking about I found at my parents place. I still have a soft spot for tapes, and I luck out in charity shops every now and then for quality finds - Nettwork Records Biorhythm 2 for 20p was the latest. The recent Krust one is pretty awesome actually, reminds me of back in 2000 recording pirate radio mixes late on a Sunday. Just missing an MC, and I never thought I would say that. I am actually ripping it via one of those ION tape2mp3 devices for the car as I'm typing this.
I used to record all my beats and mixes onto tape via a ropey Tascam 4-track when I started out - 14/15 like. I had one prize TDK 120 (yeah, the 120s) with all my proto-grime and spartan garage beats that I was planning to convert into mp3 and do something with, but it kinda got burnt... I used to sample via the Tascam as well, which gave some very interesting rips of basses and hoovers, dark and muddy.
done
+ToRMeNT+ Wrote:nope.

if you think about, it really hasn't been that long since we were still using them. last haul i was still using them for recording radio sets & broadcasts, then we all started making cd's, and then its all been digital, mp3, etc.

In fact, I did both for a while, meaning taping radio shows/Mixes still and dl/streaming. At least as long as I still went to see my parents at the weekends more often than I do these days. My tape decks are still connected to an analog FM radio set up of course. Last time I actually taped radio broadcast was in 2007 I think.

Today tho, that fav FM station from back in the day changed a lot and dumped most shows/presenters/DJs I used to like so there wouldn't be much to record these days anyways. Icon_sad
Music critic for the Tally Ho
Chucked my old stereo out when I moved last year since one tape deck, the cd player and one of the speakers had all stopped working.

Still have a little portable tape deck though in kitchen to listen to all the old mixtapes and radio rips that I've never been able to track down as mp3's
I wish I did, I have a bunch of old school mixes I would love to digitize! Lovesmilie
firefinga Wrote:I went to my parents' place last weekend for a visit. My room is still there, mostly untouched for about 15 years since I moved out Grin meaning there is still a stereo set there with one of those double tape decks I actually got used from my brother (he bought more expensive strereo gear and left me his stuff).

I never bought pre-recorded tapes/Cassettes but used to tape lots of DJ Mixes and radio shows.

Out of curiosity I tried out if the stuff is still working and it did!


So fellow subverts, how many of you still have their tape decks? Do you still use it even?

I have a tape deck, that I rescued from the bin at my old job. It is a top of the line Marantz PMD510 double cassette deck. It even has pitch control and can play both at the same time. My intention was to digitise old mixes of which I have only done a couple.
This topic coming up again for me these days in so far that I have to move my old tapes from my parents house at some point later this year. It's ca 100 tapes/cassettes, currently I don't know what to do with them really, I'd like to digitise these but oh it's a bit of a time issue. Plus, I likely will never listen to them again Icon_sad

Most likely scenario though, I will throw them away (at least most of 'em) and later regret it. Hahaha
Music critic for the Tally Ho
put them in a metal box and bury them in the woods? (if you're stuck for space. if not keep hold!)
yeah I've still got tape decks. I bought one Modern Urban Jazz one and a Krust one in the last year. Apart from that just a few old tape packs from raves I went to
beats are there to be broken http://musicindevon.org/
cube Wrote:put them in a metal box and bury them in the woods? (if you're stuck for space. if not keep hold!)

as they used to say here: Some good advice here Blue

But yeah, I am heavily leaning towards keeping them.
Music critic for the Tally Ho
firefinga Wrote:This topic coming up again for me these days in so far that I have to move my old tapes from my parents house at some point later this year. It's ca 100 tapes/cassettes, currently I don't know what to do with them really, I'd like to digitise these but oh it's a bit of a time issue. Plus, I likely will never listen to them again Icon_sad

Most likely scenario though, I will throw them away (at least most of 'em) and later regret it. Hahaha



I'm just remembering how frustrating it would be when your fave cassette would get caught in the player, and then the tape reel would get all twisted, and then sometimes shredded!! lol. and then you'd have to take the cassette apart with tiny screwdrivers, or whatever you could find to get the screws out, take both reels out, and try to fix the damn thing! it was like surgery right? AND, if I couldn't fix it, the feeling I'd get knowing I'd spent $10 or however much they used to cost, just went into the garbage, unfixable! ha. OR, if it was salvageable, how warped cassettes sound after the fact. heh.

good times.

you could always try your hand at cassette tape art, it looks pretty cool! ditto for vhs tape art. heh.


[Image: 042910_cassette_tape_art_t.jpg]
[Image: Slide54.jpg]
[Image: cassette-tape-art-erika-iris-simmons-10.jpg]
@torment - nice "tape-art" there, have seen this for the first time Smile

As for caught tape, happened rarely to me and if it did I was always lucky enough to be able to repair it.

In fact, was way unluckier with video tape, the main reason I got me a DVD player very early.
Music critic for the Tally Ho
Tape art!!! Lovesmilie
firefinga Wrote:This topic coming up again for me these days in so far that I have to move my old tapes from my parents house at some point later this year. It's ca 100 tapes/cassettes, currently I don't know what to do with them really, I'd like to digitise these but oh it's a bit of a time issue. Plus, I likely will never listen to them again Icon_sad

Most likely scenario though, I will throw them away (at least most of 'em) and later regret it. Hahaha

Send em to a forum member willing to digitise them for you, work out some sort of deal. Wink

What kind of stuff you got in that old box? I'm curious.
MetaLX Wrote:Send em to a forum member willing to digitise them for you, work out some sort of deal. Wink

What kind of stuff you got in that old box? I'm curious.

Quite a mixed bag. Many DJ Mixes and Radio Shows, but also some John Peel shows I recorded. First mixtape I ever had from a friend in winter '93 (gabba and darkcore/early jungle). Several best-of Mixes mostly from late 90s to early 00s (techno, DnB), a few sets of a buddy of mine who hosted a big radio show over here. Some guest-mixes of well known DJ (well, back-in.the-day well known that is Hahaha) like Waxdoctor or Alec Empire.

Basically stuff from my late teen to early twen years and before the streaming era.
Music critic for the Tally Ho

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