can someone recommend a tape to use in my 4 track

[a27thletter]

i've posted a similar post but i cant find it anywhere, anyways, on my fostex x12 what would be the best cassette to use, i've found some tdk professional studio tapes that are supposed to be designed specifically for multi-tracking, but the only thing is i have to order them, and i have to order by bulk and it gets kinda expensive to order 20 tapes at a time at almost 3 dollars a tape. are there any off the shelf tapes that should give me good quality, and be durable enough to be re-wound and overdubbed at least 4 times,,, a lot of the type 2 high position tapes i've tried off the shelf have been great at fist, but after i get to about the 3rd overdub they start to sound warbly, like the tape is stretching or something,. also, will a metal type cassette hurt the heads on my recorder? and how ofter should i demagnetize the head, and one more thing, my demanetizer only demagnitizes the center head, does the other head require to be demag'd ever? and if so where can i find a device that does it.

[Rokket]

Try musician's friend: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/
or any of the online instrument sales sites. Or go to a guitar center. Don't use metal tapes in your machine, they will act like sandpaper and grind away your heads. Any off the shelf tape other than metal will work, just don't buy tapes longer than 60 minutes. Longer than that, the tape is too thin and you will get the results you described after just a couple overdubs. I can't answer your question about demagnitizing, I've never done it or had to do it. I own a Tascam mp01 4-track, but I don't use it much anymore since I got my Fostex MR-8.
Good luck!

[dave in toledo]

any high bias under 60 min tape...

clean heads before every use and dmagnitise every time doestn hurt....i used to do it every few times....

[Beck]

I've managed to squeeze every last drop of quality on the cassette portastudios I've used over the years with TDK SA, SM, SA-X and SM-X. I've found the TDK tapes to be the highest quality. Nothing else has worked quite as well.

[YeshuasFan]

Back in the days when I used analog tape, I found I got the best results with Ampex Grandmaster. I think the company is now called Quantegy. Their cassette tapes are marketed under the brand name "Octave." They are available through a company called "Tape World" in Butler, PA. The URL for their website is www.tapeworld.com
I haven't done business with them since I went digital in 2000 but they have been in business for over 25 years and have been outstanding to do business with.

[Emperor !!!]

I own one of these Fostex X-12.

I use type II tapes from maxell, by now they're allright, try different type II tapes and choose the one that fits you.