A Beginner's Guide To Cassette and Tape Machines For Music Production
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- In which I answer some of the most common questions about tape for music production, be it cassette or reel-to-reel. Includes: "Which tape machine should I buy?", "Can it lofi?", "Can I warm up my mix with this?" and "Why do you RIP second hand prices?!?!?!"
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Me: :(
Hainbach: Hi I'm Hainbach, good to have you back!
me: :D
me too :D
I didn't see this comment and posted the same thing, haha. Soz bro.
when hainbach says his trademark "good to have you back" i press like immediately, im a simple man.
You're simple alright
Geez!! How many have you got!!!!????? Hahahahah Brilliant :) well don my friend.
More than I show here 😄
Doctor mix!!!!!
Also, please, could you do a video about different tape workflows? Like, the signal path, going from synths, to mixer, to 4-track, to tape deck for copying, etc...
🙏
Back in the 90s, even before I got my first Fast Tracker II program and computer, I had a Chinese 2-deck cassete recorder/player. You could (obivously) copy a tape from one deck to another. It didn't have any pitch control, but the trick I found was that if you hold the play button but don't press it all the way down, it'll play the cassete at like 5 times the speed. And if you hold the record button just right on the left deck, you could mix the signal from the other deck with the recording that's already on the tape. Basically I got myself a mixer (one in which you could only listen to the mix once is done, so there was not much of a control) and a wobbly pitch control. I used to use this a lot, one of my favourite things to do was to just slow down pop songs and turn them into beautiful ambient that you would never believe they were at their... core. I think back then my love for ambient finally had a form. But even before all that I was listening to the beautiful sound of our Soviet vacuum cleaner. Instead of monster growl that modern vacuums produce, that thing had such a beautiful tone. I could listen to it for hours, feeling warm and protected from the sound, singing along with it. I guess that was my first drone :D
Ah, the memories.
this is beautiful
Ahh, the glorious sounds of Ракета 7M vacuum cleaner..
These are sweet memories, yes.
The tape that runs fast when you press down badly is cool, fast, contrasting :) And it's quite common, actually.
PLAY button successively starts the reel motor (fast, that of FF / FFW), the heads & amps, and the capstan (motor at correct speed, it must "brake the tape" by pressing on it). in the start-up sequence, the capstan comes very last because it can jam if it spins without the spool motor. if you press the button partially, you can actually find the point where everything turns, except the capstan. As much with cassettes as with reels.
Your a GAS enabler Hainbach and I love you for it.
If I were moneysmart I would get a reverb/ebay sponsorship for all the free traffic they get :-)
I just bought a reel to reel for 100 bucks, i feel incredibly lucky though im mad ive neveer bothered to search for one before, some of them are expensive but a lot of times you can find one for under 100 bucks. The seller took it off the page right as i bought it, but i ran another search and found the new listing and bought it immediately.
If you’re watching this video right now just totally IGNORE the prices he’s mentioning here. $500 for a Nagra 3?? $800 for a 4.2?? Hahaha forget it!
You need to do a cassette video with Techmoan. ;-)
Dream.
@ Eddie G: why? To extend the Circlejerk? This "featuring" would be kinda pointless since every channel he ever features is already huge and well known.
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 because TH-cam is a Video hosting site. People Upload Videos here... & other people watch them.
Some of us like Hainbach. Some of us like Techmoan.
Some of us like both of them.
If they uploaded a Video together... we would enjoy watching it.
...although I don't imagine anyone would masturbate.
( You're looking at it wrong. Not everything is about tricking the algorithm. They are both Human beings. Maybe they would have fun? )
Why is cross-collaboration between TH-camrs a "circlejerk"? That's a really negative attitude to have, dude.
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 the two sets of followers aren't mutually exclusive.
Nice video! If you want go deep-deep-deep-underground and very lo-fi,
the media of choice is answeringmachine. Only minus is that you need landline to
record that immortal sound. I experimented with it at late 90s, drums and organs
sounded very crispy. Of course there`s mic-input too to use it like normal recorder.
Anyway, that`s real AAA-recording and it sounds awful/brilliant. Love your channel,
you are very inspiring perion and stuff you make really encourages me to use almost
all my sparetime for music . Greetings from Finland! 🎧 👍
You reminded me of sending SMS to landline answering machines, as they would be read out loud for a short period in time. Awesome source of artificial voices in the mid-2000
HAINBACH would be lovely a sequel to this: how to integrate these tape machines into a hybrid setup. Cheers
I just got a marantz pmd430 from the radio station I work at:D
awesome! thanks for always being such a helpful resource my magnetic friend. hopefully this help everyone out and get everyone into the beautiful and deep world of tape. also when should we go on our worldwide magnetic tape takeover tour?
Man,that would be a dream!amulets/Hainbach world tour 2020
If this happens, please make a stop in Philadelphia!
My Magnetic Friend would be an awesome name for an album, or a tour
"I bought this reel to reel 60 years ago" .. looking well
Your channel is stellar :)
Nagra 3 & 4.2 are anywhere from 2K AUD on Ebay 🤣I love the descriptors you use to describe the sound, but the price of entry is probably a bit high.
Would love for you to do a video on Four Track recorders. I have a Tascam 424 MKII that is lovely, and they record quite nicely at high speed.
I absolutely ADORE my 424! I usually record with the speed turned all the way right, and then pitch all the way down on playback.
Seconded! I’m coming to tape (and music production in general) from experimental analogue filmmaking and there is some nice crossover. I’ve been eyeing a 424 but am curious how they compare to these Marantz machines.
You hit my consumerist-bone, I had to pause the video to go order some cassettes partway through.
Why is impulse buying so much easier to justify with "obsolete" gear?
Because it's usually cheaper yet rarer, so there is a hunting element. Also, it's not influenced by marketing
Thanks for all this information. It's really helpful as someone who has been trying to demystify tape. I typically record in stereo too, so this is a real eye-opener about what options I have.
reel eye-opener :)
"Americans get confused by the strange connections on the Uher." And Canadians as well! It's the main reason I have not yet started to experiment with them. I shall learn from you HAINBACH. And thanks, I had no idea what DIN meant!
omg yes ❤️ you and amulets got me into tape territory and now, a few months later i have 3 portastudios, a few smaller tape players and a dictaphone 😅
this comes in the right moment, after i had playedin a club in bkk just using synths and guitars, i met an awesome french female musician who played harsh industrial, using tapes, was amazed) watched couple of your other tape vids and decided to purchase via ebay taperecorder and tape, equipement arrived today, dont have it yet though..thx for keeping things simple hehe!
I just got an awesome boombox! For cassette and it has 1/4" mic inputs! Amazing
Hey, perfect timing! We’re looking into analog gear that will add color to our melodies. What do you suggest for that “detuned” sound that you hear in lots of modern music, especially from the german-dou ‘CuBeatz’
I don't know them, but use analog Gear and disregard the keyboard, play the pitch knob. Stack tape loops.
Thanks Hainbach for altering my perception of tape. In the early 90s I used to listen to a lot of djsets on tapes, the quality was always bad because usually they were recorded off a mate, who recorded it of a mate many times over. However you have opened my eyes to the creative possibilities with tape. As a result I have purchased a panasonic dictaphone, and have created some of the best sounds in my 22 years of production, I have now decided purchased a new old stock Report Monitor 4000 from SDS, and i was sure to mention your channel due to the positive impact it can have on his business.
Keep up the great work you are doing!
Hello Hainbach, I also came into Tape because of your content and made my first ambient tape
come around:
soundcloud.com/m_35/sets/bruchgefahr-ok-nun
Thank you for producing this excellent guide. It might be worth mentioning that, while the old Sony units are great recorders (including the Pro Walkmans), Sony chose to use Center Pin Negative for all their DC power supplies, and when unwitting owners use non-OEM supplies they burn out the units' power board or worse. So many Sony units - otherwise useful - end up as junk for that reason alone.
I have the same Nagra 3b as you showcase and remember my very first impression - after hearing my voice recorded so many times over the years growing up on one or another R2R, and thinking 'but that doesn't sound like my voice', when I heard it on the Nagra, THAT was my voice! I think that there is no better yardstick to measure tonal accuracy etc. than your own voice as you are more intimately familiar with that sound than any other, and the Nagra full track is the best I have heard.
Excellent video, as always!
I am listening to a mono Nagra III at my friend Peter. The sound is just wonderful. It is somehow magic.
(Peter also has the best coffee in town)
I once owned the Stellavox TD9, SP8, and Nagra IS .... but I have sold them all :-(
Wow, Stellavox! Only saw these in person, never heard them. And yes, the internal speaker on the Nagra III is full of character, its amazing.
@@Hainbach
:-) we have hooked up the Narga to a hifi stereo system
Hi Hainbach, Love your ideas, I'm finding them very inspiring. I like the warping sound of tape but how do you deal with tape hiss, do you use hiss/noise reduction or is the hiss integral to the sound?
Watched one Hainbach video and now I've bought 2 tape players.
And now I realise how lucky I am my parents recently gave me a Philips N4506. Might not be as high end gear as the Nagra, but I bet it will do the job just fine. The sad thing is, it's a scary beast to look at when you're a newborn into music creation thing. Thank for all the positiveness you send.
That is a super cool deck! Three speeds, three heads - you can do so much with it!
In film school in the 80s I worked in the equipment checkout and later in repair. We had a bunch of Nagras (mainly 4.2s and some 3s and 4s) since they had crystal sync with the arri film cameras. I wasn't a sound person, but I loved those Nagras most of all. You could feel every single bit of the engineering that went into them, and getting to actually open them up for repair was a dream. Every time I see one of yours I just want to touch it. Thanks!
Also band called Kudelski? Lolol.
Also I always thought of that great Nagra sound as "creamy".
Hey @Hainbach I’m looking at a Nagra E but being in India it seems to marked at Meltron E ( apparently that’s how they were marketed to broadcasters in India) just wanted to check with you if you know anything about these machines before fully commiting to buying it
I have a question which I've never really found an answer to. That is, is there much difference in sound reproduction between recording using one mono track, or alternatively two stereo tracks with identical content (effectively mono) I think since there is a gap between the tracks, it would not be quite as good, but it may be close?
Oh my goodness! This is exactly the video I was looking for! Thank you, Hainbach. Some of the best content on TH-cam
dear hainbach, when you mention the analogy of recording a digital mix to tape being like smashing up a vase etc, does that apply to digital synths going directly onto tape? whether thats virtual analog,fm,or a vst/rompler. just curious!
No, this is about the idea round tripping a whole digital mix back to tape to get an effect from tape. Not about synths.
@@Hainbach excellent just wanted to clarify. i know you said "mix" in the video but i am VERY new to working with tape so thank you again for clearing things up for me
I have an old Tascam 234 4-track that died mid-session, whilst bouncing to ProTools. It made a glorious noise that became a signature to the track I was working on. I still use it as a great mixer. I also had a Maestro Echoplex bite the dust DURING a recording session. Again, a wonderful racket.
Inexplicably, I recently bought a Realistic SCT-17 cassette deck on Etsy for $65. I blame you Hainbach 😂
Hate “Lo-Fi” .. aaaaarghhh noooo! Sony TD 5M betta than Marantz. Sony Walkman Pro WM 6, Sony TC-377. Tapes? Maxells, TDKs. Application? Faithful recording of music .. that’s it!
I bought a Marantz pmd222 based on another video of yours literally less than 12 hours before you posted this. It’s good to know you care Hainbach 🙂
Its what I would take to a Desert Island if a Nagra was no option.
Hi! Where do you buy tape recorders to use as tape compression in your DAW? eBay, Amazon, other places on the net? I live in northern Europe...
wow I hit the studio oftencome check out my uploads I'm all about the growth of mindset, and i see it alot in the music culture so i express it through my music lemme know what you think
Way better than tape emulator plug-ins. cool vid.
The prices you´ve mentioned meanwhile nearly quadrupled... However, I was just able to dig a mint marantz cp130 for a price thats almost fair.
This was great, but what about four tracks? Surprised you didn't mention your Portastudio...
The video was already getting long and I tired, so I left four tracks for another video.
@@Hainbach I hear that! Thanks! I look forward to the next one then!
I was hoping youd cover the Tascam 122 mkii cassette deck. Ive heard good things about them but not sure how to add it to my workflow. recently bought one for a cheap price and restoring it. Would love to hear your thoughts
Lofi or hifi? How about both! 😈
So certain elements in hifi and other elements in lofi, like for example, clear hofi guitars and lofi orchestral sounds.
Lol, I've got Tesla 116B from my friend. He found it in the attic of a house he was renovating. Belts are gone but I will refurbish it for sure (after I am done with Akai GX625)
This is the most complete video about tapes, I’ve enjoyed every bit of it and I appreciate the time you took to make this video, thanks.
Hi Hainbach, it would be really nice to have VSTs of that Nagra and M15... !!!
What do you think about the UHER CR-240? I can't find out if this one uses the full tape / let's you pitch. Thanks !!!
I've still got my Revox 1/2 track, big reels and 15 ips and original valve amp built in. It's still looks and works like new.
I'm finding it very hard to hear what you are saying. Not because of your accent but it's your enunciation (I'm American), especially in speaking the brands and models.
This vid is really lacking examples. Your English is really very good and you are very articulate but this vid could’ve really benefited from some samples of the various audio qualities. Guess I’ll keep searching the infinite universe that is TH-cam.
Hello Hainbach I want to know if a UHER 4200 reporter Stereo works for this technic? thanks!!
Whoa, didn't know you have to calibrate the machine for the tape
im trying to digitize some original guitar music, im using an ordinary tape player (ONN brand, battery operated) is this good enough for playback or do you suggest a better hi-fi machine?
I like your description of the superferro. I went looking for them. They are not available on Amazon. I'm three years late.
Yeah its gone. I have to buy old tapes now
@@Hainbach Like what old tapes? I just ordered some Maxell UR 90s the other day.
I record all my synths and modules into cassettes. It makes the product unique, and I love holding a finished product in my hand! Great video!
“ Zach your gear acquisition syndrome can’t hurt you anymore”
* odd ambience in the ether
“ hi I’m hainbach good to have you back”
Ambience turns a key
I'm interested of making a track or two like a they did it before, tapes analog equipment everything like that a true old school edm track
You should make a comparison video between recording straight into the daw versus your various tape machines.That way, we can hear the difference between them.
Hu, that would take a lot of time away from music making. Maybe, though there are many instances where I press the record button while assembling a track and then you hear the tape version. But in the meant time, check out this: th-cam.com/video/XCtvpgQsAxc/w-d-xo.html
Just bought a Marantz PMD 221 :) ... my Dad left me a box of old cassette tapes. Plan on sampling and creating a badass sound bank ...
I just want basics to see how I go with it befor spending fair bit of money . How do I start the budget way first please
Over driving a cheap cassette deck is how Keith Richards got the acoustic guitar to sound like a dirty amplified electric guitar on the song “ Street fighting man” There are no electric instruments except the bass guitar on that track.
Are there any producers for Keilriemen for Telefunken Tapedecks?
Thanks @HAINBACH
I just managed to find and acquire a Fostex X-24. Can’t wait to play around with it. Thank you for the inspiration and all the information on your channel. 🙏🏼
Good to have you teaching us !
(Edit) : marantz products are really "stabil" indeed and relatively easy to service
This dude: 2:18
FL Studio producers: Say no more.
Thank you so much for this and every video you make. I am a huge fan and you’ve inspired me more than words can express.
I had a question regarding D -> A stereo then A -> D mono if you transfer your mix back ITB. Why do you prefer mono opposed to stereo? I’m a bit lost with your reasoning. Thanks!
i want all of the things, now. great... thanks hainbach
I have two Sony TC 252 reel to reel tape recorders but need help.Can you please help me??
Me pausing to google Nagra prices and immediately being disappointed , lol.
Tape just sounds better....I even like cassettes better than digital
If the Nagra eventually gets worn out beyond repair you could salvage the preamp stage (and other parts of it) and build it into a standalone box
Mr. Hainbach, I've asked You for an advice on how to make my sound sounds better. You've suggested adding a tape (dictaphone) to my setup and I must say it was a "bit" of a gamechanger for me. I learned to match the eq of my synth to the feeling of tape and much more... Tapes are dope, man! At first I was like "meh", becaue tapes were the main medium for music back in my youger years. I kinda hated them, because the batteries (for my "walkman") was pricey, and the endless RW and FFW to find the favourite tracks was sucha a pain in the ass. You have changed my approach to the tapes forever :) Thank you so much for your adivse!
I always use Tape , its the smoothest sound format .
I dont think much of Digital ether
Why have a second hand sound .
"bad sound is good sound"... I'm confused. I've spent the last year or so playing around and going back and forth between digital and analog using a reel to reel and 4-track recorders, and I have to be one of the people that for my work, leans more towards the "less dirty" and more towards "cleaner digital", because I cannot find any of that good "warmth" or "analog sound" that others enjoy... matter of fact I find hiss, overdrive, warble and other "analog effects" more annoying than "nice". I've even made a small series of videos about hybrid mixing.
Like your channel, sorry for being a "debbie downer", but I will stick to the advantages that digital offers for the time being. :)
If you are getting only dirty sounds from your tape machines, they must be broken. A Telefunken M15 that I show here or a Nagra 4.2 sound pristine. Cassettes however are indeed a bit grungy, but that is then a color in the palette.
Those machines audio cassettes recorders not simple tape recorder
What about revox a77? One for sale in town
It’s great
All these units are about 3x as expensive as described in the video now :(
Hi hainbach, great video .have you ever experimented with recording to vhs? i'd like to know your opinion on using hifi vcr's.
Not yet! But it's not easy to mod them for varispeed etc
Brilliant ! Thank you so much for sharing this. My marantz PMD 221 and 360 are already in service ...hope they come all right .
Thank you again 👍
Du sprichst von Monogeräten, die das ganze Band für die eine Spur nutzen. Weißt du ob das Uher Universal 5000 auch das so macht? Ich werde da als Neuling in Sachen Tonbandgerät da nicht wirklich schlau. Schönes Video!
Wow thank you, this video is such a gift my friend. You have so many beautiful machines
You have some pretty cool equipment there, very nice...
If I put my hands inside those tape decks they will sound better than ever :)
What a great, thorough video! Thank you for all the good advice!!
Tape does things no digital format can touch...
Yes theres a warmth and fullness with analogue tape. No digital format matches.
@@fender1000100 I do record to other formats,as in digital,yet my main masters are on tape..
Wish you would have went more in depth about the low-end Cassette players (Walkman style) and possibly how to mod them for pitch control. I enjoyed looking at your high end gear, but I don't think I want to start out spending more than a couple of hundred dollars.
My dude, I have been there before: th-cam.com/video/FuyUjD4lh2M/w-d-xo.html
As to modding, go to reddit.com/r/Hainbach, people are posting guides.
Is this the third Green brother? (Hank and John Green)
NOW the nagra is thousands, thanks covid
Telefunken is where it's at!
Thanks Hainbach :) your a legend mate!
Hi Hainbach! haven't heard you talk about nagra IV-D. Would you suggest? The price is currently more affordable than the IV-L series.
I don’t have that model, so I don’t know
Prices are now in the thousands on both of these Nagras
Thank you for this fantastic guide! I just picked up a new, unused Uher Report 4000 and was wondering if you could share a link to the exact DIN to jack connectors that you use?
Thanks :-)
Standard 5-pin to 4 RCA female does the job, that's what I use on my 4000s
@@t55a2 thanks!
Background song is wicked, wish I had it
so much tape lust...
How to simply record a song you mixed in pro tools, into a tape ?
Still so sad they discontinued 468
13:29 - That Telefunken thing is such a monster. Looks beautiful and robust and I can imagine how it sounds.