Sites to buy audio cassettes?

Asher · Post by **Asher** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:00 am

I've seen that some of you guys do tape recording and stuff. Do you guys know of any good places to get audio cassettes, where you could possibly customize the length of the tape?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 7:02 pm

here's my advice for getting the best quality recording on cassette recorders: you want brand name. like maxell, TDK, memorex, etc. you want the shortest tape. the long tapes they use thinner tape that isn't as good and the recording speed is uneven because the recorder has to pull such a large reel. also check the manual for your tape machine to see what kind of tape it's supposed to use. TASCAM uses Type II High Bias.

broomhandle · Post by **broomhandle** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:09 pm

really? no joke? cassettes?

Al_ · Post by **Al_** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:29 pm

haha, yeah. There's a label (Burger Records) up in OC that is releasing cassettes. Our very own SerfX just sent me one as well.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:36 pm

you can have all these for free if you want:

broomhandle · Post by **broomhandle** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:47 pm

just go to a goodwill and get a ton, punch the tabs, and you have cassettes. it would be cool to hand out a cassette and say, here is our music. and its paula abdul or something....

broomhandle · Post by **broomhandle** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:49 pm

and, how would one listen to a cassette? the last place i had a tape deck was in my car like 5 years ago.

Al_ · Post by **Al_** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:06 am

I've got a dual well one down in the studio; plus my daughters have a Hello Kitty boom box that has both a CD and cassette player.

broomhandle · Post by **broomhandle** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:23 am

but who else do you know that has one?

i guess it depends on what you are doing with them...

Al_ · Post by **Al_** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:28 am

My wife also has one in her 2008 Volvo station wagon. Don't really know who else of my friends have them; but if there's a label releasing them, it's got to be a fair number.

broomhandle · Post by **broomhandle** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:38 am

I think Cassettes died with VHS, and soon to be CD and DVD's....

if you want new ones, try like ebay or something. if your looking on just doing budget recording, just get a digital handhend recorder or something. or if by some chance you have a iphone or computer. better yet.

Al_ · Post by **Al_** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:42 am

There's actually a mini-resurgence of people recording on casette based 4-tracks. Something about the limitation and that lo-fi, analog goodness.

broomhandle · Post by **broomhandle** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:45 am

well, i have to agree with that. its got that not over produced and fake sound....

i try and achive that with the computer, buts just not the same.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:08 am

Al_ wrote:There's actually a mini-resurgence of people recording on casette based 4-tracks. Something about the limitation and that lo-fi, analog goodness.

my band's first album was recorded on a 4 track cassette player. i liked the way it turned out. wish my car still had a cassette player, always dug making mix tapes.

Al_ · Post by **Al_** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:30 am

Yep, that was my first rig. Recorded a bunch of stuff on that thing. Still have it in fact.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:32 am

SHORTSCALEGEARDEMOS TO THE FUCKING RESCUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[youtube][/youtube]

Al_ · Post by **Al_** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:40 am

Yeah buddy! And WTG recording forum! This place hasn't been this lively in like forever. Strong work broomhandle!

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:48 pm

i got a whole fucking huge box of old tapes. i never got rid of them. just like i won't sell my 500 or so CD's that are just sitting on a shelf doing nothing. fuck that. these things were all part of my childhood.

zzounds.com has been pushing this Zion usb walkman this week on its front page. looks neat. and costs less than what i used to pay for my old walk mans after i fucking destroyed the headphone jacks on them getting crushed by books in my school backpacks.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--IONTAPEXH

i could have sold 100's of these little things in the mens department at Lord and Taylor this christmas for gifts

James · Post by **James** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:17 pm

Presumably you are recording to a 4 track? I spent a while using one a few years back and mostly remember the stuff I learnt about what type of tapes to use. You might already know all this but if not it's worth knowing because it will help you narrow down what you're looking to buy.

- Because you're using both sides of the stereo tape to turn side L, side 1 R, side 2 L and side 2 R into tracks 1,2,3,4 you have half the length of the tape available to you if you run it at normal speed. So a 90 minute tape yields 45 minutes of recording time.
- You're better off recording at double speed if you have the option, though it halves the available time again.
- 90 minute tapes are thinner than 60 and under, so aim to use a 60 minute tape at the longest though any shorter length (as long as the recording duration is long enough of course is fine too).
- Type I tapes are far more readily available, but Type II are supposedly higher fidelity. I think the difference is that Type I are iron/ferrous based and Type II are chrome (or at least advertised as chrome).

So in summary, use Type II tapes with a maximum duration of 60 minutes recording at double speed.

To answer the question you actually asked, I haven't a clue where to buy them. I was searching recently for some tapes like I described and did come across a website that made tapes to order and you could specify the duration. It probably wouldn't be too hard to find if you base your searches on type II tapes.

James · Post by **James** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:35 pm

James wrote:I was searching recently for some tapes like I described and did come across a website that made tapes to order and you could specify the duration. It probably wouldn't be too hard to find if you base your searches on type II tapes.

http://www.deltamedia.com/products/type ... -bulk.html

Pretty sure that was it. I'm not recommending them because I haven't dealt with them at all and didn't check how the prices were, just pointing them out as an option for custom length tapes.