tapes!

  On 5/5/2013 at 12:32 AM, No Pomo said:

www.cicadashell.com

 

We have a ton of shit coming up later this summer (we hope)

really great sounds here!

I recently acquired a Thai cassette copy of ICBYD. I'm really loving "ACRID AVID JAM SWED" and "STARG AS YOU MEAN TO GOAN"

  On 5/26/2013 at 9:42 PM, vletrmx said:

I recently acquired a Thai cassette copy of ICBYD. I'm really loving "ACRID AVID JAM SWED" and "STARG AS YOU MEAN TO GOAN"

thai care because you sucky sucky five dolla

  On 5/25/2013 at 3:26 AM, jamesanderson said:

if anyone makes idm and wants me to release their music on cassette, get at me!

my new tape/record label. please spread the word. I'd love to get some amazing music out there.

 

www.confettihellgate.com

an empty wordpress theme is considered a label these days?

Bump:

After weeks of putting it off, I finally got my long-planned tape blog, Tape Escape!, up and running. First entry is a criminally obscure ambient album I found at a goodwill thrift store about a year ago. Soviet-era mixtape, Vietnamese pop compilation, and nifty homemade new age compilation to come next. Literally dozens, if not hundreds to come.

Check it out!

  On 5/29/2013 at 5:58 AM, roasty said:

 

  On 5/25/2013 at 3:26 AM, jamesanderson said:

if anyone makes idm and wants me to release their music on cassette, get at me!

my new tape/record label. please spread the word. I'd love to get some amazing music out there.

 

www.confettihellgate.com

an empty wordpress theme is considered a label these days?

 

There's a release there now (posted in August), really nice artowrk/design imo. Actual content is pretty noisey/experimental but it's tape and that's an apt format for such stuff.

id like to find a supplier out in the US that is not as backed up as National and can be trusted, I had a not so great experience with Cryptic Carousel out of Portland, the tapes came back fast but they were of such bad quality i couldn't release them, and thanks to Joshuatx, he gave me some good ideas on how to get the tapes wiped quickly and to dub them myself.

I'd like to find places that have good stocks of tape binders, 90+ minute tapes with custom lengths, J-card templates that aren't perforated, so that one would have to fold the j part themselves without relying on a semi-perforated piece of paper.

Also it would be awesome to find a place that can quickly knock out a custom tape shell of multiple colors with words printed on it.

any help in this area would be appreciated, i'm in california and don't have a reseller license so ideally somewhere outside of CA so i don't have to pay taxes, but since tape stuff is generally so cheap i guess it's not that big of a deal.

I just setup a rig in my studio with 7 stereo tape decks all recording simultaneously from the same computer source. I have to record them in real-time since I'm not doing duping, but I can make 7 tapes in an hour, and I just attend to it every hour during a normal day I can easily make about 35 full tapes per day. Took some trial and error getting the levels right for each one but it was worth it.

  On 1/31/2014 at 11:48 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

id like to find a supplier out in the US that is not as backed up as National and can be trusted, I had a not so great experience with Cryptic Carousel out of Portland, the tapes came back fast but they were of such bad quality i couldn't release them, and thanks to Joshuatx, he gave me some good ideas on how to get the tapes wiped quickly and to dub them myself.

 

I'd like to find places that have good stocks of tape binders, 90+ minute tapes with custom lengths, J-card templates that aren't perforated, so that one would have to fold the j part themselves without relying on a semi-perforated piece of paper.

 

Also it would be awesome to find a place that can quickly knock out a custom tape shell of multiple colors with words printed on it.

 

any help in this area would be appreciated, i'm in california and don't have a reseller license so ideally somewhere outside of CA so i don't have to pay taxes, but since tape stuff is generally so cheap i guess it's not that big of a deal.

 

I just setup a rig in my studio with 7 stereo tape decks all recording simultaneously from the same computer source. I have to record them in real-time since I'm not doing duping, but I can make 7 tapes in an hour, and I just attend to it every hour during a normal day I can easily make about 35 full tapes per day. Took some trial and error getting the levels right for each one but it was worth it.

Have you seen this place? No idea how reliable, etc. but comes up first on Google Search: http://www.m2com.com/audio.html

  On 1/31/2014 at 11:35 PM, joshuatx said:

Bump:

 

After weeks of putting it off, I finally got my long-planned tape blog, Tape Escape!, up and running. First entry is a criminally obscure ambient album I found at a goodwill thrift store about a year ago. Soviet-era mixtape, Vietnamese pop compilation, and nifty homemade new age compilation to come next. Literally dozens, if not hundreds to come.

Check it out!

Fucking bookmarked! <2

  On 2/1/2014 at 12:04 AM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 1/31/2014 at 11:48 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

id like to find a supplier out in the US that is not as backed up as National and can be trusted, I had a not so great experience with Cryptic Carousel out of Portland, the tapes came back fast but they were of such bad quality i couldn't release them, and thanks to Joshuatx, he gave me some good ideas on how to get the tapes wiped quickly and to dub them myself.

 

I'd like to find places that have good stocks of tape binders, 90+ minute tapes with custom lengths, J-card templates that aren't perforated, so that one would have to fold the j part themselves without relying on a semi-perforated piece of paper.

 

Also it would be awesome to find a place that can quickly knock out a custom tape shell of multiple colors with words printed on it.

 

any help in this area would be appreciated, i'm in california and don't have a reseller license so ideally somewhere outside of CA so i don't have to pay taxes, but since tape stuff is generally so cheap i guess it's not that big of a deal.

 

I just setup a rig in my studio with 7 stereo tape decks all recording simultaneously from the same computer source. I have to record them in real-time since I'm not doing duping, but I can make 7 tapes in an hour, and I just attend to it every hour during a normal day I can easily make about 35 full tapes per day. Took some trial and error getting the levels right for each one but it was worth it.

Have you seen this place? No idea how reliable, etc. but comes up first on Google Search: http://www.m2com.com/audio.html

Minimum order of 250 is a lot to take on for most cassette labels out there, I would think. Now if they could do 100, I'd probably bite...

yeah minimum order of 250 is kind of a no-go for me. but i'm open to any places that do professional quality small batches. I don't even need the actual content duplicated, just the tape shells and graphics and the option for good long length tapes like 90 mins, 120 mins.

John, I'd browse ebay for "tape lots" and you might come across a good deal. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-30-77-Minute-Blank-White-Cassette-Tapes-NEW-/191047426859?pt=US_Audio_Tapes&hash=item2c7b50632b

These seem to be in stock perpetually: http://www.ebay.com/itm/GX-60-Blank-Voice-Grade-Normal-Bias-SKU-Audio-Cassettes-in-a-100-Lot-A0-1BS060-/330695446464?pt=US_Audio_Tapes&hash=item4cfefc0fc0

NAC has blank white tapes for 20 cents. Are their non-duplicated tapes backed up? I haven't ordered new un-dubbed tapes from them yet.

http://www.deltamedia.com/ comes to mind for new tapes w/out duplication

http://www.tapes.com/

Lot of new stock but it's UK/overseas: http://tapeline.info/v2/

^Yet to order anything like this online so far, I've acquired all my new blanks via craigslist in Austin, including from a guy who had leftover tapes from his label before they switched to NAC.

You might try seeing if any local craigslist postings are out there, churches and digitizing service places in particular might have "new old stock" of tapes.

  On 2/1/2014 at 12:14 AM, malaria said:

 

  On 1/31/2014 at 11:35 PM, joshuatx said:

Bump:

 

After weeks of putting it off, I finally got my long-planned tape blog, Tape Escape!, up and running. First entry is a criminally obscure ambient album I found at a goodwill thrift store about a year ago. Soviet-era mixtape, Vietnamese pop compilation, and nifty homemade new age compilation to come next. Literally dozens, if not hundreds to come.

Check it out!

 

Fucking bookmarked! <2

 

 

  On 1/31/2014 at 11:48 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

I just setup a rig in my studio with 7 stereo tape decks all recording simultaneously from the same computer source. I have to record them in real-time since I'm not doing duping, but I can make 7 tapes in an hour, and I just attend to it every hour during a normal day I can easily make about 35 full tapes per day. Took some trial and error getting the levels right for each one but it was worth it.

Dude, this is so rad, 1x speed is what tape audiophiles live by. Your method is as good as it gets really, way superior than those duplication machines or dubbing 2x with duals. My goal is to get a similar setup, maybe with some new Tascams (they have dual wells that can dub two tapes in one machine)

  On 2/1/2014 at 2:00 AM, joshuatx said:

John, I'd browse ebay for "tape lots" and you might come across a good deal. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-30-77-Minute-Blank-White-Cassette-Tapes-NEW-/191047426859?pt=US_Audio_Tapes&hash=item2c7b50632b

 

These seem to be in stock perpetually: http://www.ebay.com/itm/GX-60-Blank-Voice-Grade-Normal-Bias-SKU-Audio-Cassettes-in-a-100-Lot-A0-1BS060-/330695446464?pt=US_Audio_Tapes&hash=item4cfefc0fc0

 

NAC has blank white tapes for 20 cents. Are their non-duplicated tapes backed up? I haven't ordered new un-dubbed tapes from them yet.

 

http://www.deltamedia.com/ comes to mind for new tapes w/out duplication

 

http://www.tapes.com/

 

Lot of new stock but it's UK/overseas: http://tapeline.info/v2/

 

^Yet to order anything like this online so far, I've acquired all my new blanks via craigslist in Austin, including from a guy who had leftover tapes from his label before they switched to NAC.

 

You might try seeing if any local craigslist postings are out there, churches and digitizing service places in particular might have "new old stock" of tapes.

i've been doing it this way so far actually with decent luck, mostly just ebay. I grabbed the 'aerospace deadstock' 3m 120 minute sealed tape-lot on there for Delta Quadrant, nice tape shells with a crosshatch pattern on it. Delta media is where i got the custom wind 94 minute tapes (the highest length they offer) for purple and blue tape shells. If you know of any places besides national that do a quick custom tape shell design like text/graphics printed on the actual shell with lots of color options let me know. Cryptic out of Portland offers this, but I hesitate to use them again

edit: thanks for all the help on this by the way!

I've used http://www.m2com.com/audio.html in the past and was pleased despite their 250 minimum. I'm going to be using these guys for my future venture: http://nactape.com/anablog/ They have a 50 minimum... but doesn't cost much difference getting 100.

  On 2/1/2014 at 2:18 AM, joshuatx said:

Dude, this is so rad, 1x speed is what tape audiophiles live by. Your method is as good as it gets really, way superior than those duplication machines or dubbing 2x with duals. My goal is to get a similar setup, maybe with some new Tascams (they have dual wells that can dub two tapes in one machine)

 

Oxymoron?

  On 2/2/2014 at 4:32 AM, SPD² said:

 

  On 2/1/2014 at 2:18 AM, joshuatx said:

Dude, this is so rad, 1x speed is what tape audiophiles live by. Your method is as good as it gets really, way superior than those duplication machines or dubbing 2x with duals. My goal is to get a similar setup, maybe with some new Tascams (they have dual wells that can dub two tapes in one machine)

 

 

Oxymoron?

 

Niche group, mostly stereo nuts who buy Nakamichi decks and vintage blank hi-fi tapes on ebay as a vice, but they exist: http://tapeheads.net/

But I admit, it's essentially a contradiction when it comes to compact cassettes. But "tape" also includes the stubborn few who laud reel-to-reel analog recording.

  On 1/31/2014 at 11:35 PM, joshuatx said:

Bump:

 

After weeks of putting it off, I finally got my long-planned tape blog, Tape Escape!, up and running. First entry is a criminally obscure ambient album I found at a goodwill thrift store about a year ago. Soviet-era mixtape, Vietnamese pop compilation, and nifty homemade new age compilation to come next. Literally dozens, if not hundreds to come.

Check it out!

Yo Josh! Will you be blogging about recent things as well or will you be posting mostly about the rare finds?

  On 2/2/2014 at 6:09 AM, QBLA said:

 

  On 1/31/2014 at 11:35 PM, joshuatx said:

Bump:

 

After weeks of putting it off, I finally got my long-planned tape blog, Tape Escape!, up and running. First entry is a criminally obscure ambient album I found at a goodwill thrift store about a year ago. Soviet-era mixtape, Vietnamese pop compilation, and nifty homemade new age compilation to come next. Literally dozens, if not hundreds to come.

Check it out!

Yo Josh! Will you be blogging about recent things as well or will you be posting mostly about the rare finds?

 

Rare/unusual finds is the focus, but I might have "round up" reviews of new tapes every couple weeks. Hopefully with a new job in the coming weeks (fingers crossed) I can get some spending money for new tapes.

My collection of tapes is mostly old stuff at the moment, I'm going to scan and digitize them on my days off or in the evenings and hopefully post one every day or so. I have 300+ or so easily that qualify my blogs description.

That said, I follow a few tape review blogs and cassette sties via twitter and facebook, I can compile a list if you want. Tape labels are a very friendly community, part of the reason I like the format!

okokokok i'm in!

can someone plz recommend me a good cassette double-deck player/recorder with a noise reduction feature? (second hand, of course)

actually, i doesn't have to be double-decked

phenks!

A deck with Dolby B, C, and/or dba is a good bet. Older decks have only Dolby NR and maybe filters for ferric, chrome, and metal (type I, II, IV respectively). Basically noise reduction depends on the tape itself: for example a tape with recorded with "Dolby B" will sound ideal with a deck using Dolby B noise reduction selected.

Honestly, noise reduction through digitization and editing is far more flexible.

Nakamichi, Teac, Akai, etc from the 80s are sure bets, but there are plenty of good brands. 3 head decks are generally better but uncommon. Just avoid department store brands or those decks built in boomboxes/bookshelf systems. Check belts bu testing functions and give it a good clean.

If you can, check these sites to see if it's a well-regarded deck.

http://tapeheads.net/

http://www.audiokarma.org/

LOL I'm starting to remember metal tapes.

thnx joshuatx!