Fun on the cheap
Fun on the cheap
Wandering through the aisles of junk in the Goodwill today, I was struck by something. It was only a couple hours earlier that I was reading a section in the Keith Richards book about Street Fighting Man and the famous cassette guitar sound. In front of me was a panasonic portable cassette player. Piece of junk for $1.99. Possibly the same model my friend Greg and i stole from school in first grade. (Actually, we were getting on the bus and he told me to go get a paper bag from the woods and be cool. i did. Crap, we were stealing. Still, i was stoked with my reward - the tape. Greg kept the player...) Anyhow, did I really wanna spend $1.99 and have this old junker in my house? And, no, I wasn't considering shoplifting!
Back home, I found a box of cassettes high up in the spare room- and sometime echo chamber - closet. One of these will work. Sittings down with an old Harmony archtop strung nashville, I gave the old machine a test run...
Holy shit - instant Keef!
The little condenser mic seems to have two flavours - some distortion and more distortion. If that is not enough, the deck has enough volume to drive the speaker into a raging, and surprisingly loud, fuzz. Wow and flutter to boot. And that is how my heart felt. The old cassette days! Can't wait to mix this in with some clean sounds down in the studio.
Back home, I found a box of cassettes high up in the spare room- and sometime echo chamber - closet. One of these will work. Sittings down with an old Harmony archtop strung nashville, I gave the old machine a test run...
Holy shit - instant Keef!
The little condenser mic seems to have two flavours - some distortion and more distortion. If that is not enough, the deck has enough volume to drive the speaker into a raging, and surprisingly loud, fuzz. Wow and flutter to boot. And that is how my heart felt. The old cassette days! Can't wait to mix this in with some clean sounds down in the studio.
- A.David.MacKinnon
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The main guitar in Street Fighting Man is an acoustic that Keith recorded in a hotel room overloading the "crap" out of it. He dug the sound so they took it to the studio, attached a better speaker, and miked that. It is an excellently fucked up guitar sound.Gregg Juke wrote:Can you describe the cassette trick? I haven't read Keith's book yet, but I can assure you we had a name for cassette sound back in the day-- "crappy."
GJ
Johnny7
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Tape drift is present in pretty much all tape machines, to varying degrees. Playback never seems to be exactly the same each time. If you only have to make a few edits, then that's pretty good. This is why when people talk about doing transfers to digital, doing it all in one pass with direct outs from each track of the tape machine, because if you do each track separately they're never going to line up right. I use my 464 for this.timadamson wrote:ive been running my mixes though a walkman then mixing it in underneath, sounds really sweet. Although i might need a new player/cassette because it stretches the track out a little.... need to make a few edits
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ah ok makes sense then. im not really using it on anything major. just scrappy blues recordings.Tape drift is present in pretty much all tape machines, to varying degrees. Playback never seems to be exactly the same each time. If you only have to make a few edits, then that's pretty good. This is why when people talk about doing transfers to digital, doing it all in one pass with direct outs from each track of the tape machine, because if you do each track separately they're never going to line up right. I use my 464 for this.
Listing to alot of The Chariot if you into heavy stuffy. they use it one some guitars and just slow it the crap down with there fingers. sounds wicked
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>>>>Remember earphones?<<<<
I still have one from my little hand-held 2-speed cassette recorder (which I also still have and works fine). I put the earphone with my iPod headphone bag, in case I want to listen in mono while I'm driving or something (any other public activity where I need one ear free). I kind of stopped using it, though, because I had forgotten how fatigueing spiked-mid-range-only listening can be.
GJ
I still have one from my little hand-held 2-speed cassette recorder (which I also still have and works fine). I put the earphone with my iPod headphone bag, in case I want to listen in mono while I'm driving or something (any other public activity where I need one ear free). I kind of stopped using it, though, because I had forgotten how fatigueing spiked-mid-range-only listening can be.
GJ
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- A.David.MacKinnon
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Its reel
It is a reel recorder. I see how I can insert a web image but not how to upload pictures. How to show you or get you my email?A.David.MacKinnon wrote:!!!!!!!!!!!ssum wrote:You have probably found one now, but if not I have one.A.David.MacKinnon wrote:I've been looking for one of those for year. Also looking for a Phillips Continental 210 reel to reel if anyone has one (but it seems highly doubtful).
The cassette deck or the reel to reel?
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