Tape is fun, but super impractical.

The real dope underground cooler than you shit is all done on wax cylinder these days...

Could always do 2xLSDJ and then pan each instrument so that I get 4 separate outputs. Any better ideas?

arlen wrote:

I'm not really stoked about spending $200 on a busted tape machine, but for some reason a lot of people online think that's what their junk is worth unfortunately.

This.
Find a working unit in good shape that don't cost a crazy amount of cash it seem not simply

I'd probably go for recording it into a DAW first, and then record directly as stereo output onto a blank tape. That might not be the most lofi way to do things, but would still give some of the tape aesthetic. Cheaper too...

Recording a 4 channel pure cassette release would be pretty cool mind you.

I'm not really stoked about spending $200 on a busted tape machine, but for some reason a lot of people online think that's what their junk is worth unfortunately.

This.
Find a working unit in good shape that don't cost a crazy amount of cash it seem not simply

I've thought about doing a cassette release for my (non-chip) band for years, but the reality is that I don't even own a cassette player, and don't know anybody that does - so it would be more for the pure hell of doing it than being of much use to anybody at all.

Cassettes are dope, do it for the the love of tape, if not anything else! I still prefer a car with a cassette deck over a CD Player. CDs are gay.

RatShack wrote:

I was thinking of doing a cassette release recently.

Geez, I thought blank cassettes would be cheaper.  Might need to buy some guy's tape collection to reuse.

For blank cassettes I'd check places like salvation army and thrift stores. Sometimes you can find a few packs of unopened tapes.

As for a release, I'd try to get as many of the same blank tape as you can just for consistency. Buying someone's collection would probably not be cheaper. Honestly if you want to put out a cassette release I'd talk to some cassette labels out there. There are plenty and chances are there might be one near you. Most of those guys are pretty cool and will answer questions better than I can.

I've been waiting for a cheap 4 track to pop up around me that isn't a pile of junk just to add some flavor to my stuff. I'm not really stoked about spending $200 on a busted tape machine, but for some reason a lot of people online think that's what their junk is worth unfortunately.

You can also use commercially released cassettes from back in the day. You just have to put some duct tape over the two empty tabs on top of the cassette. This disengages the write protect mechanism, allowing you to record over whatever was on there to begin with.

I've bought loads of cheap sets of books on tape, like ten tapes at a time, for a few cents, and then used the above method to record over them. There are plenty of pristine copies of "Prairie Home Companion" tapes just laying around at every thrift store to supply at least one or two DIY label releases.

I was thinking of doing a cassette release recently.

Geez, I thought blank cassettes would be cheaper.  Might need to buy some guy's tape collection to reuse.

For blank cassettes I'd check places like salvation army and thrift stores. Sometimes you can find a few packs of unopened tapes.

As for a release, I'd try to get as many of the same blank tape as you can just for consistency. Buying someone's collection would probably not be cheaper. Honestly if you want to put out a cassette release I'd talk to some cassette labels out there. There are plenty and chances are there might be one near you. Most of those guys are pretty cool and will answer questions better than I can.

I've been waiting for a cheap 4 track to pop up around me that isn't a pile of junk just to add some flavor to my stuff. I'm not really stoked about spending $200 on a busted tape machine, but for some reason a lot of people online think that's what their junk is worth unfortunately.

Geez, I thought blank cassettes would be cheaper.  Might need to buy some guy's tape collection to reuse.

Sorry for the necro-bump, but I'm thinkin' of startin' to record my noises on cassette and I need some advices, so:

What do I need in order to produce my cassette from start to finish?

I mean, I'm just searching for a 4-track recorder (which one do you choose?), then I will need a tape deck in order to create my "master" cassette and then duplicate it, etc

So, are there any cassette nerds here?
I want to know your production techniques and then start my own cassette label! (maybe)

The recorder kind of depends on what you're planning to do. I'm going to assume you're using LSDJ. Are you recording each separate channel into its own channel on the recorder's mixer and then mixing the levels/EQing on there? Or are you just pluggin the 'boy in and playing your whole song into just one channel?

If it's the first, look for something with enough channels for what you're going for. If it's the latter it'll be cheaper since there are plenty of cheap 2 channel cassette recorders out there. More channels = more sought after and more expensive typically. In terms of brands and what to look for I'd say the hierarchy goes something like Teac > Tascam > Yamaha > Fostex. Teac and Tascam being the best, Yamaha being pretty good, Fostex being ok at best.

Uh for the label business that's a bit different. How DIY are you? You can buy a cassette duplicator, but they're usually like $300-$400 I think? There might be some cheaper ones out there and its possible to find a deal on craigslist, but i don't know.

Your other option for doing a release would be to have a third party dupe the master to cassettes for you. This is what my friend who runs a record label does. I forget what company they use for tape releases exactly. Cost probably varies for this.

Hopefully this clears some stuff up for you? I like tapes.