Cassette mixdown questions

[LimbCrucifix]

I finally have a few things completed on my Tascam 488 MKII and want to mix down to a tape deck. The main thing I want to get mixed down is a 4 song demo. Now, a series of noob questions:

The running time is about 15 mins. If I want to make copies to distribute should I try to get blank tapes that are close to 15 mins or just get regular 60 or 90 min ones and have alot of blank space? What do people generally do when they want to make copies of a short demo?

If I do get, say, 20 min long tapes, I assume that's 10 mins per side? So I would record 2 songs on each side I guess. Am I going to run into problems of the tape playing backwards if I record on both sides or something?

I have a few tapes that have 'Program repeats on both sides'. Did they record the demo on side A, turn it over and record it again, or is there a way to record the same thing on A and B at the same time?

And finally, can anyone find me a good online source for cheap bulk blank tapes?!

Thanks in advance!
Iain

 

[grimtraveller]

Well, maybe these places could answer a few of your questions

http://www.tape.com/products/type-II-cassette-bulk.html

http://www.fortressaudio.com/cassettes/

http://www.tapestockonline.com/cdscassette.html

They sell chrome tapes of varying lengths, ranging from 30 seconds to 100 minutes. They say they do them in bulk packs of 100. {Some are no boxes or labels but they're easy to get}.

If you actually mix down onto a cassette, and it's on a regular tape deck, then it'll be like any cassette. It's only when you record on the cassette multitrack that you 'lose' tape time and can only do one side.
I think you'd be better off mixing down to CD too, just for longevity's sake. But that's just a personal view. That way, you can just record that straight to the tape as and when. I don't know how they copy them, if it was me, I'd just do straight one on one copies. That's how I did it in the beginning when I'd give them to friends.
By the way, have you tried recording anything backwards on the 488 ? On things like guitars, mandolins, vocals, and even piano, you get a fantastic effect, quite unlike any of the standard effects. If you do, just remember that each track runs the other way - 1 becomes 8, 2 becomes 7, 3 becomes 6 and so forth. Once I forgot that and ended up wiping a bit of something already recorded ! In other words, if you have recorded stuff on tracks 2,3,4 and 5 already, and you want to record backwards guitar, say on track 1 and 6, when you flip the tape, you'd record on track 8 and 3 so when you go back to normal, that would give you 1 and 6.
Just a thought.

 

[rayc]

If mixing down to cassette you have to consider play back modes.
I's suggest doing the 4 songs on each side BUT have 1 side with Dolby noise reduction & the other without & label as such. If you mix with dolby & some one plays it back without the sound/mix difference is significant. Doing both ways the person playing it can use the side that suits their playback machine. Most units in a good stereo have one of the dolbys & most in cars & portable players don't. So, if you don't know the gear used by the recipients - hedge your bets.
I have a bundle of 10min chorme tapes that I bought on line for recording purposes - if I were distributing demos I'd opt for cheap "normal" tapes.

 

[AbuseTheMuses]

sadly, just using cheap normal tapes isn't going to help much either nowadays since many people's stereos don't even have a tape player. I would think finding a way to burn it to cd would be a lot more effective for a handout demo (plus cd's are cheaper in bulk)

 

[mjbphotos]

If you are doing this as demo tapes - why cassettes? As has already been said, most people don't even have tape players these days.

Who will you be sending/giving these demos tapes to? CDs or USB sticks might be a better choice.

 

[Seafroggys]

USB sticks are still too expensive for use that way. Even the cheapest ones on the market are still well over the price of an individual CD. Plus they're easier to lose.

 

[snatchman]

If you just have to pass out cassettes for demo purposes, I'd suggest mixing to CD for your " Master" and make the cassette copies from the CD master.. That way, you won't have the generation loss associated with making multible copies from the same cassette master..Plus, not having the risk of the cassette master " breaking".....( been there, done that)..Good luck..

 

[LimbCrucifix]

Not interested in making CDs at all! The people I send the demo to will definitely have a tape deck so that isn't a problem.
Thanks guys.

 

[fat_fleet]

i'd use normal biased tapes and as short as possible lengthwise.

 

[grimtraveller]

Not interested in making CDs at all! The people I send the demo to will definitely have a tape deck so that isn't a problem.
Thanks guys.

In the light of that, this might be of interest to you;

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/care_and_handling.html