Cassette Tapes

[NDA]

jmorgan said:

Anyone else try to record top of the flops on a portable with the mic dangles over the TV speaker.......

Not just tried. Did.

Also the top 30 countdown on FM radio..... Finger on pause button. I was an expert!

[captainzep]

jmorgan said:

Anyone else try to record top of the flops on a portable with the mic dangles over the TV speaker.......

Sort of.

-Wanted Airwolf theme tune to playback whilst orchestrating airborne combat with Airfix models. So recorded with microphone one Saturday afternoon.

• Random point* -Never realised the Airwolf theme writer Sylvester Le Vay ripped off Kraftwerk so obviously until I listened to Trans Europe Express.

[castex]

robsa said:

Yes, cassette quality did vary considerably. I remember paying about £5 each for TDK metal cassettes - which were actually made of metal! They had clear plastic panels each side with a solid metal chassis.

Ah yes, the fabulous MAX-G90. I used to save up for these and positively sniffed at SA's. Yes I know, I was a proper little saddo.

[Evangelion]

NDA said:

jmorgan said:

Anyone else try to record top of the flops on a portable with the mic dangles over the TV speaker.......

Not just tried. Did.

Also the top 30 countdown on FM radio..... Finger on pause button. I was an expert!

Ah, the old pause-button editing. I used to use it to remove the bits I didn't like, and extend or repeat the ones I did like. Became rather adept at that.

[BlueMR2]

Dr Interceptor said:

Even still have the original remote control which when you press the volume control makes the motorised volume knob on the stereo rotate - I still think that's

My Arcam amp does that, its newer than 87/88 though :lol.

[jmorgan]

BlueMR2 said:

Dr Interceptor said:

Even still have the original remote control which when you press the volume control makes the motorised volume knob on the stereo rotate - I still think that's

My Arcam amp does that, its newer than 87/88 though :lol.

My Sony CD does that as well. And a little led blinks as it moves. Probably 90's vintage. Cannot remember when I bought it.

[New POD]

Just bought the wife a 51 reg MINI with a 6 disc changer in the boot, but attached to a proper OE spec radio cassette player.

I went to the back of the garage, and got my 2 boxes of tapes, found a pirate copy of Echo and the Bunnymen, and made sure it works. Yes indeed.

[Mark34bn]

True Audiophiles used these, that's what I told myself every time I handed over £5+ for one!

[Evangelion]

Now that's what I call a cassette!

I don't remember ever using any of these - I probably didn't at a fiver a throw!

Genuinely worth it ... or just marketing hype?

[Elderly]

Back in the day, my 582Z was excellent
Sold that recently but have kept a less expensive Nakamichi
for the one time in every three years I put on a cassette.

[Mark34bn]

Evangelion said:

Now that's what I call a cassette!

I don't remember ever using any of these - I probably didn't at a fiver a throw!

Genuinely worth it ... or just marketing hype?

They did sound pretty darned good

[NDA]

Elderly said:

Back in the day, my 582Z was excellent
Sold that recently but have kept a less expensive Nakamichi
for the one time in every three years I put on a cassette.

My hearing is pretty pants these days with bad tinnitus.... But I'd be interested to hear how you would compare the Nakamichi to a decent lossless MP3 or Flac (bearing in mind there's not reall supposed to be a 'decent MP3!).

[Itsallicanafford]

...hey, I listen to tapes in my MX-5, it's got the original clarion tape deck and I sounds pretty good through the 2 speakers, although it's always fighting a loosing battle to be heard above the general car noise...I only listen to tapes released during its year of manufacture, which I am not sure is odd or not? Anyway, 1995 was a good year!

[minimalist]

jmorgan said:

Anyone else try to record top of the flops on a portable with the mic dangles over the TV speaker.......

I never did that but when I was about ten or twelve, my brother and I would phone a local radio station which played requests. We would then sit with a finger hovering over the pause button waiting to release the recording tape. This was the only way we had to acquire music as our parents had no real interest. Getting them to buy a "two-in-one" radio cassette was a major thing.

When I was about fifteen and had my first part-time job, I got really into portable cassette players. I had a few fancy AIWAs, Panasonics and Sonys which were barely larger than a cassette. My pride was a limited edition AIWA which was gold coloured. Ah, memories.

[McGraw]

When I was about 14/15 (90/91) I started getting into dance music and used to listen to the 808 State show on Sunset 102.

It was on from 10-1 on a Tuesday night and I didn't want to stay up that late on a school night recording it and I didn't want the adverts either.

So, I connected my Dad's B&O tuner/double cassette unit to his Panasonic VHS Recorder with jog/shuttle and audio record level and recorded it to VHS each Tuesday night.

The next night I listened to it back and recorded it back to tape, without the ads. I lent them to my mate and I still think he has a few of them.

I liked decent tapes and tried to get what I could with my pocket money. The quality was pretty good really.

[Morningside]

NDA said:

jmorgan said:

Anyone else try to record top of the flops on a portable with the mic dangles over the TV speaker.......

Not just tried. Did.

Also the top 30 countdown on FM radio..... Finger on pause button. I was an expert!

I recorded an episode of Scooby Doo as we could not afford a video recorder.

It was not the same with just audio

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Recently read an interview with Julian Lloyd Webber. He still uses an old 70/80s radio cassette recorder. He says that if a melody pops into his head, nothing better has been invented for instant switch on and record. Just press the button and hum the melody.

He may be right, I have a voice recorder on my phone but I have to go thru about 5 menus to find it.

I had a Hitachi cassette deck back in the day. It was no Nakamichi but I don't recall it being that awful.

[Wozy68]

I miss cassettes, my old car still has its top of the range head unit in it back from it was built in 1993.
Dolby s did a decent job of getting rid of the hiss.
Later recording separates did a pretty good job at recording and play back from either cd or vinyl IMO

[mcflurry]

Whilst looking on dx.com I came across a cassette to sd card adaptor - About £8 and you can play your mp3s on a 1970s to 1990s car stereo


http://dx.com/p/cassette-adapter-mp3-player-for-ca...

(no connection etc)

[Mousem40]

I also have a Nakamichi and still use it to play my old TDK 'metal' tapes.

A friend came over and laughed his head off until I blind played him a track on a CD, then my tape recording off vinyl, and asked him which was which, he couldn't tell. In fact I think he preferred the tape recording but didn't want to risk being laughed at.