A Short Film About Cassettes - You Need To Hear This

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Though the advent of CD and MP3 inevitably replaced its significance, the last few years have seen the cassette tape make an unexpected comeback. In the first of three short films, 'You Need To Hear This' celebrate its invention by meeting up with Jen Long, founder of cassette-only record label Kissability, and Brian Shimkovitz, DJ and founder of blog Awesome Tapes From Africa, to explore what drives their enduring love for the cassette tape.
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Featuring song "Eastern Connection" by Don't Wait Animate
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[@fueledbymusic3]

I still have my 500 cassette collection as of now 2016. Had them since the 80's. Ranging from 1981-1990. Mostly recorded blanks

[@alex.c.pulickal]

Man i know you. I watched you old videos. I love it. I will be good if you do a video on your cassette collection.

[@stephenlynch5143]

Definitely

[@stephenlynch5143]

I'm wanting to hear these recordings B great and absolutely fantastic to hear Peace

[@bailey9947]

I'm 14 and I love cassettes! I got a used deck and receiver from an indoor flea market recently and I've been nonstop making mixtapes!

[@sherriemcclaren9302]

I always loved cassettes. So easy and immediate....and portable!

[@Mikexception]

+Sherrie McClaren And that is aso my opinion that cassettes are most brillant invention taking balance of all requirements for comsumer application. Actual technology of their production is at top of all times. Sadly that new cassette recorders are problem.

[@rajeshbhilale2862]

Sdyg

[@wildbilltexas]

It's cool that another generation has discovered cassettes and having fun making them like I did when I was a teenager and college student in the 80's. I still have a big collection. But they will always be a collectors niche format like VHS/Beta video tape, Reel to Reel and 8-track.

[@JonnyInfinite]

There's record labels releasing albums on 3.5" FLOPPY DISKS now, can you out hipster that??

[@megabojan1993]

+JonnyInfinite I've tried recording music on Floppy Disks. You can fit only one song on one disk and it is in WMA format using the Windows Profesional 10 audio codec and I select 32kbps 32kHz for the long songs and 48kbps 44kHz for the short ones. Works like a charm :)

[@JonnyInfinite]

+MegaBojan1993 these are whole albums. I'd best your effort by going 16 kbps mono AAC at 22.05 kHz

[@megabojan1993]

***** At those settings the music will sound like crap :)

[@JonnyInfinite]

+MegaBojan1993 yeah, but you're putting music on a floppy disc. If you want fidelity use a CD.

[@megabojan1993]

***** Might I ask what's the point of putting a whole album on a floppy disks?

[@MauricioJara]

Here's a plus side (No pun intended): After you finished listening to an album, you can have something look back to.

[@simonthebison]

I loved it when my walkman was running out of batteries as a little kid - and the music and voices would slow down like they were melting or something. Was hilarious. Then you hit stop for a few minutes, then press play again, and got another 5 minutes of playtime! hahaha.

[@GuyVelella]

With the right cassette and the right recording equipment, it will sound better than any CD.

[@hjyuihyuihyuihnjyuih]

E R.A. Hey, I have the Dolby NR feature on my cassette player, however, I am not sure what is the use of it. I have read about it. What I understood is, you use dolby NR option to play a cassette only if the cassette was recorded with Dolby NR option turned on. Am I right ? I tried and Found out when I play a commercial cassette, that the Dolby NR option removes some background hiss or noise but I feel like the sound also lose some of its "power" or "attack" maybe. What do you think ?

[@hjyuihyuihyuihnjyuih]

E R.A. on wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system it says if you play a cassette recorded with dolby NR B without the functionality it is ok, whereas with dolby C it is bad. I have B and C on my cassette deck. I only found one tape on my collection which have the Dolby Double D Symbol. It's the Cotton Club Original Motion Picture Sound Track. But I find it weird when i turn Dolby NR B on, I mean I'm not sure I like it better, of course all the hiss goes out but then all the atmosphere disappears, the singing voice sounds different I think. I have another Jean Louis Murat cassete with Dolby but then all my other cassette which are either from turkey india or us hiphop or localbands don't have any Dolby mention

[@hjyuihyuihyuihnjyuih]

E R.A. i found a cleaning AGFA cassette so i will try it. Also i tried the dolby nr b on the jean louis murrat cassette it gives agood sound to it

[@hjyuihyuihyuihnjyuih]

hjyuihyuihyuihnjyuih but all in all i find it too complicated, i would not use dolby nr to record cassettes as the people whom i sell it or giv it too would not know about it. Also i don't have a problem with a little hiss.

[@hjyuihyuihyuihnjyuih]

E R.A. but i record my cassettes from cd to cassette because i found out recording from tape to tape loses quality

[@GLASSB182]

Any punks with cassettes here!

[@MihaiGradin]

MEEEEE!!! :)

[@paganwinter4759]

UK82!!!

[@RetroAP]

I have quite a few cassettes from a few local punk bands from the early 80s that never got big. I doubt they even have copies of their music.

[@RetroAP]

Most of them were just teenagers that were doing it just for the fuck of it.

[@zombies3802]

Ayyy my dude

[@LandonBalk]

Basically all I got from this was that tapes 'don't sound that great, but have a certain charm about them.' Which is obvious if you're at all experienced with, or grew up with tape. I wish this video would go deeper than the nostalgia.

[@Beetlemuse]

Long Live The Cassette!

[@sambee8982]

Tapes have been my fashion since my childhood and always will be, that's why I never give up on them. I of course do have CDs too, but cassettes will never go out of fashion to me, I don't care what people say about it being outdated and CDs and MP3s being the modern era today, I'm never gonna give up on my tapes!

[@cars654]

Sam Bee I have cassettes that are 30 years old that sound just as good as the day they were recorded. I also have CDs and CDrs that are only 10 years old that will no longer play. Have 4 cassette decks that still work great. LONG LIVE CASSETTES.

[@timmadone8930]

Sam Bee What? Are cd's & MP3's still considered modern in 2015? LOL

[@timmadone8930]

Cars That's great to hear. I have a Burt Bacharach cassette from 1966 & it still plays fine. I guess depending on the kind of tape used, & the condition of the player & the conditions in which the cassette is stored, it can last a very long time. lol

[@johnnygarcia5715]

You same as me I like it.

[@megabojan1993]

The only thing I hate about cassettes is the rewinding.

[@Vebinz]

+MegaBojan1993 Yeah, but on the other hand it forced you to listen to a whole album you just bought, instead of fast-forwarding to the known singles.

[@megabojan1993]

Vebinz That's right. Cassettes had a charm in them that CD's and digital doesn't have. That's why I recently bought a good second-hand cassette deck. I missed my cassettes.

[@SamuelBlues]

+MegaBojan1993 I never rewind, I listen to the other side :D

[@megabojan1993]

Samuel Blues I used a rigged broken down cassette deck that was able to rewind a whole 90 minute tape in just 30 seconds for my rewinding. I stopped using it because I later found out that it was damaging my tapes :)

[@SamuelBlues]

+MegaBojan1993 hahaha! Awesome! :D

[@cardtrix1970]

What a "cool", uplifting video. It...made my day watching this. And...I agree with the comment(or)right below mine; With a upper-tier cassette deck and upper-tier("Metal")tape, an exceptional sounding recording can be made. Oh, & the recording levels properly adjusted/monitored.

[@UrOpinionsSucc]

Using Bias and Calibration of course! Even a type 1 tape can sound just as good as a chrome. (The double coated type 1's.) I have a rare TDK D-SX and the hiss? Is nearly gone by default and can handle high recording levels.

[@Doomanoid1979]

I quite like, like this video but i don't really like, like how she keeps on like saying like, like all the like time. Like.

[@freednb]

i fucking hate people who like say like all the time

[@zacharynewman4852]

do you say "um" or "uh" ?

[@sidplimmer9536]

@@freednb I fucking hate people who criticise passionate people for irrelevant shit on the internet

[@clementiuspoplicola5825]

@@sidplimmer9536 yes

[@rooty]

She says 'like' every other word. I think this is what I sound like. Got to put a stop to that.

[@v-g-z3689]

My teacher, who was quite strict but very good once said: "Stop abusing the word 'like'. Whenever you wanna say 'like', just think of the word 'dog'. 'So I was dog'... 'and he was dog'... .Does that sound odd? You see?" He was very right.

[@GhostProducer]

It's not the sound that is amazing about tapes, it's the energy. I'm very glad people are coming back to this spiritual medium.

[@111highgh]

RIP Lou Ottens.

[@CJRanes]

"it doesnt sound great, but i feel like it has like a certain charm, a certain quality" because thats what i look for when purchasing music. Excuse me, do you have this in a format thats extremely temporary and sounds worse but makes me feel nostalgic? All i want is to have someone siphon money from me via pandering to my weak longing for a simpler time.

[@Bricklinsv1970]

I still have all my tapes all the way from the early 90s! Theres something to be said about the tape! I love listening to cassette tape more than any other format!

[@Trance88]

Cassettes themselves to me are interesting. It's actually the players that I believe are ridiculously cumbersome and frustrating. You've gotta spend A LOT of money to find a decent quality player.

[@shutthefuckupdonny99]

Not necessarily. I just found a Pioneer f500 at the local record store for 8 dollars. Meters light up and everything. You can get a new califone for about 15 and wire it into your stereo. Decent quality is a very ambiguous term. The hardware is what it is, and the fidelity will always suck balls, but cassettes are rugged, portable and cheap. That is the ONLY reason they ever existed anyway.

[@nike6rider41]

shutthefuckupdonny99 Emerson makes a good one to.

[@Slightlyevil]

Trance88 Found a kyocera deck at Goodwill for 7$. Kyocera (Yes the cell phone makers) made some top shelf audio gear in the 80's.

[@shutthefuckupdonny99]

Good find :) Clean and demagnetize those heads!!

[@itsobvious2]

Trance88 I found a good quality dual tape deck for $5 at a garage sale. keep your eyes peeled for quality used equipment at garage sales or theift shops.

[@DaithiDublin]

I still have much love for cassettes. I've transferred all mine to mp3 by now, just to protect the recordings, but there's a tangible, tactile thrill to tapes that I love. It's a format that forces you to be patient and listen to everything, moving between tracks was never easy. Stop, eject, lift, flip, drop, close, play. ;¬)

[@Bat_Boy]

👍👍 albums, 45s, cassettes, 8-tracks, CDs, MTV, mp3, KZbin, music steaming…at 60 years old, I’m ready for my musical brain transplant. 😀

[@keeelane]

cassette tapes have a classification system from I to IV based on their sound quality IV being the highest quality. most of what you hear about cassette sound quality is a load of horse shit. 1st of all digital is FAR from perfect. yes, analog is not perfect either but i think analog glitches, noises and hums are far more harmonic and pleasant to hear than the horrid digital binary harsh garbage noise. cassettes are fine. they sound good even WITHOUT the nostalgia aspect. there's a little bit of hiss - depending on I-IV class - and that's it. they're absolutely fine, they're not ridiculous at all. people have just become so narrowly fixed on the trend changing every other month which brand of bubblegum they should buy. cassettes are not really even old compared to a cello from the 19th century that classical musicians still use all the time. i plan to sell all my "fancy" digital music recording equipment and go back to tapes and analog track recorders. i don't give a shit about producing things to death. i just want a good sound quality and recorded real performances quickly without the bullshit hassle that comes with so called "pro" audio like pro tools or cubase. don't listen to the hype and bullshit and just trust your ears and what feels good...

[@noahamoe3394]

Cassettes are so cool I use them any where I go

[@iandavidlocke]

Recordings on cassette tapes and vinyls encourage the listener to play through entire sides of an album which in turn presents the art created in its intended context. I hope that the resurgence of these mediums push trend back towards the creations of records that are more complete ideas rather than just standalone singles compiled into some sort of order mixed with filler.

[@CinemaShotsTV]

oh god the second guy was like a portlandia skit, fuck, we really are hipsters...

[@Coneman3]

Rubber belts in cassette players perish over time. Probably need replacing in many decks now

[@UrOpinionsSucc]

I'm collecting tapes nowadays, it's such a fun hobby and my love for cassettes never left.

[@ituffgong]

I vouch this statement!

[@charlesincharge7891]

I feel kinda compelled to write something defensive here, since most comments I see on cassette-related internet things seem to consist of the mindless repetition of the word 'hipster' & little else. (Usually, something pseudoscientific is thrown in for good measure, to make the angry, pompous 'Hail digital!' guy seem like he knows what he's talking about. More often-than-not, though, it just ends up reading like a bunch of condescending shit.) But anyway, it seems like almost anything qualifies one as a hipster these days, so while i'm tempted to say i'm not one, at this point, I confess - I'm not entirely certain what a 'hipster' is. I do like cassettes though, & i'll expound upon why. I have an older car with a cassette player in it. I noticed a lot of great older music on cassettes - full albums, artwork, liner notes, the whole 9 yards - for 99 cents at second-hand stores. Out of curiosity & practicality, I started to buy some. Many is the time that i've picked up a 20/30 year-old cassette from Savers or Goodwill, popped it in my player & and been shocked to hear crisp, bassy, noiseless or near-noiseless music that easily rivals - often, sounds superior to - CDs or mp3s. I don't have any 'scientific' studies to link you to which claim to prove something about whether your personal preference for sound is wrong or right. I speak only from experience, not something I came across on the internet. Legitimate, day-to-day personal experience. Seriously -The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper', Green Day's 'Dookie', Aerosmith's 'Gems', Whitesnake's eponymous, The Traveling Wilbury's eponymous, various Sinatra albums, Slayer, Metallica; the list goes on - all used, unseald, decades-old... and sounding great. Clear, artifact-free sound which, if anything, sounded better - far richer and less compressed - than the thin, prickly flatness of CDs & mp3s. I like them because I've never had a real problem with them, and most importantly, they sound really fucking good. Bottom line is this: if cassettes invariably sound like dogshit to you, or were constantly being eaten/unwound by whatever device you played them on: a.) you're a fucking idiot who has no idea how to load & play a simple tape. b.) you stored them under your toilet tank or in the dampest, dankest corner of an unfinished basement. c.) you played them exclusively on piss-poor, bottom-end equipment (which, I must note, produces an end result near-identical to playing CDs, mp3s, LPs, or reel-to-reel tape on shit equipment - the music sounds like shit.) d.) you're one of those angry weird guys with an inexplicable hatred for anything analogue (perhaps I should say 'any non-digital media format'.) In years and years of listening to these things, I've not once - NOT. ONCE. - had a tape get 'eaten' by the player. I'm sure it happens, from time to time, but seriously... for me? Not once. I've left them in my car through hot & freezing weather, accidentally cracked the tape shells by stepping on them or slamming them in the car door, etc.; I've never experienced any sound degradation from my carelessness. They're indestructible, for the most part, so please stop desperately trying to find ways to convince the current masses of vulnerabilities which you seem to've imagined. Most importantly, however: stop labeling people's affection for a particular medium as 'hipster' out of your mystifyingly intense personal vendetta against all things analogue, or simply because it exceeds the limits of your understanding. Just let people enjoy whatever the fuck it is they enjoy. Rewinding is definitely a fucking pain the ass, though. I'll gladly give you that.

[@325iaddict]

+Charles Incharge These could have been my words. All too true! Since 1977 I've been using cassette tapes - right until now. I still enjoy them. Not a single one died on me in those nearly 40 years. Using a decent deck to record them, they just can't go wrong! The combination of my Kenwood KX-9010 deck and Sony WM-F28 Walkman is just great - so much better than any screeechy sounding MP-3 player. No high- frequency artifacts (I really HATE them, I'll take the noise of the cassette any time over that) and a full rich sound. I'm no hipster either (although I may look like one, with beard and long hair) I'm just enjoying one of the most simple, good sounding and indestructible media for music recording ever created...

[@summer20105707]

Beautifully said buddy.

[@JonnyInfinite]

I like cassettes and have a bunch of em. Yes I listen to CD and mp3 most of the time, but sometimes its nice to back to what you used to have. I don't like all this hipster bullshit though

[@cheerleadrheartbreak]

"in my apartment in Williamsburg"

[@stockmanager]

+walter smelgore i thought that aswell hahaha

[@CortinasAndClassics]

Wonderful! I love cassettes :-)

[@DerekBayRoberts1]

one things about cassetttes is that the 90s cassettes were poorly manufactured, badly made. i remember when i bought brand new cassettes in the 90s they would snag, get "eat up" have muffled sound. the cassettes in the 70s and 80s (up until 1989 it seemed when the quality started to go down) were top quality. it was almost as it they were eazing the cassette out to make way for the new digital age.

[@4pri792]

DerekBayRoberts1 I got loads of 90's cassettes. None of this happened to mine.

[@johnconway8199]

My tape player ate two copies of Beastie boys Ill communication.

[@ampheat]

I beg to differ with the "it doesn't sound great" comment. Cassettes can sound excellent. Like other media, it depending on the equipment you use to record and playback. I have some cassette recordinigs that equal CDs or vinyl in sound quality.

[@severnRon]

I agree. A good Maxell XLIIS or an equivalent TDK can sound great on a good tape deck. I even got great sound off of 8-Tracks because I used a good tape deck with high quality tape. Didn't stop them from getting eaten up every now and then, but they could be made to sound really good! Most of my LP's are in mint shape today because I would buy them, put them on tape and file the record away. I have 3 tape decks still. I could play a CD, a cassette and an LP and I guarantee the only one you would notice a difference in is the LP because of pops and clicks!! Pre recorded tapes sound terrible. Companies used cheap tape and mass recording... usually high speed which kills the sound. The hiss and noise on a pre-recorded tape will turn anyone off.

[@thm4855]

Because of the tapespeed a cassette can never be close to a CD. Then you need to get the big spoolmachines like Teac and so. ThM - Norway.

[@-IndustrialS-]

i agree with you, martin. a good tape and equipment sounds really fine. thats the reason, why is collected some thousands of them within the last years...

[@Solitaire001]

***** I agree about cassettes having the potential to sound good, via good equipment, a properly adjusted tape deck, and a good audio source. I also agree about the quality of many pre-recorded tapes not being very good. However, towards the end of cassettes reign some of the record companies did start to make an effort at better sounding cassettes by using better tape. I remember buying some pre-recorded cassettes (I think one of them was a Police album) that used Type II tapes that were biased for Type I that did sound pretty good.

[@ampheat]

indeed. the industry did their best to make tape rival the best lp or cd versions. I was hearing a Joe Jackson pre-recorded A&M tape yesterday that sounded tops. Also the makers of cassette players really made a great effort to improve sound quality making decks with 3 head decks, dual capstan transport, quality electronics , HX Pro and Dolby C & later Dolby S. I still have over 200 cassettes and 5 tape top of the line cassette decks that sound as good as good as my CD player or turntable.

[@gpuppy1234]

I hope cassettes do make a comeback since I collect them. Would love to see cassette decks sold at Best Buy. It beats me having to buy used ones on the internet that don't last that long.

[@iandavidlocke]

Agreed, full fledged resurgence will definitely never happen. I think that the biggest value that cassete tape can offer is its novelty as a merchandise item for touring bands that depend on that income daily. Ok Computer is an incredible album because its full of really great songs that fit together into a concept and sonic aesthetic.

[@BrianLingam]

There may be other ways to share music now, but cassettes are... still there. People like to hold something, it's fun to put in an old friend's or new friend's hand, and they won't break the bank. Do It! I'd love it if my demented ukulele warbling wound up at an old folks' home, or a thrift store in Romania.

[@ka7hqp182]

Cassette development was pushed by Nakamichi in the 1970s. The Nakamichi 700 was introduced and could faithfully reproduce High frequencies as high as 22,500 cycles, well beyond what a CD or DVD can reproduce. Tape hiss was only an issue with improperly recorded tapes (too low of a recording level and low quality tape). Low quality cassette players contributed to the tape hiss as well as poor frequency response. The main advantage to any player that can faithfully reproduce signals that you may not be able to hear (High frequencies such as 22,500 cycles) is that they have no problem with signals that you can hear. The other disadvantage to CDs and DVDs is that they are digitally sampled at 44,100 cycles and cannot faithfully reproduce high frequencies, so your kidding yourself if you think they sound better. You do have the advantage of no tape hiss, but with the way all digital media is presently produced, the audio has been so compressed that most listeners will suffer "listener Fatigue" and that is even worse with Broadcast FM radio. AM radio suffers the same symptoms but also suffers from the limited frequency response that the Broadcasters choose to transmit. AM and FM can sound pristine, but the industry destroyed it like they are destroying HDTV with all the compression there also. Cymbals are the real test of audio digital medium and a camera panning across a crowd at a sports event are the test for video digital media as the facial details blur. For most, mp3s are "Good Enough", since they have never been exposed to truly good audio.

[@Mikexception]

+Dennis Romo I share what You say - new standards show lifted up levels of quality in some ranges and lowered in another. And for some demanding people it may be not worthy at all. But talking about 20 or 22 kHz is useless - in ideal transmission it's hard to notice difference bewteen limitation 16 kHz or 20 kHz. It's theoretical limit of hearing but almost not noticeable in sound except noise. For complete satisfaction we should have flat 20 - 10 kHz -unfortunately in my experience it's not available from source to ear. even in best equipment . Mostly not for sopranos but the reason is distorted mid/low range.

[@325iaddict]

+Dennis Romo And then, back in the late '70s there was the Elcaset system, that unfortunately never took off as it shuld have. I'm pretty sure you know it?

[@DorianPaige00]

The one flaw is that you don't have direct access to the song. It's makes it tough finding the song if you are unfamiliar with the album and/or the track is an instrumental. That later part is proof as to why cassettes never caught on in the jazz and classical genres.

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Yes, but this problem with cassettes was somewhat solved with the feature of "AMSS" o r the Automatic Music Search System (aka "AMS", "MS" or "Auto Music Search") introduced on newer cassette decks made in the '80s and later. The AMSS feature will automatically search for the next song on the tape by "listening" to the audio on the tape by keeping the playback head active while the tape is fast-forwarding or rewinding (the audio is muted so you won't have to hear a high-speed chipmunk screech of audio while it's working), and whenever AMSS detects a break of silence on the tape (usually between tracks), it will automatically stop and play the next (or previous) track. It's not completely foolproof though, for long quiet passages within songs or false starts/endings in a song will "fool" the AMSS into playing the tape. My Pioneer CT-W530R dual-deck unit has this feature (labled as "MS" on the FF and REW buttons), and depending on the content of the cassette, usually works well.

[@DorianPaige00]

***** You are correct as I do now recall seeing that function about 30 years ago. I think where cassettes will make a comeback is in mixtapes off of the radio if they still survived. There's very little in the line of playlists from back in day. There are Billboard charts but certain stations and outlets played album oriented material where the single hardly got figured in. I find it's very intriguing to see what where the regional hits in local markets. Sad thing is that we always thought there would be fresh new music but we didn't take a cue off of the sentiments of prior generations where they lost what they had. The one thing I disdained about tapes was channel drop-out which can extend to the master tapes. Buddha masters are notorious for this but at the time it allowed for expanded dynamic range. It's always a toss-up as to how to remaster this stuff for reissue. Does one use mono, a mint vinyl record, or noise reduction or compression? It's very controversial yet each have mixed results with severe limitations on each method.

[@EncourageSquirt]

Hopefully you can circumvent that by getting albums that every song is awesome and you wouldn't want to FF to a specific song. :)

[@DorianPaige00]

***** During the cassette area especially in Black music, the album was divided between several genres. You could have swingbeat, adult contemporary ballads, jazzier Quiet Storm ballads, and freestyle all on the same set. It's not so much a question of quality but one of appeasing one's mood.

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Autumn Aarilyn Yes, hopefully some those cassette mixtapes of off-air FM recordings are still lying around, it would be great if such could be posted to the internet for listening, either here or on SoundCloud--much like how KZbin hosts quite a few off-air TV recordings from the 70s and 80s, right when VCRs came around. I have an old cassette I found at a thrift store a while back of about 90 mins. worth of KOSI-FM in Denver from 1984, which was at the time an easy listening, aka "beautiful music" station. It's a real delight to listen to, and it even has a few commercial breaks and a newscast as part of the recording--a literal broadcast time capsule. I'm planning on posting that on my SC account soon.... It definitely would be interesting to hear a local FM station's playlist from back in the day--it reminds me of back in the 80s-early 90s when a local Top 40 station in my hometown (KYYY-FM, aka "Y-93") had a countdown show at 9pm every weekday called "The Top 9 at 9", where listeners could call in and introduce the songs! I should've recorded a few of those... :(

[@NicholasX9]

I'm not even hating on cassettes, they look cool if that's what you like.

[@juliansmith2325]

YEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE BRING BACK THE CASSETTE TAPES SO WE CAN PRESS THOSE WONDERFUL NOISE REDUCTION BUTTONS OR HEAR THOSE HISSES AND GREAT DYNAMICS THAT REMINDS ME OF THE GREAT DAYS THAT THOSE GREAT MUSICIANS WHO MAKES GREAT MUSIC A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN THE MILLION DOLLAR WORTH OF CRAP OF NONSENSE MUSIC WE HEAR TODAY!!! I apologize for shouting because I'm listening to my SONY WALKMAN CASSETTE TAPE PLAYER RIGHT NOW!!! SUPPORT THE COME BACK OF THE TAPES!!! NICE VIDEO AND THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!! I LOVE THIS SHIT KEEP IT UP!!!

[@classicalretroback]

Cool. Tapes and cassettes are still in my collection.🎼🎵🎶🎹🕘💎

[@Frichilsasta08]

There is something about having a physical copy of an album that you've liked or an album that meant something to you at some point.

[@MsBirdylady]

AWe some tapes from Africa!

[@HockeyCrab]

I like getting cassette albums because i feel special having such a limited run in my collection. however, i get salty when they're sold out

[@dremunoz2600]

I'm an 80's kid and cassettes sucked shit! The only two things about then that were great was that (a) they were portable (b) you can make mixed tapes and those were fun. Other than that MOST kids had a boom box or a walkman to listen to their tapes and that was it. If you wanted to listen to your favorite song you then had to rewind or fast forward to that track. It was a pain in the balls.

[@coolguy2370]

Im only 17 but I grew up with Tapes I had a Tape player till I was 8 then I got a CD player and then an mp3 but my mp3 had low ram so it skipped and so did all my cds so about a year ago I said fuck it and dug up my old walkman and have been using it ever since

[@series360]

This should have 20 minutes longer man

[@RossWasTaken]

"new key" americans litterally cant say any place names right - its quite impressive really

[@currentteeth4078]

it’s almost like they’re not from there

[@garyhosty]

remove the word 'like' from this and it would slightly less unbearable.

[@craignehring]

The compact Cassette was originally for dictation and was monaural. It was found to acceptable for music as the speed regulation was "pretty good" for moving at a very slow speed (1&7/8th inches per second) usually at this low rate the high frequencies fall off drastically. At the time 15 ips for music and 7½ ips for speech was the norm. Add to the fact the cassette used 1/8th wide tape as apposed to the normal 1/4 inch , this really compromised the area to place enough signal. Now add four tracks to a 1/8 inch wide tape (two for stereo in one direction) and this headroom for signal really gets hard to lay down enough energy to create high fidelity. Tape magnetic oxide and even the tape itself got better and thinner so more could be placed into that tiny reel. Then came the electronic magic of Dolby to further reduce the "tape hiss" The remarkable decks of that era were indeed just that. Many engineers worked to further the state of the art to the point that even some very inexpensive tape machines could deliver very good quality results. Was it as good as CD (wave file) or high bitrate Mp3's? No but it is what led to these formats we enjoy today

[@bertieF]

cant wait for the minidisk version of this in 20 years. Has philips got loads of old cassette playing to sell off or some old shit?

[@thailandisland]

Cassettes were crap, i grew up with them and the sound quality was terrible, they only lasted a few playbacks and every time you had a favourite tape - your mate's Ghetto Blasta would chew it up and spit it out... RIP Cassette.. Vive La MP3

[@allstar930]

I miss tapes so much (from my childhood) that I'm hoarding them to dj with. I even picked up a direct drive Technics deck recently.

[@redhamuSLA]

Guess I've got to make some fucking TAPES!

[@GustoTheGamer]

If you own a good deck.....you can Record sound like a cd or better. Dolby-s with a type IV tape and the right bias/record level.........this is it.

[@teddymarkov6741]

I think cassettes, recorded well and listened on a hi fi system sound close to audio CD in quality and definitely better in feeling. I started recordings of vinyl 24 bit recordings to tapes and I like how they sound.

[@RetroPlus]

I love recording my music onto cheap old cassettes because the recordings always come out with interesting warbles and glitches.

[@Smaug1]

I just got (back) into vinyl. 'had a record player as a wee lad. Mom saved her favorite 20 LPs or so, and just handed them down to me. Like her, I saved about my favorite 20 cassettes. I'm kind of glad to hear they're making a resurgence, just the nostalgia part of me. But remember the quality? One had to spend some serious coin to get metal tapes and a deck that could record them to have decent sound. CDs just blow them away. They make component CD burners now, so it is not MUCH harder to make a CD than it is to make a cassette, and they have superior sound.

[@hectorvaldez1011]

hi,u r like anther 1 of me i have like 10 shelves of classic cassette tapes u rock

[@jamesburdis8350]

I like cassette I just use them in my normal day life

[@fanboydee]

Man, I'm really underexposed to African music/Afro Pop, people ARE NOT kidding when they say Vampire Weekend lift heavily from that sound, it's awesome. Little subcultures like this are always cool, you can tell these guys really love what they're doing and have latched onto something nostalgic in a big way and kept pushing it forward however they can, or drawing inspiration from it. Some lulzy lines though. "It can fit in your pocket..." You know what else can fit in your pocket? An iPhone.

[@daverowley2013]

The reel to reel format is far superior to any cassette based system...sure some of the better decks sound good...but the philips cassette was made for one or two reasons - portability and ease of use

[@EduardRitok]

Wondering why the limited brains always connect this with hipsters O_o it's so stupid ...... for example, I have nothing to do with hipster subculture but I still use / record the cassette tapes .. I grew up on them , mostly listening to electronic music ... also making a personal recordings with friends when we were kids ... the cassette tapes have a big potential , but there are still a lot of ppl who believe the digital recording is better ..well .... yes and no... ;) ...there are a certain types of cassetes like chrome dioxide and metal alloy...if you have a good quality recorder, you would not be able to recognize the origin of the sound if recorded properly ...actually, your mp3 player contains the sound recordings, mostly of 128 and 160 kbps bitrate (to save the space ) .... most of you don't even realize how limited and distorted sound you're listening to ... I do ..but yes, I also use mp3 player..ALOT.... but I will never change my mind about cassette tapes .. and especially - never connect it with some subculture...my gosh .... you haven't so much spance , and mostly, no codec to be able to play flac or wav files in your mp3 player ... I always record cassettes from high bitrate losless flac or wav source ...the sound is really amazing! ...and also ....there is more enjoyable around cassette tapes not only the sound :) but narrow-minded ppl just don't know the technical side of the cassettes properly ... and the man who doesn't know - judges and blame ;)

[@ddorfpunk]

Rich hipster kids lead to price explosions of such units on ebay, yet they have no Idea how to maintain them.

[@Hordes_Of_Nebulah]

I think the hipster connotation comes from the fact that the more mainstream tape revival was spearheaded by indie labels and many people, myself included in some cases, associate indie labels with hipsters. The good thing is that tapes never really died out in the metal underground where they are still a fairly common thing to this day and not really viewed as a novelty item. Many black metal bands release tapes because the analog sound better fits the atmosphere of the recordings whereas the same recordings on CD feel lifeless. There is of course a price difference as well and it is much cheaper to go with tapes then vinyl if the band is wanting to release their music on an analog format. I just hate seeing certain record labels sell overpriced tapes that are market as novelty items to hipsters who are willing to fork out the same price as a CD for a tape. I have payed quite a bit for a couple cassettes but they were hard to find black metal albums from the early 90s and late 80s that were printed in Eastern European countries before the fall of the iron curtain so that is different.

[@EduardRitok]

glad to hear ! Funny thing is, that I own couple of smartphones but I don't use any of them for listening the music .. when I listened to mp3 format, I was using nokia 5310 xpress music (even today, occasionally) , great for the music...but last months, after 13-14 years, I came back to cassettes and I use them almost exclusively ..every month I buy couple of sealed chromes , especially BASF, Denon, Maxell, ..sometimes TDK ..and I record the music I love and frequently listen on it .. I buy almost exclusively FLAC and Wav formats, when it comes to downloading music from internet...that format, with no compression at all, comes directly to my freshly opened tapes .... I can't describe that purenes, fidelity and quality of the sound whe I play them back ...yes..it has some comparison to mp3, but we know who is the winner ;) hehe ...cheers mate! happy taping!

[@325iaddict]

Well, this could have been my words. I am far from a hipster (although I have a beard and long hair) I still record good quality cassettes on good quality equipment (Kenwood KX-9010 or Nakamichi CR-7E) and use sources from analog LPs and 12"es to CD or Spotify and KZbin. My only portable player is a Sony WM-F28 Walkman, and a smartphone is not for me. I don't have one, and don't plan to buy one, as long as those touch-screens don't live up to their name (that is: they should give a reaction when touched with my finger nails!!) I could easily afford a high end one, but I just don't like them! Long live the Nokia 7110! Knowing how to properly record an (analog) tape, being a cassette, Elcaset or open reel tape doesn't make any difference, is a skill that many people don't posess. Those people are always complaining about noise or distorted sound... Good quality tapes and cassettes easily outlast a CD-R which won't hold its contents very long. My first cassette was recorded in 1977 and it still works...

[@325iaddict]

Yes, since I was 7 I recorded cassettes on the radio-recorder my parents had in those days. Later I got a stereo ghettoblaster, which I used so much that the heads were completely worn after 10 years. That was the moment I bought my first high quality audio equipment: the Kenwood KX-9010 which I still have today. I restored it a year ago (dead spot in one of the the motors and new belts) and it performs perfectly since that maintenance was carried out. Fit for the next 20 years...

[@muhammadadib3387]

Where can i get all this new musician cassette?

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

I love cassettes, even though vinyl is still my first preference. In my 40s now, I grew up with tapes, used them in the 80s and 90s and also saw them disappear. I love taping CDs onto tape. I make cassettes albums of new music and design the jacket on Photoshop and print it in colour. I love TDK, Sony and Maxell from the mid to late 80s. Tapes sound great if you use a high quality blank and use a high end cassette deck. I have five decks, Yamaha, Sony, Technics, and two Pioneer. I do tests with various types and it gives hours of fun. It warms up a cold sounding CD. I have a D6C professional Sony Walkman which is the coolest thing ever. You can still buy a large selection on eBay but the Type II and Metal cassettes are getting expensive. The only cassette you may find on the high street is the Maxell UR bog standard Type I for speech and music. Sony and TDK have stopped manufacturing them. Will they ever make them again? Who knows, but I wish they did!

[@enigmasenlahistoriaOA]

+KRAZEEIZATION the tape is the best audio vs CD, tape recorded the profecionales 8 Traks and a cassette copy of the tape Cadre 2 traks, a CD or MP3 track is half

[@325iaddict]

+KRAZEEIZATION Also still widely available is the Sony HF tape. WAY better than the Maxell UR or TDK D, although all three are bug basic ferric tapes. Don't believe me? Just try it! With a good quality deck like the Kenwood KX-9010 or Nakamichi CR-7 you will be blown away... even the high frequencies will be OK!

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

The Sony HF from mid 80s is fantastic. It has the clarity that the D and the UR don't have. I love the Sony 1985 range HF, HF-S and HF-ES, plus the 87/88 range too, they are th best ferrics ever made.

[@325iaddict]

+KRAZEEIZATION Exactly the same here! The 1986 Sony HF-S and HF-ES are my absolute favorite type 1 tapes, but the HF is very good also. At least, the 1986 ones. I have dozens of them... and of the HF-S also. And a box full of brand new 1985 HF-S also!

[@axgelbxnny]

I guess I'm kind of before my time... I'm kinda young but I'm starting to get REALLY interested with cassettes and vinyl records! I'm getting a vinyl record player this Christmas (not a Crosley, heard those eat up your records really quickly) and feel I got a good one, but I'm not sure where to start to her a good cassette player... Anyone know a good portable one I could buy? Or non portable is fine to :)

[@nike6rider41]

Sony Walkman yellow (nothing different just looks cool) is a good portable one.

[@Dave30867]

Emerson - use to make some really good tape /cassette Players years ago maybe they still do dunno but its worth looking up . I have a - Yamaha KX - w321 Twin tape deck myself but it is a home stereo unit its not portable but tapes are getting rare to buy now but you can still get them .

[@axgelbxnny]

oh! alright thank you guys so much! c: I'll keep those in mind for decks to get on my birthday

[@Origoangelohrol322]

I like tapes very much. I'm making recordings on a cassettes from maybe 4 years old. I grew up with the cassettes and I won't stop listening to them. With a high quality equipment actually the Compact Cassette sounds really great. A little bit of hiss is separating it from the CD quality and it isn't bothering me. It's the only analog medium on which you can make high quality recordings at home and at the same time it's compact enough compared even to a CD. The only problem is that nobody produces a high quality cassette players/recorders nowadays and at the same time the spare parts as belts, pinch rollers etc. for the old players are harder and harder to find. Sometimes it's a real adventure to find all the parts needed to fix a particular machine.

[@325iaddict]

+Origoangelohrol322 Maybe you should look at the German eBay. Here you'll find tons of parts, sometimes even complete belt kits for a large number of the higher-end decks like the better Naks, Kenwoods and Sonys. I fully agree with you on the sound quality. I started recording cassettes at the age of 7 and won't stop it. Now I record my tapes on a Kenwood KX-9010 and play them back on the go on my Sony WM-F28 which is a VERY good Walkman. Do you know the Elcaset system? Just use Google and Wikipedia if you don't know it. I cannot recommend it enough!! WHAT a joy to use a Sony EL-7 three head Elcaset machine!! They pop up on eBay.de regularly. I bought one and have had no regret, not a single second! Tapes can be a bit hard to get, but be patient: sometimes a good lot is offered.

[@Origoangelohrol322]

Yes, I've heard of Elcaset I know that system it's very good and definitely superior to compact cassette but I've never seen or listened to this medium in the real life. It's something between reel to reel and s compact cassette.

[@787BullyBeatDown]

00s kid right here and I use cassettes. I don't really use them for playback. I just use them to record my own stuff, as its the only equipment available to me right now. I make hip hop beats and record myself or some of my friends rapping on them onto cassettes. If Im not doing that, I'll just run my instrumentals through my tape deck to give them a different sound.

[@JayLookie]

I use to love going to music stores back in the day looking at cassettes and trying to see which one to buy.

[@chrisransdell8110]

A video that was essentially about nothing.

[@sawtoothiandi]

it was about cassettes.

[@CornishMotorcycleDiaries]

It's tempting to think of this as pure hipster candyfloss, but I do think there is more to it than that. It's maybe a distant memory now, but back in the day cassette tapes were the do-it-all tool used for so many things. Including in my case as editor of a computer magazine putting them on the front cover loaded up with the latest BBC BASIC programs. Everyone used to record The top 20 straight off the radio, take mix tapes into school for sharing and when John Peel was playing complete albums you could record the lot if you wanted to. Yes much of it was technically illegal, but in fact we all went out and bought stuff on vinyl when we could. Tapes were just, well cheaper. And none the worse for that.

[@ForeGeorgeman]

So, I just want to make sure of this. No one buys cassette tapes listen to them regularly right?

[@avsky837]

I know a lot of people claim it to be hipster fodder, but I'm a metal artist and I think it's just a cool alternative to boring CDs especially when MP3s are all available online. but I mainly love the DIY aspect of it, and the added crunchiness and resonance that it would give to something like black metal or grindcore.

[@pd1jdw630]

I wander when reel to reel tapes are coming back. cause they were better in sound quality . Though i had a massive collection of cassette, and a walkman as well. always headphones on. lost it all .. miss the time. living in the netherlands though . cassettes arent readily available now.

[@Mikexception]

+Dhr Willemsen They were back but now direct compare does not show evident difference in sound and noticible l dynamic.. I like reel because they (depending on thickness) can play two hours one side. And do not for handling . .

[@pd1jdw630]

True, playing a reel. keeps you listening for a few hours. Had one with slow play which could turn a 2 hour side in 3 hours. makes 6 hours of listening. While now we have itunes and the likes . I like to put on a record ore a tape once in a while.

[@325iaddict]

+Dhr Willemsen I heard of some restoration company that even BEFORE a R2R machine came in, it was already sold! They couldn't keep up with the demand! Prices are going up at the moment. Look at what a decent Technics RS-1500 costs nowadays... and if it has not been FULLY restored (which also means a FULL recap) it will soon DIE! So, on top of the purchase price you'll have to shed some serious money to have it restored by a good technician. I know this, I have been restoring my own RS-1500 and this took weeks and weeks and weeks. All 139 electrolytic capacitors (especially, but not limited to the purple Matsushita dreaded ones), have been replaced, they were scattered over 8 PCBs. Finally, it sounds GREAT. Still to do: the brakes. On all these machines, they are GONE.

[@pd1jdw630]

well im in good luck then. I build and repair older radio stuff. and true they are hard to come by. i have an old alai that still works and needs restoration . the tapes how ever are pretty hard to find new , not new old stock. had a few and they where to brittle . Only brand i know that still ( maybe not anymore ) made r2r tapes , was maxell.

[@Mikexception]

+325iaddict As I know the dielectric standing more voltage is more aging. I often read statements about all capacitors replacement for 100% it's worn or damaged. Some say even few years is enough to suspect so "better renew" like in speaker crossover - (I consider this case stupidity). . I never do it by rule but only by technical condition. Depending on function of capacitor it may even be fault - those original resposible for sound quality or for tunning in radios may had values in quality limits +/_10%% and whole unit was in factory adjusted to this value. You may not find the same value today as now they are more accurate. . . Btw, I listen almost daily to my radio made in 1939 and 90% of capacitors are original - 77 years old.. It sounds great, no hum from bad filtering and it has enaough sensitivity to play distant ones from aboard - see my clip about Electric Aiutomatic - listening. . Voltage of this radio is 100- 270VDC.

[@davidhill6081]

I made the machinery to make cassettes....not record but actually make the cassette, put the tape inside etc. Supplied these machines to 85% of the world manufacturers. Still have a couple of new machines left....! Not sure where you can get tape from though....

[@FrontSideBus]

That bit at the beginning.... SOOOO true :)

[@guildx700]

For most folks cassette will be a mid fi audio medium at best. You really NEED a top of the line 3 head deck with Dolby S which performs AMAZING, and record using premium metal tapes. If a deck like that is setup properly and you setup the recording process properly you can achieve STUNNING results with cassettes. Sadly most folks do/did not not ever have a good deck, use crap tapes, and nothing is calibrated properly yielding mid to lo fi sound. It takes a serious minded, dedicated person to squeeze the total potential out of the cassette medium, but if you do it right the sonic results can be rather stunning from this humble format, even in this modern day of audio.

[@talesoffay2164]

Girl reminds me of Alice Phoebe Lou. Her voice, her face, and her love of music. Hmmmm... By any chance she's a relative or just a coincidence.

[@zeefour]

I make music (badly) in Reason6. But I will absolutely put it through a cassette once I'm done. I don't miss the way tapes broke or chewed but I do miss their tone.

[@rexterrocks]

I have a pair of little Tascam home portastudio 4 track cassette recorders that I think are great. I do have digital but I prefer cassette. It's because I have to play live and work out what is going where. All this digital cut and pasting takes away the art of playing. To make multiple recordings and cutting and pasting them together to make a whole new song isn't art. Analogue recording is far better than digital. When analogue recordings are turned into digital there is a significant loss. Tape is a great medium.

[@Diatonic5th]

With all due respect to Millennial hipsters, cassettes are a shit format. I'll never regret getting rid of the 500 - 600 cassettes that I owned when I was a kid.

[@777pusher]

I have tape recording of me as a kid, laughing to SNL shows, farting, and a barrage of all kinds of silliness!!

[@RockVoice4Real]

I have a studio I do most of the mixing on gear not in a computer. I actually want to find a nice tascam 3 head cassette recorder to put all that beautiful sound on.

[@tomazrutar3516]

In my wife's car i have a cassette radio and was always listening to the radio cuz i didn't have any cassettes...... than one day i went to my grandmother's basement and found lots of rock / hard rock stuff and now i'm going to buy them again, love the sound! F*uck mp3 all the way. Btw my CD's dont sound that good, the cassettes are from like the early 70's stuff like The Doors ecc.

[@boneheadaj]

This documentary should have explored the underground punk scene and labels like lumpy records

[@aandarcom]

If you want a tape sound without having to purchase tapes and some hardware that can play them, Google or KZbin search for "U-HE Satin" - it is a VST plugin you can run in any good audio player and it gives you THAT sound (and more).

[@canigetanyofyoucuntsadrink8043]

I don’t have a Walkman but I have a pioneer ct-f950 that has been fully serviced with 4 new belts. Sounds great with my modern Cambridge cxa60 integrated amp.

[@sam64evo]

i still own technics sr-tr355 tape deck sounds great but dont own any tapes but making me want tapes again

[@genericfirstnamegenericlas6490]

Cassettes can sound great depending on your equipment, my Sony TCW-W31 sounds really good to me and that's not even the best player you can get, and it also depends on the kind of tape you're using. If you're really into tape culture and want to know how to make your music sound the best and what to use, I'd recommend going to Tapeheads.net and looking at forums and asking questions.

[@hogni1316]

I'm only listning to cassette right now

[@ruibarbosa7221]

If anybody wants to know how to fit a playlist on each side of the tape, there's an app to do exactly that. It's called "MixTape Calculator". It's free and I think is available for both Android and IOS.

[@latinmantra4852]

For people, let's stop discriminating the cassette! The music must be playable and easy to reproduce. Playing with cassettes or vinyl will always be better than music with digital music. Although the truth hurts, the cassette is a super vanguard of recorded music, and it will never die.

[@Paul07791]

I'm kind of coming back round to tapes, but I bought some pre recorded off eBay and three of the six don't work, all late 70s and early 80s. Be warned.

[@rabit818]

I got a Nakamichi and that's the only way for me to listen ti cassette. CD quality minus the harshness. I used it for archiving rare music. I generally listen to LPs or CDs or some flac when in front of my laptop.

[@shutthefuckupdonny99]

It just came to him in his apartment in Williamsburg. Jesus, fucking, christ. His dad must be REALLY rich.

[@luiscanifru]

I just finished paying for a Technics M24 and a SU-Z4, can't wait to start this journey!

[@abdelkaderelbachir9523]

Since we are talking quality over here the tweeters on her Philips stereo are fake just some cheap molded plastic Girl you have the right hubby but not the right equipment and just for your information with cassettes Perfection is achievable if you have the right equipment of course

[@Devik666]

I relate to what this girls going on about when it comes to tapes I was into them from about her age as well and used to record people on them etc