Good, helpful video, but a couple of things: 1) The "Low Quality" player shown/cited is a Sharp QT-50. I owned two of them (one yellow and one pink) back in the 1980's. They never ate a tape, but did give up the ghost due to someone installing crappy batteries and forgetting about them. Sharp makes good products; obviously the QT-50 is not on par with a Marantz 5220, but you're not gonna take the Marantz to the park. 2) Not sure about applying alcohol to the rubber pinch roller. Clean the heads, capstan, to be sure, but I was always under the impression that the alcohol would cause deterioration of the roller. The composition of these rollers on new decks may have eliminated that, but I'd still be hesitant. 3) Step 5 - we call that "packing the tape." Fast forward and then rewind a few times - it will even out the tape for a better playback. You can do that with VHS tapes as well. Step 6 - Keep tapes out of the heat, sun, and damp conditions. Extreme conditions can kill a cassette faster than you can say, "Bob's your uncle." Cheers.
Thanks for the video ! Two things that I think need mentioning too. One is to check the power you have on your take-up sprocket. A very weak one will definitely fail to take in the tape properly and the tape will start spilling into other parts of the player. Secondly it is a good thing to check the alignment and integrity of the capstan and pinch roller. A machine with lots of wear and tear will probably also skew the movement of the tape and move it upwards or downwards 90 degrees relative to the direction of the tape's movement.
I remember my parents being told something like that but it was drop it say 6-12" down on the table a few times. this was mainly for the tapes that were tight in the housing.
I love this video! I recently got a Technics Tape Deck at a yard sale and when I brought it home the system wouldnt work. After watching this on how to demagnitize and properly clean inside of it, I got the thing working a few minutes ago! Thanks soo much man and keep up the awesome videos!
The whole demagnetiser thing... I spent over 10 years as a child playing the same old tapes on the same old Unitra on an almost daily basis. It never saw a demagnetiser in all that time or for that matter - in the 20 years prior to that either. Happy to report no noticeable damage to those tapes, they sound just fine on my Sony right now. Come to think of it, there doesn't appear to be much difference in the frequency responce between the two either. Pretty sure head magnetisation is one of those things that enginerds (like myself) like to note on a technical level, but it never reaches significant enough levels to impact the output signal. Also worth noting - 2 head decks come with their own built in demagnetiser that works rather well. It's called record mode :D
Wow!! I tried the smacking technic on a tape that was virtually unplayable, playing with an annoying pulsing slow mo and often my player stopping from how warped it was and now it plays completely normal! Pretty blown away how well that worked!! Thanks a ton!!
I found original Michael Jackson BAD cassette. but the tape inside cassette is cut. But after fixing tape with small layer of glue and cleaning my deck, sound was perfect, better than mp3 and any other digital format. I love cassettes.
I know this comment is 6 years old but I am genuinely curious how it sounds better than digital. I love the aesthetic and physicality of cassettes, but as far as I'm aware it is objectively worse sound quality than digital.
@@SomeoneOnlyWeKnow. I'm 6 months late, but there's no way for sound quality to be objectively better. Music is art, and art is by very definition subjective. Some people like the "lo-fi", analogue sound of cassettes and think it gives a warmer, richer sound whilst others think that it's simply outdated technology, and digital perfection is the way to go.
I've got some cassettes that sound better than their CD equivalent. 'Blues brothers OST' and 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac (original 1977 issue too believe it or not!) being two...
Another piece of advice from a 70's-80's tape head; Always store your tapes of any kind, cassettes, reels, whatever' in a played condition. This ensures that the tape pack is evenly wound, which helps prevent print-through and binding. Fast-winding leaves the tape pack in a very uneven condition. If you compare a just-played or recorded tape to a fast-forwarded or rewound one, you'll see the difference instantly.
Jarrett, two things: 1. On players with magneto-rezistive heads (like Technics AZ-6 for instance), demagnetizing heads will kill the play head. Those type of heads are NEVER to be demagnetized. Manufacturer put stickers and mentioned that everywhere. 2. Don't use alcohol on pinch roller. That will destroy the roller in time. Sure, you can replace the roller after a while, but you can prolong the life of cleaning it with warm water and soap. Alcohol attacks rubber, watter and soap don't. Just make sure you don't spread water to the rest of components, as metal and water don't like each other. If it's not much trouble and easy to do it on some models, you could take out the pinch roller (not the one on the left on models with double capstans - those are very hard to align afterwards) and wash it separately.
A couple critiques: First, most tape decks that “eat” tapes are caused by inconsistent speeds between the capstan and takeup. Cleaning the capstan (metal needle looking thing that spins) and pinch roller (rubber wheel that pinches the tape between it and the capstan) is a good idea, but it’s rarely the cause for tapes getting eaten. Buying a new quality tape deck in 2019 is a near impossibility. There’s only one remaining company in China making tape transports, and they’re not much different. You’re much, much better off buying a working deck from the 90’s and, if possible, replacing the belts. Finally, if you’re demagnetizing you do not want to move the demagnetizer around as appears in the video. Motion can cause a re-magnetization of the metal parts (and dirty pinch roller) and can permanently ruin tapes.
@@marelamentorum Get a nice Sony deck from the 80s. They have solid, reliable and easy to service transport. I personally have a TC-K666es. Nakamichis are very nice but they are a less reliable for those with a Sankyo transport. I have a BX-300 and it plays great but the idler tyres will need replacement and the motors may need to be replaced if the deck is not used much. If you plan on recording get a 3 head unit.
Nak Dragons are generally regarded as one the holy grail tape decks. However, they are expensive, maintenance hungry, and unlike even some other top of the line decks are *not* for the do-it-yourselfer-and that’s provided you can find someone skilled and willing to work on them. There is also learning curve to using them. That said, the auto azimuth correction, test tones, and individual bias controls are amazing. Just know what you’re getting yourself into first before you drop $4k on a restored Dragon, and make sure the restoration was done by someone who knew what they were doing. A bad Dragon repair is likely worse than doing nothing at all.
2. Clean the pinch roller wheel wit water/ dish soap mixture. That's more important than smacking the tape, which fast forwarding and rewinding already takes care of. If you have a dirty pinch roller wheel that starts to get sticky then that'll eat yr tape every time.
Pinch roller in general start to eat tape once they are deformed or lose grip. This make the pinch roller push the tape away from it nomal path, conflicting with the head guides. If this is the case you will notice things like: tone of the tape changes (it waves) and sometimes it "corrects" itself when the tape is in the middle of in the end, because take up tension has changed and is helping to maintain the tape on path. Also, tape should run CENTERED in the pinch roller. Easy to tell just by loocking at the dirt in the pinch. If the dirt patch is centered and its width is "the same" width of the tape. When this is unstable, the dirt patern is wider than the tape. On OLD systems cleaning is not the best idea since the dirt adds grip. By the time you have cleaned the pinch, rubber is almost plastic with not grip at all. Got the inverse effect, just by cleaning something that was dirty. Probably alcohol is was a poor choice. But ... hey, it what owner manual keep saying !!!!!. I dont like to clean pinch rollers. I let them alone .... at least the long I can.
yep, neat alcohol 'can' attack the rubber, but something like a 50/50 mix alcohol and water should be ok someone told me 'windolene' or similar works well, and certainly does seem to.
and definitely DO clean them...if theres an obvious 'shiny' centre, which doesnt respond to cleaning and/or the rest of the roller is going 'slippy', it needs replacing, IF you can track down a replacement..
Thanks for passing this good information to those new to tape! These tips also apply to 8-track tapes and all but smacking the tape applies to reel to reel. 8-tracks were horrible at self destruction, so making a copy is a really good idea. Reel to reel was THE ultimate format... records were originally recorded to reel to reel tape in the studio before being mixed down to what is on the record. The true, ultimate way to archive a precious vinyl record is to record it to reel to reel tape!
I have used combination cleaner/demagnetizer cassettes for years on end and have never run into problems. But I have also done both cleaning and demagnetizing the hard (inconveient) way as well, as you described. As long as either method is done often enough, the tapes will not be eaten.
I knew about maintenance with what to use to clean my player and demagnetization but I never knew the smacking method😂 thank u so so much. it brings me so much joy to find other cassette enthusiasts this day and age bc as a kid born in 2000 I grew up with these babies I can finally save my cure cassette :’)
Never thought about the smacking cassette thing. I knew to shake 8 track tapes to loosen the tape loop but didn't think about doing the same with cassettes. Also love the Iron and Wine "Our Endless Numbered Days" album in the background. Probably my go to soothing album to get me relaxed.
@@cristianthashoota5841 I'd recommend the demagnetizer similar to the one in the video. I had a Koss demagnetizer tape and I thought it did nothing,but then I bought the stick demagnetizer. And I realized my heads are nowhere as badly worn as I thought they were, as all the highs came right back and hiss somewhat decreased. So it does in fact do something. As opposed to the cassette-shaped ones.
The AC powered demagnetizer did significantly improve my second-hand deck, and I did try a Koss tape-shaped demagnetizer in it. I turns out the head was in fact magnetized to the point that the highs were muffled. Also, getting the azimuth right is even more essential than this. Keep in mind that you are adjusting to match whatever the tape was recorded on, so use a "properly" recorded tape (ideally a pro calibration tape, but those are expensive). Can also be several official release albums from different studios with a lot of highs and try to make them all have the most highs. The head being at an angle to the recording itself makes it pick up the field between two points on the tape that are further apart, so that the higher frequencies, which take up a shorter piece of tape for one cycle of the oscillation, can be physically shorter than this and will not be picked up properly. This is also why the gap on the head should be very narrow. The narrower the gap, the better the high frequency response. And worn heads when they are really old can have their gap widened from erosion of the entire head surface.
I haven't owned tapes since the late 80's when I started collecting CD's. I remember degaussing the heads and cleaning the heads, pinch rollers and capstans with 70% rubbing alcohol. I've never rapped on a tape though this seems to make sense in the vane of fluffing printer paper before loading it. when the tape machines were new, cleaning with rubbing alcohol would have been OK and probably still is on the metallic parts. Cleaning aged rubber rollers with a drying agent such as rubbing alcohol will only serve to further deteriorate them. The aged rollers should probably be replaced with fresh rubber but today your probably not going to be able to do it unless some enterprising people decide to start producing them. A microscopic a mount of silicone applied to the rubber rollers may give them new life for a time but I would only try this with machines and tape you don't really care about.
As a child of the 80's I definitely say SMACKING the tape is very necessary indeed. You may have a perfectly GOOD tape that will start to drag...just take it out give it a couple of deliberate smacks (not trying to break the case LOL!) and like magic it plays like it should! I bought my 1st DENON Cassette Deck this year after seeing YOUR and Techmoan's videos as an alternative to my LP's Couldn't be happier!
Also make sure to really really clean that roller well. Make your deck play with nothing in the well and keep an alcohol-drenched q-tips against the roller. Keep doing it with them until there's no more black on them, then run a dry one on it. Dirty rollers can cause a LOT of wow and flutter. Ideally you should buy new ones or carefully sand them down then re-adjust the tension, but that takes a ton of practice and work
Some more tips I've learned ~If you're using a cheap walmart radio, make sure it's on level ground. Or it will eat your tapes. ~Keep your rollers clean, or you'll risk the tape getting jammed. ~If your tape player has two belts, make sure they are evenly worn. If one belt is considerably worn, and one is still mint, you'll risk stretching the tape and it will probably be ripped in two. (Most 80s era Walkmans that I've repaired use 2 belts) Also, say your tape does get ripped into two, It's not game over for that tape. Take the two split ends and carefully cut them straight up and down, removing the ruined stretched sections. Then take some scotch tape, and carefully tape the two ends together, but keep the scotch tape thin, so it won't jam. You'll lose a couple seconds of audio of course, but it's better than losing an entire tape.
But it the take up spindle is supposed to have a clutch to compensate. In the end clutch just quits and is the belt the one that start to compensate. I dont have much experience in walkman, but at least one clutch should be fitted to avoid that. On deck that happens is, the tire that moves the takeup starts to slip because clutch gets stuck of tire lost it grip and now it happens to behave as a clutch. Seen deck working for YEARS that way no problems ... incredible.
umm, as someone who owned and operated an authorized repair center for many years ,and I absolutely love cassette. although I have the original RCA tape sound cartridge,format which is a cassette on steroids a cassette is bigger than your hand.. the number one reason tapes get eaten, is the take up torque drops below 120 grams, that's the muscle it is to take up the tape.. so if you can get access to it and some you can put it in the play position without a tape and go on the right hand take up hub and feel how much muscle there is are torque on that take up spindle, if it's low ,you have to beg borrow or find someone who knows how to make a clutch ,which is usually a piece of felt like material between two Wafers, when it wear's down that where is why the muscle or Torque goes low, on take up . and that's why it gets eaten, it's coming off the pinch roller faster than the take-up spool spindle can take it up ,and it wraps around the capstan ,and makes a mess.. take up clutches are easy to make and repair, but you must find a good fabric store around you and have someone who's incredibly handy to disassemble them. we're down having to making parts now, without good take up to work ,with your cassette will be eaten,. no matter how much you smack or rewind it. sorry guys, that's just the way it is
This! Your comment needs to be pinned to the top, as it is the primary reason a player eats a tape, and the take up reel clutch will eventually wear out in even the highest quality decks.
I did cassettes during the 80s and now I don't even use or play them. I still have my collection and intend someday to dump them. You just showed all the things I did during the 80s to clean and demagnetize my tape deck. There are pros and cons for cassettes, but I'm not going back there. I'll stick to my LPs.
I used to give my customers exactly the same advice. I would also say that when it comes to smacking the tape a good method is to place the tape in the palm of your hand and smack it down on your thigh. I love the phrase "Crappy Crossly Cruiser"
Grew up on cassettes, never knew to demagnetize the machines. Never a problem though! Sounded fine! Also, if you snap a tape, typical sticky tape works fine, just makes a blank spot!
Great video. Just to clarify, typically, when the words, “Rubbing Alcohol” are used, it’s often 70% Isopropyl Alcohol and the rest is water and sometimes mineral oils or fragrances. Not good to use that on a tape mechanism. You are correct to suggest using at least 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, but that’s not usually called Rubbing Alcohol. One should read the ingredients and make sure there are no oils or other additives added. Second, care must be taken to not get any of the alcohol into any of the shafts or bearings as it may dry out the lubricants needed to ensure smooth movement of the capstan and pinch roller. Third, best to not use alcohol on the rubber pinch roller. Alcohol can deteriorate the rubber and make it more likely to cause problems. Instead, use a rubber cleaner designed for pinch rollers (and rubber belts). Sometimes, age and/or heat will have made the pinch roller sticky. Don’t use the deck if that’s the case as it will ruin your tapes. Replace the pinch roller (if possible). If you’re getting a new ‘used’ deck, open it up and check the belts (if any) to make sure they are clean and flexible. Clean or replace if necessary.
I used to own a cassette-player when I was young. I have done all your tips, but I never smacked a tape. Magnets don't like vibration. What I did was frequently wind and rewind my tapes. Mostly when I was done playing them, just wind and rewind the tape. And always store them in the cassette-housing. This prevent them from accidentally unwinding. And Never, never never play them in your car. In my car I only used the type 1. Vinyl and tapes where a lot of fun, but digital is very convenient.
41 years ago when I was 12 I came across someone who had a special type of cassette player that did not play cassettes, but instead it would iron out the wrinkles in a cassette that got tangled up in a regular cassette player. I don't know what this machine is called and maybe this is the only reason I could not find one on eBay. I sure would like to have one as well as a tape head demagnetizer that can reach deep into an 8-track player so I don't have to take it apart every time I need to demagnetize.
#2 - I "smack" in the flat plane. Basically hold left hand in an open position making a "C" shape with the gap between fingers and thumb being 2-3 inches. Then with right hand, rapidly (few times a second) oscillate the cassette inside the "C" so that both sides of the cassette are receiving "smacks." If the tape is completely wound in one direction, do it with the full reel inside the "C." I believe several mild hits to be kindlier and better for the tape and shell. Do this for 1-2 seconds for brand new tapes and any tapes that have been sitting around for awhile, especially if they have been in storage where temperature changes (attics/garages/storage units/etc.) And then do the fast forward and reverse bit. And use quality blank tapes and record your music. I've found that most prerecorded tapes generally are of poor material quality. (i.e. cheap) Case in point, I've got tapes that I recorded on quality Maxell / TDK and Sony type-I and type-II blank tapes in the 1990's, sat in storage for 20 years and can play them today without the bleed through issue. Also, using a typical C-90 cassette will allow two full albums to be recorded on a single tape. One record for each side of the tape. Neat! Fewer tapes to store.
Highly informative! Being a 30+ year tape user, I concur with all 5 tips. If I were to add anything though, it would be to take up any slack right before playback (especially after the Smack). Cheers!
Good tips... One I like to do is (if the cassette has screws) unscrew the cassette and replace the lubricant sleeves with something better or newer. If the lubricant sleeve is a good one already, leave it alone. Good ones are usually dark and impregnated with graphite or some silicone compound. Cheap ones are just clear plastic. Worse yet is none at all.
a piece of extra advice is to use adhesive free cotton swabs since the glue some brands have can dissolve into the alcohol and reconstitute on the tape head.
As for cleaning, do not clean rubber parts with pure alcohol, not even vodka, it caused me problem that the tape just slided vertically from the capstand/pnch and got "cracked" against the shell. A good option would be to run a bit of cleaning cassette.
when my great grandma died, i found her cassette collection full of old country music and a tape head cleaner. it was just a normal casette case but instead of tape there was a cloth strip in it. you would put a little isopropyl acohol on it and run it your deck and it would clean the the head for you without having to touch anything
The only thing with those while it does a great job at cleaning the heads and enhancing the sound quality, it doesn't exactly clean the pinch roller very thoroughly. What I always did to clean the pitch roller was get a cue tip with alcohol like he shown in the video, except I would turn the unit on and press play, then using the cue tip and applying firm pressure to the side of the pinch roller but avoid making contact with the capstan as it can get wrapped up. When doing this you would notice the oxide coming off onto the cue tip, you want to repeat this process until you no longer see any more oxide coming off, you also may need to get a new cue tip and do it again as it will become willed with oxide eventually.
All of the steps I did not know at all, I grew up listening to cassettes and recording them all of the tips that I’ve just learned I will keep in mind definitely when I record my cassettes on two different things making my own mixtapes or even listening to the cassette tape themselves. I do have one Cassatt it’s a great box that by Smokey Robinson and the miracles con 35th anniversary it is a wonderful thing to hear thank you so much for giving us tips to make sure that our cassette tapes are not eaten or destroyed.
as a side note to my original comment. the other big issue with take up clutch is the rubber tires as well as the drive belts, which are either gooey or gotten hard.. oddly enough a lot of belts can still be had cuz there's a lot of other devices that still use them.. often The Idler Wheels which are also part of the clutch assembly are hard plastic with a rubber tire on them, you can find O-rings from the plumbing supply Department. which you can offer to replace the old cracked hard one. and use an O-ring as a substitute Tire. I've done this on many clutch assemblies, to keep it going, you got to be creative guys cuz parts are very hard to come by now
I've read that for tapes which haven't been played in years, humidity can cause the surface to become a little tacky, and that the remedy is to bake the tapes in a warm arid environment to eliminate that moisture *before* fast forwarding them or rewinding them. Have you heard that?
There's a rapper that I love named Maundz and he releases his albums on Vinyl, Cd, Cassette Tape and digital! And I've always loved that aspect about his music.
About that first step. It's always good idea to actually check with fingers if reel that pulls the tape is pulling strongly enough and does not slip. If reel has not enough strength to pull the tape (belt is slipping) and roller is still pulling the tape, then the tape is "eaten" by player. I'm not sure if this kind of failure can be happening on quality decks and players or are improved design preventing this to happen, but on lower quality/older players this is possible. I was back then using old portable cassette player that had actual design fault when belt was loosen just a bit, it would eat tapes.
Hey to whoever is seeing this, this is a late comment, at the time of writing this video was posted 7 years ago haha, a trick you can try if you notice whenever an album is being chewed its at the same or roughly the same point, skip over that song for about 5 times while listening to the album whenever you do and when it gets to the next end of the side rewind it to the beginning, by this if the problem is a kink in the tape which 9 out of 10 it is then it should be gone by this point, the other chance is it’s very old and you just need to except it’s had its time over decades and people had awesome memories with it, but hope is not lost for you as you can transfer the album onto a blank tape, sometimes I use Spotify and a cd copy of the album to put it on a tape, then just write the album name on the tape and put it In the albums original case and inlay and if you take care of it then u should have it another 30 or so years, hope this helps if you need it
The fast forward and then rewind bit will re-vive one of the old-timey problems that we had in the eighties. If you're using a portable battery-powered tape player, then all that rewinding and fast-forward will drain your batteries without listening to any music. That's why those hip-to-be-square 80s generation always carried pencils or bic pens to stick into one of the holes in the cassette and spin them around to rewind them by hand and save their batteries for the walk home from school. One of my friends bought a 120min cassette tape and tried to rewind it by hand and by the end of it, his wrist was so sore that he couldn't pick up his coffee. To be honest, though, I still think those old walkmans and other brands sounded better than modern mp3 players and ipods.
given how much information is lost in mp3 being a lossy codec, it's going to sound terrible. that and the DAC is a cheap player isn't going to be very good
I have a few older cassettes that just don't work anymore. The recording it self seems fine the problem is when in play mode the reels don't seem to turn very well and eventually slow down and stop. I am using a High end JVC deck which plays other tapes fine. I tried smacking the tape, even turned the reels manually with a pencil and it feels fine, rewind and fast forward seem to work just fine.
I can't remember where I saw these but there's 2 other suggestions: 1) Store your tapes facing vertically (long side running up and down). This keeps a small amount of gravity acting on the tape and keep it from sticking together or shrinking together. 2) Just make sure to play the tape (or at least FF and Rewind) at least once a year, especially if you live in a humid place. This obviously just keeps it from getting stuck together and then 5 years later you try to play what is basically a solid brick of tape at high speed. Something is bound to snap that way.
There is an easier way to demagnetize your cassette deck. Especially if its a car cassette player. You can buy cassette tapes that are designed to demagnetize the machine. I have one myself. They arent too expensive and much easier to use. Just pop it in and fast forward it to the end a few times and done.
Aaron Chamberlain this one is expensive but works really well. Its the one I have. I got it from my dad and he bought it in the 80s and it still works perfect. Worth the money. www.amazon.com/Allsop-AS-77000-CASSETTE-DEMAGNETIZER/dp/B008VX00ZI/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1469725896&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=demagnitize+cassette you might find similar ones for less though i cannot attest to its quality.
I've heard about smacking cassettes, but only by smacking flat down on a hard surface. The theory is if the tape doesn't spool up on a reel in the same plane but instead stacks up against both sides of the shell and presses against the slip sheets (older tapes have these), it makes it harder to pull the tape through and can also cause stretching. Smacking it against one side of the shell helps this by getting it all in alignment.
Very often tapes bind. The best way to deal with this is to disassemble the cassette and remove the worn out lubrication sheets between the the tape hubs. They bind the tape tape playback . Sometimes you have to disassemble the tape with an x-acto blade to open it and remove the sheet. This is true for tapes that are 25 + years old . I've transferred many tapes to disc or USB drives and found this to be true.
Another thing is when you are done listening to a cassette and won't listen to it for a while, fast forward to the end of side A then play back side B and let it run at 1-7/8 ips normal speed all the way to the end without pausing. This will prevent "popped strands" which would decrease the fidelity of the left channel audio.
I have recorded music onto high quality cassettes in the first place (TDK, Maxell, Sony...), stored them in their cases in my room ( not too hot & Humid and they're kept away from dirt & moisture). If the tape turns stiffly, I smack or wind the tape. A defect I notice on machines that eat up tapes is that the takeup is weak or nonexistent. if that's the case, I won't use the machine.
hola, tiempo atrás se disfrutaba más la música grabando de las estaciones de radio, la única fuente donde podíamos obtener novedades sin costo alguno, sin dudas el cassette ha sido y será un baúl de diamantes, un abrazo grande amigo del alma
Along with low quality portable players, car-based players were mostly responsible for the bad name that cassettes got. Back in the day people would leave them on seats, dashboards and anywhere else the sun could bake them! Also, the vibration in a motor vehicle caused the tapes to mis-track, especially with the very early under-dash type players.
Maybe I was lucky, but back in the 90s when I listened to and recorded cassettes daily, I only ever had I think two cassettes "eaten". I never smacked them (but I also wasn't gentle with them when handling), I never cleaned the player other than blowing on it every so often, and never did anything fancy. I just slammed the tape in a bit rough, hit play, when I was done, yanked it out and slammed another in. When I moved to CDs, I had to learn to be a bit more gentle.
Still have various cassette decks here, the autostop feature needs to be in the take-up side if a machine isn't going to eat tapes. A lot of the cruder designs used a trip-arm which was raised by the tension being applied at the end of a tape. They're not too good for the cassettes ! Found a Nakamichi on the bins today too !
My favorite band is The Lumineers! They've only made vinyl and not cassettes so I made my own cassette art and my own cassette tape with their music on it. so I have a Lumineers Cleopatra album that looks pretty slick like if they would have made it. I'm happy.
I never heard of "smack the tape" (it kind of looks more like "tap the tape"), but I do generally wind the take forward and back to loosen the tape and to get the winding even. They also have and do still make cassette based demagnetizers, but the one you shown is the preferred way of doing it. That type should also be used on other audio tape players and video tape equipment. I mostly had problems with the tape getting eaten in the early to mid '80s, but once in the very early '90s. I was a kid then so I was using basic tape recorders. The first thing I learned not to do was to directly touch the tape with my fingers or the cassette head system on the player. If it happens, make sure you swab with rubbing alcohol and let it air dry before playing a tape. A good tip is to purchase and use FOAM swabs that won't leave little fine threads of cotton all over your head system. The threads like to especially collect on the roller and capstan. An indicator of a tape possibly getting eaten is when the audio suddenly gets dark and/or starts to have a crunchy sound coming from the player. You might be able to save the tape by immediately stopping the tape and rewinding it for a few seconds. Then, you can examine your tape. If it got crinkled, it will just have a dark, crinkled sound when it plays over that area again. Over time, the crinkled sound may soften, but it is usually permanent. If the tape breaks, a simple way to repair it is to wear thin, latex (vinyl, etc.) gloves to protect against skin oils and join the tape with a piece of scotch tape. Place the tape under the two ends so that they perfectly fit and make a straight and continuous ribbon. Trim off extra tape on the sides with a ribbon so it is straight and no adhesive surfaces of the tape are exposed. Do NOT use for than ONE layer, and DON'T fold it over the top. The splice needs to be as thin as possible or it might have trouble moving through the head system. A good idea is to dub the tape to another blank tape so that the head system won't have to deal with the splice in the future. It's best to not use fast dubbing. Fast dubbing doesn't always provide a quality recording anyway.
I was sceptic about smacking the tape but it does "tight" the tape when it's loose inside the cassette from being unplayed for long... thanks for the tip! my brother doesn't share the love for cassette yet but I'll convert him soon enough ;) Also wouldn't there be any problem rubbing that rubber wheel part inside the deck with alcohol? Wouldn't that dry the rubber too much over time?
Tip for getting really good sound from cassettes when recording: Use a metal tape or a cro2 tape if you cant get a metal one, but if you can, use metal because of the better tape quality. Or use the very rare DAT system.
DCC is also a thing, but it's pretty much unobtainable. On the flip side, a DCC deck is very well capable of playing normal cassettes just as well as DCC's
I love your enthusiasm, but sorry, but much of the advice in this video is just terrible. (I've used tapes for over 30 years and never had them eaten, so I know what I am doing.) Let's go through them: 1. Buy a good deck: 100% true. 2. Smack the tape: terrible advice. Loosening the tape before inserting is what you DON'T want -- you want the tape taut inside the shell to make sure it is loaded exactly where it needs to be. 3. Demagnetize: advisable for sound quality, but has zero impact on tapes getting eaten. 4. Clean the heads: advisable, but clean the pinch rollers with water. 5. FF/REW: NO NO NO! This is the exact opposite of what you want to do! Playing through both sides at playback speed is FAR better at tensioning the tape properly. Meanwhile, here are steps that DO help: 6. Never open the player before it has come to a full stop. 7. On players with mechanical controls: press stop when going between functions (play/FF/REW). 8. Turn the reels to take up any slack before inserting. 9. Store the tapes properly (dry, stored vertically)
Antonio Tejada hello Antonio, I have an important question . My girlfriends Grandpa gave me a cassette recorder because I told him how I love oldies and loves cassettes, but considering what my age is, of course I don't know much about cassettes. I'm 17, I just love retro and vintage things, with that out the way, I have a Mark Anthony Cassette Tape (it says 1999, maybe why it did this) but I played it and fell asleep while listening, and one side of the tape has all of the music. Rewinding, playing, and fast forwarding doesn't help and I'm honestly clueless as to how I could get tape back to both sides again. Hopefully this was enough info for you to help. I'm very new to actually being able to listen to cassettes because I only used to collect but not much else until I got something to actually play them. Hope you can help!
You may have a cassette that the lubricant on the sides of the tape (sits right beside the tape spools) when new there is a super thin coat of lubricant on these sheets and over time it will dry out ... at that point it takes a lot of torque to turn the wheels particularly the take up during playback.... one option is to get a new cassette shell and use it (place the tape from the old cassette into the new shell) another option is to use an old cassette and place the tape in the old shell
Using water to clean parts like the pinch roller is highly questionable as it might begin to oxidize metal parts. Rubbing alcohol is far mor preferable because it evaporates and dries fully *_MUCH_* faster than water. Water, even in very small amounts, can leave moisture that over time initializes rust in metal o-rings and other tiny parts that due to being tightly packed inside the mechanism, might not dry fast enough. This can lead to problems later on...
You reminded me of all these things I forgot since it has been a long tine since I used cassettes frequently. I even forgot where I put my demagnetizer. Do those demagnetizers built into cassette shells work? I used one in my car's tape deck since that head is unreachable, and also the cassette shell that has cleaning pads in it. I remember when Radio Shack sold cassette replacement shells. Remember splice blocks? Sometimes gently pulling the spring behind the pressure pad on an old cassette would make it sound better if the spring lost tension.
Of smaking loosens the reel might you fast forward to the end and rewind back? Tapes i believe are only eating when the head is engaged right? Maybe? Just a thought. I know four track manufacturers strongly recommend this for several reasons.
OrdinaryRBLXPlayer It is possible to demag the erase and record /playback head on a two head machine. Power up the recorder and start recording on an old tape. Then whilst the machine is recording switch off the power or pull the power cord out from the wall. The decaying erase and bias signal will reduce any residual magnetism.
Also if your tape cassettes ever break, dont throw them away. just cut off the bad edges that ripped or tore, and then stick-glue about half to a quarter of an inch back together pressing hard until it dries. Depending on how much was cut off, depends on how much audio you lose, but I know you can cut off about an inch and not lose any sound (alot of times my tapes ripped a small notch when trying to detangle it from the machines, and I just cut like a cm away from each end before gluing it). Used to do this trick all the time when I was a kid and I never really lost any sound except this one time when a good 6 inches of tape was stretched to hell, ripped and damaged by one of my old walkmans (that walkman went into the garbage very quickly because my tapes would get stuck constantly in it and my dad just said to toss it...). I had alot of walkman's growing up because of our constant moving and we wound up losing the damn things or having them stolen in the moves... so yeah, there are good, and there are very crappy cassette players.
I totally agree with you buy a quality cassette player and tapes if you do they sound just as good as Digital but a lot more interesting and fun!! Awesome video keep it up!!
I have a TDK demagnatiser from the 80's which I stick use today to demag the heads and have used alcohol to clean them also but smacking the cassettes never heard of that but I haven't played my tapes for a number of years so smacking them might be a good idea 😊
Never use Isoprop. alcohol on rubber such the pinch roller it will dry out! And another detail is to allways have the tapedeck shutdown when demagnitize. Otherwise it's good tips 👍
When you buy a used cassette deck be sure to make sure it was serviced and fully tested. I have had a few returns already on eBay that ate my tape or did not work properly.
Demagnetizing and cleaning the heads keep the deck sounding great....but doesn't have that much to do with tape jams. On the other hand, cleaning the pinch roller and capstan is far more critical. Some high-end decks have dual capstans and rollers. You have to keep them them all clean. Yes, you should clean and demagnetize the entire tape path as you described here, but the capstan(s) and pinch roller(s) are the critical parts for tape-eating prevention.
I have cassettes from the early 70's that still play fine. BTW: subscribed to your channel Jarrett. Very informative and very honest info for newbies and BabyBoomers like me. Keep those videos coming!!! What is the brand and model of the lamp beside your turntable? Nice and compact.
![ILLSLICK - KILLSHOT REMIX [FULL VERSION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RIK8RrqIAzE/mqdefault.jpg)
You taught me more about cassette tapes that I never knew before. Awesome.
+C. M. Junior glad to help!
Get isn't their cleaning tape you can out it that cleans the inside?
+Javonte burris Yep, they made them for VHS and Betamax too!
Both work well with VHS, but for VHS need to take the case off!
Use Vademecum!
Good, helpful video, but a couple of things:
1) The "Low Quality" player shown/cited is a Sharp QT-50. I owned two of them (one yellow and one pink) back in the 1980's. They never ate a tape, but did give up the ghost due to someone installing crappy batteries and forgetting about them. Sharp makes good products; obviously the QT-50 is not on par with a Marantz 5220, but you're not gonna take the Marantz to the park.
2) Not sure about applying alcohol to the rubber pinch roller. Clean the heads, capstan, to be sure, but I was always under the impression that the alcohol would cause deterioration of the roller. The composition of these rollers on new decks may have eliminated that, but I'd still be hesitant.
3) Step 5 - we call that "packing the tape." Fast forward and then rewind a few times - it will even out the tape for a better playback. You can do that with VHS tapes as well.
Step 6 - Keep tapes out of the heat, sun, and damp conditions. Extreme conditions can kill a cassette faster than you can say, "Bob's your uncle."
Cheers.
Yes, _"Smack The Tape!"_ I forgot about that trick from back in the day!
Smack dat reel lol
lol
If the tape misbehaving it needs a spanking just as a child LOL
I smacked the tape and it won’t play anymore.... please help!
@Weekblues I didn't have any WOW's in my comments that I could find.
I've been listening to cassettes since the '80s and your tip 2 is the first time I've heard of it. Thanks, man. ☺
Thanks for the video ! Two things that I think need mentioning too. One is to check the power you have on your take-up sprocket. A very weak one will definitely fail to take in the tape properly and the tape will start spilling into other parts of the player. Secondly it is a good thing to check the alignment and integrity of the capstan and pinch roller. A machine with lots of wear and tear will probably also skew the movement of the tape and move it upwards or downwards 90 degrees relative to the direction of the tape's movement.
honestly, I've been stuck with cassettes since birth and I have never smacked them lol, cool advices since I'm a cassette collector!
Same
I remember my parents being told something like that but it was drop it say 6-12" down on the table a few times. this was mainly for the tapes that were tight in the housing.
just whizz them on fast forward/rewind a couple of times...
Lol
We used to smack the VHS too.
I love this video! I recently got a Technics Tape Deck at a yard sale and when I brought it home the system wouldnt work. After watching this on how to demagnitize and properly clean inside of it, I got the thing working a few minutes ago! Thanks soo much man and keep up the awesome videos!
make a separate channel for cassette stuff, Cassette Eyezz
Dat is a goodidea
More like, Analog Eyezz
The whole demagnetiser thing... I spent over 10 years as a child playing the same old tapes on the same old Unitra on an almost daily basis. It never saw a demagnetiser in all that time or for that matter - in the 20 years prior to that either. Happy to report no noticeable damage to those tapes, they sound just fine on my Sony right now.
Come to think of it, there doesn't appear to be much difference in the frequency responce between the two either. Pretty sure head magnetisation is one of those things that enginerds (like myself) like to note on a technical level, but it never reaches significant enough levels to impact the output signal.
Also worth noting - 2 head decks come with their own built in demagnetiser that works rather well. It's called record mode :D
Wow!! I tried the smacking technic on a tape that was virtually unplayable, playing with an annoying pulsing slow mo and often my player stopping from how warped it was and now it plays completely normal! Pretty blown away how well that worked!! Thanks a ton!!
I found original Michael Jackson BAD cassette. but the tape inside cassette is cut. But after fixing tape with small layer of glue and cleaning my deck, sound was perfect, better than mp3 and any other digital format. I love cassettes.
What about digital format audio on a cassette
I know this comment is 6 years old but I am genuinely curious how it sounds better than digital. I love the aesthetic and physicality of cassettes, but as far as I'm aware it is objectively worse sound quality than digital.
@@SomeoneOnlyWeKnow. I'm 6 months late, but there's no way for sound quality to be objectively better. Music is art, and art is by very definition subjective. Some people like the "lo-fi", analogue sound of cassettes and think it gives a warmer, richer sound whilst others think that it's simply outdated technology, and digital perfection is the way to go.
@@LillyAllen-w1e Since I posted that comment I got a cassette player and some of my favourite albums and I totally relate to that now lol
I've got some cassettes that sound better than their CD equivalent. 'Blues brothers OST' and 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac (original 1977 issue too believe it or not!) being two...
Another piece of advice from a 70's-80's tape head; Always store your tapes of any kind, cassettes, reels, whatever' in a played condition. This ensures that the tape pack is evenly wound, which helps prevent print-through and binding. Fast-winding leaves the tape pack in a very uneven condition. If you compare a just-played or recorded tape to a fast-forwarded or rewound one, you'll see the difference instantly.
Analog has more frequency depth.
Digital is clean but sterile.
Both formats have pros & cons.
Jarrett, two things:
1. On players with magneto-rezistive heads (like Technics AZ-6 for instance), demagnetizing heads will kill the play head. Those type of heads are NEVER to be demagnetized. Manufacturer put stickers and mentioned that everywhere.
2. Don't use alcohol on pinch roller. That will destroy the roller in time. Sure, you can replace the roller after a while, but you can prolong the life of cleaning it with warm water and soap. Alcohol attacks rubber, watter and soap don't. Just make sure you don't spread water to the rest of components, as metal and water don't like each other. If it's not much trouble and easy to do it on some models, you could take out the pinch roller (not the one on the left on models with double capstans - those are very hard to align afterwards) and wash it separately.
yup iv`e got an az-7 superb deck. there are decks out there that you don`t demagnatize the heads if you do you will kill it
"Don't use alcohol on pinch roller. That will destroy the roller in time."
Pure nonsense.
@@UrielX1212 You can destroy your rollers in time for what I care. Go ahead.
A couple critiques:
First, most tape decks that “eat” tapes are caused by inconsistent speeds between the capstan and takeup. Cleaning the capstan (metal needle looking thing that spins) and pinch roller (rubber wheel that pinches the tape between it and the capstan) is a good idea, but it’s rarely the cause for tapes getting eaten.
Buying a new quality tape deck in 2019 is a near impossibility. There’s only one remaining company in China making tape transports, and they’re not much different. You’re much, much better off buying a working deck from the 90’s and, if possible, replacing the belts.
Finally, if you’re demagnetizing you do not want to move the demagnetizer around as appears in the video. Motion can cause a re-magnetization of the metal parts (and dirty pinch roller) and can permanently ruin tapes.
What type of player would you reccomend?
@@marelamentorum Get a nice Sony deck from the 80s. They have solid, reliable and easy to service transport. I personally have a TC-K666es. Nakamichis are very nice but they are a less reliable for those with a Sankyo transport. I have a BX-300 and it plays great but the idler tyres will need replacement and the motors may need to be replaced if the deck is not used much.
If you plan on recording get a 3 head unit.
@@UrielX1212 ty
Would you recommend a restored Nakamichi dragon, cassette deck
Nak Dragons are generally regarded as one the holy grail tape decks.
However, they are expensive, maintenance hungry, and unlike even some other top of the line decks are *not* for the do-it-yourselfer-and that’s provided you can find someone skilled and willing to work on them. There is also learning curve to using them.
That said, the auto azimuth correction, test tones, and individual bias controls are amazing. Just know what you’re getting yourself into first before you drop $4k on a restored Dragon, and make sure the restoration was done by someone who knew what they were doing. A bad Dragon repair is likely worse than doing nothing at all.
2. Clean the pinch roller wheel wit water/ dish soap mixture. That's more important than smacking the tape, which fast forwarding and rewinding already takes care of. If you have a dirty pinch roller wheel that starts to get sticky then that'll eat yr tape every time.
yeah you're right. I realize now that alcohol is not good for cleaning the pinch rollers.
Vinyl Eyezz Great vids regardless!
Pinch roller in general start to eat tape once they are deformed or lose grip. This make the pinch roller push the tape away from it nomal path, conflicting with the head guides. If this is the case you will notice things like: tone of the tape changes (it waves) and sometimes it "corrects" itself when the tape is in the middle of in the end, because take up tension has changed and is helping to maintain the tape on path. Also, tape should run CENTERED in the pinch roller. Easy to tell just by loocking at the dirt in the pinch. If the dirt patch is centered and its width is "the same" width of the tape. When this is unstable, the dirt patern is wider than the tape. On OLD systems cleaning is not the best idea since the dirt adds grip. By the time you have cleaned the pinch, rubber is almost plastic with not grip at all. Got the inverse effect, just by cleaning something that was dirty. Probably alcohol is was a poor choice. But ... hey, it what owner manual keep saying !!!!!. I dont like to clean pinch rollers. I let them alone .... at least the long I can.
yep, neat alcohol 'can' attack the rubber, but something like a 50/50 mix alcohol and water should be ok someone told me 'windolene' or similar works well, and certainly does seem to.
and definitely DO clean them...if theres an obvious 'shiny' centre, which doesnt respond to cleaning and/or the rest of the roller is going 'slippy', it needs replacing, IF you can track down a replacement..
Thanks for passing this good information to those new to tape! These tips also apply to 8-track tapes and all but smacking the tape applies to reel to reel. 8-tracks were horrible at self destruction, so making a copy is a really good idea. Reel to reel was THE ultimate format... records were originally recorded to reel to reel tape in the studio before being mixed down to what is on the record. The true, ultimate way to archive a precious vinyl record is to record it to reel to reel tape!
reel to reel and vinyl all you need for home use. cassette for the on the go analog fans.
Smacking reels or 8-track cartridges is a bad idea
Correct. Been doing all this since the 1970s. May the Tape Gods Shine Down on you🙂
I have used combination cleaner/demagnetizer cassettes for years on end and have never run into problems. But I have also done both cleaning and demagnetizing the hard (inconveient) way as well, as you described. As long as either method is done often enough, the tapes will not be eaten.
I've been using cassette tapes forever and i never knew about these tips! thanks for the video!
I knew about maintenance with what to use to clean my player and demagnetization but I never knew the smacking method😂 thank u so so much. it brings me so much joy to find other cassette enthusiasts this day and age bc as a kid born in 2000 I grew up with these babies
I can finally save my cure cassette :’)
Never thought about the smacking cassette thing. I knew to shake 8 track tapes to loosen the tape loop but didn't think about doing the same with cassettes.
Also love the Iron and Wine "Our Endless Numbered Days" album in the background. Probably my go to soothing album to get me relaxed.
Please never stop making videos, they are entertaining for the vinyl community in my opinion, it is the best part of my day when you upload👍🏻
+TheAllRounder thank you for watching!
I'm so glad that you talked about using a demagnetizer! It's so important to do to your cassette deck...
I just got a Technics M215, fully serviced and overhauled sounds fantastic really impressed with it
There are demagnetizers that are actually cassette formed to go into your player. They're pretty cool and easy to use.
Are those worth it or should i get the demagnitizing stick?
@@cristianthashoota5841 I'd recommend the demagnetizer similar to the one in the video. I had a Koss demagnetizer tape and I thought it did nothing,but then I bought the stick demagnetizer. And I realized my heads are nowhere as badly worn as I thought they were, as all the highs came right back and hiss somewhat decreased. So it does in fact do something. As opposed to the cassette-shaped ones.
Sadly one of my favorite albums got pretty chewed up, I recommend cleaning the roller heads regularly. Or check if its misaligned.
The AC powered demagnetizer did significantly improve my second-hand deck, and I did try a Koss tape-shaped demagnetizer in it. I turns out the head was in fact magnetized to the point that the highs were muffled. Also, getting the azimuth right is even more essential than this. Keep in mind that you are adjusting to match whatever the tape was recorded on, so use a "properly" recorded tape (ideally a pro calibration tape, but those are expensive). Can also be several official release albums from different studios with a lot of highs and try to make them all have the most highs. The head being at an angle to the recording itself makes it pick up the field between two points on the tape that are further apart, so that the higher frequencies, which take up a shorter piece of tape for one cycle of the oscillation, can be physically shorter than this and will not be picked up properly. This is also why the gap on the head should be very narrow. The narrower the gap, the better the high frequency response. And worn heads when they are really old can have their gap widened from erosion of the entire head surface.
I haven't owned tapes since the late 80's when I started collecting CD's. I remember degaussing the heads and cleaning the heads, pinch rollers and capstans with 70% rubbing alcohol. I've never rapped on a tape though this seems to make sense in the vane of fluffing printer paper before loading it. when the tape machines were new, cleaning with rubbing alcohol would have been OK and probably still is on the metallic parts. Cleaning aged rubber rollers with a drying agent such as rubbing alcohol will only serve to further deteriorate them. The aged rollers should probably be replaced with fresh rubber but today your probably not going to be able to do it unless some enterprising people decide to start producing them. A microscopic a mount of silicone applied to the rubber rollers may give them new life for a time but I would only try this with machines and tape you don't really care about.
As a child of the 80's
I definitely say SMACKING the tape is very necessary indeed.
You may have a perfectly GOOD tape that will start to drag...just take it out give it a couple of deliberate smacks
(not trying to break the case LOL!)
and like magic it plays like it should!
I bought my 1st DENON Cassette Deck this year after seeing YOUR and Techmoan's videos as an alternative to my LP's
Couldn't be happier!
Also make sure to really really clean that roller well. Make your deck play with nothing in the well and keep an alcohol-drenched q-tips against the roller. Keep doing it with them until there's no more black on them, then run a dry one on it. Dirty rollers can cause a LOT of wow and flutter. Ideally you should buy new ones or carefully sand them down then re-adjust the tension, but that takes a ton of practice and work
Some more tips I've learned
~If you're using a cheap walmart radio, make sure it's on level ground. Or it will eat your tapes.
~Keep your rollers clean, or you'll risk the tape getting jammed.
~If your tape player has two belts, make sure they are evenly worn. If one belt is considerably worn, and one is still mint, you'll risk stretching the tape and it will probably be ripped in two. (Most 80s era Walkmans that I've repaired use 2 belts)
Also, say your tape does get ripped into two, It's not game over for that tape. Take the two split ends and carefully cut them straight up and down, removing the ruined stretched sections. Then take some scotch tape, and carefully tape the two ends together, but keep the scotch tape thin, so it won't jam. You'll lose a couple seconds of audio of course, but it's better than losing an entire tape.
But it the take up spindle is supposed to have a clutch to compensate. In the end clutch just quits and is the belt the one that start to compensate. I dont have much experience in walkman, but at least one clutch should be fitted to avoid that. On deck that happens is, the tire that moves the takeup starts to slip because clutch gets stuck of tire lost it grip and now it happens to behave as a clutch. Seen deck working for YEARS that way no problems ... incredible.
umm,
as someone who owned and operated an authorized repair center for many years ,and I absolutely love cassette.
although I have the original RCA tape sound cartridge,format which is a cassette on steroids a cassette is bigger than your hand..
the number one reason tapes get eaten, is the take up torque drops below 120 grams, that's the muscle it is to take up the tape..
so if you can get access to it and some you can put it in the play position without a tape and go on the right hand take up hub and feel how much muscle there is are torque on that take up spindle, if it's low ,you have to beg borrow or find someone who knows how to make a clutch ,which is usually a piece of felt like material between two Wafers, when it wear's down that where is why the muscle or Torque goes low, on take up .
and that's why it gets eaten, it's coming off the pinch roller faster than the take-up spool spindle can take it up ,and it wraps around the capstan ,and makes a mess..
take up clutches are easy to make and repair, but you must find a good fabric store around you and have someone who's incredibly handy to disassemble them.
we're down having to making parts now, without good take up to work ,with your cassette will be eaten,.
no matter how much you smack or rewind it.
sorry guys, that's just the way it is
This! Your comment needs to be pinned to the top, as it is the primary reason a player eats a tape, and the take up reel clutch will eventually wear out in even the highest quality decks.
I did cassettes during the 80s and now I don't even use or play them. I still have my collection and intend someday to dump them. You just showed all the things I did during the 80s to clean and demagnetize my tape deck. There are pros and cons for cassettes, but I'm not going back there. I'll stick to my LPs.
I used to give my customers exactly the same advice.
I would also say that when it comes to smacking the tape a good method is to place the tape in the palm of your hand and smack it down on your thigh.
I love the phrase "Crappy Crossly Cruiser"
Grew up on cassettes, never knew to demagnetize the machines. Never a problem though! Sounded fine! Also, if you snap a tape, typical sticky tape works fine, just makes a blank spot!
Great video. Just to clarify, typically, when the words, “Rubbing Alcohol” are used, it’s often 70% Isopropyl Alcohol and the rest is water and sometimes mineral oils or fragrances. Not good to use that on a tape mechanism. You are correct to suggest using at least 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, but that’s not usually called Rubbing Alcohol. One should read the ingredients and make sure there are no oils or other additives added.
Second, care must be taken to not get any of the alcohol into any of the shafts or bearings as it may dry out the lubricants needed to ensure smooth movement of the capstan and pinch roller.
Third, best to not use alcohol on the rubber pinch roller. Alcohol can deteriorate the rubber and make it more likely to cause problems. Instead, use a rubber cleaner designed for pinch rollers (and rubber belts). Sometimes, age and/or heat will have made the pinch roller sticky. Don’t use the deck if that’s the case as it will ruin your tapes. Replace the pinch roller (if possible). If you’re getting a new ‘used’ deck, open it up and check the belts (if any) to make sure they are clean and flexible. Clean or replace if necessary.
I've done the "Smack the tape" trick on a lot of VHS tapes and it actually worked!
I used to own a cassette-player when I was young. I have done all your tips, but I never smacked a tape. Magnets don't like vibration. What I did was frequently wind and rewind my tapes. Mostly when I was done playing them, just wind and rewind the tape. And always store them in the cassette-housing. This prevent them from accidentally unwinding.
And Never, never never play them in your car.
In my car I only used the type 1.
Vinyl and tapes where a lot of fun, but digital is very convenient.
I've used these methods for over 20 years, and my tapes still sound good after almost 30 years.
41 years ago when I was 12 I came across someone who had a special type of cassette player that did not play cassettes, but instead it would iron out the wrinkles in a cassette that got tangled up in a regular cassette player.
I don't know what this machine is called and maybe this is the only reason I could not find one on eBay.
I sure would like to have one as well as a tape head demagnetizer that can reach deep into an 8-track player so I don't have to take it apart every time I need to demagnetize.
#2 - I "smack" in the flat plane. Basically hold left hand in an open position making a "C" shape with the gap between fingers and thumb being 2-3 inches. Then with right hand, rapidly (few times a second) oscillate the cassette inside the "C" so that both sides of the cassette are receiving "smacks." If the tape is completely wound in one direction, do it with the full reel inside the "C." I believe several mild hits to be kindlier and better for the tape and shell. Do this for 1-2 seconds for brand new tapes and any tapes that have been sitting around for awhile, especially if they have been in storage where temperature changes (attics/garages/storage units/etc.) And then do the fast forward and reverse bit.
And use quality blank tapes and record your music. I've found that most prerecorded tapes generally are of poor material quality. (i.e. cheap) Case in point, I've got tapes that I recorded on quality Maxell / TDK and Sony type-I and type-II blank tapes in the 1990's, sat in storage for 20 years and can play them today without the bleed through issue. Also, using a typical C-90 cassette will allow two full albums to be recorded on a single tape. One record for each side of the tape. Neat! Fewer tapes to store.
Highly informative! Being a 30+ year tape user, I concur with all 5 tips. If I were to add anything though, it would be to take up any slack right before playback (especially after the Smack). Cheers!
Good tips... One I like to do is (if the cassette has screws) unscrew the cassette and replace the lubricant sleeves with something better or newer. If the lubricant sleeve is a good one already, leave it alone. Good ones are usually dark and impregnated with graphite or some silicone compound. Cheap ones are just clear plastic. Worse yet is none at all.
a piece of extra advice is to use adhesive free cotton swabs since the glue some brands have can dissolve into the alcohol and reconstitute on the tape head.
As for cleaning, do not clean rubber parts with pure alcohol, not even vodka, it caused me problem that the tape just slided vertically from the capstand/pnch and got "cracked" against the shell. A good option would be to run a bit of cleaning cassette.
Thanks for listening and giving us another cassette video! I learned a few new things.
when my great grandma died, i found her cassette collection full of old country music and a tape head cleaner. it was just a normal casette case but instead of tape there was a cloth strip in it. you would put a little isopropyl acohol on it and run it your deck and it would clean the the head for you without having to touch anything
Blue Disco Nova?
Cool!
The only thing with those
while it does a great job at cleaning the heads and enhancing the sound quality,
it doesn't exactly clean the pinch roller very thoroughly.
What I always did to clean the pitch roller was get a cue tip with alcohol like he shown in the video, except I would turn the unit on and press play, then using the cue tip and applying firm pressure to the side of the pinch roller but avoid making contact with the capstan as it can get wrapped up.
When doing this you would notice the oxide coming off onto the cue tip,
you want to repeat this process until you no longer see any more oxide coming off, you also may need to get a new cue tip and do it again as it will become willed with oxide eventually.
Also, smaller Artline marker lids are perfect for winding tape back in if it ever unspools out like brown film spaghetti!
All of the steps I did not know at all, I grew up listening to cassettes and recording them all of the tips that I’ve just learned I will keep in mind definitely when I record my cassettes on two different things making my own mixtapes or even listening to the cassette tape themselves. I do have one Cassatt it’s a great box that by Smokey Robinson and the miracles con 35th anniversary it is a wonderful thing to hear thank you so much for giving us tips to make sure that our cassette tapes are not eaten or destroyed.
This was SUPER informative for those of us who didn't grow up with tapes!
I have yet to smack a tape, but these are some good tips. I'm sharing this with the Cassette Community Facebook group...
+Gregory Short (popcrackle.com) sweet! Thank you Gregory!
as a side note to my original comment.
the other big issue with take up clutch is the rubber tires as well as the drive belts, which are either gooey or gotten hard..
oddly enough a lot of belts can still be had cuz there's a lot of other devices that still use them..
often The Idler Wheels which are also part of the clutch assembly are hard plastic with a rubber tire on them, you can find O-rings from the plumbing supply Department.
which you can offer to replace the old cracked hard one.
and use an O-ring as a substitute Tire.
I've done this on many clutch assemblies, to keep it going, you got to be creative guys cuz parts are very hard to come by now
I've read that for tapes which haven't been played in years, humidity can cause the surface to become a little tacky, and that the remedy is to bake the tapes in a warm arid environment to eliminate that moisture *before* fast forwarding them or rewinding them. Have you heard that?
There's a rapper that I love named Maundz and he releases his albums on Vinyl, Cd, Cassette Tape and digital! And I've always loved that aspect about his music.
I knew about smacking the tape, and I have a good quality deck, but I'm not too familiar with demagnetizing it although I've heard about it.
Im in your boat. I looked at the demagnetice tools and there pretty expensive imo.
About that first step. It's always good idea to actually check with fingers if reel that pulls the tape is pulling strongly enough and does not slip. If reel has not enough strength to pull the tape (belt is slipping) and roller is still pulling the tape, then the tape is "eaten" by player. I'm not sure if this kind of failure can be happening on quality decks and players or are improved design preventing this to happen, but on lower quality/older players this is possible. I was back then using old portable cassette player that had actual design fault when belt was loosen just a bit, it would eat tapes.
Hey to whoever is seeing this, this is a late comment, at the time of writing this video was posted 7 years ago haha, a trick you can try if you notice whenever an album is being chewed its at the same or roughly the same point, skip over that song for about 5 times while listening to the album whenever you do and when it gets to the next end of the side rewind it to the beginning, by this if the problem is a kink in the tape which 9 out of 10 it is then it should be gone by this point, the other chance is it’s very old and you just need to except it’s had its time over decades and people had awesome memories with it, but hope is not lost for you as you can transfer the album onto a blank tape, sometimes I use Spotify and a cd copy of the album to put it on a tape, then just write the album name on the tape and put it In the albums original case and inlay and if you take care of it then u should have it another 30 or so years, hope this helps if you need it
The fast forward and then rewind bit will re-vive one of the old-timey problems that we had in the eighties. If you're using a portable battery-powered tape player, then all that rewinding and fast-forward will drain your batteries without listening to any music. That's why those hip-to-be-square 80s generation always carried pencils or bic pens to stick into one of the holes in the cassette and spin them around to rewind them by hand and save their batteries for the walk home from school. One of my friends bought a 120min cassette tape and tried to rewind it by hand and by the end of it, his wrist was so sore that he couldn't pick up his coffee. To be honest, though, I still think those old walkmans and other brands sounded better than modern mp3 players and ipods.
given how much information is lost in mp3 being a lossy codec, it's going to sound terrible. that and the DAC is a cheap player isn't going to be very good
Hi bro yes I am familiar with smack the tape and forward rewind method while I have SONY cassette player
I just smacked a few tapes. They worked better than usual. Thanks for the tip. :)
I have a few older cassettes that just don't work anymore. The recording it self seems fine the problem is when in play mode the reels don't seem to turn very well and eventually slow down and stop. I am using a High end JVC deck which plays other tapes fine. I tried smacking the tape, even turned the reels manually with a pencil and it feels fine, rewind and fast forward seem to work just fine.
I can't remember where I saw these but there's 2 other suggestions: 1) Store your tapes facing vertically (long side running up and down). This keeps a small amount of gravity acting on the tape and keep it from sticking together or shrinking together. 2) Just make sure to play the tape (or at least FF and Rewind) at least once a year, especially if you live in a humid place. This obviously just keeps it from getting stuck together and then 5 years later you try to play what is basically a solid brick of tape at high speed. Something is bound to snap that way.
There is an easier way to demagnetize your cassette deck. Especially if its a car cassette player. You can buy cassette tapes that are designed to demagnetize the machine. I have one myself. They arent too expensive and much easier to use. Just pop it in and fast forward it to the end a few times and done.
Brand/where to buy?
Aaron Chamberlain this one is expensive but works really well. Its the one I have. I got it from my dad and he bought it in the 80s and it still works perfect. Worth the money. www.amazon.com/Allsop-AS-77000-CASSETTE-DEMAGNETIZER/dp/B008VX00ZI/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1469725896&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=demagnitize+cassette
you might find similar ones for less though i cannot attest to its quality.
I have one that works just by inserting it (and pressing PLAY if used in a home deck): TDK HD-01. eBay has it, Amazon doesn't.
dishwasher makes a good demagnetizer cassette
Shinjikun1 Yea I have one of those too for a home player. Very good product.
I've heard about smacking cassettes, but only by smacking flat down on a hard surface. The theory is if the tape doesn't spool up on a reel in the same plane but instead stacks up against both sides of the shell and presses against the slip sheets (older tapes have these), it makes it harder to pull the tape through and can also cause stretching. Smacking it against one side of the shell helps this by getting it all in alignment.
Very often tapes bind. The best way to deal with this is to disassemble the cassette and remove the worn out lubrication sheets between the the tape hubs. They bind the tape tape playback . Sometimes you have to disassemble the tape with an x-acto blade to open it and remove the sheet. This is true for tapes that are 25 + years old . I've transferred many tapes to disc or USB drives and found this to be true.
Another thing is when you are done listening to a cassette and won't listen to it for a while, fast forward to the end of side A then play back side B and let it run at 1-7/8 ips normal speed all the way to the end without pausing. This will prevent "popped strands" which would decrease the fidelity of the left channel audio.
I have recorded music onto high quality cassettes in the first place (TDK, Maxell, Sony...), stored them in their cases in my room ( not too hot & Humid and they're kept away from dirt & moisture). If the tape turns stiffly, I smack or wind the tape. A defect I notice on machines that eat up tapes is that the takeup is weak or nonexistent. if that's the case, I won't use the machine.
norman gates take up reel not working is the main cause of eaten tapes
What is your view on cleaner/de-magnetiser tapes?
hola, tiempo atrás se disfrutaba más la música grabando de las estaciones de radio, la única fuente donde podíamos obtener novedades sin costo alguno, sin dudas el cassette ha sido y será un baúl de diamantes, un abrazo grande amigo del alma
Along with low quality portable players, car-based players were mostly responsible for the bad name that cassettes got. Back in the day people would leave them on seats, dashboards and anywhere else the sun could bake them! Also, the vibration in a motor vehicle caused the tapes to mis-track, especially with the very early under-dash type players.
Maybe I was lucky, but back in the 90s when I listened to and recorded cassettes daily, I only ever had I think two cassettes "eaten". I never smacked them (but I also wasn't gentle with them when handling), I never cleaned the player other than blowing on it every so often, and never did anything fancy. I just slammed the tape in a bit rough, hit play, when I was done, yanked it out and slammed another in. When I moved to CDs, I had to learn to be a bit more gentle.
Still have various cassette decks here, the autostop feature needs to be in the take-up side if a machine isn't going to eat tapes. A lot of the cruder designs used a trip-arm which was raised by the tension being applied at the end of a tape. They're not too good for the cassettes ! Found a Nakamichi on the bins today too !
My favorite band is The Lumineers! They've only made vinyl and not cassettes so I made my own cassette art and my own cassette tape with their music on it. so I have a Lumineers Cleopatra album that looks pretty slick like if they would have made it. I'm happy.
Most helpful tape has been mangled will do all your tips many thanks
I never heard of "smack the tape" (it kind of looks more like "tap the tape"), but I do generally wind the take forward and back to loosen the tape and to get the winding even. They also have and do still make cassette based demagnetizers, but the one you shown is the preferred way of doing it. That type should also be used on other audio tape players and video tape equipment. I mostly had problems with the tape getting eaten in the early to mid '80s, but once in the very early '90s. I was a kid then so I was using basic tape recorders. The first thing I learned not to do was to directly touch the tape with my fingers or the cassette head system on the player. If it happens, make sure you swab with rubbing alcohol and let it air dry before playing a tape. A good tip is to purchase and use FOAM swabs that won't leave little fine threads of cotton all over your head system. The threads like to especially collect on the roller and capstan. An indicator of a tape possibly getting eaten is when the audio suddenly gets dark and/or starts to have a crunchy sound coming from the player. You might be able to save the tape by immediately stopping the tape and rewinding it for a few seconds. Then, you can examine your tape. If it got crinkled, it will just have a dark, crinkled sound when it plays over that area again. Over time, the crinkled sound may soften, but it is usually permanent. If the tape breaks, a simple way to repair it is to wear thin, latex (vinyl, etc.) gloves to protect against skin oils and join the tape with a piece of scotch tape. Place the tape under the two ends so that they perfectly fit and make a straight and continuous ribbon. Trim off extra tape on the sides with a ribbon so it is straight and no adhesive surfaces of the tape are exposed. Do NOT use for than ONE layer, and DON'T fold it over the top. The splice needs to be as thin as possible or it might have trouble moving through the head system. A good idea is to dub the tape to another blank tape so that the head system won't have to deal with the splice in the future. It's best to not use fast dubbing. Fast dubbing doesn't always provide a quality recording anyway.
I was sceptic about smacking the tape but it does "tight" the tape when it's loose inside the cassette from being unplayed for long... thanks for the tip! my brother doesn't share the love for cassette yet but I'll convert him soon enough ;)
Also wouldn't there be any problem rubbing that rubber wheel part inside the deck with alcohol? Wouldn't that dry the rubber too much over time?
Tip for getting really good sound from cassettes when recording: Use a metal tape or a cro2 tape if you cant get a metal one, but if you can, use metal because of the better tape quality. Or use the very rare DAT system.
DCC is also a thing, but it's pretty much unobtainable. On the flip side, a DCC deck is very well capable of playing normal cassettes just as well as DCC's
I love your enthusiasm, but sorry, but much of the advice in this video is just terrible. (I've used tapes for over 30 years and never had them eaten, so I know what I am doing.) Let's go through them:
1. Buy a good deck: 100% true.
2. Smack the tape: terrible advice. Loosening the tape before inserting is what you DON'T want -- you want the tape taut inside the shell to make sure it is loaded exactly where it needs to be.
3. Demagnetize: advisable for sound quality, but has zero impact on tapes getting eaten.
4. Clean the heads: advisable, but clean the pinch rollers with water.
5. FF/REW: NO NO NO! This is the exact opposite of what you want to do! Playing through both sides at playback speed is FAR better at tensioning the tape properly.
Meanwhile, here are steps that DO help:
6. Never open the player before it has come to a full stop.
7. On players with mechanical controls: press stop when going between functions (play/FF/REW).
8. Turn the reels to take up any slack before inserting.
9. Store the tapes properly (dry, stored vertically)
Antonio Tejada hello Antonio, I have an important question . My girlfriends Grandpa gave me a cassette recorder because I told him how I love oldies and loves cassettes, but considering what my age is, of course I don't know much about cassettes. I'm 17, I just love retro and vintage things, with that out the way, I have a Mark Anthony Cassette Tape (it says 1999, maybe why it did this) but I played it and fell asleep while listening, and one side of the tape has all of the music. Rewinding, playing, and fast forwarding doesn't help and I'm honestly clueless as to how I could get tape back to both sides again. Hopefully this was enough info for you to help. I'm very new to actually being able to listen to cassettes because I only used to collect but not much else until I got something to actually play them. Hope you can help!
Don't apologize dude, experience is priceless anywhere! Thank you!
You may have a cassette that the lubricant on the sides of the tape (sits right beside the tape spools) when new there is a super thin coat of lubricant on these sheets and over time it will dry out ... at that point it takes a lot of torque to turn the wheels particularly the take up during playback.... one option is to get a new cassette shell and use it (place the tape from the old cassette into the new shell) another option is to use an old cassette and place the tape in the old shell
@@josiahc4661 Trial and error is how anyone learns how to use these tape machines.Goodwill and Savers sell lots of tapes
Using water to clean parts like the pinch roller is highly questionable as it might begin to oxidize metal parts. Rubbing alcohol is far mor preferable because it evaporates and dries fully *_MUCH_* faster than water. Water, even in very small amounts, can leave moisture that over time initializes rust in metal o-rings and other tiny parts that due to being tightly packed inside the mechanism, might not dry fast enough. This can lead to problems later on...
You reminded me of all these things I forgot since it has been a long tine since I used cassettes frequently. I even forgot where I put my demagnetizer. Do those demagnetizers built into cassette shells work? I used one in my car's tape deck since that head is unreachable, and also the cassette shell that has cleaning pads in it. I remember when Radio Shack sold cassette replacement shells. Remember splice blocks? Sometimes gently pulling the spring behind the pressure pad on an old cassette would make it sound better if the spring lost tension.
Very informative. I always thought that rewinding would make things worse. It's good to know I was wrong.
i never destroy cassettes or vhs they are like my babies i love them!
Of smaking loosens the reel might you fast forward to the end and rewind back? Tapes i believe are only eating when the head is engaged right? Maybe? Just a thought. I know four track manufacturers strongly recommend this for several reasons.
I guess i spoke too soon. Im so smart
never herd of this before thank you for the tips👍
OrdinaryRBLXPlayer It is possible to demag the erase and record /playback head on a two head machine. Power up the recorder and start recording on an old tape. Then whilst the machine is recording switch off the power or pull the power cord out from the wall. The decaying erase and bias signal will reduce any residual magnetism.
Jarrett you are the best!!! Love this video too!!
Also if your tape cassettes ever break, dont throw them away.
just cut off the bad edges that ripped or tore, and then stick-glue about half to a quarter of an inch back together pressing hard until it dries.
Depending on how much was cut off, depends on how much audio you lose, but I know you can cut off about an inch and not lose any sound (alot of times my tapes ripped a small notch when trying to detangle it from the machines, and I just cut like a cm away from each end before gluing it).
Used to do this trick all the time when I was a kid and I never really lost any sound except this one time when a good 6 inches of tape was stretched to hell, ripped and damaged by one of my old walkmans (that walkman went into the garbage very quickly because my tapes would get stuck constantly in it and my dad just said to toss it...).
I had alot of walkman's growing up because of our constant moving and we wound up losing the damn things or having them stolen in the moves...
so yeah, there are good, and there are very crappy cassette players.
I bent the capstan of a tape recorder once and the music sounded wobbly!
I totally agree with you buy a quality cassette player and tapes if you do they sound just as good as Digital but a lot more interesting and fun!! Awesome video keep it up!!
I have a TDK demagnatiser from the 80's which I stick use today to demag the heads and have used alcohol to clean them also but smacking the cassettes never heard of that but I haven't played my tapes for a number of years so smacking them might be a good idea 😊
Never use Isoprop. alcohol on rubber such the pinch roller it will dry out! And another detail is to allways have the tapedeck shutdown when demagnitize.
Otherwise it's good tips 👍
Number 6, Keep tapes away from hi fi speakers, the magnet inside could cause "drop outs".
ooooo i think we have the same cassette deck! mine wont play cassettes anymore tho, prob have to take a look inside of it some day lol
Thank you. I have a big collection of cassettes. This really helpful.
When you buy a used cassette deck be sure to make sure it was serviced
and fully tested. I have had a few returns already on eBay that ate my
tape or did not work properly.
Gotta love that isopropyl alcohol
Demagnetizing and cleaning the heads keep the deck sounding great....but doesn't have that much to do with tape jams. On the other hand, cleaning the pinch roller and capstan is far more critical. Some high-end decks have dual capstans and rollers. You have to keep them them all clean. Yes, you should clean and demagnetize the entire tape path as you described here, but the capstan(s) and pinch roller(s) are the critical parts for tape-eating prevention.
Also keep an eye on the pressure pads of old cassettes,replace them when they are down.
I have cassettes from the early 70's that still play fine. BTW: subscribed to your channel Jarrett. Very informative and very honest info for newbies and BabyBoomers like me. Keep those videos coming!!!
What is the brand and model of the lamp beside your turntable? Nice and compact.
btw i just saw your cassette video and it compelled me to buy a cassette walkman like i had in high school (1994)