Tape Bias - What Is It?

This video talks about the technology that allowed us to use tape to record audio. Without "bias", we would have had much trouble getting tape recordings to sound good. Many are familiar with bias because they used cassette decks to record their records, and there were buttons that changed the bias, depending on what kind of tape was being used. It's not very understood by most people, so I decided to share the technology. It's why music on tape has sounded so good since the 60s and even before.
Wiki about tape bias: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_bias
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[@djtrishm]

Maxell Hight Bias 90 minute cassette were my fave back in the 80s and 90s

[@arnelennartheklof4537]

The better of TDK was Also very good.

[@2574mcu]

I would recommend finding a tape deck with adjustable bias. It made things so much easier for me. I was able to use tapes that didn't sound quite right on my other deck.

[@ChiCan76]

That was a great presentation...the visuals helped too.

[@kenp1508]

Cassette tapes have always been my favourite media and although I have embraced digital and moved over to it. I Still wouldn't be without my cassettes and many tape decks, seven, so far. I hope there will always be people like you around to talk about the compact cassette and the cassette players used to play them. Though I do think the format, along with records,reel to reel, CDs and all kinds media, is dead, as far as the mass market is concerned. For me cassettes, records, CDs, mini-disks, FM radio, will never die.

[@zacm6173]

broke out my old Tascam Portastudio and was curious about the different types of tapes - thank you! the way transducers work at all is mind blowing, movingly beautiful and so sad humans are so smart but often use it for destruction

[@RUfromthe40s]

normally are happy if sad they would stay home looking to a wall

[@GeirRssaak]

My experience is that good tapes from agfa, basf, ampex, Scotts, maxell etc.are good!

[@user-nv4mj5rb4n]

I bought my first RT-707 around 1980. Never understood what bias actually accomplished until watching your video. Well done, and thank you!

[@MrDiamondFlyer]

Thank-you for this very good explanation. After so many years of using my cassette deck when I was a teenager and calibrating it each time I would record, I finally get a chance to understand what the bias setting was actually doing ! Back then, I had no clue, I just followed the procedure described in the manual. I loved Maxell XLIIS too, they sounded fantastic... just by looking at them ;-) (I loved Sony UX-S and TDK SA-X too)

[@Palosrob]

Hey Craig, your longer hair looks cool don't sweat it! maybe sometime when you have a chance show us just where you sit and how you experience your music listening. I'm always interested in seeing how people who make KZbin videos about music actually listen to it. Like where they sit, lighting they use, do they have some alcohol next to them or just a cup of tea etc.

[@muthuvelayuthamvelayutham5159]

Palosrob .MaKaElectric Rebuttal Channel . Amused with your question . Nostalgic. I very much like the right setup of an ambience for listening pleasure.

[@Palosrob]

@@muthuvelayuthamvelayutham5159 Exactly! Either do it right or don't do it at all!

[@AVUM47]

Love you dude. Your videos are awesome, educational, and oddly relaxing. You seem really easy to talk to, and you know your stuff. You’ve helped me a lot. Hope you’re staying safe!

[@bobmcphee6442]

Hi Craig! I enjoy your videos and look forward to more. This one about cassettes was very informative. Thanks for taking the time to make them.

[@richardmorgan1588]

Very informative video. I used to record my records on tape in the 70s and early 80s. I did it so I could get an entire album on one side and have the ability to play them in the car! Now that I have much better equipment at home, I prefer to do my listening on records and occasionally CDs... but mostly records! Never judging on the hair! Keep it long! I'm 66 and I've decided to go full Gandalf! I get compliments on my beard. Remember that line from Ricky Nelson? You can't please everyone so you gotta please yourself!

[@salvadorpneri]

Keep those graphs coming. This is truly one of best intro tutorial videos on tape bias. I like it.

[@G14271]

I've been trying to learn about Bias for a little while. You nailed it for me. Nice and simple to understand. Thank you for your time to explain.

[@SDsailor7]

Same here.

[@abletenor]

Thanks a lot for your time to explain bias

[@Edubarca46]

Excellent video and explanation. I want to tell you that I used to record my vinyls to cassettes only to listen through my Walkman or through my car cassette player. Not because my vinyls would deteriorate by too much playing on my old turntables. In my opinion, my old Thorens or Empire were as good or even better than any other TT of similar price purchased today. I still have some vinyls purchased some 60 years ago in perfect condition and after thousands of plays. Best wishes!!

[@Broxine]

That was a REALLY good explanation! I teach people how to program industrial optical measuring devices and it is very important to make it easy and relatable to the people. You did a really great job at that. Hats off to you Sir 👍

[@lavitroladeldiablo]

That was the very best explanation ever of what the Bias does for cassettes I ever heard in my life! Thank you so much and hat off on you, sir.

[@colloidalsilverwater15ppm88]

Good work. It is so nice when someone spread his knowledge.

[@ee_li]

fascinating history and makes me more appreciative of my little cassette player. Thanks!

[@gretschludwigdrummer209]

Love your video's...something to look forward to in these troubled times !

[@mariodesmo]

That was a very nice explanation of bias. I'm moving after 20 years in my present house and discovered my old analog equipment, along with all my vinyl still in like new condition! I stored them properly many years ago I guess. lol So, I've been enjoying those beautiful songs all over again. Anyways, your hair look fine! Mine is not quite as long but I'm thinking all old guys should let our hair grow out like the old days to show our solidarity! Looking forward to more videos!

[@HDaudioEnhance]

Thanks Craig for making these videos. Yes you are right about how we used to record our records onto tape. I mostly used the TDK normal bias ones. I think I have only one chromium tape. Recently I bought one of those Pro-ject Debut carbon recordmaster hi-res turntables so I could start archiving my records again. I watch all the videos & they are very helpful. Cheers & take care!

[@WindowsOnWindows]

A really good explanation. Thank you, Craig!

[@mitchjust6688]

Those two black Maxwell tapes (from the picture) were most frequently used in my home, because my father would get them from work. :D

[@codigomx]

I came from a video that explain this with fancy graphics and very good samples, but certainly I'd had understanding more clearly with your very clever explanation and your simplified graphics. Thanks for take the time.

[@northlake732]

Love your videos Craig. Keep up the good content.

[@RichGoyetteMusic]

Long awaited and worth it. Nice job.

[@Bassotronics]

Glad you were not biased about the bias. Cheers! 👍🏻

[@leo_brum]

Thank you for the explanation, Craig!

[@DuggysReviews]

Thank you for this video Craig, cassette tapes were way before my time so this topic is incredibly interesting to me.

[@BobMellor1954]

Craig, great video and clearly explained, it brought back some memories of back in the days when I used tape at home and repaired them at work. As for your hair, don't fuss, I wish mine grew as quick. Regards Bob

[@manolokonosko2868]

EXCELLENT presentation. I learned something new. Thank you!

[@shaun9107]

Records & tapes win the format war in my eyes . They LAST !!!

[@jake105]

I did a lot of recording in the 80’s and 90’s not for the reasons you mentioned. I was always borrowing records from friends, girlfriend’s particularly in the 80’s. I was a good doobie And always returned them🤗

[@neilsherman3483]

I needed a little refresher on this before I talk to a student. Thanks!

[@fabricioguzzy8343]

absolutely amazing explanation!! Thanks for sharing!!

[@datsunmadman]

I recently got back into cassette. As a teenager I always had a decent deck. Now I own a few 3 head deck love them.

[@mikeseba7817]

👍👍👍 That was a great presentation! Excellent, clear and helpful explanation!

[@PataPoufFrance]

Love to see you come back on this channel ! Btw still waiting for "VC archiving your vinyl records part 2" !!! Part 1 was very useful for me when i started digitalizing my rare LPs !

[@SDsailor7]

By digitazing you mean recording them to CD?

[@PataPoufFrance]

@@SDsailor7 nope put it on FLAC files ;)

[@SDsailor7]

So Flac files have better sound than reel to reel?

[@PataPoufFrance]

@@SDsailor7 no rtr in a car 😎

[@SDsailor7]

@@PataPoufFrance true

[@BMWHP2]

Thanks for the clear info on bias.

[@endoplasreh]

Great video and good analogies. Thanks.

[@SynthTweakscom]

Great video Craig and great channel! I've just watched a few of your videos and have subscribed. Like you, I cut my engineering teeth on multitrack tape (mostly Ampex 456). I've recently gotten back into cassettes and records too. I still have all my cassettes going back to the mid 70s and some of my records. I have decks now that I dreamed of back in the day which is a real nostalgia trip for me. I have two Nakamichi decks (a 582 and a 582Z) and a Harman Kardon CD491. I've fully restored and calibrated these decks and they sound incredible even on type 1 tapes! They're all three head, closed loop, dual capstan decks and the CD491 has a direct drive motor for the capstans. I also recently purchased an Audio Technica LP140X and am planning to buy a VM540ML cart for it. I'm living it so far! Keep up the great work with the channel. Oh, we're very close age wise too. I'll be 50 in June.

[@SynthTweakscom]

Living it was supposed to be loving it. Stupid spell corrector strikes again!

[@soo-inoh2122]

Thank you for your great tutorial. Very easy to understand.

[@juaniti69]

Me has enseñado mucho. Me encanta la manera de explicar que tienes. Muchas gracias.

[@souravbhattacharyya3392]

Thank you uncle...your explanations are very clear and helpful....people might not agree,but the depth and originality comes only from analog music.....love from India.

[@cazeferino]

Great class!!! Thank you very much. Cheers from Brazil.

[@antoniomontes1201]

Excellent explanation, I wish I knew this back in the 80's when I was in high school. Boy, did I screw up some tapes!! Love your videos, very honest.

[@debarshichoudhury1779]

Thank you for this lovely explanation, wish they taught so simple in college. You deserve a ton of likes

[@SergioZingale]

Excellent explanation, thanks.

[@cablehellstudio431]

Really nice video dude :) Got a better understanding of bias and your way of explaining is easy to understand yet avoids being superficial. I frequently calibrate bias on my machines, but when a mate asked me yesterday what it actually was I kindda struggled to explain. However there's just one thing you got kind of wrong which is that 30 IPS are better than 15 in all regards. 30 IPS have better treble and typically around 3 DB less noise, but its lowend is inferiour to that of 15 IPS. At least on most standard formats the roll off at 30 IPS start around 40 HZ, while at 15 its mostly around 30. For rock music I prefer 15 IPS on my Otari for the same reasons. Only a well setup really wide format like 1/2" two track it can be better for sure. 30 IPS didn't truly take off for multitracks till the late 70's as it took a while to make it not eat up too much lows unless you could do with 16 tracks 2".

[@moonshiner2977]

They used to have reel to reel tape decks that run at 60 inches per second !

[@josephrobertmah3438]

I really do enjoy your video presentations - your self deprecating sense of humour, your knowledge, and friendly demeanor makes for time well spent (PLUS you are a fellow Rush fan!). Thanks for the time that you take to make these videos. Your timing couldn't be better - I just got my Nakamichi CR7 back from my technician and it sounds so good (except when I play the music that I recorded on that Nak on my $200 Technics, which sounds awful - but that's another story). I use the Nak now to get most of the fidelity of my audiophile 2 LP, 45 rpm pressings - most of the sound, and a small fraction of the "flipping over." Anyway, thanks for your presentation - you didn't actually state an opinion as to which "type" of tape that you prefer - I am still experimenting, but the Type II, which are the most popular, seem to cut off some of the low end (maybe it's the age of the cassette).

[@VinylTV33]

Thanks! Ya, type II tapes are known for lacking low end. That's why they came out with Ferric-chrome, which were a hybrid of type I and type II, but they never lasted far for some reason. They were my favorite tape type (type III) I remember having Supertramp - Breakfast in America on one, and boy did it sound good.

[@josephrobertmah3438]

Thanks for the response, Craig. I have zero chance of finding reasonably priced Type III, so I won’t even try. What would be worse than not finding any is finding one!! Breakfast in America is a brilliant sounding record so that tape must have sounded incredible. I look forward to your next post! Thanks again! By the way, the hair looks great!

[@ACommenterOnYouTube]

That was an AWESOME explanation ... !!!

[@andreybiryukov6492]

Craig!!! You’ve back!!!!!!

[@georgecastillo3427]

this was amazingly helpful, thanks!

[@beatleman69]

That is great information, thanks for sharing!

[@mitchjust6688]

Excellent, as usual.

[@moonshiner2977]

Sony once made cassette decks with automatic biasing, all you had to do was press the calibration button and it really made a difference. Even the low noise normal bias tapes sounded really quite good :)

[@who_cares848]

I have one, sony tc-rx311. Its a lower end deck so the flutter is kinda high but as far as bias calibration its perfect.

[@tomipojaghi]

hey! thank you, very simple explanation of a complex theme

[@kennyglod7]

You’re awesome , Sir.

[@MarcusVinicius-xz5to]

Watching you from Brazil..may 22. Good content !

[@djtrishm]

I'm not at all tech savvy but you make its easier to understand. Thank you! Thumbs up!

[@GalacticSmokeHouse]

Thank you for this video, learned a lot! Hope you're gonna make more tape related :)

[@AdnanANasir]

Wonderful lecture with the help of sketches..

[@olebjrklund8648]

Great informative video Craig , thnx. Stay safe and regards to you and your family. Keep those videos coming to us :) 17.

[@stevesimek7588]

Thanks for the good explanation!

[@IrishBug]

Nice info Craig..ty

[@LeonStax]

Nice video. Well explained. And you have a bit of a laugh with it which is always good!

[@wasiuuu1]

thank U , that was best explanation about BIAS and how it is related to different types of tapes and what it dose to improve audio signal. :-))))))))

[@VMX1.]

YAY...Craig is back!!!...WOOT!!!....I still use my Reel to Reel....love it...XD....I have a Technics RS-B78R Cass deck that has DBX...I find that works really nice.

[@audiomule1976]

Keep up the great work I am learning a lot.

[@metastaticmince2386]

thanks...very cool video...like your explanation, drawings...never knew what this Bias thing is....

[@ianwatkins5880]

as i've said before, your video's are amazing i'm alway's looking forward to new ones keep it up mate. CHEERS.

[@fedepede04]

thanks for the video and the explanations

[@AntoPandeth]

I liked your presentation.

[@berlewi]

Thank you So much for posting such an excellent and really well explained video! Well, I thought your drawings were brilliant! 😀👍

[@KYIMGMG]

Your videos are awesome, educational Thanks

[@MrRichard1280]

Loved this

[@landonmatthew]

awesome lesson!!! thanks so much

[@tautliners]

'Thats FX' are great tapes on a good recorder. Take your time setting up the bias and cassette tapes still sound amazing. I've tried all types but 'Thats' are certainly my favourite.

[@vfgjasminebaker]

Thank you so muchh for explaining!

[@jambam6176]

*GREAT INFORMATION... Thanks!!!*

[@simonliew9728]

Thank you for sharing this great information. You're the guru 👍👍👍😂😂😂

[@JV-nt9bp]

Very well explained 😀👍🏻

[@juddery]

Excellent, well presented, clear, easy to understand, informative and very interesting video. Keep up the great work. Quick question though, is this also known as AC bias, or is that something different?

[@ProbeRoket]

great video. best all week.

[@tomstunes6595]

Maxell XL & XLll , were my choice of recording tape and the price was reasonable. Also the Dennon chrome were very nice and actually performed better than Dennon metal tape , but we're costly at $7.50 a pop in those days. At one time I owned an Onkyo deck with a bias control & where to set the bias control according to the instruction manual , depending on the type of tape used & manufacturer.

[@kbeast98]

I literally havd every single one of those tapes in that photo you show. Those darker colored cassettes had great sound compared. They were more expensive though compared to the transparent ones though

[@jimspc07]

The cassette that you use there was in fact designed for music. Philips made it specifically for that and its original name was musicasette for pre recorded tapes and compact cassette for blank tapes. They did not have their origins in dictating and answering machines they came later. Also it is almost impossible to wear them out if you have a reputable brand, there are instances of people testing them by playing them over and over automatically for years and testing the output at intervals and finding nothing significant. In my hand at the moment I have a Joan Baez 5 from fontana CFF5000 dated 1964, it still works and still sounds good, also an original Philips compact cassette C60 that has been recorded on many many times and still works fine. Although the original Philips stereo cassette recorder I bought in 1963 or 64 has not been used for about 20 years now and had no bias adjustment as there were only standard tapes. The biggest killer of tapes was the car player, there are very few people who had one of these that did not develop a taste for chewing them, even the best brands. Don't forget that the studio tape units were a 1 inch tape vastly different to the 4 track 1/4 inch of the reel to reel retail tapes of which I still have a couple going back to the mid 1960s, Martin Denny and instrumental golden giants, but nothing to play them on, and the tiny 1/8 of an inch 4 track cassettes. Keef of The Stones, in his biography mentions using their own cassette recordings as part of their on disk music from time to time. He must have kept one in the Bently. I like you avoided metal tapes because of head wear. I have seen heads that have grooves worn in them after continual metal tape use. You also mentioned the air gap area in the head that allows for the creation of the magnetic flux that was something that needed cleaning in some recorders quite frequently and of course the capstans and drive all round.

[@tzahy4968]

thank you for another great video! i learn a lot from you! i just cant wait for the next video... and if you have real to real to show as and make a sound test

[@dejacomo]

Thanks , Thanks , and Thank you.

[@gixxerboy555]

My Maxell XL II's sounded very good ,recorded on my 'new' Denon DRM800A deck..back in 1990 :)

[@kingech_B15]

That shirt is everything

[@JohnDoe-tr2es]

Ohh u good man! Really, love your calm speak and your explanation. I've always had a hard time to grasp BIAS but after this its just an added tone like an added divemask! Great! I would though love a demonstration on your deck where u show how its done in a few steps. Would that be possible?

[@chrislee8343]

Man I have always calibrated tapes and used tape machine plugins with bias switches and stuff and never understood the actual reason or function behind em. Thanks for the explanation

[@polaris911]

Great explanation, I think I get it now

[@sshatterhand239]

thx for your understandable explanation

[@Shadow_of_Light]

Out of all the cassettes I owned, the Maxell shown towards the end of the video in the middle on the top row with the gold label was by far the best sounding one I've ever owned. The Sony Metal Master Ceramic couldn't hold a candle to that one even though it was about 7x more expensive!

[@kennynvake4hve584]

Mine was the Maxell at the bottom right....the UDII 90.

[@halitmarmaris]

Thank you 🎵

[@cedrickjmackniddle3861]

Great vid

[@socksumi]

Tape bias is something you don't need to worry about with VHS hifi which was and is a much superior format for recording analog sources than cassette or even open reel.