A Beginner's Guide To Cassette and Tape Machines For Music Production
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- Опубликовано: 7 окт 2024
- In which I answer some of the most common questions about tape for music production, be it cassette or reel-to-reel. Includes: "Which tape machine should I buy?", "Can it lofi?", "Can I warm up my mix with this?" and "Why do you RIP second hand prices?!?!?!"
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Me: :(
Hainbach: Hi I'm Hainbach, good to have you back!
me: :D
me too :D
I didn't see this comment and posted the same thing, haha. Soz bro.
when hainbach says his trademark "good to have you back" i press like immediately, im a simple man.
You're simple alright
Back in the 90s, even before I got my first Fast Tracker II program and computer, I had a Chinese 2-deck cassete recorder/player. You could (obivously) copy a tape from one deck to another. It didn't have any pitch control, but the trick I found was that if you hold the play button but don't press it all the way down, it'll play the cassete at like 5 times the speed. And if you hold the record button just right on the left deck, you could mix the signal from the other deck with the recording that's already on the tape. Basically I got myself a mixer (one in which you could only listen to the mix once is done, so there was not much of a control) and a wobbly pitch control. I used to use this a lot, one of my favourite things to do was to just slow down pop songs and turn them into beautiful ambient that you would never believe they were at their... core. I think back then my love for ambient finally had a form. But even before all that I was listening to the beautiful sound of our Soviet vacuum cleaner. Instead of monster growl that modern vacuums produce, that thing had such a beautiful tone. I could listen to it for hours, feeling warm and protected from the sound, singing along with it. I guess that was my first drone :D
Ah, the memories.
this is beautiful
Ahh, the glorious sounds of Ракета 7M vacuum cleaner..
These are sweet memories, yes.
The tape that runs fast when you press down badly is cool, fast, contrasting :) And it's quite common, actually.
PLAY button successively starts the reel motor (fast, that of FF / FFW), the heads & amps, and the capstan (motor at correct speed, it must "brake the tape" by pressing on it). in the start-up sequence, the capstan comes very last because it can jam if it spins without the spool motor. if you press the button partially, you can actually find the point where everything turns, except the capstan. As much with cassettes as with reels.
Also, please, could you do a video about different tape workflows? Like, the signal path, going from synths, to mixer, to 4-track, to tape deck for copying, etc...
🙏
Your a GAS enabler Hainbach and I love you for it.
If I were moneysmart I would get a reverb/ebay sponsorship for all the free traffic they get :-)
I just bought a reel to reel for 100 bucks, i feel incredibly lucky though im mad ive neveer bothered to search for one before, some of them are expensive but a lot of times you can find one for under 100 bucks. The seller took it off the page right as i bought it, but i ran another search and found the new listing and bought it immediately.
Geez!! How many have you got!!!!????? Hahahahah Brilliant :) well don my friend.
More than I show here 😄
Doctor mix!!!!!
HAINBACH would be lovely a sequel to this: how to integrate these tape machines into a hybrid setup. Cheers
"Americans get confused by the strange connections on the Uher." And Canadians as well! It's the main reason I have not yet started to experiment with them. I shall learn from you HAINBACH. And thanks, I had no idea what DIN meant!
This is the most complete video about tapes, I’ve enjoyed every bit of it and I appreciate the time you took to make this video, thanks.
I have an old Tascam 234 4-track that died mid-session, whilst bouncing to ProTools. It made a glorious noise that became a signature to the track I was working on. I still use it as a great mixer. I also had a Maestro Echoplex bite the dust DURING a recording session. Again, a wonderful racket.
I record all my synths and modules into cassettes. It makes the product unique, and I love holding a finished product in my hand! Great video!
Thanks Hainbach for altering my perception of tape. In the early 90s I used to listen to a lot of djsets on tapes, the quality was always bad because usually they were recorded off a mate, who recorded it of a mate many times over. However you have opened my eyes to the creative possibilities with tape. As a result I have purchased a panasonic dictaphone, and have created some of the best sounds in my 22 years of production, I have now decided purchased a new old stock Report Monitor 4000 from SDS, and i was sure to mention your channel due to the positive impact it can have on his business.
Keep up the great work you are doing!
this comes in the right moment, after i had playedin a club in bkk just using synths and guitars, i met an awesome french female musician who played harsh industrial, using tapes, was amazed) watched couple of your other tape vids and decided to purchase via ebay taperecorder and tape, equipement arrived today, dont have it yet though..thx for keeping things simple hehe!
Thank you for producing this excellent guide. It might be worth mentioning that, while the old Sony units are great recorders (including the Pro Walkmans), Sony chose to use Center Pin Negative for all their DC power supplies, and when unwitting owners use non-OEM supplies they burn out the units' power board or worse. So many Sony units - otherwise useful - end up as junk for that reason alone.
I have the same Nagra 3b as you showcase and remember my very first impression - after hearing my voice recorded so many times over the years growing up on one or another R2R, and thinking 'but that doesn't sound like my voice', when I heard it on the Nagra, THAT was my voice! I think that there is no better yardstick to measure tonal accuracy etc. than your own voice as you are more intimately familiar with that sound than any other, and the Nagra full track is the best I have heard.
Thanks for all this information. It's really helpful as someone who has been trying to demystify tape. I typically record in stereo too, so this is a real eye-opener about what options I have.
reel eye-opener :)
I just got a marantz pmd430 from the radio station I work at:D
Nice video! If you want go deep-deep-deep-underground and very lo-fi,
the media of choice is answeringmachine. Only minus is that you need landline to
record that immortal sound. I experimented with it at late 90s, drums and organs
sounded very crispy. Of course there`s mic-input too to use it like normal recorder.
Anyway, that`s real AAA-recording and it sounds awful/brilliant. Love your channel,
you are very inspiring perion and stuff you make really encourages me to use almost
all my sparetime for music . Greetings from Finland! 🎧 👍
You reminded me of sending SMS to landline answering machines, as they would be read out loud for a short period in time. Awesome source of artificial voices in the mid-2000
I just got an awesome boombox! For cassette and it has 1/4" mic inputs! Amazing
And now I realise how lucky I am my parents recently gave me a Philips N4506. Might not be as high end gear as the Nagra, but I bet it will do the job just fine. The sad thing is, it's a scary beast to look at when you're a newborn into music creation thing. Thank for all the positiveness you send.
That is a super cool deck! Three speeds, three heads - you can do so much with it!
When the video started, I saw a Nagra and Auratone speaker. It was right then that I knew I liked this guy!
I used the Marantz PMD cassette years ago in radio broadcasting and they were solid machines!
Love the video! Thanks!
I bought a Marantz pmd222 based on another video of yours literally less than 12 hours before you posted this. It’s good to know you care Hainbach 🙂
Its what I would take to a Desert Island if a Nagra was no option.
Hi! Where do you buy tape recorders to use as tape compression in your DAW? eBay, Amazon, other places on the net? I live in northern Europe...
I've still got my Revox 1/2 track, big reels and 15 ips and original valve amp built in. It's still looks and works like new.
Thanks @HAINBACH
I just managed to find and acquire a Fostex X-24. Can’t wait to play around with it. Thank you for the inspiration and all the information on your channel. 🙏🏼
omg yes ❤️ you and amulets got me into tape territory and now, a few months later i have 3 portastudios, a few smaller tape players and a dictaphone 😅
In film school in the 80s I worked in the equipment checkout and later in repair. We had a bunch of Nagras (mainly 4.2s and some 3s and 4s) since they had crystal sync with the arri film cameras. I wasn't a sound person, but I loved those Nagras most of all. You could feel every single bit of the engineering that went into them, and getting to actually open them up for repair was a dream. Every time I see one of yours I just want to touch it. Thanks!
Also band called Kudelski? Lolol.
Also I always thought of that great Nagra sound as "creamy".
I still have my 1984 Fostex X-15 multitrack four track cassette recorder. We used this machine to record many of our original songs. I wish we had used my larger Trac 3340 as the 15 ips 1/4 inch tape is far superior.
Oh my goodness! This is exactly the video I was looking for! Thank you, Hainbach. Some of the best content on RUclips
Good to have you teaching us !
(Edit) : marantz products are really "stabil" indeed and relatively easy to service
Lol, I've got Tesla 116B from my friend. He found it in the attic of a house he was renovating. Belts are gone but I will refurbish it for sure (after I am done with Akai GX625)
13:29 - That Telefunken thing is such a monster. Looks beautiful and robust and I can imagine how it sounds.
awesome! thanks for always being such a helpful resource my magnetic friend. hopefully this help everyone out and get everyone into the beautiful and deep world of tape. also when should we go on our worldwide magnetic tape takeover tour?
Man,that would be a dream!amulets/Hainbach world tour 2020
If this happens, please make a stop in Philadelphia!
My Magnetic Friend would be an awesome name for an album, or a tour
Way better than tape emulator plug-ins. cool vid.
Brilliant ! Thank you so much for sharing this. My marantz PMD 221 and 360 are already in service ...hope they come all right .
Thank you again 👍
I found a Sony TC-252 for just $25 at a local thrift shop, and a bunch of blank 7” reels (from W. Germany of all places) and I haven’t looked back since. Sounds so much better than an iPad running FL/Garage band
Wow thank you, this video is such a gift my friend. You have so many beautiful machines
Mr. Hainbach, I've asked You for an advice on how to make my sound sounds better. You've suggested adding a tape (dictaphone) to my setup and I must say it was a "bit" of a gamechanger for me. I learned to match the eq of my synth to the feeling of tape and much more... Tapes are dope, man! At first I was like "meh", becaue tapes were the main medium for music back in my youger years. I kinda hated them, because the batteries (for my "walkman") was pricey, and the endless RW and FFW to find the favourite tracks was sucha a pain in the ass. You have changed my approach to the tapes forever :) Thank you so much for your adivse!
i want all of the things, now. great... thanks hainbach
Just bought a Marantz PMD 221 :) ... my Dad left me a box of old cassette tapes. Plan on sampling and creating a badass sound bank ...
You've been hitting it out of the park recently, keep it up!!!
Thx, I have so many ideas, happy to have the time soon.
@@Hainbach I'm excited to see them!!
You need to do a cassette video with Techmoan. ;-)
Dream.
@ Eddie G: why? To extend the Circlejerk? This "featuring" would be kinda pointless since every channel he ever features is already huge and well known.
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 because RUclips is a Video hosting site. People Upload Videos here... & other people watch them.
Some of us like Hainbach. Some of us like Techmoan.
Some of us like both of them.
If they uploaded a Video together... we would enjoy watching it.
...although I don't imagine anyone would masturbate.
( You're looking at it wrong. Not everything is about tricking the algorithm. They are both Human beings. Maybe they would have fun? )
Why is cross-collaboration between RUclipsrs a "circlejerk"? That's a really negative attitude to have, dude.
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 the two sets of followers aren't mutually exclusive.
Would love for you to do a video on Four Track recorders. I have a Tascam 424 MKII that is lovely, and they record quite nicely at high speed.
I absolutely ADORE my 424! I usually record with the speed turned all the way right, and then pitch all the way down on playback.
Seconded! I’m coming to tape (and music production in general) from experimental analogue filmmaking and there is some nice crossover. I’ve been eyeing a 424 but am curious how they compare to these Marantz machines.
*Sigh* Hainbach....you did it buddy you finally got me 😂. I just pulled the trigger the elusive unicorn known as the marantz pmd 430 with a varispeed mod output jack installed 😅 i have never been more excited and instantly broke before in my life hahaha. I watched your video and it finally gave me license to own my dream machine . I really Loved this video keep up the great content!!
What a great, thorough video! Thank you for all the good advice!!
Excellent video, as always!
I am listening to a mono Nagra III at my friend Peter. The sound is just wonderful. It is somehow magic.
(Peter also has the best coffee in town)
I once owned the Stellavox TD9, SP8, and Nagra IS .... but I have sold them all :-(
Wow, Stellavox! Only saw these in person, never heard them. And yes, the internal speaker on the Nagra III is full of character, its amazing.
@@Hainbach
:-) we have hooked up the Narga to a hifi stereo system
Your channel is stellar :)
You have some pretty cool equipment there, very nice...
Nagra 3 & 4.2 are anywhere from 2K AUD on Ebay 🤣I love the descriptors you use to describe the sound, but the price of entry is probably a bit high.
Just got a PMT222 as a right bargain on ebay, can't wait to try it!!
Thx Hainbach for the information. I would love to see how would you use the Tesla B115 and what else u can do with it. Tips, tricks etc. much appreciated in advanced
Hi! Thank you so much for this video, I've learned so much more than what I expected! I'm already looking for a tape recorder to start exploring with it. All the best!
Longtime lurker on your channel, thank you so much for your videos, they're always incredibly engaging, and effective at delivering information. I really appreciate the high standard you hold your videos to.
I love all his content amazing the Brian Eno of these times
You should make a comparison video between recording straight into the daw versus your various tape machines.That way, we can hear the difference between them.
Hu, that would take a lot of time away from music making. Maybe, though there are many instances where I press the record button while assembling a track and then you hear the tape version. But in the meant time, check out this: ruclips.net/video/XCtvpgQsAxc/видео.html
Thanks Hainbach :) your a legend mate!
If the Nagra eventually gets worn out beyond repair you could salvage the preamp stage (and other parts of it) and build it into a standalone box
just got uher 4400 monitor for 200$ in mint condition
my first tape machine, so excited!
So lucky, congrats!
Inexplicably, I recently bought a Realistic SCT-17 cassette deck on Etsy for $65. I blame you Hainbach 😂
Voll gut ! Ich mache mich mal auf die Suche 🔍
The Série Noire is so beautiful I would buy one just for my living room.
Yeah, its peak tape aesthetic.
Thanks very much for this very enjoyable and informative video :) we're at the beginning of our tape journey, thankyou for helping is along the way!
All the best,
Will
Silence, lectures and writings of John Cage is a good book. Nice to see it on your shelves :)
Its book I love to read for a few minutes often and then go and make music.
Really enjoyed the new video, as always. I had written you before about using the Panasonic RR-830. In addition to the speed control it also has VSC, or Variable Speech Control, which allowed transcription of dictation in bursts of words at a faster rate at the same pitch. It's compression of the signal by removing random bits of the signal, controlling the motor speed in proportion to the sampling, and running the remaining signal through a BBD to maintain nearly the same pitch. Once I understood that, I understood why I was sometimes getting an odd "chopping" artifact, as the VSC only works in a short range of playback speeds. I think in addition to being able to control speed independently of the VSC, there must be some interesting sound manipulation if you push VSC past it's comfortable limit. I was wondering if you had ever tried doing anything with VSC. Fan of the channel!
Heinback - thank you. You are just magic 📼💛📼
That is strangest I have seen my name written 😄
@@Hainbach fat fingers ;)
And bloody autocorrect!
I'm interested of making a track or two like a they did it before, tapes analog equipment everything like that a true old school edm track
Excellent guide
Tape Line are superb.
You hit my consumerist-bone, I had to pause the video to go order some cassettes partway through.
Why is impulse buying so much easier to justify with "obsolete" gear?
Because it's usually cheaper yet rarer, so there is a hunting element. Also, it's not influenced by marketing
Not to shoot myself in the foot here, but I've found the Radioshack CTR-122 and CTR-121 are around $20-30 and have good tape speed and tone controls, as well as mic in, plus built-in mic and speaker. Plus, you can find them bundled w/ tapes a lot of the time for not much more. This may be an unexplored secret or a huge mistake, I'm not sure, but there is a tape answering machine I plan on experimenting with, starting with the Radioshack TCR-200. I'll be using it on it's own, but also as an actual answering machine to degrade audio through old phones.
Just got myself an Uher 4000 Report L, let's see what I can do with that. I haven't been using any tape for many years. First experiments happend with a Kenwood cassette deck that could actually do echo when I was a kid. Used my dad's Magnetophon 200 for a while, but it was half-broken, some bloke / pre-owner to my dad had painted it in a weird color and it needed a lot of oil in order not the squeak constantly so I eventually threw it away.
Ooo right on time with the coffee break! thanks bud! - highly recommend *Propeller head's Reason 10* on the software end.
441 likes and not a single dislike! This is quality content
"I bought this reel to reel 60 years ago" .. looking well
Always wanted a nagra but too expensive for my taste, settled for a ferrograph reel to real the preamp is amazing, it’s even got it’s own speaker, made an interesting guitar amp for a bit (till it broke) really rate them .
The guy I bought it from said he took it on a job to record sounds in Africa, the thing weighs a ton!!!, unfortunately he did not have the recordings. Really need to get that fixed
which model of ferrograph ?
got me good on that discount offer
Damn you Hainbach! I've been trying to lay my hands on a 4-track cassette mixer in Sweden for the last 4 months with no luck. This video certainly wont help matters 😊
Great video though! I will have to keep on dreaming.
Happy hunting!
I bought a Marantz PMD430 some months back, after years of fawning over it. Personally, I prefer using a stereo recorder since this gives me more room for sound exploration. Mono recorders have their place in the process, but I find that mono recorders can be too limiting for certain types of production. In your case, it makes more sense as you tend to use tape as an instrument. In my case, I use tape as an effect.
Whoa, didn't know you have to calibrate the machine for the tape
“ Zach your gear acquisition syndrome can’t hurt you anymore”
* odd ambience in the ether
“ hi I’m hainbach good to have you back”
Ambience turns a key
Your channel is going to blow up, Hainbach! Great content!
Don't jinx it! 😄
what a fantastic video , thanku!
Maybe I just missed an old video, as I've been following for only a year or so, but I want a video on Hainbach the man. What do you do for a living to afford all this gear? What's your life like in Germany? And what non-music things inspire you to make music?
There is a podcast coming out were I answer a lot of questions.
I like your description of the superferro. I went looking for them. They are not available on Amazon. I'm three years late.
Yeah its gone. I have to buy old tapes now
@@Hainbach Like what old tapes? I just ordered some Maxell UR 90s the other day.
I’ve got a Revox a77
Condition and now tape is all fine. Sound is good. Impressive good. But there is a good amount of tape hiss.
Can not imagine, that it is supposed to be like that.
Definitely not. The tape hiss on these is usually pretty low. Tape and machine are probably not aligned
@@Hainbach thank you
It is calibrated to LPR35
Got a fresh tape from Thomann
Feels like the output stage is a little Bit noisy
Dude, thanks for making this. It's awesome!
I miss my Tascam 688 a 8-track! 4 band EQ, 2 auxiliary sends, a thing of beauty!!¡!
And i'm still glad to have mine (plus the remote unit). Unfortunately the 688 really is the only thing you can use when you plan to record more than 4 channels at the same time (i needed 6) when most other 8 track Multitrackers only record up to 4 channels at the same time. Curse it's complicated matrix routing system but hey, it really just forces you to really treat it with the respect it deserves.
amazing voice
Very informative Hainbach - and relaxing
Yeah, no harsh sounds in this one. 😄
Very good information, as usual! Thanks a lot!
Background song is wicked, wish I had it
Such an excellent, in depth tutorial !!!
Thank you so much for this and every video you make. I am a huge fan and you’ve inspired me more than words can express.
I had a question regarding D -> A stereo then A -> D mono if you transfer your mix back ITB. Why do you prefer mono opposed to stereo? I’m a bit lost with your reasoning. Thanks!
I love your videos, very informative and clear and thank you for spending so much time to produce them. I am fairly new to this type of music and would love to compose and create my own ambient/experimental/electronic music particularly using tape. I've done some experimental pieces already but composing it is almost down to "happy accidents" with a little bit of inspiration. I'd love to see some videos on your method of composing. The gear reviews are great but how about some instruction focussing more on the processes of composition. How do you start a piece? What decision making techniques do you use along the way? How do you build your composition and what are your "building blocks"? When you have laid down a basic background sound like a tape loop, how do you decide what to add to it, what processing effects to use and so on. One or two videos like that would be really helpful to a lot of budding musicians who are raring to go but not quite sure how to start or proceed to a finished piece. Thanks again.
More compositional videos are in the works, but have you seen these:
ruclips.net/user/edit?o=U&video_id=epAjJD1gEiM
ruclips.net/user/edit?o=U&video_id=X363WRU7UDk
ruclips.net/video/fV-_8jdpYw4/видео.html
you have such a beautiful voice
just found your music... you are awesome man. Thanks for sharing tips too :)
I have a four track tape recorder Fostex X-15 with a variable speed facility. I thought my brother-in-law had fixed it but it needs new rubber belts which won't be done until Covid-19 goes away, ho-hum. Will apply your tips to it when fixed. There are still new old stock of chrome / pseudo-chrome blank cassettes like TDK SA 90s available online, or if you're going lo-fi there are some type 0 cassettes to be had. I find cassettecomeback's reviews on youtube handy for all types of tape, but be mindful his goal is to find good quality tapes. Some interesting tips Hainbach which will put a hole in my bank balance lol. I'm off to find my cheap Sony dictaphone.
I was hoping youd cover the Tascam 122 mkii cassette deck. Ive heard good things about them but not sure how to add it to my workflow. recently bought one for a cheap price and restoring it. Would love to hear your thoughts
I used to own two Uher Report Stereo IC 4200 machines (both needed serious maintenance) but to be honest i sold them again and never looked back. As nice as it is to use one of these for a while, they are still pretty cumbersome and the problem is the small spool sizes which reduces recording time a LOT when you record 19cm/s speed. And yes, these Marantz PMD machines are laughably overpriced beyond insane… >_>
I bought that same Uher 4000 Report Monitor plus 14 sealed BASF tapes for 25 euros. No handle and a lot of stickers on the case (“property of “,”newsroom, department whatever” kind of labeling all over it). He gave me a bag full of DIN cables just in case “I managed to find what goes with what”. It took me two weeks to remove all the labeling without scratching the unit.
Some old local TV studios here in Spain were making room for new facilities, and the guy listing the old equipment didn’t knew (or cared) about it. He also included a (sadly half-working) Marantz recorder in exchange for some Playstation peripherals.
I regret parting ways with the Marantz, though I guess the guy that bought it was able to fix the wabbliness and the preamps. As you say, it was a nightmare to open (and I had previous experience with consumer grade equipment).
Guess it was a once-in-a-lifetime find :)
Glad you’re back, Heinbach. Sehr shon as usual :)
Cheers from Spain!!!
THat is indeed a nice find, congrats!
Pretty cool! I got a similar great deal for 2 Sony TC-D5M machines. Both came with the original leather carrying cases (one pretty worn off) as well as an XLR to Jack adapter cable. Didn't pay more than 90 bucks back then for both. Only needed to let both run for a few hours so the mechanisms & belts would run smooth again. That was really all it took. Tapeheads where perfectly fine & azimuth was good as well. Made one of them the recording Deck and the other one a playback deck. So the head-hours on both are equally split.
Hey @Hainbach I’m looking at a Nagra E but being in India it seems to marked at Meltron E ( apparently that’s how they were marketed to broadcasters in India) just wanted to check with you if you know anything about these machines before fully commiting to buying it
Watched one Hainbach video and now I've bought 2 tape players.
This was great, but what about four tracks? Surprised you didn't mention your Portastudio...
The video was already getting long and I tired, so I left four tracks for another video.
@@Hainbach I hear that! Thanks! I look forward to the next one then!