Cassette and 8-track musings

[ChopperChas]

So I've been getting into tape for a while. I started with R2R and then got into 8-track, before moving to cassette and then fiddling with 8 track again. Here are my musings....

Old cassette decks vary wildly in quality. Most 70s decks look cool, but a great many of them sound muffled, even if the tape path and heads are spotless. The decks with Dolby usually sound better with the Dolby turned off. That said, my Nakamichi BX-150 deck is amazing, and tapes sound nearly as good as R2R, albeit with a higher noise floor. Run the tape through a Phase Linear 1000 Auto-correlator, however, and the hiss melts away.

R2R is finicky. I've had to have two Pioneer decks repaired due to issues with the tape sliding off the pinch roller, low pinch roller tension, and brake tension issues. Nothing like that happens with cassette decks... that said, even with these mechanical issues, 4-track R2R sounds amazing. It has much the same quality as vinyl or CD, but recordings have a very different sound. Fatter in the bottom end and just warmer. Again, run through a Phase Linear 1000 auto-correlator, there is virtually no hiss at 7.5 ips.

8 Track I wanted to love. My first deck played okay, but I had a hard time adjusting out the crosstalk. Opened the deck up and found that the head is held in place by a plastic clamp, which was broken, allowing the head to cock at an angle. So, I tossed that deck (it was a cheapie), and went through two Pioneer H-R99s before I found a good one. And..... was still unimpressed. I have two brand-spanking-new tapes. I replaced the splice and foam, and they were ridiculously tight -- even though they'd been shrink wrapped when I opened them. Slit the tape and unrolled a few loops and that fixed it, but even the new tapes don't sound *great*. The auto-correlator cannot adjust out as much noise as it can with R2R or cassette, and the speed does warble on most tapes. I have a ton of great music on 8 track (thanks to my father), and I *love* the tonal characteristics of 8 track recordings... but it's quite difficult to get a tape to play reliably, and cassette quality is noticeably better. The ka-clunk never bothered me, even the hiss is okay, the real problem is just getting a tape to reliably play at a constant speed :/

Also, belts are neigh-on impossible to find :/

Charles.

 

[BillyBatts]

I have a lot of R2R tapes that I made (playlists) in the late 70's. I also have a crap-ton of Cassette tapes that I used to record my vinyl albums in college.

I recently picked up a few items on CL and the guy GAVE me three cassette decks (two Pioneer and a Fisher) for free because he said there is no call for tape any longer. All three work great and are in mint condition.

I really like Cassette and R2R. I differ from you, OP, in that I am not a fan of 8 Track. Yes, I had a bunch in the 70's as I had an 8 Track in my Car, but they have long since been lost or thrown out. The "Crosstalk" of 8 Track and low fidelity combined with no rewind (some have FF) cause me to pass on that medium. However, they ARE convenient. Just pop the cart in and forget about it. They'll play forever.

 

[ChopperChas]

I've only rediscovered tape in the last few years. My dad's R2Rs were unfortunately mostly recorded of the radio on shitty equipment, onto shitty radio shack tapes (sticky shed) at 3 3/4 ips, which were then stored in a hot attic, so those were largely a wash. R2R I have a few pre-recorded tapes, but I've been having lots of fun recording my own CDs and records. But dad had hundreds of store-bought cassettes and 8-tracks, which is why I moved into those formats. I'm only 37, so I wasn't exactly around for most of the 70s

Charles.

 

[SSaxdude]

I love cassette for the simplicity and low cost. But mostly to record music with my 4 track recorder!

Still never used an 8 track player before. Not sure if I would like it or not.

 

[BillyBatts]

Well, Charles, you missed a great "Music/Equipment" Decade, but you can relive it with the music and the equipment that lingers.

SSaxdude, 8-Track is a cult. You either like it or you don't. Again, there is no Rewind and most don't have a FF but a few do. You have 4 tracks playing simultaneously on very wide tape in a huge loop inside the cart. There is sometimes crosstalk (you can hear other tracks bleed onto the track you are listening to), but sometimes it's not too bad.

Cassette was originally designed for simple office dictation, and over the years was modified for music. I prefer CrO2 HIgh Bias (Chrome) Tapes. I've dabbled with Metal Tapes but don't hear much improvement over Chrome. I still have an unused box of unopened TDK Chrome tapes. And, I've probably got 100 or so that I recorded my albums on in College to save the vinyl from wear.

I used an MRX Compander to compress record and expand reply on these tapes so they have to be used with a Compander for playback to get the audio right. Companders greatly reduce tape HISS by contracting the dynamic range during record, and then re-expanding it on playback. These days, you can probably get computer programs to do the same thing. Back then, it was done with hardware boxes.

 

[GerardG]

Tapes. I have such a soft spot for them.

Cassettes can sound wonderful on some decks. I own a Denon deck that is good, a Hitachi that is amazing and an Akai that is marginal sound-wise but looks amazing. I own over 400 cassettes now but am weeding out those that won't play well or are worn out. Cassettes are light, take little room and are still very, very cheap to buy.

Reel to reel is wonderful but shipping costs to Canada are now outrageous and the cost of tape, prerecorded or blank, has skyrocketed. I haven't bought any in almost two years now and I doubt I'll buy more. Too expensive. I started my buying just before good machines and tape cost went beyond. As well as often unmatched sound I always thought RTR had a cool factor off the charts and that the coolest guys in '60's and early '70's film always had one in their pad. After all, was anyone cooler than John Shaft or Derek Flint? They both had machines as I'm sure did Frank Bullitt and Matt Helm.

8 tracks are funky amusement in much the way a carny fun-house is. Silly and certainly not to everyone's taste but cheesie fun. They are, as Billy Batts said, a cult. I adore them because I'm old enough to remember them as being to go to format for music reproduction for most people. RTR was never meant for average folks nor was it embraced by them but 8 track sure was. People speak of 8 track tape as being finicky and they are but 1 in 10 does sound amazing on a good machine. I've had many issues with cassettes and RTR tape too. Sticky tape, shedding, and drop out are common on RTR. Cassettes too often drag, drop out, or have turned to an unplayable solid mass. OK, 8 track is worse but at least with them and cassettes one invests very little.

Besides, all that silver face and huge VU metres remind me of being a kid and wandering into a stereo shop just to see the unaffordable wonders there and whispering to myself, "One day..."

Gerard

 

[Mystic]

Sans the cassette tape & recorder(s), we'd have a (small) fraction of the volume of unofficial "live" recordings, audience and/or board captures, of '60s, '70s, and '80s concerts in which we are aswim. Heck, most of the FM-sourced ROIOs "out there" were grabbed @ a casette deck as well. DAT arrived later, and then IEM and whatnot, but we have the cassette to thanks for the meat of our ROIO trove.

 

[howardtheduc]

I have had good luck with cassettes, lousy luck with R2R and zero luck with 8 tracks. In fact, on the one functioning 8 track I had, a tape came apart while playing, snaked out octopus like and ripped the guts out of my only functioning deck. It was horrifying to watch but I had to kind of respect that level of destruction!

 

[KentTeffeteller]

I have lousy luck with cassettes, decent luck with 8 tracks, and best luck with open reel. Maybe you bought the wrong kind of open reel machines.

 

[slow_jazz]

I still have around 4 cassette decks and still play them.

The pre-recorded ones really improved around the time the cd came out and can be found dirt cheap. My local Salvation Army sells them for 3 for $1.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

And if only most cassette decks were built 3-4 motor, 3 head, true DD and with pitch control. Reliable in use.