Comments on: Cassette playa: in praise of tapes

By: Patrik

Patrik — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:24:00 +0000

Analogue is a lot of work to make sound good. But it easily beats CD, not to mention mp3 which sounds awful in comparison (it sounds unoffensive but not not in a realistic and engaging way). I’m recording an LP by Pretenders onto tape as I type this (onto a Tandberg 3014). Portable playback is with a Sony WM-DC6 which kicks ass and drives real headphones properly. To make the digital revolution even worse producers/mixers have compressed all life out of the music in the “loudness war”.. Awful! (Note: I have done it all: CD, mp3, FLAC, Squeezebox, SACD, DVD Audio.)

By: Alexskinnertosh123456

Alexskinnertosh123456 — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 15:52:00 +0000

Check out :http://soundcloud.com/pussy-foot
this guy uses all tapes to make throw back dance music. pretty great and strangly nostalgic

By: Tapetronic

Tapetronic — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:13:00 +0000

and now this is TAPETRONIC !!!

http://www.alexismalbert.com/

By: Tales for Tapes in Berlin (again) | Rinus van Alebeek

Tales for Tapes in Berlin (again) | Rinus van Alebeek — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:19:54 +0000

[...] will be the sixth edition of a series started by Anton Mobin in Berlin. Links to articles (1, 2, 3) on the audio cassette were posted recently on the cassette culture group . Also a link to a [...]

By: An Example | Das Kleine Field Recordings Festival

An Example | Das Kleine Field Recordings Festival — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:13:51 +0000

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:22:48 +0000

Also, forgot to rebut your statement about digital audio being a synthesizer and analogue being real sound. First of all, by definition it is an 'analog' of the original sound. It's not the original sound. Digital audio information is quantized but it still constructs an analogue signal coming out of your speakers because obviously our ears are analog. You can use simplified, shallow analogies but if it is just the synthesizers interpretation, it's an interpretation far more detailed then the analog formats interpretation (note, still an interpretation).

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:16:00 +0000

That’s absolutely ridiculous. Digital audio has much higher resolution then analog audio including cassettes. It has nothing to do with Bias and gated out? Do you even know what you’re talking about? Actually those subtle harmonics are lost on tape because the signal to noise ratio is atrocious, looking at 60 db dynamic range as the best of the best whereas the noise floor is so low on a compact disc that the air sound in a studio is actually louder. The average cassette player will has poor frequency response too, 15hz-15khz. If you spend a tonne of money you can get it up to cd standards but you’ve still got to worry about wow and the afforementioned dynamic range issues. I’ve heard a lot of people make the case for tapes because they’re cheaper (incorrect), have a nice tactile feel (nothing to do with music), force you to listen to the whole album (ADD, not anything to do with music) but to try and make a case that an audio format even worse sounding then vinyl beats digital audio is just silly.

By: CEDUPZ

CEDUPZ — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:23:30 +0000

Crank up Victrola is also making a comeback! this is all absolute BS, nonsense.

By: alexander m.

alexander m. — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:09:32 +0000

"Giving up my iPod for a week" (BBC)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8117619.stm

By: alexander m.

alexander m. — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:08:15 +0000

I think it's more about nostalgia for the physical object, than any possible case for the sound quality (which was derrrr-eadful in most scenarios). We're now surrounded by music, can hear tracks before the labels that have “paid” for them have even given them the nod, and music has become a kind of knowledge-sport rather than a slow burning of excitement surprise and enjoyment. How many bands are sort of all buzzed out in the 10 months between first Yuksek remix appearance on a blog and actual “album out” status is achieved. Maybe we need a slow-music movement – which cassettes would be perfect for – batteries on a walkman amounted to about 4-5 album repeats before going back down the shops. Plus you can only carry about 10 before it gets to a luggage issue…

But the sound quality was pants, particularly once they'd been through your parents' car cassette player – or 96kbps stereo as we know it now – all swooshy hi-hats and gargling vocals…