Tape distortion

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IronFlippy

IronFlippy

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How would I rig a tape deck into my rig for some distortion? And would it just be a subtle overdrive, or full blown distortion?
 
i adore tape deck distortion, you can get some of the coolest sounds out of it. Plus its funny when people ask you how you get that sound and you tell them you run your guitar through a tape deck. You run your guitar into the mic input, and out of the speaker output. It has to be recording though, of course. Thats the downside, everyonce in awhile you'll be playing and the tape will end and you'll be cut off.
 
sorry i missed the second half of your question. The amount of distortion depends on the recording level. if its set low it will be kind of a lo-fi crackly kind of distortion. If set full blast you can get some really crazy distortion. I run my guitar through multiple tape decks sometimes to get weird white noise sounds that i can control with my guitar. It becomes 'a wash' of distortion. You'll probably have to turn down your highs though, because it will be really bright. also take into consideration that the tapedeck will compress your sound quite a bit.

man i'm giving away all my secrets...
 
Do you have any recordings of it? I won't have a tape deck handy until I go back home in December. I just want to hear what it sounds like.
 
Does the tape need to be a real cassette tape? that is, does the actual recording to tape matter at all or could you replace the tape with one of the fake tapes that are used as an adaptor for a protable CD player in a car?

Just a thought to avoid the tape-run-out-shutoff thing.

Daav.
 
daav said:
Does the tape need to be a real cassette tape? that is, does the actual recording to tape matter at all or could you replace the tape with one of the fake tapes that are used as an adaptor for a protable CD player in a car?

Just a thought to avoid the tape-run-out-shutoff thing.

Daav.
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I was thinking that too, but I'm pretty sure what causes it is the actual limit on the tape itself being crossed over.
 
thats weird because last night i was doing that and i didnt have the tape turning at all. i had it on the record optoin but paused.
 
IronFlippy said:
I was thinking that too, but I'm pretty sure what causes it is the actual limit on the tape itself being crossed over.
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partially true. it does effect the sound, but not much. Unfortunately my studio is still what i would call 'ghetto'. :rolleyes: I can only record to cassette tape right now, so i cant post anything online. However, I stole the idea from a guy named Phil Elverum, who you can hear online. http://krecs.com/html/press/medialisten.php?interest=22
the guitars at the end are distorted this way. It may be hard to distinguish though since other things are distorted as well.
 
Unless you have a tape deck with 3 heads, there is no way for you to listen to the tape as it is recording. What you are listening to is the input, not the tape. You are just distorting the cheesy electronics in your cassette deck.
 
When I was a kid I would run my cheap Silvertone into an 8 track recorder/player. Not a multitrack, but the kind that played 8 track tapes! I would put it in record mode with the pause button engaged. I would then crank the input until the VU meters maxed out. This would create a really ratty fuzzy distortion. I took this rig to school once for a talent show in the school gym. I didn't really know how to play a whole lot of anything but when I hit a power chord, all the girls began to go crazy! And that was when I knew...
 
Farview said:
Unless you have a tape deck with 3 heads, there is no way for you to listen to the tape as it is recording. What you are listening to is the input, not the tape. You are just distorting the cheesy electronics in your cassette deck.
Click to expand...

And even then the only way to listen to it is delayed by the time it takes for the tape to move from the record to playback heads. You can't listen to tape playback real time. I agree; I think what they are doing is making a fuzzbox by overdriving the input electronics of the tape machine; it dosen't have anything to do with the tape.

Brian May (Queen) got his sig sound from a fuzzbox a friend of his made from an old clock radio or something like that.
 
Not to split hairs, but it was actually a car radio, and he used a treble booster too. :D :D











(sorry I'm just hair splitter)
 
Kasey said:
Thats the downside, everyonce in awhile you'll be playing and the tape will end and you'll be cut off.
Click to expand...

Try using an endless loop cassette used for outgoing messages in old answering machines. They might still sell them at Radio Shack.
 
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hixmix said:
Try using an endless loop cassette used for outgoing messages in old answering machines. They might still sell them at Radio Shack.
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The tape has nothing to do with it. You could put an empty cassette in it and it would do the same thing. The easiest way is the stick your finger in and hold up the thing that checks whether the knock out tab is in the cassette and hit record. It will stay like this for ever.
 
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