Digitising from a Cassette

Moderator: Capt. Black

User avatar
jimi
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 3389
meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 2:23 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 837 times
Been liked: 358 times

Digitising from a Cassette

Post by jimi »

Looking for a recommendation on where to take old cassette tapes to have their contents recorded.

A work mate has found a few rare tapes from the 80s that he wants to convert to digital, but is concerned that they may have deteriorated to the point that he isn’t confident to put them into a cassette player.

Is there any place that specialises in preserving audio from cassette tapes?

User avatar
godgrinder
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 1709
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 4:49 pm
Location: 09
Has liked: 28 times
Been liked: 594 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by godgrinder »

Just look them up on Soulseek and see if someone has already ripped these releases.
Amps:
Soldano SLO100 x2 | Wizard MC1 & MC2 | Diezel Herbert
Fryette Pittbull CL | Marshall 2203KK | Krank Rev 50 | Mesa Mark 2A

Rack stuff:
VHT/Fryette GP3, GP/DI & 2/90/2 | Peters FSM/Chimera
Verellen Meatsmoke | Synergy SYN1 | Mesa Studio

User avatar
Jay
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 7761
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:35 pm
Has liked: 1630 times
Been liked: 1297 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by Jay »

You probably find them on Napster...
When faced with quality, I recognise it every time.

User avatar
jeremyb
Chorus of Organs
Posts: 40878
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
Has liked: 7685 times
Been liked: 4157 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by jeremyb »

Try LimeWire!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

User avatar
willow13
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 14558
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:36 pm
Location: If less is more then just think how much more more is
Has liked: 372 times
Been liked: 634 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by willow13 »

I found an old cassette mix tape a couple of weeks ago, popped it in my cassette player and bam chewed instantly ... oh the memories :rofl:
If Less is More Then Just Think How Much More More would be

User avatar
Danger Mouse
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 11459
Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:32 pm
Location: Jafa Land
Has liked: 351 times
Been liked: 661 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by Danger Mouse »

willow13 wrote:I found an old cassette mix tape a couple of weeks ago, popped it in my cassette player and bam chewed instantly ... oh the memories :rofl:
Then carefully extracting it from the cassette player and winding the tape back in with a pencil. If you were extra careful and lucky you could recover it well enough so that there would only be a 5 second section of muffled sound in the middle of your favourite song, where the chew was.
The older I get, the more disappointed in myself I become.

User avatar
willow13
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 14558
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:36 pm
Location: If less is more then just think how much more more is
Has liked: 372 times
Been liked: 634 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by willow13 »

Danger Mouse wrote:
willow13 wrote:I found an old cassette mix tape a couple of weeks ago, popped it in my cassette player and bam chewed instantly ... oh the memories :rofl:
Then carefully extracting it from the cassette player and winding the tape back in with a pencil. If you were extra careful and lucky you could recover it well enough so that there would only be a 5 second section of muffled sound in the middle of your favourite song, where the chew was.
I remember getting "and justice fo all" on cassette and hearing the intro thinking "oh it sounds like they have done some weird effect" .. only to realise it was being chewed up :rofl: .... it was another year or so before I got the CD so I could hear that part how it was meant to sound
If Less is More Then Just Think How Much More More would be

Mini Forklift

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by Mini Forklift »

Side two was never quite as good as side one was it

User avatar
JHorner
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 3167
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 5:45 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 394 times
Been liked: 488 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by JHorner »

Mini Forklift Ⓥ wrote:Side two was never quite as good as side one was it
Auto Reverse FTW

User avatar
Danger Mouse
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 11459
Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:32 pm
Location: Jafa Land
Has liked: 351 times
Been liked: 661 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by Danger Mouse »

Mini Forklift Ⓥ wrote:Side two was never quite as good as side one was it
Side 2 would also always have at least 30 seconds of silence at the end, be cause the total length of the songs on each side didn't match up.
The older I get, the more disappointed in myself I become.

User avatar
Kris
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4087
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 1:52 pm
Location: Under a bridge,somewhere in chch.
Has liked: 124 times
Been liked: 386 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by Kris »

30 seconds is being generous!some were shockingly out...I still hoon tapes,and release them.Mostly because im a contrarian and want to make everything as difficult as possible in this streaming world

User avatar
Kris
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4087
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 1:52 pm
Location: Under a bridge,somewhere in chch.
Has liked: 124 times
Been liked: 386 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by Kris »

i had a mate who's auto reverse was naffed on his alpine car stereo-it only played tapes in reverse.probably why he's into ambient dungeon synth these days

hamo
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 20670
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:08 pm
Location: Wellington, NZ
Has liked: 632 times
Been liked: 802 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by hamo »

Kris wrote:30 seconds is being generous!some were shockingly out...I still hoon tapes,and release them.Mostly because im a contrarian and want to make everything as difficult as possible in this streaming world
The term you're looking for is hipster. :mrgreen:

Dad has been busily digitising his old LPs, and probably cassettes too. You can get the tech to do it pretty cheaply from Jaycar.
Aquila Rosso wrote:I don't a mind an iced tea rimjob one little bit :congrats:
Molly wrote:Trousers are no substitute for talent
druz wrote:I present to you, the whogivesafuckocaster

User avatar
Terexgeek
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4617
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:12 pm
Location: Christchurch
Has liked: 1224 times
Been liked: 375 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by Terexgeek »

willow13 wrote:I remember getting "and justice fo all" on cassette and hearing the intro thinking "oh it sounds like they have done some weird effect" .. only to realise it was being chewed up :rofl: .... it was another year or so before I got the CD so I could hear that part how it was meant to sound
To be fair you could play the CD and decide "oh it sounds like they have done some weird effect" with the lack of bass in the mix.

Great album, probably saved by the fact that all of us listening to it were listening on really shit headphones and speakers that had no bass anyway!
Tin arse!!

User avatar
willow13
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 14558
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:36 pm
Location: If less is more then just think how much more more is
Has liked: 372 times
Been liked: 634 times

Re: Digitising from a Cassette

Post by willow13 »

Terexgeek wrote:
Great album, probably saved by the fact that all of us listening to it were listening on really shit headphones and speakers that had no bass anyway!
my ears might be fucked when it comes to Bass frequencies but honestly I can not hear fuck all bass on "Lightning" or "Puppets" either... I think the fact the guitars were so mid scooped and the drums do "dry" it kind of made it more noticeable that the bass was gone .. IMO
If Less is More Then Just Think How Much More More would be

Post Reply