The Last Audio Cassette Factory
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ย. 2015
- Sept. 1 -- Springfield, MO-based National Audio Company opened in 1969 and when other major manufacturers abandoned tape manufacturing for CD production in the late 1990s, the company held on tight. Now, the cassette maker is pumping out more cassettes than ever before. (Video By: Jeniece Pettitt, Ryo Ikegami)
-- Subscribe to Bloomberg on TH-cam: / bloomberg
Bloomberg Television offers extensive coverage and analysis of international business news and stories of global importance. It is available in more than 310 million households worldwide and reaches the most affluent and influential viewers in terms of household income, asset value and education levels. With production hubs in London, New York and Hong Kong, the network provides 24-hour continuous coverage of the people, companies and ideas that move the markets.
Cheers *Techmoan*
Wiggysan Wiggysan But are they making Metal/Type 3 tapes, or are the making that cheap ferro stuff.
Type 1: Ferro Type 2: Chromium Dioxide Type 3: Ferro/Chromium Dioxide Type 4: Metal
Wiggysan Wiggysan yeah! Love him! He's kind of cute, too.
with a good deck ,and i´m not talking about those decks that in the 90´s cost around 2500 dollars,but the ones that cost from 250 to 500 dollars or even less you can get better sound with a ferric tape then a metal one, not in those compact systems that had a cassette recorder, and people used to prefer chromium tapes then metal tapes, just because the sound wasn´t that better for a normal user,and good metal tapes were to much expensive and would wear out the heads(play/rec and erase) more quikly then other types of tape(and ferro tapes as you can see by the colour are made of rust )and more important ,they last more. i still have from the mid 80´s basf LH-extra I cassetes that were re-recorded 3 or 4 times on a akai deck HX-3 and today they sound very good with no hiss ,and several metal tapes kind of lost their properties, the sony tape metal xr are one of the worth cassetes i ´ve ever heard after listening 1 time they would get descalibrated, but sony had a good metal cassete all white in ceramic casing, the metal xr were cheaper then most of the chromium cassetes
They make ferric tape... :'-(
All my music is MP3/online now, but there was something strangely satisfying about taking a tape out of its case, dropping it into a cassette deck, closing its door and pressing play.
Parker Brooks I agree, the tape machine was more alive, more physical and, as you say, more satisfying!
Much more satisfying is when you sit and watch the cassette in action! I love it when I watch the tape roll from one spool to the other.
My thought exactly.
What do we have now? Invisible, un-touchable, digital files on our computer or smart phone. I do listen to digital music, and I have probably a few thousand music-CD's bought in the 1980s and 1990 (and '00s and even today), but music I have never bought online (and I don't think I ever will).
And that's the key. People simply like the physical aspect. I love the little buggers myself. I have plenty of CDs, but I still like LPs and Casettes. The gain in sound quality isn't worth it, since anyone with a mid quality system can hardly tell anyway.
This comes as no surprise now that society has embarked on a high-tech medieval dystopia.
The cassette tape is an icon from a bygone era-a time that the vast majority secretly yearn for.
Awesome! Long live analog!
I grew up on audio cassettes, sitting in my bedroom and obsessively taping my favourite songs from the radio. I stil have several cassette tape decks in my home and all my old cassette tapes from my childhood and teenage years. You have made my day!!…. What you do here is fantastic!!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽⏯⏺⏹⏪⏩❤️❤️❤️❤️🎶🎵💕💕💕
I'd love to see the cassette come back as strong as vinyl records have. I have a real soft spot for cassettes. They were a big part of my childhood. It was my older brother's cassette collection that first got me into heavy metal which is my favorite musical genre. I'm so glad this factory still exists. More power to them.
CASSETTS VINYL CD REEL TI REEL DOWNLOAD IS NOT IS GOOD AS 8TRACK TAPES TRUTH
Ungroomed Lover They are making a comeback all the time.
Edgard Agosto
psst
Digital Audio Tape > Everything Else
it won't *really* happen until someone decides to manufacturer decent mechanisms again (with properly stable speed, none of that fluttery rubbish), which in turn will allow manufacture of high-quality decks.
@@RWL2012 I bought a Nakamichi from the mid-80s on eBay. Replaced The Idler Wheel and a couple belts and the thing runs amazing. Apparently only one company in China makes cassette mechanisms now.
I have so much respect for you guys. Thanks for keeping it alive. I own several cassette players and a couple of reel 2 reel machines. Always loved analog tape. Never cared much for CD's Thank you!!!
They are making more tapes than ever because they have no competition
+Daniel Sultana
Right!
+Daniel Sultana kind of surprising the government hasn't intervened on anti-monopoly grounds, maybe they just see it as too much of a niche thing?
They're not forcing the monopoly, it's just no one wants to compete (or thats what seems to be going on
Daniel Sultana true, true.
Of course, as a matter of fact, to seriously mention the word "monopoly" spaking of a company that duplicates cassettes with old equipment they have to service themselves, is just hilarious.
I'm 21 and I collect cassettes. Last year when my roommates listened to a cassette, they were shocked by the sound it produced.
Yes! I love cassettes.I will buy more cassettes.Cassettes forever!!!!☺☺☺☺
I love cassettes, they were a very important part of my life almost 30 years ago....and I recently started collecting these and CDs as well.
Cassettes are the only bulletproof analog medium which is portable, we need to bring back Chrome and Metal cassette production
my 2001 Honda Civic factory tape deck still plays my awesome cassettes from the 80's n 90's.
Cassettes are still my favorite.I love ❤️ collecting cassettes, making mix tapes ..etc. Long live the cassete!!! Cassettes deserve more ❤️ love.
I am stunned! The resurgence of cassette was completely off my radar!! I still have a cassette deck in my home audio system, a high end Denon, which I enjoy using for the nostalgia of it! Playing cassettes I recorded back in the early 80's and which still sound as good as they ever did! The joy of recording a new vinyl album onto cassette for playback in the car is a unique experience, it was like a forbidden pleasure!
My admiration goes to NAC for such fortitude!
turboslag. 8TRACKS IS THE BEST EVER. THEY TO MAKE 8TRACK TAPES BADLY
Ditto here...but my old Chrysler bit the dust 2 years ago (it had a cassette deck too). Now, try finding a deck for my plastic Corolla! Fat chance.
Found an old walkman type player for few bucks that can be plugged into AUX jack on newer model cars/stereos. $300 Sony walkman from early 90s for next to nothing in 2020. Got some rechargeable batteries and could probably find cigarette lighter plug to output 3 DC VOLTS needed to power player. Talk about retro soundm cassette over speakers designed for CDs and MP3s and digital satellite stations.
thank you guys.. please don't stop. love what you do
anaLog
metal audio casettes with Dolby S NR
bring sound quality equal to CD quality. Im not bullshiting you.
Cnupoc This shit company doesn't make Metal cassettes :/
How can you afford metal tapes?!
Or a dolby S player!?
You're correct. But those Dolby S players are fairly pricey. Never mind the cost of metal tapes.
I got a Dolby S deck for around €100 two months ago. I don't know the model number but its a Sony one with a motorised drawer loader (like a CD player). It's only a two head deck but works and sounds great.
But my chrysler imperial cassette radio only has Dolby B NR
Any chance of bringing back high quality metal tapes?
way better than dolby S
Metal tape rec with Dolby S... nice sound!
Sadly, that's highly unlikely!
@@thespeez i'd like to know why it's unlikely. Seems to me they should have the sense to know what customers want...metal tapes ARE the best.
@@johnw2026 - It's highly unlikely as environmental concerns won't allow for them to be produced. National Audio Company once offered Chrome tapes, but both their Audio-Pro Type-IIs and the Studio Master tapes have been discontinued. As I understand the new 'Super-Ferric' from NAC as well as the FOX tape from Recording The Masters are of inferior quality when compared to the old Super-Ferrics from TDK (e.g AR) or the Maxell XL-I.
I Just looked them up..... They are still running.
Still listening to audio tape cassettes in 2021.
I said back when I bought my Sony WA9ES dual-well cassette deck(3 head,Dolby B,C,S,HX pro with 30 track computer random play back/quick reverse,blank skip,auto pause) back in 1999,that the cassette and reel-to-reel WILL make a big come back.Top notch video,10+star rating,TWO THUMBS UP!!!.
For those that want a top notch,old-school cassette deck,check out "vintage cassette decks".You can STILL buy a Nakamishi Dragoon,ReVox,Tandberg,Sony,Akai,Teac etc.
+331sbf I thought that if it was a"ES"series that would be the top of the sony line back in the 1980's.
+331sbf Well,the one that I have,has the green back lights in it.
Audio casset kahan per taiyar hoti hai
I used to work as a service technician for King Instruments corporation back in the late 80's and just loved how those machines made tapes. Did Audio, video, super8 and various formats for IBM. I went to work for a duplicator in 89 and I got to work on Electrosounds, Apex's, Scandia's, Heino's, and pretty much anything to do with the cassette manufacturing process. Absolutely loved the whole process!
I have some collections of Audio Cassettes still I am Searching for Audio Cassettes , but in India no Cassette company still exisit. Thats the only i am getting Sad . Cassette are Everlasting forever...My Opion is Cassettes will Come Back.
Me too
I cried when I heard people don't use cassettes anymore
I have all emraan hasmi audio cassette till 2009.
I was at my local Guitar Center last month and noticed that they had an entire section of vinyl and tape. 33 speed records and cassette tapes. I ask the salesman what was up and he said that they are selling the dogshit out of old analog media. The turntable and cassette deck are making a huge comeback. Reel to reel is also breathing new life into analog. It really is amazing.
I just rediscovered my love for cassettes, decks, and music in general. Started my collection and it's a real joy to see people are still standing strong and keeping the old 'n mighty tape alive! Glory to the saviors!
As a factory man, gotta say i love the set up. Im 38, i still hold onto my old cassette carrier case, full of old cassettes. A lot of stuff in there from local bands that I highly doubt exists on digital, and I’ve yet to transfer it.
Love it. Who else loves listening to analog tape in 2018!
Tape rocks!
I m listening to cassetes in 2020
This man is the true Gaurdian of the Galaxy 💫🙏
Makes sense how his business increased. He is the only one creating them.
We must maintain this facility and preserve this technology for all time to come. Cheers!
Love this! I still have loads of cassettes form the earliest days of my musical career featuring demos, gigs, releases, tv and radio sessions, rough mixes and of course really badly played home jams. I love those cassettes!!
tape saturation sounds beautiful for alot of types of music
I dumped the "Digishit" and went back to analog a couple years ago. My retro system consists of a late 70s Yamaha R-1000 receiver a Technics sl-1600 turntable and a Denon cassette deck and vintage cerwin vega floor speakers. My friends love it and it will blow anything they have away as far as power and sound quality.
"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do"
AS a guy who loves tapes, this is amazing! I'm gonna have to buy some cassette tape players now!
Metal tape + Dolby S = CD quality❗
I guess I would say the clarity is about same but sounding as a clean as a CD is not usually my goal when listening to cassettes. I enjoy some of the flaws and lower fidelity of the type 1 tapes. It just sounds unique to me. Perfect reproduction of sound become mundane to me sometimes after listening to CDs.
However high quality tapes and stereos are great but I'm fine with a type 1 tape on a mid tier 80's stereo system as well.
@@mercurialmagictrees I enjoy the hiss of tapes. It's never over powering, the music is always louder than the hiss. But on those silent parts between tracks that hiss adds a relaxing character.
I hope this company is still up, music is a part of my childhood
Gotta give some respect to Robert for keeping legacy tech and technique alive. You're the hero we need, sir. o7
I still have all my cassettes from the 1980's and have a working Walkman cassette player. I have a Sony HX PRO connected to my computer to record CD to cassette tape. My vintage 1988 BMW plays the cassettes I make. To me cassettes never went away.
Sweet memories with these tape recorder🥰🥰🥰
I just bought a vintage walkman from 1983 that has been reconditioned :)
+Ucwepn 1983 is considered vintage now? You damn kids, get off my lawn.
Hey, I was born in 1982, I must be vintage!!! ;)
Ucwepn GET AN 8TRACK. WALKMAN THEY MADE IT. 8TRACK IS BEST AUDIO TODAY
The Realistic Panasonic said the generation that brought us in the economic shithole we are today because they were too busy partying and smoking weed...
I refurbished it myself
Love the hissing sound of the tape. So warm...
Yes, I have an iPod, a laptop and a tablet. Still have my tapes, too. Love to listen to them. Still have an old tape I recorded myself on back when I was 8 or 9 years old. That was 30 years ago for me.
Late to this Party, but I am so glad I found Love again in what was a defining period of my life. Like may other in this blog, much respect to you and your "Company Family"
Analog the way it was meant to be! Long live the cassette tape!
A Metallica cassette with fake ballpoint pen text on the label, released in 2015. The only way it could get more hipster is if it was also made by hand in San Francisco.
Just amazing! Congrats to this man and all his work staff!!!
This isn't the last audio cassette manufacturer by a long shot. Not even the last one in the united states that makes blank media, and they sure as hell aren't the last duplicator/publisher of cassette.
Sam G google and there are pages of them
They are talking about they are the last company that only makes cassettes. I seen all the other ones on google offer cds and other services.
In 1980 my grandad purchased a Sony TC-K61 and a TC-K81 one for the house and the lesser for hus workshop. The K81 was stolen during a break in in 84..... but the K61 remained in service until it was handed to my dad in 1999....now it has been handed down to me as of January 2019.....for its 4th birthday I intend to get some new belts for the motors, I am sure it will still work well when I hand it to my son in 2039. Love a mechanical cassette.
Thank you for everything you have & are currently doing!
the Best format ever
I am 8 years old and love cassette tapes over digital music and my favorite cassette is deep purple machine head.
Simply awesome. Congratulations and appreciation to the people in National Audio Company for their ideas and work over theese years (and the years to come). Oldskool rulez. :) Greetings from Poland.
Start making VHS videotapes again with this factory !
Pretty neat. Silly (yeah, the "warmth" of analog, I'll never tire of that) but neat.
Stubbornness & Stupidity? Glad to see that paying off :)
+Scott Manley hows kerbal space program?.
+Scott Manley I'm surprised to see you here!
+Scott Manley go back and update that crappy space game with real people
What are you doing here, Scott?
Analog and full audio over 90% loss of sound in MP3s - It IS paying off.
I just recently started collecting pre-recorded audio cassettes. Lots of nostalgia. It simply is something different, holding a cassette in your hands, putting into the player, maybe rewinding... than just press PLAY on a computer these days. The artwork, the cassette itself, that there is a certain order for the songs... it brings back the worth of an album and makes you appreciate it more than simply having all these files on your computer without booklets even. Sometimes the MP3 you buy online does not even indicate who the songwriter is... now that is not appreciation for me.
This company is every hipster's wet-dream.
not when they don't ship outside American
That sucks. I wonder where Post/Pop Records gets theirs considering they're in London?
Edit: Fixed their and changed it to they're
RetrOhm or all the net labels puttin out vaporwave cassettes in the UK. There is this one company I've found but I think they just buy up old blank tape in bulk
Ryan Heath Yeah. I could see cassettes making a comeback like vinyl has, but we'd need to have more companies around the world producing them than just here in the US. As it is, they aren't as accessible as they should be.
Yeah but I like how it's an underground format with all these bedroom labels putting out electronic and ambient music to noise music
Thanks guys for keeping them around! My 79 camaro can only run cassettes and I can’t tell you how many cassettes from them I have loaded with my songs!
Brilliant, keep up the good work!
I'm a semi-retired pro audio/video engineer, & I keep a lot of older recorders going. I agree though that passing on the skills is a problem.
God Blessed you sir !!! Thanks for all you're doing for us to have something to always remember
Keep it alive, the simple use of the tape is what I love. And I don't even remember using them and I love them
Still in business as of 2023, but they have put their building up for sale.
I think cassette is equally aesthetic as vinyl. Or maybe more beautiful.
I'm no professional, but out of all the mediums out there, I like the sound of tape more than any other format. And I'm not even really old enough to have been using them regularly in my teens. I became a teen in the early 2000s, so in a really big way I grew up with digital formats. But as I've gotten older, I have come to love tape more than any other (I spent a solid ten years enamored with vinyl, and I think tape beats vinyl too). I realize tape has a shelf life, so I understand it isn't the best for long term archiving, but the sound I get from tape is absolutely unbeatable. I hope as time goes on more music gets released on tape. I am really happy to see this company so dedicated to the format.
Don't be negative please. Change "The Last" to "ONE AND ONLY".
Please don't stop, Let's bring the cassettes back!!! I don't have any MP3's saved in my phone or my computer, the feeling when you take a cassette from the case and drop it into the Sony TC-WR770 and hit play or record and see it in action. OMG its so satisfying. I still record tapes from my Vinyls and CD's.
I think I like this community. Currently I'm searching around my local neighbourhood for the great abandoned cassette tapes for my car that doesn't have a CD-player. I just drove home from town listening to a Poison cassette tape. Smelled of old dust and electronics, but I think the pretty much unused SAAB cassette stereo will give me great joy behind the wheel.
I love cassettes, still have my tape decks, walkmans ( working perfectly), and I would buy new cassettes if they were available.
I´m very glad to know it. I bought a bunch of cassettes some years ago and I´m listening - in my HI FI- part of my music collection this way and it helps to record the songs in the order I like .
I don't miss tapes at all. The worst thing about them is having to rewind or fast-forward to get to a specific song. I also like to listen to a single song on repeat, sometimes for hours. When I was a kid in the '80s I sometimes made "mix tapes" that weren't a "mix" at all, but rather, one song repeated as many times as the tape would hold. When CDs and CD players started becoming mainstream in the late '80s / early '90s, I was thrilled that they usually had a built-in "repeat track" function. CDs also sound better than tapes, drastically so when both are played on low-end equipment.
MaximRecoil The Teac cassette deck that I bought in 2012 had the option to put songs on repeat and my other Kenwood deck had the option to search/skip to the next song on a tape.
That "warm analog sound" people talk about is what engineers call "distortion".
You can create the same exact sound digitally using a convolution integral - except nobody actually wants to hear the distortion. "Audiophiles" just like to pretend they know what they are talking about. The are just a form of cargo cultists.
+fuzzywzhe No they are not, they just don't like the artifitial delta sigma filter sound and the oversampling interpolation of data made by every digital audio device. That is what creates the hearing fatigue and digital harshness, not the actual digital matrix on CD.
To Europeans, a legacy product has significant symbolism because you can contemplate on how emotional it can trigger social change and is the so-called "memorable product of the masses meaning that many age generations can relate too". You can start a profound conversation by using the tape cassette: a socal gathering product. Nowadays, MP3 ACC FLAC 3GP digital music formats are associated with individualism and one particular age generation. With a cassette tape as a physical-tangible product in one hand, a guy from a previous age generation can start a conversation with his counterpart from today's age generation. Yes... there are elements of sentimentality and nostalgia involved.
Casette Bring Back My ChildHood,I Love It 💚🤍💙
Audio cassettes! This video gave me a warm, cozy feeling.
i feel like vaporwave and retro inspired artists are somewhat responsible
Zaafar Jat not what so ever
pffft, ever heard of black metal?
Maybe the last factory in america but not in the world! In germany we also have an active mc-factory. Many people are playing cassettes for their children here.
There's also one in Greece France and a couple other European countries
Great Video Still enjoy Cassette tapes I am still using Four Nakamichi Tape Machines Jeff
lot of companys arround, worldwide, nice video! thanks!
I'm one of the younger people who likes cassettes, but not just because of the sound. It's just more fun than digital. Tape has more soul.
AwesomeRobot15 lmao ok
TAPE HAS MORE SOUL! What are you smoking and where can I get some?
Great vid - Thanks....!
Great video! Hope you stay in business for a long time.
Glad to see you stayed with your company
A PHILIPS development from almost 60yrs ago - yay!! 3 cheers for The Netherlands!
Back in the mid 70's as a teenager,, I had a cassette and open reel tape deck (Sony and Teac) This was during the era when cassette decks were progressing with low noise/metal bias/functions catching up with open reel performance. While I'm sure a lot of open reel machines are still in use, I had read something about open reel tape making a come back. While I've not seen any in stores in years, someone probably makes them for specific applications.
I saw a news segment on NBC Nightly News, saying the audio cassette was making a big come back. I was so disappointed when I watched the promoted segment, to find out that they were talking about the manufacture of the tapes themselves.
I have hundreds of audio tapes I recorded myself, back in the 1960s to late 1970s. I bought my first Ampex deck before 8-Tracks got big. In fact, I stuck with cassettes all through the 8-Track boom, never buying a continuous loop machine until long after they were obsolete. The vast majority of my cassettes are not commercially recorded. Many aren't even recordings of commercially produced vinyl LPs, but rather, original recordings.
I was excited. Then disappointed. I thought there was a resurgence of cassette playback machines. Maybe that is still in the works, as there has been a rebirth of turntable production since the vinyl LP has re-gained in popularity.
I'm not so much interested in playing them back on cassette. A lot of those decades old tapes have physical problems. I want high quality equipment to play back for the purpose of digitizing before further deterioration happens. I've gotten pretty practiced at repairing them, but the emulsion itself is not eternal.
And, neither are the machines. Motors and playback heads wear out, belts and capstan rollers dry out, etc. I can only imagine that with today's digital signal processing some truly amazing cassette decks could be created. I can imagine, and hope.
+ElvisRockVinyl
The phrase is 'go through with a fine-tooth comb'.
The thing about the new machines are that they are not high quality, not even the heads or the pre-amp! They are only made for dictation. I have an aiwa 3500 deck and It sounds great, and it is a middle of the road model. then I have a denon drw-840 with hx-pro dolby noise reduction and that thing is the bomb, I have recorded some cassettes on that thing and dolby c is almost dead quiet on some parts of tapes. Most likely the new machines (if they will be made) may not live up to the standards of the old tech!
I still have all my fave rock cassettes , as well as my vinyl , a few 8 track and a coup,e of large open reel
I bought an old Sony RTR last year and the sound is the best I have ever heard.
Awesome! Keep this art alive.
I grew up in the 70's n 80's with cassettes n vinyl n still like both though I have more tape than vinyl. Even now that I also listen to MP3's n CD's (like those too) I still carry on with the old stuff. I even have a late 90's sony walkman ('99 I'm sure) that I still play tapes in when in the yard or just around the house.
omg i want them all and put my favorite music in them and play it in a Walkman
because there is even a guardians of the galaxy tape!
Ilove moving parts and cassettes is one of them. greetings from Bolivia.
i loved the old tapes i have many from 1988 to the early 2000's when i was recording songs off the radio.i loved that pastime then laying in the sun as a teen playing them on my walkmen the songs i recorded late at night in bed :)
still own so many cassette videos and music. still like them.
+yin ng p.s. please keep it alive and well.
Sweet . i still have my cassettes that i bought over the years , pre recorded and blanks and still have a tape deck to play them on or record if i want to.
You open to selling some?
@@EveryoneElseIsWeirdImNormal No not at this time thanks.
So lovely this company is doing well !
im rockin a 7 inch reel to reel tape player from the 60s, it still sounds great.
2:36 LOVE that H-P AC Voltmeter!
oh my god that's so wonderful
I hope ,cassette still exist in this world, specially at music industry, coz still many more poeple love cassette.
EXCELLENT job.