Would like to know about the Stones' use of cassette tape.

[honkyjonk]

I remember reading in some very old rolling stone (the magazine) interview that the Stones would use cassette sometimes to make certain tracks a little more lofi.

Only time I've actually heard about it other than that was that they recorded the acoustic guitar part to Street Fighting Man on cassette first. (Or maybe went out and back?)

this of course, like a billion other things, is speculation that may or may not be true. I'm just interested in hearing more about it, if anybody knows anything else.

Also, what kind of cassette machines did they even have in '68 when Beggar's came out? I wasn't alive at that point. I'm not sure how far back the cassette goes.

[Red Rockets Glare]

Well, Tom (joeysimms) sure likes using cassette tapes for slap echo, maybe he'll chime in here.

[hiconfidence]

i've seen a producer who has worked w/ the stones use a cassette recorder as a room mic...he would take one of those old school shoebox type recorders, put it in record and take the line out or phone out to tape (regular 2" tape)...said he like the way the mic compressed...he didn't actually use a cassette in it...in this case, it was really distorted and crappy sounding, i think the band may have been a little too loud for it...

...maybe they learned this from him or the other way around...he didn't work w/ them until the 90's i think...

[BandyLou]

http://www.timeisonourside.com/index2.html

scroll down to 'Track Talk'
You can click thru to albums, grouped by year, and click individual tracks for commentary.

for example:
"The basic track of that was done on a mono cassette with very distorted overrecording, on a Phillips with no limiters..."
That's Keef talking about street fighting man.

[drumsound]

Great Link BandyLou. I'm gonna spend some serious time there. (see my signature...)

[joeysimms]

The key to those old cassette recorders is that they don't have any built-in limiting. my friend had a nice early 80's quasar boombox that distorted wonderfully. But yeah - cool link, that track (SFM) is one of my favorites. No electric guitars in that track!

[Girl Toes]

Also, what kind of cassette machines did they even have in '68 when Beggar's came out? I wasn't alive at that point. I'm not sure how far back the cassette goes.

I'm not sure what they used, but they've been around a LONG time. I know reading that BW took home a lot of cassetttes while recording pet sounds. I'm under the impression that its studios that used em for a long time before they really caught on in the public. (Which I think was in the late 70s)

Correct me.

[joel hamilton]

A more recent, albeit skin crawling example, is that movie "that thing you do."

The title track to that movie, made FOR the movie, was mixed to various formats (1/2", DAT,1/4" and CASSETTE). The cassette mix is the one you hear in the movie. Mixed to a tascam 122, mastered from that.

I have mixed to double speed 4 cassette track machines just for an "older" sound across an entire mix. Before CD burners were common in studios, I would sometimes spin off a rough listener straight to cassette, and I always liked that sound as well. Of course, that means we were using either 16 or 24 trk 2" machines, through a decent console, and printing to a tascam 122 of some sort.... Nonetheless, i have printed flute tracks to cassette just to get a little mellotron "grind" out of the track, then back into PTHD....
Cassettes, even consumer decks, have a cool fingerprint. Even the line amps are fun sometimes, like printing a room mic on drums through the line amps of an old sony cassette deck.

[gravy boat]

Even the line amps are fun sometimes, like printing a room mic on drums through the line amps of an old sony cassette deck.

I have an old (early 80's?) GE jambox that always made great rehearsal tapes. I always wanted to rig it up to use as a drum room mic, but there are no rca outs. Any ideas?

[Girl Toes]

This seems to good time to anounce the best cassette deck ever made:

Denon 790R
Originally 900 bucks
now less than 150 on ebay.



Features include:
Auto-cal
xlr in and out
laseramorphious tape head
and much more. Hands down the best deck ever.

[Catoogie]

I would sometimes spin off a rough listener straight to cassette

Sometimes? I know engineers HATE it but, ya gotta have a rough at the end of the session. I know there's danger of demo love but man the drive home from the session with the rough is sooooo gratifying!!

[joel hamilton]

I would sometimes spin off a rough listener straight to cassette

Sometimes? I know engineers HATE it but, ya gotta have a rough at the end of the session. I know there's danger of demo love but man the drive home from the session with the rough is sooooo gratifying!!

Sometimes straight to cassette, rather than mixing to a "proper" format first, in case everyone freaks out and loves the listener, or just for posterity. Depends on where we were at in the process....

[jmoose]

Sometimes? I know engineers HATE it but, ya gotta have a rough at the end of the session. I know there's danger of demo love but man the drive home from the session with the rough is sooooo gratifying!!

Only if the bill is paid!

I haven't had a cassette deck hooked up in years...probably about 3 or 4 now. The last time someone wanted a copy of mixes on cassette I had to go to KMart and buy a 2-pack. I finally threw away the second one last year!

[junkyardtodd]

That weird, built in mic compression? I love that sound. If you look on ebay you can get cheap Electret Condensors (powered by a single AA battery) that have that kind of sound, and not have to figure out how to line out of the cheapo tape recorder.

Dang, I love that sound!

[bobbydj]

A more recent, albeit skin crawling example, is that movie "that thing you do."

The title track to that movie, made FOR the movie, was mixed to various formats (1/2", DAT,1/4" and CASSETTE). The cassette mix is the one you hear in the movie. Mixed to a tascam 122, mastered from that.

Holy shit. Awesome. That's been NB'd.



In other news - creot grrr.