Best cassettes for multitracker

James B · Post by **James B** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 7:28 am

In a fit of nostalgia I bought a Fostex 8-track cassette recorder on eBay. I haven't owned a cassette recorder for 10 years and I have no idea what sort of cassettes I should be looking to buy.

I vaguely remember my old Tascam Portastudio suggesting that I use a certain type of cassette. It was either Type A/B or Type 1/2... All I remember is that I mostly used the wrong kind because that was all I could get in the local supermarket which resulted in recordings with fairly terrible consistency of pitch. But I can't remember which was which.

I assume someone here still uses a cassette recorder or at least remembers those days and can help me out here.

Also, are any brands better than others for this kind of use?

Thanks.

blungo2 · Post by **blungo2** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:03 am

I don't know if your deck is high bias or not, but i use tdk pro sm-x20 tapes that i get from amazon in my tascam 238.

James B · Post by **James B** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:15 am

is wether or not the deck is high bias or not the main consideration when buying tapes then?

After some research it looks like I do need type ii high bias tapes, I didn't expect them to be so hard to come by as type i cassettes seem to be plentiful on ebay...

kung_fu_elvis · Post by **kung_fu_elvis** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:36 am

On my old Tascam I used Maxell MS-60's, which are harder to come by, but they served me well.

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:08 am

Any Type II/Chrome high bias cassette should be fine (which I'm pretty positive your Fostex is set-up for).

They are available on ebay and other places on the net, but they are more expensive and much rarer than Type I nowadays.

GJ

blungo2 · Post by **blungo2** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:08 am

James B wrote:is wether or not the deck is high bias or not the main consideration when buying tapes then?

After some research it looks like I do need type ii high bias tapes, I didn't expect them to be so hard to come by as type i cassettes seem to be plentiful on ebay...

AFAIK it is. Also, my tascam manual recomends the shorter tapes, so that's what i use.
edit: they're not hard to find, there's a ton of places that custom wind cassettes.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:34 am

FWIW, I always used the hi-bias II, in as short of a length as possible, which seemed sturdier and less prone to winding problems, flutter, etc.

I seem to recall that 120 min. tape was thinner ..

Do not use "metal" tape, as it wears on the heads.

Eventually, I bought a case of blank 10 minute tapes from a duplication house, 1-2 songs per tape.

James B · Post by **James B** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:50 am

Type II cassettes weirdly seem to be much more easily available in the US than here in the UK. I've managed to get a few used ones to get me started at least, I guess I'll get some imported from America if this turns out to be more than a passing phase.

On second thoughts, the increased availability might just be down to the higher number of eBay users in the US rather than some kind of type ii preference over there...

The Real MC · Post by **The Real MC** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:13 am

Use cassettes with the shortest time.

The 90/100 minute cassettes use thinner tape than 60 minute, in order to squeeze all that tape into that little cartridge. The thinner tape wears out faster and is more likely to get eaten by the cassette transport.

Stay away from generic no name cassettes. Use reliable brands such as Maxell or TDK.

The other benefit is that shorter length cassettes are a lot easier to catalog, and you don't have to FF through too many songs to get to that one you want to work on.

I still have 60min Maxell type II/chrome tapes around for my multitrack back from 1990, and they are still going strong.

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:34 pm

The only problem(s) with the really short tapes is that about the only thing you can use them for are single song projects (or maybe two if your songs are really short). You have to keep in mind your utilization needs. If you are only going to be recording one song at a time in your cassette-based home studio, it's all good...

I had a bunch of custom loaded short cassettes left from the old days, also some of those TDK SM ("studio master cassettes") in short lengths. You can't fit three songs on them; maybe two and a half. Nowadays I use my Sony Walkman Pro as a back-up machine to the digital recorder for live remote stuff-- 3-6 minute cassettes are pretty useless for an application like that, regardless of the tape quality.

GJ

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:28 am

In all the years I've been recording to cassette, I've hardly *ever* tracked more than one song to one cassette; multiple versions of the same song are not as rare but are still not common. I say shorter is better.

As for cheap type II cassettes, I see them all the time on eBay... Maxell and TDK are sometimes priced at a premium. Tapes with less "rep" are probably a good bet. Sony CD-IT for instance: usually cheap if the seller actually wants to sell.

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:57 am

There's a LOT more Type I out there than Type II. As JJ said, the Type II is often priced rather high.

GJ

James B · Post by **James B** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 2:11 pm

The majority of results returned on eBay when searching for "type II" cassettes seem to be non-UK based, not sure if there's a logical reason for this or not. Weirdly I had more luck looking through listings of cassettes that didn't specify the type in the text using the image as a guide. They're not exactly expensive at ?5 or so each but that's 5 times the cost of an average type I.

Judas Jetski · Post by **Judas Jetski** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 4:17 pm

Wow. That's like eight bucks US. Seems a little steep to me... I think you're definitely better off looking by brand name rather than "Type I" or "Type II." I guess shipping from the US to UK is probably enough to compensate for any savings...

Seems like there's gotta be a way to get them cheaper. Maybe by the case, in blank media...

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 4:29 pm

That's the ticket. I think I got a case of 50 for about $60(?)...

GJ

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