I proclaim my love.....
....for c90 cassette tapes.
Nothing beats the feel of playing an old beat up c90 with hastily edited compilations on them with fairly low sound quality and songs that run out half way through when the tape runs out.And the thrill of hearing a snippet of sound from what used to be on the tape but has been taped over by something else and you can't figure out what it was.
Today I decided to pour out all the bags and boxes of cassettes I have that I've obtained over the years onto my bedroom floor in a big pile.Then I sorted out all the one's that didn't have labels.I've started to listen to some of them.
Oh my,I've found some stuff that I don't even know how the fuck it got there.There is a tape of what appears to be an answer phone cassette of 2 old ladies talking to each other for about an hour about the weather,boats,tea and people.I had to turn it off because I became quite nervous,they had classic old lady scottish accents and I couldn't figure out where it had come from.Trust me,if you heard it,you'd become nervous too!
The next tape had 2 sides of Happy Hardcore on it which wasn't mine either.I fed it to my bin.
Then I found some recordings by myself.The thing is,I don't know when they were made at all.Possibly around 1991 or 92 but I have no recollection of recording them.This is before I even knew what a PC was and had no equipment besides 1 keyboard and some scrappy guitar gear and a tape recorder.The sound is WEIRD and at one point the phone is ringing down the stairs.I can also hear the sellotape moving which I had to paste loads of over the record button because it was totally fucked and wouldn't stay down.There is one pretty scary thing on it with me doing spoken word over this repeating tape loop,I think I'm talking about a girl,it's pretty tearful,disturbing.I imagine it was a breakup phase,I probably blocked it from my mind.Anyway it was a bit much and I had to turn it off hehe.
Then I found a tape of my family from 1977 which has me when I was 2(I played it to my dad and he told me when it was made).Also features my parents singing some wickerman-ish scottish songs for my cousins in Canada and my now Big brother(who would have been about 6 then) singing "yellow submarine" in the funniest manner ever.My dad thought the tape had been lost alltogether.I don't know why I had it in a box.
Other finds include 90 mins of a radio talkshow with ALL sorts on it,like major sample material,dunno what year it's from or station but there are some news flashes during it so I may be able to trace a period from those.Also a tape of classical music with major chews all the way through so the side B plays through on side A and the sound in general is fucking weird and cool.
So I'm sure I'll get round to using some of this stuff somehow at some point in new recording.
I do get upset when I think that I know I had loads of tapes that either got chewed up or borrowed out or just lost and I would kill to have them back again.Especially all the tape recordings I made when I was 9 and 10.
I remember one quite vividly,this guy that I used to hang out with round the corner from me was quite into making silly tapes like me,usually just screaming into the tape recorder and taping the Tv and the cat but at one point he took it a bit further.He played me this recording and I was listening with interest.It sounded like someone opening a door and going outside and bumping into some garbage cans.Then this ridiculous high pitched american-like accent came on saying something like-"What was that,I'm sure I heard something out here.It those Raccoons in my rubbish again!".It was his voice. I asked him what it was all about and he said he was pretending to be a woman putting out the rubbish and finding Racoons in the bins! I guess it was quite good acting for a 10 year old. Hmm,something about that memory stayed with me I guess,he moved away about a year later and I never saw him again.
And don't you think that sometimes old albums that you were used to listening to over and over on cassette just don't have the same kick on cd?But when you play the tape all the memories come flooding back?
Yeah.
I actually have a full size c90 Dictaphone which is cool because I don't have to worry about transferring those stupid little Dictatapes over.
I'm now running low on reserve.How many times have I mentioned the word tape in this entry?NOT ENOUGH!
Tapes,tapes,tape,tape,tape,tape,tape....tape..cough,tape,tapes,tapes...................
...........tape. 
....for c90 cassette tapes.
Nothing beats the feel of playing an old beat up c90 with hastily edited compilations on them with fairly low sound quality and songs that run out half way through when the tape runs out.And the thrill of hearing a snippet of sound from what used to be on the tape but has been taped over by something else and you can't figure out what it was.
Today I decided to pour out all the bags and boxes of cassettes I have that I've obtained over the years onto my bedroom floor in a big pile.Then I sorted out all the one's that didn't have labels.I've started to listen to some of them.
Oh my,I've found some stuff that I don't even know how the fuck it got there.There is a tape of what appears to be an answer phone cassette of 2 old ladies talking to each other for about an hour about the weather,boats,tea and people.I had to turn it off because I became quite nervous,they had classic old lady scottish accents and I couldn't figure out where it had come from.Trust me,if you heard it,you'd become nervous too!
The next tape had 2 sides of Happy Hardcore on it which wasn't mine either.I fed it to my bin.
Then I found some recordings by myself.The thing is,I don't know when they were made at all.Possibly around 1991 or 92 but I have no recollection of recording them.This is before I even knew what a PC was and had no equipment besides 1 keyboard and some scrappy guitar gear and a tape recorder.The sound is WEIRD and at one point the phone is ringing down the stairs.I can also hear the sellotape moving which I had to paste loads of over the record button because it was totally fucked and wouldn't stay down.There is one pretty scary thing on it with me doing spoken word over this repeating tape loop,I think I'm talking about a girl,it's pretty tearful,disturbing.I imagine it was a breakup phase,I probably blocked it from my mind.Anyway it was a bit much and I had to turn it off hehe.
Then I found a tape of my family from 1977 which has me when I was 2(I played it to my dad and he told me when it was made).Also features my parents singing some wickerman-ish scottish songs for my cousins in Canada and my now Big brother(who would have been about 6 then) singing "yellow submarine" in the funniest manner ever.My dad thought the tape had been lost alltogether.I don't know why I had it in a box.
Other finds include 90 mins of a radio talkshow with ALL sorts on it,like major sample material,dunno what year it's from or station but there are some news flashes during it so I may be able to trace a period from those.Also a tape of classical music with major chews all the way through so the side B plays through on side A and the sound in general is fucking weird and cool.
So I'm sure I'll get round to using some of this stuff somehow at some point in new recording.
I do get upset when I think that I know I had loads of tapes that either got chewed up or borrowed out or just lost and I would kill to have them back again.Especially all the tape recordings I made when I was 9 and 10.
I remember one quite vividly,this guy that I used to hang out with round the corner from me was quite into making silly tapes like me,usually just screaming into the tape recorder and taping the Tv and the cat but at one point he took it a bit further.He played me this recording and I was listening with interest.It sounded like someone opening a door and going outside and bumping into some garbage cans.Then this ridiculous high pitched american-like accent came on saying something like-"What was that,I'm sure I heard something out here.It those Raccoons in my rubbish again!".It was his voice. I asked him what it was all about and he said he was pretending to be a woman putting out the rubbish and finding Racoons in the bins! I guess it was quite good acting for a 10 year old. Hmm,something about that memory stayed with me I guess,he moved away about a year later and I never saw him again.
And don't you think that sometimes old albums that you were used to listening to over and over on cassette just don't have the same kick on cd?But when you play the tape all the memories come flooding back?
Yeah.
I actually have a full size c90 Dictaphone which is cool because I don't have to worry about transferring those stupid little Dictatapes over.
I'm now running low on reserve.How many times have I mentioned the word tape in this entry?NOT ENOUGH!
Tapes,tapes,tape,tape,tape,tape,tape....tape..cough,tape,tapes,tapes...................
...........tape.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
I Remember I used To Rely On My Mixed-Tapes...(Actually...Still Do...YAY! ANALOGUE!!)
Oh Yeah...The ones That You Spent an hour tryin to get The Scotch tape just right or else it would just warble and fall apart when testing the strength, Good Training for Working with Film though...
Actually...I'll admit I have actually imagined, from the info, Your 'studio'...I can just see A Complete Madmans Paradise...Like Micheal Caine in That Movie..."Conversation"(?) You Have Got Something on Everything...Dontcha??
Yeah...You are The Smart One...Had I Known allowing soooo many people to do this to me??? I would have under 20...But The Thing is...(In The Dog??haha
You Have DVDs That are Unopened?? as in...like X'mas when you want it unopened??
Wow...You can be Naughty ALL you want...Lucky Guy.
(Should Have Figured That out when I was wowed by The Mako Shark story)
Oh Yeah....VINYL RULES!!!
We All Gotta Hook up when I have my new Uber-Computer...Thats it...Thats All...I WILL Find A way...
Oh yeah...I Have Your addy...On AND off The PC...(It's Gonna Go any day...I SWEAR!!) I Made Sure To write down ALL pertinent Info should She Go Down...Pertinent Info being TAA Members Info...Go Figure. Don't worry...Sendin out a batch of Critters this week...You should have One Dead Flayed Tokay Gecko in your posession Very Soon I Hope...Unfortunately...I had some problems with Customs...So I used my Herpetology Lab Technician ID to get Them Protected...Its Science!
HaHa...I Just re-read your Journal...I Wanna Hear The Old Scottish Biddies talking!
Take Care, and Keep The Korgs A Blarin!
OOogaBOOoga