#123 - 12th August 2024 - toys & experiments

I‘ve got a toy loaned to me.

Going on cassette tape isn't exactly new. The vintage hype has brought this already quite a few years back.

Apparently, there is some sort of allure in getting low end, and high end cut, in getting tape compression and saturation.

To be entirely clear, all of this is more mystical long forgotten memory than actual experience. I must have been 9 or 10 years old when the cassette finally stopped playing a role as storage device for music.

Until then, I was still part of the very last generation that did the whole "I'll make you a tape of my favorite music" thing. The kid that sat in front of the radio, waiting for the good music to be played and record it then. The kind of story "old people" tell. I still experienced a bit of that.

But as said, I had absolutely no idea about good or bad it sounded. We were just happy to have music.

Also, a very good tape is supposed to sound very good. So what is all the fuss about then?

Well, I'm about to find out. I've ordered two types of brand newly manufactured cassettes. And I'm also planning on getting a BASF or Maxell Chromium Type II - used. Simply for comparison.

Because why have a device for lofi recordings but using the best in class most hifi cassette? Yeah, that's what I thought.

I'll go and send the B output from my BigSix mixing console to the Tascam and from there go to the UAD Apollo. That way, the workflow should be super smooth which is something I have realized with analog outboard gear; if the hurdles of using it are too high, I'll simply stick to ITB tools.

That's why everything in my studio is hooked up and centered around the SSL BigSix so I can make sure, I can easily send MIDI all across all gear and record directly through all the analog stuff I have lying around.

So much for the theory. The first cassette arrived today and I am planning on making recordings tomorrow.