Best Cassette Recorder? Hidden Gems?

[Goblin]

Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well.

I want to start my own record label, instead of buying the new 500$-700$ cassettes decks that came out these last years, I want to drop 100 bucks or so, or much less, and just get rolling men. I know about the breakdowns of these old units, the maintenance that has to be done, the risk of not finding replacement parts and all that bag. That is just as important. The replacement parts most of all. And about the love of music that one has to have to start a cassette record label in 2022. All of that is covered. I can get my hands dirty and repair them.

I found these on my local used store. I know close to nothing about cassette deck models. I have studied reparation, maintenance, inner workings of cassette decks and how different types of cassettes work. The different types of cassettes (the tape in itself) and their analogous deck. I'm curious if the first two reel machines are **usable** in a studio setting. I'm not looking for a Studer sound, just some distinct flavor to the sound. As well I don't want to buy something that it's simply not worth it, you know, instant trash. Just a little something will get me a long way. As I'm just starting out on this endeavor.

Here's the list of reel tapes decks, maybe there's a hidden gem in there:

Reel Tapes:

1 - Reel Akai M-x2000sd
2 - TEAC A-2340R 4 Channels

Cassettes Decks:

3 - Sony Stereo Cassette Deck Tc -w3 Ac
4 - Philips Dcc900 Digital Cassette Deck
5 - Sony Cassette Tc-K5 (1978)
6 - Sony Deck El-5
7 - Yazumi1850 Cassette Tuner Am/fm Stereo
8 - Sony Cassette Deck TC-206SD Stereo
9 - Yazumi Cassette Deck Pro System 2580
10 - Yazumi 1850 1800 Cassette Deck and Tuner Am/fm

Any of these will do the trick? What are your considerations on these units?

 

[ruffrecords]

I am not clear exactly what you mean by "start my own record label". Do you already have mastered stereo recordings that you simply want to duplicate on cassette or are you going to record original material?

Cheers

Ian

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well.

I want to start my own record label, instead of buying the new 500$-700$ cassettes decks that came out these last years,

Do you have an example? I'm not aware of any manufacturer currently producing high-quality cassette recorders.

Any of these will do the trick?

What trick?

What are your considerations on these units?

Most cassette recorders have failed mechanisms after 5-10 years.
Reel-to-reel machines have better chances of survival but still need some TLC.

 

[Newmarket]

And about the love of music that one has to have to start a cassette record label in 2022.

I see no real connection between love of music and the cassette medium.

Reel Tapes:

1 - Reel Akai M-x2000sd
2 - TEAC A-2340R 4 Channels

These are not cassettes. What would you do with the resulting tapes ?

Cassettes Decks:

4 - Philips Dcc900 Digital Cassette Deck

just no ! DCC never even took off at the time.

 

[cyrano]

just no ! DCC never even took off at the time.

The Sony EL5 is an Elcaset, not a standard cassette deck. I've never heard of Yazumi.

 

[Newmarket]

The Sony EL5 is an Elcaset, not a standard cassette deck. I've never heard of Yazumi.

Yeah - Elcaset rang a very faint bell when you pointed it out.
I just looked it up.

Failed / obsolete formats do have a strange attraction. But that doesn't mean I want to revive them even if I could

Laserdisc anyone ?

Now being serious who wants to invest in my new 8-track Cartridge business ?

And don't remind me of the money I spent on DAT !

 

[Goblin]

lol, nevermind Dat's.

My love of music will drive me to start a Laser Disc record label lol.

 

[Newmarket]

lol, nevermind Dat's.

My love of music will drive me to start a Laser Disc record label lol.

Can't wait to see the business plan for that

 

[Goblin]

I am not clear exactly what you mean by "start my own record label". Do you already have mastered stereo recordings that you simply want to duplicate on cassette or are you going to record original material?

Cheers

Ian

Hey Ian, hope you're doing well.

I personally know lots of people with lots of bands with lots of projects. Lots of people with recording studios.

I move around in SM very easily even if I don't necessarily like it or use it privately, I use it for my music and other artistic businesses. I make a lot of connections there. Meet lots of artists. My business hasn't taken off because of the inflation in my country. Buy a 100$ printer to start selling faster? Forget about it. Pay 9 bucks a month for a must have service so I can actually sell in a virtual market place my beats? Nope. But I kept at it.

The idea is a niche one. Get a couple of Boom Bap - LoFi - Chill Hop producers that I like their work, buy songs I like directly from the artists or pay them 10% (or whatever percentage is fair) of the sale of every cassette, and get going. I make music as well. I'll place a few of mine in there. I can make videos for all the platforms. I have those tools. Studied them in schools (What's up S.A.E Institute) and kept practicing them or working using them. Others I learned on my own. Studied audio at S.A.E but the other disciplines at other schools or in MOOCS. Or just practicing and studying on my own.

Later on I'll get together a Shoe Gaze Noise Compilation, for instance, and keep rolling.

This is kinda like a punk mentality of doing things. Just do it. Diy it. Get hardcore with it and follow through it.

It's not like I'm asking for validation or permission lol.

I'll buy the cassette parts plus the tape in a bulk, so it's not expensive, It will cut down the costs, and the cassette inlay will be hand made and others printed at my house, then I'll place it all together. I'll sell at anywhere that I can put a stand, on my IG, on the business IG, and I'll ship a few to Amazon and visit record shops and talk to the guys in there. I can make stickers and that kind of stuff for a few cents, quality ones, I'll place them inside the cassette, giving em extra value, as well as place inside a small artistic print, you know, do it with love. People love to buy that stuff. Me included. Give it a personal artistic touch.

I'll make them on demand so the inventory is always organized and kept tight, not making tapes that I'm not selling. Thus not losing money in not sold tapes.

It's not that I don't have anything to do, between that and my 18 hour music production and music making schedule, my dj and guitar voice gigs for dough, playing live with my computer, my blues jamming nights, my love of nightlife, and all the illustration and design jobs, 3D modeling, video editing that I have in my small small business, it's a labor of love. But that sells. But what I'm doing it's not a hobby or a bottom less pit money thrower. I'm planning on doing this seriously, but having tons of fun while at it. Not doing something of this nature to lose money. I've ben around music most of my life and around 14 y.o is when I decided that losing money making music it's not worth my time. If you "lose" money on promotion, or on tour, it's different, you meet people, you get heard, meet the owners of the bars, you know what I mean. But you can't be losing money on every tour and on every music endeavor. That's what I eat from. That's my main income.

Where I live just a couple of months ago the inflation has kinda balanced, forget about 10% of inflation, we had over 20,000% inflation every month, so now that I see a window of opportunity I'm starting with stuff I haven't been able to do and that I have talked and asked about in this board like four and six years ago. Because of the prices of parts, I haven't been able to build my first fuzz pedal, and I been studying over 4 years to build every gear I know. In a few months I'll be able to buy in a lot, so it's cheaper, parts for my build audio discipline and start with it. Muy muy bueno. If this country doesn't go to hell again. Which most likely it will.

I'll become an UAP researcher then. All I need is pen and paper and a digital camera lol.

 

[Goblin]

Can't wait to see the business plan for that

lol right, just exploit the nostalgia of it and bail out in nine months. Easy peasy loosey-goosey.

 

[Newmarket]

My business haven't taken off because of the inflation in my country. Buy a 100$ printer to start selling faster? Forget about it. Pay 9 bucks a month for a must have service so I can actually sell in a virtual market place my beats? Nope. But I kept at it.

The idea is a niche one. Get a couple of Boom Bap - LoFi - Chill Hop producers that I like their work, buy songs I like directly from the artists or pay them 10% (or whatever percentage is fair) of the sale of every cassette...

All this is only going to make any sense if you tell us where you live tbh.

Now in UK there is/was a very small move towards a Compact Cassette revival. But ime it was basically limited to '50 yards' either side of Brick Lane in London
Meanwhile Vinyl relatively booms with high demand at pressing plants.

 

[Goblin]

All this is only going to make any sense if you tell us where you live tbh.

Now in UK there is/was a very small move towards a Compact Cassette revival. But ime it was basically limited to '50 yards' either side of Brick Lane in London
Meanwhile Vinyl relatively booms with high demand at pressing plants.

lol, I heard that in Elephant and Castle the latest craze is listening to jungle music (which is the National Anthem of the U.K) in pirate radios **heard** on tube radios. Don't shoot the messenger lol.

Currently, in Caracas Venezuela.

I always thought that the industry should have pushed a bit more for "cased" mediums. Like compact cassettes and those cd's that came in a box, all covered, the slit opens when placed in the player. When is it gonna scratch? I guess I have to buy the same "Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys" CD over and over again.

 

[Newmarket]

lol, I heard that in Elephant and Castle the latest craze is listening to jungle music (which is the National Anthem of the U.K) in pirate radios **heard** on tube radios. Don't shoot the messenger lol.

Currently, in Caracas Venezuela.

I always thought that the industry should have pushed a bit more for "cased" mediums. Like compact cassettes and those cd's that came in a box, all covered, the slit opens when placed in the player. When is it gonna scratch? I guess I have to buy the same "Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys" CD over and over again.

I think it's more Grime now ! There was definitely a thing with unlicensed radio stations broadcasting but I think that's been cracked down on in recent years. Don't think "Tube Radios" are a thing unless you're trying to listen to Hilversum although old tube (I should really say "Valve") radios are interesting in being relatively immune to rf interference. Not good at DAB though !

Tape won't scratch - true, But the oxide falls off and a defining memory of my childhood is long strings of the tape from cassettes strewn along pavements after a car cassette malfunction.
It's hard to argue with a FLAC download tbh although I'm wary of over reliance of streaming.

 

[Goblin]

I think it's more Grime now ! There was definitely a thing with unlicensed radio stations broadcasting but I think that's been cracked down on in recent years. Don't think "Tube Radios" are a thing unless you're trying to listen to Hilversum although old tube (I should really say "Valve") radios are interesting in being relatively immune to rf interference. Not good at DAB though !

Tape won't scratch - true, But the oxide falls off and a defining memory of my childhood is long strings of the tape from cassettes strewn along pavements after a car cassette malfunction.
It's hard to argue with a FLAC download tbh although I'm wary of over reliance of streaming.

Yeah, I don't get in those conversations. To me, every music medium has its magic. Not counting the useless ones. Like even super-cd's are exiting, but the catalogue is like 200 titles long lol.

I'm bit detached of what medium is streaming atm and what not. I'm guessing you're referring that FLAC buffers because of it's size? Or just tired of streaming services?

It's not like I have stopped listening to cassettes and vinyl's ever. That weird dude a couple of decades ago that loved those scratchy sounding vinyl's? Me. Listening and buying cassettes in the early 2.000? What's wrong with you?! lol

Yeah, FLAC is priceless. With a good DAC it's heavenly. I want to listen to those 30 thousand dollar stereos that say make people cry lol.

I like most lossless mediums.

Yeah, tubes behave like valves, lol, just used to calling them tubes.

The new Reel to Reel tapes people say it's almost if not like listening to the masters itself. If you follow the gear guide and accommodate everything accordingly. But as all tapes after the 50th listen it starts to deteriorate. And every reel is like 4 thou bucks lol. If you can get them more power to you.

When I was in the U.K two-step was trying to take over. Grime was very interesting atm. And a couple of years later the real "Dubstep" was coming out, like in 2006. I mean, big big bottom bass speakers, and countless of them. It grew out of personal sound systems. Not really what commercial Dubstep became or sounded like.

As always people like Lee Scratch Perry were playing at that famous Jazz club at the center of London, like literally at the center of it, and everything was very exiting cuz people valued legends. The club is or was not in Camden Town. Can't remember the name of the Jazz Club. I have flyers of that club somewhere.

As well pirate radios were awesome in the early 2.000's in London. I used to listen to one in particular that played only noise music, ambient noise, and "sound compositions", "sound architecture", ran all day and all night. You can't put a price on that. I think it broadcasted from a college.

 

[Brian Roth]

There are some obvious mistakes in the article, but the gist is that cassettes are making a comeback:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trav...-they-are-flying-off-factory-floor-180979417/
Bri

 

[Goblin]

There are some obvious mistakes in the article, but the gist is that cassettes are making a comeback:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trav...-they-are-flying-off-factory-floor-180979417/
Bri

Oh yeah, that's been happening since like 6 years going strong. Thanks for linking the url. Cassettes are selling. I have been watching companies, business and individuals do it.

 

[Goblin]

I am not clear exactly what you mean by "start my own record label". Do you already have mastered stereo recordings that you simply want to duplicate on cassette or are you going to record original material?

Cheers

Ian

(...) t's not like I'm asking for validation or permission lol. - Not meaning yours Ian, just in general. No disrespect.

 

[Goblin]

Do you have an example? I'm not aware of any manufacturer currently producing high-quality cassette recorders.

What trick?

Most cassette recorders have failed mechanisms after 5-10 years.
Reel-to-reel machines have better chances of survival but still need some TLC.

Hey Abbey. I'm not aware either of a newly made quality cassette deck made these last years.

I have three options, one is to buy this one or one of the other models that were made these last years, they have their benefits and their downsides, they are not that good, they are not that bad:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/202mkVII--tascam-202mkvii-dual-cassette-deck-with-usb
The second option is to look for a quality cassette deck in eBay or a specialized store, get to know it inside and out, check out if parts are available for repair and change, and buy it from a store that is known to sell products in the state they say it is, I.E "in full working condition but with scratches, serviced a month ago", a trusted store with good reputation. These can climb up to 1.500 bucks and up as you know.

The third option is to buy an used cheap deck sold underpriced that can do the job. So I'm looking for a cheap but useful deck that can get the job done (can do the trick) so I can use it till I buy the main one for the job. To get things running fast.

I have to buy an expensive printer and other stuff work related, Kali LP-6 V2 pair monitors as well thrown in that list, my monitors got fried a while ago, that's super budget but gets the job done, and a few other things, so as fast as I can get going the better. Without compromising quality. That's why I am looking in used stores for a cassette deck that can do an useful and decent job of recording my master signal from my computer to a cassette. Probably not even a wav render, just straight from the Ableton session with everything not frozen, plugins running in real time, as well as the audio recorded.

There are a few other cassette decks that came out these last years but none that you can call a "quality deck" as far as I know. My idea is what I can buy budget, but that gets the work done, buy those, and what I have to buy expensive if not it reduces quality or it will be more expensive to replace down the road, get those as well (RAM, CPU, which I already bought), then to upgrade the budget parts.

 

[Goblin]

I see no real connection between love of music and the cassette medium.


These are not cassettes. What would you do with the resulting tapes ?


just no ! DCC never even took off at the time.

lol I didn't even knew about DCC. Will look it up.

The reels are for use in my semi home studio, cassettes to sell and get going a small record label.

I mean, if you're gonna throw yourself head first at the deep end of the pool selling cassettes in 2022, you have to have love for the music, the medium, and the whole process of making them, marketing them, and selling them.

 

[Goblin]

T

The Sony EL5 is an Elcaset, not a standard cassette deck. I've never heard of Yazumi.

Thanks for the tip cyrano.