Cassette tapes have always been my favourite media and although I have embraced digital and moved over to it. I Still wouldn't be without my cassettes and many tape decks, seven, so far. I hope there will always be people like you around to talk about the compact cassette and the cassette players used to play them. Though I do think the format, along with records,reel to reel, CDs and all kinds media, is dead, as far as the mass market is concerned. For me cassettes, records, CDs, mini-disks, FM radio, will never die.
Thank-you for this very good explanation. After so many years of using my cassette deck when I was a teenager and calibrating it each time I would record, I finally get a chance to understand what the bias setting was actually doing ! Back then, I had no clue, I just followed the procedure described in the manual. I loved Maxell XLIIS too, they sounded fantastic... just by looking at them ;-) (I loved Sony UX-S and TDK SA-X too)
I would recommend finding a tape deck with adjustable bias. It made things so much easier for me. I was able to use tapes that didn't sound quite right on my other deck.
broke out my old Tascam Portastudio and was curious about the different types of tapes - thank you! the way transducers work at all is mind blowing, movingly beautiful and so sad humans are so smart but often use it for destruction
Love you dude. Your videos are awesome, educational, and oddly relaxing. You seem really easy to talk to, and you know your stuff. You’ve helped me a lot. Hope you’re staying safe!
That was a REALLY good explanation! I teach people how to program industrial optical measuring devices and it is very important to make it easy and relatable to the people. You did a really great job at that. Hats off to you Sir 👍
Hey Craig, your longer hair looks cool don't sweat it! maybe sometime when you have a chance show us just where you sit and how you experience your music listening. I'm always interested in seeing how people who make TH-cam videos about music actually listen to it. Like where they sit, lighting they use, do they have some alcohol next to them or just a cup of tea etc.
Palosrob .MaKaElectric Rebuttal Channel . Amused with your question . Nostalgic. I very much like the right setup of an ambience for listening pleasure.
Excellent video and explanation. I want to tell you that I used to record my vinyls to cassettes only to listen through my Walkman or through my car cassette player. Not because my vinyls would deteriorate by too much playing on my old turntables. In my opinion, my old Thorens or Empire were as good or even better than any other TT of similar price purchased today. I still have some vinyls purchased some 60 years ago in perfect condition and after thousands of plays. Best wishes!!
Very informative video. I used to record my records on tape in the 70s and early 80s. I did it so I could get an entire album on one side and have the ability to play them in the car! Now that I have much better equipment at home, I prefer to do my listening on records and occasionally CDs... but mostly records! Never judging on the hair! Keep it long! I'm 66 and I've decided to go full Gandalf! I get compliments on my beard. Remember that line from Ricky Nelson? You can't please everyone so you gotta please yourself!
Thank you uncle...your explanations are very clear and helpful....people might not agree,but the depth and originality comes only from analog music.....love from India.
I came from a video that explain this with fancy graphics and very good samples, but certainly I'd had understanding more clearly with your very clever explanation and your simplified graphics. Thanks for take the time.
Craig, great video and clearly explained, it brought back some memories of back in the days when I used tape at home and repaired them at work. As for your hair, don't fuss, I wish mine grew as quick. Regards Bob
Sony once made cassette decks with automatic biasing, all you had to do was press the calibration button and it really made a difference. Even the low noise normal bias tapes sounded really quite good :)
the cassettes were desined for music by philips in early 60´s but yet to be the favorite way of recording music, the 8-track was more used but since mid 70´s it started to grow on people, allthough i only bought a cassette deck after having a car that came with cassette player, and because i had a reel deck from akai with exceptional sound i went for the GX something in horizontal position ,after i bought a pioneer CT-F4141 that seemed better but was only recording good not as great as the older akai ,i remenber buying a CT-200 from pioner and made very good recordings allthough i had bought a second hand philips that was kind of more dynamic in sound, but the pioneer was already very good and well built but the lower reference in the catalogue from 79 pioneer, later that year i received from my father is top system from 76 pioneer catalogue ,that´s when i started to use the CT-F1000, which i recorded there lot´s of maxell and sony cassettes not because it was my choice but because i had them for free at home(my parents home)but having a job with more money each month i bought paid in 3 monthes a SA-9700 and a CT-F1250 all in the same year ,i almost forget i also bought a PL-560 turntable ,still in use and with the 76 system came a PLC-590 turntable but i wanted 3 systems at home, that´s when i started my colection of hi-fi components
Great video, thank you. Nice explanation of this. Would love to go back to when I was young and Chrome and Metal tapes were readily available and grab half a dozen of each :)
That was a very nice explanation of bias. I'm moving after 20 years in my present house and discovered my old analog equipment, along with all my vinyl still in like new condition! I stored them properly many years ago I guess. lol So, I've been enjoying those beautiful songs all over again. Anyways, your hair look fine! Mine is not quite as long but I'm thinking all old guys should let our hair grow out like the old days to show our solidarity! Looking forward to more videos!
I did a lot of recording in the 80’s and 90’s not for the reasons you mentioned. I was always borrowing records from friends, girlfriend’s particularly in the 80’s. I was a good doobie And always returned them🤗
Thanks Craig for making these videos. Yes you are right about how we used to record our records onto tape. I mostly used the TDK normal bias ones. I think I have only one chromium tape. Recently I bought one of those Pro-ject Debut carbon recordmaster hi-res turntables so I could start archiving my records again. I watch all the videos & they are very helpful. Cheers & take care!
Enjoyed this video. The only other thing would have been showing how to adjust bias and level on some decks. But yes pictures were helpful and analogies.thanks
What really got me was during the compact cassette documentary, the guy from Philips who was instrumental in developing it disregarded it and didn’t understand why people in the 2010s were still using it. Probably because he also helped develop CD technology and thought of that as more significant.
'Thats FX' are great tapes on a good recorder. Take your time setting up the bias and cassette tapes still sound amazing. I've tried all types but 'Thats' are certainly my favourite.
Man I have always calibrated tapes and used tape machine plugins with bias switches and stuff and never understood the actual reason or function behind em. Thanks for the explanation
Tape bias is something you don't need to worry about with VHS hifi which was and is a much superior format for recording analog sources than cassette or even open reel.
Out of all the cassettes I owned, the Maxell shown towards the end of the video in the middle on the top row with the gold label was by far the best sounding one I've ever owned. The Sony Metal Master Ceramic couldn't hold a candle to that one even though it was about 7x more expensive!
I literally havd every single one of those tapes in that photo you show. Those darker colored cassettes had great sound compared. They were more expensive though compared to the transparent ones though
Ohh u good man! Really, love your calm speak and your explanation. I've always had a hard time to grasp BIAS but after this its just an added tone like an added divemask! Great! I would though love a demonstration on your deck where u show how its done in a few steps. Would that be possible?
I always liked Maxell XLII, and XLII-S because you can get very high notes if you use BIAS on cassete deck during recordings...BASF I didn`t like at at...but that was 35 years ago...nowadays I don`t use cassette decks anymore...
Great video Craig and great channel! I've just watched a few of your videos and have subscribed. Like you, I cut my engineering teeth on multitrack tape (mostly Ampex 456). I've recently gotten back into cassettes and records too. I still have all my cassettes going back to the mid 70s and some of my records. I have decks now that I dreamed of back in the day which is a real nostalgia trip for me. I have two Nakamichi decks (a 582 and a 582Z) and a Harman Kardon CD491. I've fully restored and calibrated these decks and they sound incredible even on type 1 tapes! They're all three head, closed loop, dual capstan decks and the CD491 has a direct drive motor for the capstans. I also recently purchased an Audio Technica LP140X and am planning to buy a VM540ML cart for it. I'm living it so far! Keep up the great work with the channel. Oh, we're very close age wise too. I'll be 50 in June.
Very interesting video. I have two Optimus SCT-37 Cassette Decks that have a "variable bias". I use all tape formats. Normal Chrome and Metal. Most of the time I've used Normal and Chrome and I have had no problems with the variable bias set in the middle. As an experiment, is it safe to adjust the bias during an actual recording to see if there's any difference in sound? Also wondred about the Dolby selection as well. I know you can change it during playback, but I've never changed those settings in record mode being I did not know what type of effects or problems I might have.
I really do enjoy your video presentations - your self deprecating sense of humour, your knowledge, and friendly demeanor makes for time well spent (PLUS you are a fellow Rush fan!). Thanks for the time that you take to make these videos. Your timing couldn't be better - I just got my Nakamichi CR7 back from my technician and it sounds so good (except when I play the music that I recorded on that Nak on my $200 Technics, which sounds awful - but that's another story). I use the Nak now to get most of the fidelity of my audiophile 2 LP, 45 rpm pressings - most of the sound, and a small fraction of the "flipping over." Anyway, thanks for your presentation - you didn't actually state an opinion as to which "type" of tape that you prefer - I am still experimenting, but the Type II, which are the most popular, seem to cut off some of the low end (maybe it's the age of the cassette).
Thanks! Ya, type II tapes are known for lacking low end. That's why they came out with Ferric-chrome, which were a hybrid of type I and type II, but they never lasted far for some reason. They were my favorite tape type (type III) I remember having Supertramp - Breakfast in America on one, and boy did it sound good.
Thanks for the response, Craig. I have zero chance of finding reasonably priced Type III, so I won’t even try. What would be worse than not finding any is finding one!! Breakfast in America is a brilliant sounding record so that tape must have sounded incredible. I look forward to your next post! Thanks again! By the way, the hair looks great!
For a dictation format, compact cassette became remarkably good as a music format with technical improvments. I have hdx tapes from the late 90's that are amazingly good. But then i also have a early 80s 'grease' tape that sounds amazingly good
YAY...Craig is back!!!...WOOT!!!....I still use my Reel to Reel....love it...XD....I have a Technics RS-B78R Cass deck that has DBX...I find that works really nice.
Given the very slow speed of cassettes, they were quite good, better than they should have sounded, though it is a pity the elcaset didn't become popular, as it ran at twice the speed.
Maxell XL & XLll , were my choice of recording tape and the price was reasonable. Also the Dennon chrome were very nice and actually performed better than Dennon metal tape , but we're costly at $7.50 a pop in those days. At one time I owned an Onkyo deck with a bias control & where to set the bias control according to the instruction manual , depending on the type of tape used & manufacturer.
Hello Craig want to apologize for asking you to compare two turntables with the same cartridge. Now I know better. Also I just moved to Canada as my mom is doing pHD at queens. So (just curios) which city or state do you live in? I am planning to buy a RT83. But what do you recommend, the vm540ml (at440mla) or the 2m red/blue? I always enjoy your videos as they are "audiofoolery" proof.
On my system, I doubt I would hear any difference between two turntables with the same cartridge. I like the sound of my system, but unless one turntable was thousands of dollars more than the other, I can't see how there'd be any difference. As for the cartridges, they are both very nice sounding, but the Audio Technica has a slightly more microline stylus, so it really handles the sibilance and inner grooves very well. If you can afford the vm540ml, go for it. I love my 440!
@@VinylTV33 Yeah I know, but one video you said the LP120 had motor noise on DMM LPs. Oh and I know you love the 440 I have been subscribed for quite a while now. Maybe almost a year. Keep making great videos 😉👍
I have a question, why/how would my Pioneer RT-1011L be capable or adjusted to record on media that requires high bias? It seems, to me, that if your media requires you to set bias at +6db bias, the tape is inferior. Am I looking at this wrong? Thanks! Loved your turntable video and this one too. I'm a fan! Cheers!
Loved this explainer. Now I get bias! You mentioned something and then quickly moved off the detail. The gap in the electromagnet -- I will assume that the "charge" is jumping over the gap and being captured by the magnetic compound (rust, ha). Correct?
Cool stuff, nice explanation. Can you maybe explain the Dolby NR system and the even more interesting NR System called DBX that relied upon compression and decompression to mitigate common tape background noise? Thank you
Love to see you come back on this channel ! Btw still waiting for "VC archiving your vinyl records part 2" !!! Part 1 was very useful for me when i started digitalizing my rare LPs !
Question: An aircraft I work on has an older 1980s cockpit voice recorder that uses tape. To test it, we first make a recording 'test, test' then to verify the recording we are asked to remove a wire (simple ring terminal) on a terminal board for the bias oscillator. With our headset plugged into the recorder we are supposed to hear our recording. To this day we have yet to hear ourselves, we only hear other slight background noises. We always wonder if it's a previous recording and we just aren't doing the test correctly or if maybe it's an issue with the unit. Thoughts please.
Thanks for this informative video! I knew about the existence of the words 'tape bias' and I knew "about" the different formulations of magnetic recording media but this is completely new information. I had always assumed that the bias was a DC bias like you would use in that kind of analog circuits, but I had never heard of an AC bias. Does this mean that basically all cassette recorders impose an AC signal onto the tape, including the cheapest of low cost recorders? Or would these cheap-o players just be using simple DC bias? I have a Technics RS-TR333 that I got at a church sale for $5 many years ago that has a bias adjustment as a potentiometer with a range of -5 to +5 and never really gave it any thought.
The cassette that you use there was in fact designed for music. Philips made it specifically for that and its original name was musicasette for pre recorded tapes and compact cassette for blank tapes. They did not have their origins in dictating and answering machines they came later. Also it is almost impossible to wear them out if you have a reputable brand, there are instances of people testing them by playing them over and over automatically for years and testing the output at intervals and finding nothing significant. In my hand at the moment I have a Joan Baez 5 from fontana CFF5000 dated 1964, it still works and still sounds good, also an original Philips compact cassette C60 that has been recorded on many many times and still works fine. Although the original Philips stereo cassette recorder I bought in 1963 or 64 has not been used for about 20 years now and had no bias adjustment as there were only standard tapes. The biggest killer of tapes was the car player, there are very few people who had one of these that did not develop a taste for chewing them, even the best brands. Don't forget that the studio tape units were a 1 inch tape vastly different to the 4 track 1/4 inch of the reel to reel retail tapes of which I still have a couple going back to the mid 1960s, Martin Denny and instrumental golden giants, but nothing to play them on, and the tiny 1/8 of an inch 4 track cassettes. Keef of The Stones, in his biography mentions using their own cassette recordings as part of their on disk music from time to time. He must have kept one in the Bently. I like you avoided metal tapes because of head wear. I have seen heads that have grooves worn in them after continual metal tape use. You also mentioned the air gap area in the head that allows for the creation of the magnetic flux that was something that needed cleaning in some recorders quite frequently and of course the capstans and drive all round.
I read up on the history of the discovery re wire/tape recording et Well worth the read. The first attempts as happens with most inventions of note, worked but not very well. THEN a chance discovery re TAPE BIAS or adding BIAS to the tape et and EUREKA ! Not saying anymore, go read up on it! Stay safe ! Another great topic. 👍😊
That was the very best explanation ever of what the Bias does for cassettes I ever heard in my life! Thank you so much and hat off on you,
sir.
Cassette tapes have always been my favourite media and although I have embraced digital and moved over to it. I Still wouldn't be without my cassettes and many tape decks, seven, so far. I hope there will always be people like you around to talk about the compact cassette and the cassette players used to play them. Though I do think the format, along with records,reel to reel, CDs and all kinds media, is dead, as far as the mass market is concerned. For me cassettes, records, CDs, mini-disks, FM radio, will never die.
Maxell Hight Bias 90 minute cassette were my fave back in the 80s and 90s
The better of TDK was Also very good.
That was a great presentation...the visuals helped too.
I've been trying to learn about Bias for a little while. You nailed it for me. Nice and simple to understand. Thank you for your time to explain.
Same here.
Thank-you for this very good explanation. After so many years of using my cassette deck when I was a teenager and calibrating it each time I would record, I finally get a chance to understand what the bias setting was actually doing ! Back then, I had no clue, I just followed the procedure described in the manual.
I loved Maxell XLIIS too, they sounded fantastic... just by looking at them ;-) (I loved Sony UX-S and TDK SA-X too)
I would recommend finding a tape deck with adjustable bias. It made things so much easier for me. I was able to use tapes that didn't sound quite right on my other deck.
Glad you were not biased about the bias.
Cheers! 👍🏻
broke out my old Tascam Portastudio and was curious about the different types of tapes - thank you! the way transducers work at all is mind blowing, movingly beautiful and so sad humans are so smart but often use it for destruction
normally are happy if sad they would stay home looking to a wall
My experience is that good tapes from agfa, basf, ampex, Scotts, maxell etc.are good!
Love you dude. Your videos are awesome, educational, and oddly relaxing. You seem really easy to talk to, and you know your stuff. You’ve helped me a lot. Hope you’re staying safe!
That was a REALLY good explanation!
I teach people how to program industrial optical measuring devices and it is very important to make it easy and relatable to the people.
You did a really great job at that.
Hats off to you Sir 👍
Hey Craig, your longer hair looks cool don't sweat it! maybe sometime when you have a chance show us just where you sit and how you experience your music listening. I'm always interested in seeing how people who make TH-cam videos about music actually listen to it. Like where they sit, lighting they use, do they have some alcohol next to them or just a cup of tea etc.
Palosrob .MaKaElectric Rebuttal Channel . Amused with your question . Nostalgic. I very much like the right setup of an ambience for listening pleasure.
@@muthuvelayuthamvelayutham5159
Exactly! Either do it right or don't do it at all!
Excellent video and explanation. I want to tell you that I used to record my vinyls to cassettes only to listen through my Walkman or through my car cassette player. Not because my vinyls would deteriorate by too much playing on my old turntables. In my opinion, my old Thorens or Empire were as good or even better than any other TT of similar price purchased today. I still have some vinyls purchased some 60 years ago in perfect condition and after thousands of plays. Best wishes!!
Records & tapes win the format war in my eyes .
They LAST !!!
fascinating history and makes me more appreciative of my little cassette player. Thanks!
Very informative video. I used to record my records on tape in the 70s and early 80s. I did it so I could get an entire album on one side and have the ability to play them in the car! Now that I have much better equipment at home, I prefer to do my listening on records and occasionally CDs... but mostly records! Never judging on the hair! Keep it long! I'm 66 and I've decided to go full Gandalf! I get compliments on my beard. Remember that line from Ricky Nelson? You can't please everyone so you gotta please yourself!
Hi Craig! I enjoy your videos and look forward to more. This one about cassettes was very informative. Thanks for taking the time to make them.
I recently got back into cassette. As a teenager I always had a decent deck. Now I own a few 3 head deck love them.
Those two black Maxwell tapes (from the picture) were most frequently used in my home, because my father would get them from work. :D
Thank you uncle...your explanations are very clear and helpful....people might not agree,but the depth and originality comes only from analog music.....love from India.
I came from a video that explain this with fancy graphics and very good samples, but certainly I'd had understanding more clearly with your very clever explanation and your simplified graphics. Thanks for take the time.
Keep those graphs coming. This is truly one of best intro tutorial videos on tape bias. I like it.
Craig, great video and clearly explained, it brought back some memories of back in the days when I used tape at home and repaired them at work. As for your hair, don't fuss, I wish mine grew as quick. Regards Bob
Thanks a lot for your time to explain bias
Great class!!! Thank you very much. Cheers from Brazil.
Sony once made cassette decks with automatic biasing, all you had to do was press the calibration button and it really made a difference. Even the low noise normal bias tapes sounded really quite good :)
I have one, sony tc-rx311. Its a lower end deck so the flutter is kinda high but as far as bias calibration its perfect.
Thank you for this lovely explanation, wish they taught so simple in college.
You deserve a ton of likes
I needed a little refresher on this before I talk to a student. Thanks!
the cassettes were desined for music by philips in early 60´s but yet to be the favorite way of recording music, the 8-track was more used but since mid 70´s it started to grow on people, allthough i only bought a cassette deck after having a car that came with cassette player, and because i had a reel deck from akai with exceptional sound i went for the GX something in horizontal position ,after i bought a pioneer CT-F4141 that seemed better but was only recording good not as great as the older akai ,i remenber buying a CT-200 from pioner and made very good recordings allthough i had bought a second hand philips that was kind of more dynamic in sound, but the pioneer was already very good and well built but the lower reference in the catalogue from 79 pioneer, later that year i received from my father is top system from 76 pioneer catalogue ,that´s when i started to use the CT-F1000, which i recorded there lot´s of maxell and sony cassettes not because it was my choice but because i had them for free at home(my parents home)but having a job with more money each month i bought paid in 3 monthes a SA-9700 and a CT-F1250 all in the same year ,i almost forget i also bought a PL-560 turntable ,still in use and with the 76 system came a PLC-590 turntable but i wanted 3 systems at home, that´s when i started my colection of hi-fi components
What a wonderful and great explanation. Very clear to understand this particular issue in an easy way ti understand. Just GREAT.
Great video, thank you. Nice explanation of this. Would love to go back to when I was young and Chrome and Metal tapes were readily available and grab half a dozen of each :)
Absolutely brilliant explanation! Thank you so much 🌻
That was a very nice explanation of bias. I'm moving after 20 years in my present house and discovered my old analog equipment, along with all my vinyl still in like new condition! I stored them properly many years ago I guess. lol So, I've been enjoying those beautiful songs all over again. Anyways, your hair look fine! Mine is not quite as long but I'm thinking all old guys should let our hair grow out like the old days to show our solidarity! Looking forward to more videos!
Good work. It is so nice when someone spread his knowledge.
thank U ,
that was best explanation about BIAS and how it is related to
different types of tapes and what it dose to improve audio signal. :-))))))))
I did a lot of recording in the 80’s and 90’s not for the reasons you mentioned. I was always borrowing records from friends, girlfriend’s particularly in the 80’s. I was a good doobie
And always returned them🤗
Thanks Craig for making these videos. Yes you are right about how we used to record our records onto tape. I mostly used the TDK normal bias ones. I think I have only one chromium tape.
Recently I bought one of those Pro-ject Debut carbon recordmaster hi-res turntables so I could start archiving my records again.
I watch all the videos & they are very helpful. Cheers & take care!
My Maxell XL II's sounded very good ,recorded on my 'new' Denon DRM800A deck..back in 1990 :)
EXCELLENT presentation. I learned something new. Thank you!
Excellent explanation, I wish I knew this back in the 80's when I was in high school. Boy, did I screw up some tapes!!
Love your videos, very honest.
hey! thank you, very simple explanation of a complex theme
Enjoyed this video. The only other thing would have been showing how to adjust bias and level on some decks. But yes pictures were helpful and analogies.thanks
Love your video's...something to look forward to in these troubled times !
Thank you for this video Craig, cassette tapes were way before my time so this topic is incredibly interesting to me.
What really got me was during the compact cassette documentary, the guy from Philips who was instrumental in developing it disregarded it and didn’t understand why people in the 2010s were still using it. Probably because he also helped develop CD technology and thought of that as more significant.
'Thats FX' are great tapes on a good recorder. Take your time setting up the bias and cassette tapes still sound amazing. I've tried all types but 'Thats' are certainly my favourite.
Man I have always calibrated tapes and used tape machine plugins with bias switches and stuff and never understood the actual reason or function behind em. Thanks for the explanation
Wonderful lecture with the help of sketches..
Tape bias is something you don't need to worry about with VHS hifi which was and is a much superior format for recording analog sources than cassette or even open reel.
Out of all the cassettes I owned, the Maxell shown towards the end of the video in the middle on the top row with the gold label was by far the best sounding one I've ever owned. The Sony Metal Master Ceramic couldn't hold a candle to that one even though it was about 7x more expensive!
Mine was the Maxell at the bottom right....the UDII 90.
I'm not at all tech savvy but you make its easier to understand. Thank you! Thumbs up!
I literally havd every single one of those tapes in that photo you show. Those darker colored cassettes had great sound compared. They were more expensive though compared to the transparent ones though
Ohh u good man! Really, love your calm speak and your explanation. I've always had a hard time to grasp BIAS but after this its just an added tone like an added divemask! Great! I would though love a demonstration on your deck where u show how its done in a few steps. Would that be possible?
That was an AWESOME explanation ... !!!
Excellent explanation, thanks.
thanks...very cool video...like your explanation, drawings...never knew what this Bias thing is....
I always liked Maxell XLII, and XLII-S because you can get very high notes if you use BIAS on cassete deck during recordings...BASF I didn`t like at at...but that was 35 years ago...nowadays I don`t use cassette decks anymore...
A really good explanation. Thank you, Craig!
Thank you for your great tutorial. Very easy to understand.
👍👍👍
That was a great presentation! Excellent, clear and helpful explanation!
Great video Craig and great channel! I've just watched a few of your videos and have subscribed.
Like you, I cut my engineering teeth on multitrack tape (mostly Ampex 456). I've recently gotten back into cassettes and records too. I still have all my cassettes going back to the mid 70s and some of my records.
I have decks now that I dreamed of back in the day which is a real nostalgia trip for me. I have two Nakamichi decks (a 582 and a 582Z) and a Harman Kardon CD491. I've fully restored and calibrated these decks and they sound incredible even on type 1 tapes! They're all three head, closed loop, dual capstan decks and the CD491 has a direct drive motor for the capstans.
I also recently purchased an Audio Technica LP140X and am planning to buy a VM540ML cart for it. I'm living it so far!
Keep up the great work with the channel.
Oh, we're very close age wise too. I'll be 50 in June.
Living it was supposed to be loving it. Stupid spell corrector strikes again!
Watching you from Brazil..may 22. Good content !
Very interesting video. I have two Optimus SCT-37 Cassette Decks that have a "variable bias". I use all tape formats. Normal Chrome and Metal. Most of the time I've used Normal and Chrome and I have had no problems with the variable bias set in the middle. As an experiment, is it safe to adjust the bias during an actual recording to see if there's any difference in sound? Also wondred about the Dolby selection as well. I know you can change it during playback, but I've never changed those settings in record mode being I did not know what type of effects or problems I might have.
I really do enjoy your video presentations - your self deprecating sense of humour, your knowledge, and friendly demeanor makes for time well spent (PLUS you are a fellow Rush fan!). Thanks for the time that you take to make these videos. Your timing couldn't be better - I just got my Nakamichi CR7 back from my technician and it sounds so good (except when I play the music that I recorded on that Nak on my $200 Technics, which sounds awful - but that's another story). I use the Nak now to get most of the fidelity of my audiophile 2 LP, 45 rpm pressings - most of the sound, and a small fraction of the "flipping over." Anyway, thanks for your presentation - you didn't actually state an opinion as to which "type" of tape that you prefer - I am still experimenting, but the Type II, which are the most popular, seem to cut off some of the low end (maybe it's the age of the cassette).
Thanks! Ya, type II tapes are known for lacking low end. That's why they came out with Ferric-chrome, which were a hybrid of type I and type II, but they never lasted far for some reason. They were my favorite tape type (type III) I remember having Supertramp - Breakfast in America on one, and boy did it sound good.
Thanks for the response, Craig. I have zero chance of finding reasonably priced Type III, so I won’t even try. What would be worse than not finding any is finding one!! Breakfast in America is a brilliant sounding record so that tape must have sounded incredible. I look forward to your next post! Thanks again! By the way, the hair looks great!
Cheap cassette recorders used DC bias. Unfortunately that made the head become magnetized quicker and it added noise to the signal.
Me has enseñado mucho. Me encanta la manera de explicar que tienes. Muchas gracias.
absolutely amazing explanation!! Thanks for sharing!!
For a dictation format, compact cassette became remarkably good as a music format with technical improvments.
I have hdx tapes from the late 90's that are amazingly good.
But then i also have a early 80s 'grease' tape that sounds amazingly good
Thank you for the explanation, Craig!
Thanks for the good explanation!
YAY...Craig is back!!!...WOOT!!!....I still use my Reel to Reel....love it...XD....I have a Technics RS-B78R Cass deck that has DBX...I find that works really nice.
Thanks for the clear info on bias.
I liked your presentation.
Given the very slow speed of cassettes, they were quite good, better than they should have sounded, though it is a pity the elcaset didn't become popular, as it ran at twice the speed.
You’re awesome , Sir.
Maxell XL & XLll , were my choice of recording tape and the price was reasonable. Also the Dennon chrome were very nice and actually performed better than Dennon metal tape , but we're costly at $7.50 a pop in those days. At one time I owned an Onkyo deck with a bias control & where to set the bias control according to the instruction manual , depending on the type of tape used & manufacturer.
Hello Craig want to apologize for asking you to compare two turntables with the same cartridge. Now I know better. Also I just moved to Canada as my mom is doing pHD at queens. So (just curios) which city or state do you live in? I am planning to buy a RT83. But what do you recommend, the vm540ml (at440mla) or the 2m red/blue? I always enjoy your videos as they are "audiofoolery" proof.
On my system, I doubt I would hear any difference between two turntables with the same cartridge. I like the sound of my system, but unless one turntable was thousands of dollars more than the other, I can't see how there'd be any difference. As for the cartridges, they are both very nice sounding, but the Audio Technica has a slightly more microline stylus, so it really handles the sibilance and inner grooves very well. If you can afford the vm540ml, go for it. I love my 440!
@@VinylTV33 Yeah I know, but one video you said the LP120 had motor noise on DMM LPs. Oh and I know you love the 440 I have been subscribed for quite a while now. Maybe almost a year. Keep making great videos 😉👍
Great informative video Craig , thnx. Stay safe and regards to you and your family. Keep those videos coming to us :) 17.
this was amazingly helpful, thanks!
I have a question, why/how would my Pioneer RT-1011L be capable or adjusted to record on media that requires high bias? It seems, to me, that if your media requires you to set bias at +6db bias, the tape is inferior. Am I looking at this wrong? Thanks!
Loved your turntable video and this one too. I'm a fan! Cheers!
Thank you So much for posting such an excellent and really well explained video! Well, I thought your drawings were brilliant! 😀👍
Great video and good analogies. Thanks.
Loved this explainer. Now I get bias! You mentioned something and then quickly moved off the detail. The gap in the electromagnet -- I will assume that the "charge" is jumping over the gap and being captured by the magnetic compound (rust, ha). Correct?
Your videos are awesome, educational Thanks
Cool stuff, nice explanation. Can you maybe explain the Dolby NR system and the even more interesting NR System called DBX that relied upon compression and decompression to mitigate common tape background noise? Thank you
Love to see you come back on this channel !
Btw still waiting for "VC archiving your vinyl records part 2" !!!
Part 1 was very useful for me when i started digitalizing my rare LPs !
By digitazing you mean recording them to CD?
@@SDsailor7 nope put it on FLAC files ;)
So Flac files have better sound than reel to reel?
@@SDsailor7 no rtr in a car 😎
@@PataPoufFrance true
Question: An aircraft I work on has an older 1980s cockpit voice recorder that uses tape. To test it, we first make a recording 'test, test' then to verify the recording we are asked to remove a wire (simple ring terminal) on a terminal board for the bias oscillator. With our headset plugged into the recorder we are supposed to hear our recording. To this day we have yet to hear ourselves, we only hear other slight background noises. We always wonder if it's a previous recording and we just aren't doing the test correctly or if maybe it's an issue with the unit.
Thoughts please.
Thanks for this informative video! I knew about the existence of the words 'tape bias' and I knew "about" the different formulations of magnetic recording media but this is completely new information. I had always assumed that the bias was a DC bias like you would use in that kind of analog circuits, but I had never heard of an AC bias. Does this mean that basically all cassette recorders impose an AC signal onto the tape, including the cheapest of low cost recorders? Or would these cheap-o players just be using simple DC bias? I have a Technics RS-TR333 that I got at a church sale for $5 many years ago that has a bias adjustment as a potentiometer with a range of -5 to +5 and never really gave it any thought.
as i've said before, your video's are amazing i'm alway's looking forward to new ones keep it up mate. CHEERS.
Sir, It was very informative useful.thanks
Bias affects frequency response as well as distortion. Very few 8-track recorders have a bias circuit. I found one that does and it does sound better.
They would have to have a bias circuit or they would sound worse than a fisher price toy !
Long awaited and worth it. Nice job.
The cassette that you use there was in fact designed for music. Philips made it specifically for that and its original name was musicasette for pre recorded tapes and compact cassette for blank tapes. They did not have their origins in dictating and answering machines they came later. Also it is almost impossible to wear them out if you have a reputable brand, there are instances of people testing them by playing them over and over automatically for years and testing the output at intervals and finding nothing significant.
In my hand at the moment I have a Joan Baez 5 from fontana CFF5000 dated 1964, it still works and still sounds good, also an original Philips compact cassette C60 that has been recorded on many many times and still works fine. Although the original Philips stereo cassette recorder I bought in 1963 or 64 has not been used for about 20 years now and had no bias adjustment as there were only standard tapes. The biggest killer of tapes was the car player, there are very few people who had one of these that did not develop a taste for chewing them, even the best brands.
Don't forget that the studio tape units were a 1 inch tape vastly different to the 4 track 1/4 inch of the reel to reel retail tapes of which I still have a couple going back to the mid 1960s, Martin Denny and instrumental golden giants, but nothing to play them on, and the tiny 1/8 of an inch 4 track cassettes.
Keef of The Stones, in his biography mentions using their own cassette recordings as part of their on disk music from time to time. He must have kept one in the Bently.
I like you avoided metal tapes because of head wear. I have seen heads that have grooves worn in them after continual metal tape use. You also mentioned the air gap area in the head that allows for the creation of the magnetic flux that was something that needed cleaning in some recorders quite frequently and of course the capstans and drive all round.
Thank you for sharing this great information. You're the guru 👍👍👍😂😂😂
I read up on the history of the discovery re wire/tape recording et Well worth the read. The first attempts as happens with most inventions of note, worked but not very well. THEN a chance discovery re TAPE BIAS or adding BIAS to the tape et and EUREKA ! Not saying anymore, go read up on it! Stay safe ! Another great topic. 👍😊
Thank you for this video, learned a lot! Hope you're gonna make more tape related :)
awesome lesson!!! thanks so much
I have a Tascam 112 and master to high quality cassettes. It’s magic
Thanks for a great explanation on bias. Subscribed!
That shirt is everything
*GREAT INFORMATION... Thanks!!!*