20.6.05

It's hard not to shed a tear while reading this BBC report about the impending death of cassette tapes. Nobody mourned the passing of VHS tapes (too big, too complicated, too crappy), but cassettes lasted pretty well. All this week, we'll me mourning their passing - so send your stories. Previously on MT: Homemade DJ Cassette Decks, the strange world of German vintage cassette collectors, Cassette to USB drive hack, and the cassette museum.

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20.6.05

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Nice-looking homemade cassette tape delay

CASSETTE WEEK: Lots of people talk about building a tape-echo from an old cassette deck, but I've never seen it done as nicely as this from MZE-electroarts. The system seems to be based around two cassette decks frankensteined together, with a hi-fi graphic eq and spectrum analyser in the feedback path (nice touch!).

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22.5.05

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How to turn an old cassette into a USB drive

OK, this isn't really as exciting as I thought when I saw the headline "USB Flash Cassette Mod" on the Make Blog. I thought is was some neat way to plug a tape deck into your computer by USB (rather than by spending $150) but it's just a guy with a broken USB memory stick stuck in a cassette case. Still cool, though!
ps: Read about vintage cassette collectors here and here !

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21.12.04

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The last resting place of C90 Cassettes

I'm quite shocked at the violent force of nostalgia I experienced looking at Project C-90, a huge Russian library of pictures of old cassette tapes. I must have spent weeks of my young life worrying about Metal vs Chrome, and which brand was best (I remember a good batch of That's tapes that Richer Sounds were selling cheap). I also remember hearing tell of a fantastically expensive cassette that either a) Had an aluminium shell or b) Had little reel-to-reel spools that went round when you played the tape (depending on which of my friends I listened to). Anyone remember them? (Thanks to Tommy Walker III for the tip. Why don't you download his mixtape and tape it onto one side of a C90?)
UPDATE: Well, the tape with the little reel-to-reel spools was the Teac Cobalt (top left), which was presumably such a bad design for a cassette that they could only make them 52 minutes long. It's is now so rare and fondly remembered that one single tape recently sold for €75 on German Ebay. Imagine what you might get for the truly bizarre Teac Open Cassette System (top right).

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22.12.04

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The strange world of German cassette collectors

SEE UPDATE BELOW I was so intrigued to find someone paying over $100 for an old blank cassette tape that I've been looking into this shady network...
First up, I found German-based el355 who recieved 12 bids of up to $474.99 for his collection of 70 sealed tapes (including a Cobalt 52 and various Teac Open Reel gear). He was looking for $1,200, so he didn't sell.
His bid list is a who's who of the tape-collecting world, featuring big players like Jessydog (a rare US collector), who recently dropped $25 on a pair of BASFs, and efeler who spent almost $45 on a pair of Nakamichis.
The top bidder for el355's collection was another German, Heimoboris, who last month paid $112.49 for three Teac metal-reel cassettes. (That's one on the right, with the original $12.45 price sticker.)
Another American dealer is ceogc02 who also trades (inevitably) in WWII memorabilia.
I've been very disappointed not to find "Vintage Cassette Collector" magazine on the web, but this post (which does feature several Germans) gives a taste of what it might be like.
UPDATE So, most of the ebay links on this page have decayed, but a look at 'Blank Tapes' category in eBay shows that collecting is still going on: As I write, there's a "Sealed! Mint!" That's tape on Buy It Now for $30. Ten Sony Metal Masters recently went for $225.

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28.9.04

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Tuesday is Prince Day: Pt 3: How ‘Kiss’ was made

Prince was alone in this room with this microphone when he recorded ‘Kiss’. Fortunately, he told engineer David Z about it, and he told Dan Delaney, who wrote a brilliant Mix magazine article about it:
1) ‘Kiss’ was originally a country song. Prince recorded it on cassette and gave it to a band he was developing. They were called Maserati. The tape was just a verse and chorus with Prince singing and playing acoustic guitar. Maserati weren’t impressed.
2) The band worked on the track for a day, trying to make it work. They still weren’t impressed.
3) Early the next morning, Prince came into the studio and listened to what they’d done. He recorded the electric guitar part and his vocal. Then he threw the band out of the studio and stripped off most of what they’d recorded.
4) Like ‘When Doves Cry’, ‘Kiss’ has no bass line. Instead, the kick drum from a Linn 9000 is put through a backwards reverb patch on an AMS RMX 16, an early digital reverb.
5) There are just nine tracks of music and vocals on the record. It didn’t take long to mix.
6) Prince recorded the vocal in Studio B control room at Paisley Park studios, on a Sennheiser MD441 microphone. Why? Because Stevie Nicks had recommended it to him.
7) The record company were horrified by the track, saying it was too minimal, with no bass and no reverb. Prince was so powerful at the time that he forced Warner Brothers to put the record out, and it went to Number One in the US. That convinced him he was always right, and less than a decade later, he was walking round with ‘Slave’ written on his face.

UPDATE: NOVEMBER 2013: I just received this email from Duane Tudahl:

On Sunday April 28, 1985, Prince was recording the tracks “In All My Dreams” and “Evolsidog” at Sunset Sound in Studio 3, and David Z. and BrownMark were working on songs for Mazarati in Studio 2. “We were in the studios next to each other, checking each other’s progress,’ recalls engineer Susan Rogers. “And at some point they said that they needed a song. Prince stopped what he was doing, I remember this very clearly, he had a little boom box, a little pale green, Sharp one which he had to record ideas on, and he took it and an acoustic guitar to the next room, put it down, put in a blank cassette and he pressed record. On the acoustic guitar he then played "Kiss". It took a few minutes to get the lyrics; he recorded the guitar on one track and the vocals on the other track. He then took out the cassette and said: 'Here, finish this off.'"
“Prince gave us this straight version with just one verse, an acoustic guitar and voice, no rhythm’, explained David Z. ‘It was almost a folk song.”
“Nobody liked the song,’ recalled Mazarati member Tony Christian. ‘It sounded like a country version of something else.’
“I had that song for a long time,’ Prince would later claim. “Changed it around a lot.” The lyrics about confidence and extra time reflected Prince’s affection for Joni Mitchell’s track “Jericho”.
The song was transferred to 24 track and engineer Coke Johnson went to work. “I took that to studio 2’, recalled Johnson. ‘We started fiddling around with it. We used the same changes, but instead of using that acoustic guitar, we ended up gating that guitar and the hi-hat. That is the weird sound you’re hearing. It’s playing the same rhythm the hi-hat’s doing, but it’s doing the changes the acoustic guitar did. That is one of the biggest hooks with it. David thought of the idea, and I hooked up the gate. He was flipping the switch to throw the delay in and out, and actually created that sound for ‘Kiss’.”
Musically, the piano part was lifted from Bo Diddley’s 'Say Man,' and the backup vocals from Brenda Lee's 'Sweet Nothings.' Terry Casey’s vocals were added and most of the band left after 11pm. David Z., BrownMark, Johnson and Tony Christian stayed until the following morning adding depth to the song.
The following morning David Z. wasn’t happy with the results. “We were trying to build a song out of nothing, piece by piece. It was just a collection of ideas built around the idea of a song that wasn't finished yet. We didn't know where it was going. We were getting a little frustrated, and we were exhausted.”
Eventually, the results were revealed. Coke recalled the reaction. “We played it for Prince, who went ballistic, went out to the basketball court playing it loud on the ghetto blaster. He pretty much said: ‘This is too good for Mazarati.’ It pissed us off as we had been up all night working on it.”
Prince took the tape back into Studio 3 and began making his own changes. He quickly eliminated BrownMark’s bass (“It fills up the bottom so much you really don't miss the bass part, especially if you only use it on the first downbeat,” says Z.) and added the James Brown/Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag style electric guitar riff as well as his vocals, which he recorded an octave higher than Terry’s. David Z. asked him what was going on and Prince confirmed his earlier position on the song. “He said to me, ‘this is too good for you guys. I'm taking it back.’”
The track was completed on Monday April 29, 1985.
11 years later, Prince reflected on the song’s origin, but ignored the input from those in the studio. “You go to a higher plane (of creativity) with that. “’Kiss’ doesn’t sound like anything else. They aren’t conscious efforts; you just have to get them out. They’re gifts. Terence Trent D’Arby asked me where “Kiss” came from, and I have no idea. Nothing in it makes sense. Nothing! The hi-hat doesn’t make sense.”
In the end, the basic song was written by Prince, but without David Z., Coke Johnson, and BrownMark, the track probably wouldn’t have gone to #1 on the charts.
It would be the first (and possibly only) Prince track that he shared ‘co-producer’ credit with anyone, which reflects how much he respected the work done without his input.
(Info from early draft of PRINCE: The Studio Sessions by Duane Tudahl)

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15.1.08

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Free sample set of an 808 on a cassette

New Zealand-based Goldbaby have quietly become the coolest sample factory in the world. They get vintage gear, play it through more vintage gear, then sample it in super high resolution. Their commercial products include Tape 808 and Tape 909 (Vintage drum machine into valve Ampex 1/2" tape machine, into 24bit samples), a range of old Roland drum machines sampled onto a MPC60, then re-sampled) and Vintage Home Keyboard Breaks which is classic breakbeats replayed on old casio keyboards. In the exceptionally fine Free Stuff section, you'll find a 606 which has been through the Ampex treatment, an 808 recorded on cassette and various impulse responses (including an MPC60)...

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22.7.08

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Isn't this the sweetest cassette tape you've ever seen?

It's like one of these Teac Cobalt 52's, but with a teeny tiny Roland logo on it. It's also the data cassette from an MC202 for sale in this auction. (Thanks Matrix!) Lots more on vintage cassettes in the archives.

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3.6.05

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eBay of the day: Philips cassette player/synth/keytar

This Philips Personal Music Composer PMC100 is pretty awesome: Launched in 1986, it had a nine-channel FM synth with a 100 presets, a membrane keyboard, 8k of ram, a built in cassette recorder, ~~MIDI~~ and buttons for a strap. It's hard to imagine just how fly you'd look bouncing around a stage wearing one of these. It was designed by British PC music pioneer Lyndsay Williams, who claims to have designed the first ever PC soundcard, for an Olivetti in 1987 (this powerpoint presentation tells ~~his~~ her full story). If you fancy a PMC100, this one is currently £45, or there's another one here in Germany...

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23.11.07

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20 non-boring Christmas gifts for musicians which cost less than £100

See also: 11 crazy expensive Christmas gifts for musicians, and my 2005 Gift Guide, which still stands up OK.
1. TapeOp Magazine The coolest magazine about recording and excessively expensive music gear is now available free in the US, UK and Europe. Free
2. Akai E2 Headrush The awesome looper/delay pedal used by KT Tunstall in this ace clip (and by countless people in other YouTube clips) £95 UK|$199 US
3. Lap Steel My wife bought me a lap steel for my birthday this year, and it's awesome. They're cheap, easy to play and cool-sounding. Make sure it comes with a tone bar, or they won't be able to play it on Xmas day. £50-90 from eBay UK|$100+ from eBay US.
4. Spooky glass hand that plays Chopin. $16.95
5. Pocket Pod Powerful little headphone amp and effects box with sounds 'borrowed' from vintage gear. £65 UK|$130 US.
6. Oliver Sachs: Musicophilia Amazing book about how people become obsessed by music, which I wrote about here. Amazon UK|Amazon US
7. Something from BugBrand Tom Bugs (who I wrote about here) makes beautiful little noise boxes in his Bristol lab. He doesn't have much in stock at the moment, but it's worth checking back. £7 - £130
8. A print by James Joyce You can't buy any of his excellent music gear paintings but there's much to love in his shop. £75 and up.
9. Vox Amplug Tiny headphone amp which plugs directly into your guitar and looks like a teeny vintage amp. I'd buy the AC30 flavour. $40 US|£30 UK
10. Something from Liam Devowski Liam does awesome illustrations and graffiti of synths. Perhaps if you ask him nicely, he'll sell you something! $POA. Similarly Dan McPharlin makes incredible tiny cardboard synths, and takes commissions.
11. Artec Big Dots Most guitar tuners are incredibly boring, but this one, which looks like the floor of a '70s nightclub, will make any guitarist happy. £40 UK|$70 US
12. Hello Kitty guitar A custom Squier strat in black or in pink, it's not quite as cool as the Japanese original by Fernandes, but still fine. $150 US|£134 UK
13. Moog-inspired music Any of the CDs on this list would make any geek happy. Particularly 'Switched on Nashville'... Amazon US|UK
14. Vintage microphones Vintage microphones are surprisingly cheap (plenty go for well under £50) if a bit unhygenic. They're easy to buy: if they look cool, they are cool. Even if they don't sound so great, they're nice to have around. Avoid modern 'retro' Elvis microphones.Vintage mics from eBay UK|eBay US
15. Something from Etsy There are plenty of great homemade/one-off crafty gifts for music geeks at Etsy. Try some of these keywords: synth, Moog, boom box, cassette, and 83 pages of guitars.
16. Audio Damage Effects If the person you're buying for makes music on a computer, one of these will surprise and delight them. I'd recommend Dr Device, Replicant or Phase Two, but buy the one which you like the look of. $29-$49
17. Casio DG20 MIDI guitar Classic '80s techno kitsch revived by this Flight of the Conchords clip. Because the world is crazy, these actually go for up to £300... eBay UK|eBay US Oh, yes, there's also the Flight of the Conchords DVD: UK|US
18. Korg Mini Kaoss Pad Touch pad DJ effects box for glitchy electronic fun $199 US|£95 UK
19. Nanoloop 2.2 Is a cult homemade cartridge which turns the Nintendo Gameboy Advance (or DS) into an 8 channel synth and sequencer. GBAs now cost next to nothing on eBay. €65
20. Build your own guitar kit Not so much a present as a sentence to a January of tinkering and painting. £54 from Thomann. Alternatively, a generous Warmoth gift certificate would satisfy a more serious fiddler.

Dear reader, what do you want for Christmas. Leave an anonymous note in the comments, and maybe a loved one will be inspired...

Labels: xmas2007

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4.4.08

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Scratching with cassette tapes

Here's DJ Ramsey, from Scottsdale, Arizona, doing a pretty good job of scratching on two tape decks and a mixer. You may remember Russian DJ Artyom doing the same thing with a custom rig in 2005, and Japanese experimenter-in-chief Tucker (he of the hot ribbon controller action) has also had a go. (Thanks, Chris)

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8.1.07

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Belkin's $180 iPod-powered four track mixer

Palm Sounds report on Belkin's great-looking TuneStudio iPod ~~portastudio, which can record 4 tracks~~ mixer - which can mix four tracks into a two channel recording on a 5G ipod. You can nearly do the same thing with a Behringer mixer and a Tune Talk (although there will be a level problem as the Tune Talk only has a mic input). But this thing is cute and knobby, and $180 isn't a terrible price. Alternatively, for $99 you can stay strictly old-school on cassette with the Tascam MFP01 which is actually sold with the line "Records one track at a time with classic warm analog sound"... (More coverage of the TuneStudio at iLounge, Engadget and Gizmodo.) (Thanks to everyone in the comments for explaining this story back to me...)

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2.1.07

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Whitney Houston's old music gear up for sale (don't all rush)

Greg writes to point me in the direction of Whitney Houston's entire stage setup, being auctioned in New Jersey next Monday, ~~presumably as a result of her crack-related tax complications~~ because she hasn't paid the storage bills. There are many low-rent delights, including loads and loads of old Roland controller keyboards, a nice-looking flighcased Hammond, numerous Bobby Brown music awards (many for cassette tape sales). Elsewhere in the catalogue you may find: "1 Aroma Steam Personal Sauna, in two flight cases", "'Whitney's Throne' Chair", a Lucite Grand Piano with no legs, a Sharp microwave in a flight case, and really a lot of old Akai samplers.

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30.10.06

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Sculpture made from studio soundproofing

From Florida artist Onesock, who says: "Material is auralex, the sound dampening stuff found in recording studios. Its all clamped together, will sew later". As one commenter says: "Frank Gehry eat your heart out!". Onesock also does a great line in Cassette Tape Art.

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4.4.06

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Helmut Lemke's Tapemachine

Well, I hope Tom doesn't mind me turning up here unannounced. I said I'd start to post again about six months ago but never got round to it (sorry!). Anyway I just found the website of Helmut Lemke, a sonic artist who I had the pleasure of working with back in 1997, when he was a researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University. His Tapemachine is a bank of eight cassette players, each with volume, speed and mute controls, which he built to create 'live sound collages'. It's a bit like a more primitive version of Mike Waters 'Melloman', featured here a little while back. I did see the Tapemachine in the flesh once, but have never had the chance of hearing it in action. It would be great with a stack of TDK Endless Cassettes, which up until a few weeks back were still available from TDK's American site, although the page seems to have now disappeared. This page still has some for sale. Snap 'em up quick before they vanish too.

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21.6.05

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Sigue Sigue Sputnik's old portastudio

CASSETTE WEEK: Old 4-track portastudios are now very, very cheap on eBay, rarely selling for more than £50. Ancient 80s models are even cheaper. The Teac 144 was the first ever Portastudio, launched in 1979. It's a cool looking thing, with big analog VU meters and loads of knobs. But it is very old. The last three on eBay went for £16, £30 and £17. However, if the machine has a 'celebrity' past, it can be very different. this auction for a Portastudio owned by Martin Degville (seen here in the fur coat) from Sigue Sigue Sputnik (it "comes with a 4 track master of one of their sessions circa 1980") is currently selling for £162 - and it still hasn't beaten the reserve. I can only imagine how SSS must have sounded before Giorgio Moroder got hold of them. And yes, you read that right. £162!

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18.6.05

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22 year-old cassette tape of huge modular synths

Pietro writes to tell me about a this page where you can listen to a 1983 demo tape produced by the Serge synth company, with loads of music by various musicians recorded on huge modular systems. It's hissy, but great. More on Serge gear here, here and here.

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14.6.05

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Russian homemade DJ cassette decks

DJ ~~Aptem~~Artyom is a new MT hero - he's done what I always dreamed of doing when I was little and couldn't afford a pair of Technics. He's built a pair varispeed tape decks, complete with 'jog wheel', EQ and motor off switches. He also has a nice minimal studio setup (he only uses Max/MSP). DJ Aptem, we salute you! Here is the Flickr photoset, and here is DJ Artyom's own website, with mix MP3s getting very heavy traffic. (Thanks, Tommy and Waxy)

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