The Back to the Future Project ...

[BlazeES]

Mike (mkuhl2000) and I are kicking off 2019 with a tape exchange. This is an open-invite project that can vary between participants. So I thought it fitting to make a dedicated thread for future collaborations. Each exchange is destined to be different since there is so much to cull into the mixes.

Back to the Future
Here's the gist of it:




Side A of the tape would be favorite tracks we were listening to back when we had our first cars and a stereo cassette deck in the dash.
So for me, it would be what I was listening to in 1978 and 1979, on my personal mix tapes. Mike is circa 1980-83. The tune selection isn't locked to the
years they were released but rather as they relate to the time-window we were listening to them. There's no reason other swaps couldn't be 'year-of-release' though.
It's simply up to the participants.
That's the 'Back' part.




The Future part would be recorded on Side B ... comprised of what some our favorite tracks are now, stuff that we would be listening to if we still had an in-dash cassette and were making mix tapes for the road. And the twist would be - what we listen to now that we couldn't have imagined our future tastes would be
way "Back" then...




Mike went so far as to pull his tracks exclusively off of vinyl for Side A, so there's just one example of a personal 'take' variation on this kind of effort.
I'm working from CD sources and Sound Forge Pro processed stuff that needed help due to age or format.
We agreed upon either Type II or IV, no Dolby and a minimum of 90 minutes of material.

If anyone else wants to jump in, I for one am all set up for more exchanges.
Plenty of NOS blanks and an wide supply of material to pull from.
I'll do as many of these as offers come up. Got a variation idea on the basic structure of this theme - hit me up and let's do one !

 

[Bradrock]

I can't play this time around. But I would like to get into cassettes soon. Can you give me an idea what level of gear is needed for suitable recordings for this project? All I have now is a CT-F700 in need of repair. I'm about to dive in to it next week. If working properly would that be adequate?
The next time we get up to Springfield we are going to visit the company still making new cassettes & see what they have to offer.

Thanks, Brad

P.S. probably not a lot of Tommy James & the Shondells fans here anyhow! Heh...Heh

 

[Fishoz]

Kudos to Mike for vinyl recording....I like that! Nice project Tony. Lack of a decent recorder is preventing me joining this time. Just an FYI cuts from King Crimson/In the Court of the Crimson King and Moody Blues/Question of Balance would definitely be on side A...awww shit - there would be plenty of a bunch of stuff from that time!!!! Still have some of my original purchases….

 

[BlazeES]

I can't play this time around. But I would like to get into cassettes soon. Can you give me an idea what level of gear is needed for suitable recordings for this project? All I have now is a CT-F700 in need of repair. I'm about to dive in to it next week. If working properly would that be adequate?
The next time we get up to Springfield we are going to visit the company still making new cassettes & see what they have to offer.

Thanks, Brad

P.S. probably not a lot of Tommy James & the Shondells fans here anyhow! Heh...Heh

I won't speak for anyone else, but I'm into ALL kinds of music - no matter the 'vintage'. So get some gear and join the 'Project'. I'd love to hear some Hanky Panky.

We aren't using Dolby so any working deck is good enough to participate. A Pioneer CT-F700 is no slouch.
I guess the easiest thing to do to see if your deck is up for the task is to make sure it can record and check general alignment by throwing in a store-bought prerecorded tape, making sure it tracks decent. A Pioneer CT-F700 is a nice deck.

We're not judging decks with this gig... just getting to know each other better and exposing others to different kinds of music.

 

[Fishoz]

"P.S. probably not a lot of Tommy James & the Shondells fans here anyhow! Heh...Heh"



Don't be to sure about that, I wasn't wasted all the time and the chicks loved it!

 

[BlazeES]

Kudos to Mike for vinyl recording....I like that! Nice project Tony. Lack of a decent recorder is preventing me joining this time. Just an FYI cuts from King Crimson/In the Court of the Crimson King and Moody Blues/Question of Balance would definitely be on side A...awww shit - there would be plenty of a bunch of stuff from that time!!!! Still have some of my original purchases….

The thing is, decent cassette decks can be had with just a little amount of effort and frequently with very little coin spent.
Thrift stores usually always have some sitting on a shelf somewhere... for next to nothing.

 

[Fishoz]

Priorities Tony......truck, ammo, kitchen cabinets, trailer wheels......cassette deck is quite low on the list right now.

 

[laatsch55]

Draggin the Line..
....great bar sing along song...

 

[Elite-ist]

I have a few more mix tapes (3) to complete before I get involved with this one. I like the concept you've come up for this one, Tony and Mike. I have lots of 70's music to draw from, including my original collection of records I bought new from that time period. And the music I listen to today spans a lot more genres than what I traditionally listened to back in the 70's to early 80's.

Nando.

 

[BlazeES]

I have a few more mix tapes (3) to complete before I get involved with this one. I like the concept you've come up for this one, Tony and Mike. I have lots of 70's music to draw from, including my original collection of records I bought new from that time period. And the music I listen to today spans a lot more genres than what I traditionally listened to back in the 70's to early 80's.

Nando.

Whenever the the time is right Nando. I foresee this thing being a long term Project (open ended like I said...), where different folks hook up and do the swaps when it fits in. I personally have a lot of catalog from the 70's to draw from and like you, my tastes in music have also broaden big time in the decades since. So my goal is to do several of these throughout the year as others dust off their favorite rigs, fix up the ones that may be in need of some TLC or perhaps others that find a hidden gem and jump aboard to have some fun. The more the merrier...

And in all honesty, it's much easier to manage swaps like this instead of the bigger scope 'Traveling' tape thing.

 

[orange]

I won't be receiving my new cables until the middle of next week so that also gives me some time to get my living room stack together again and happy. CT-F1250 FTW

 

[Elite-ist]

Thanks, Tony. I may be ready in about two weeks to begin sorting through some music for this project. I have a time machine to play back all those classic songs. We bought this 1976 Buick Regal Sport Coupe on Father's Day of 2017:

Nando.

 

[orange]

What's under the hood etc. Nando? That's PURRRRR-TY! I LIKE things that burn rubber in the street.

 

[Elite-ist]

It has a stout drive train, but I will leave the details for a different thread.

Nando.

 

[orange]

Do tell!

 

[BlazeES]

Nice car Nando.

*

Mike's tape arrived today. My tape mailed yesterday, he should have it shortly.

Rolling Side A now.
Smooth & clear high end, perfect mids and punchy bass.
Looks like Mike stayed conservative with 0 dB average peaking. I took liberties to go a tad bit higher on my tape but nowhere near what the SA-X could handle.

I've definitely being transported 'Back' to the early 80's..

 

[BlazeES]

Rolling Side B now.
Big difference in dynamics with the newer recordings. Sounds amazing. A lot more depth and bigger sound stage, even with the 0 dB average level.
TDK SA-90 at it's best ... although I don't recognize the vintage. I'd guess a late 90's gen... has 'Fast Forward' printed on the label sheet.

*

Mike slipped in some Greta Van Fleet... nice !
Royal Blood is now on my radar too...

 

[Elite-ist]

Both of you were very timely in completing your mix tapes. I'm still not ready, as I am in the midst of recording some mix tapes, and also working on a new project, which I had begun before Tony put the call out for this endeavour. Coincidentally, my newest project has to do with 80's tunes. It's 90 minutes in length and I have it 3/4 completed.

Image courtesy of Daren (Dazen1):

Nando.

 

[mkuhl2000]

I'm excited to get back in the swing of things with taping as I got hung up with life events over the last 3 years. I got out of a long term relationship, jumped into another relationship and quickly got married. Divorcing 16 months later, reuniting with my ex-wife after 9 years and then having that fail as well. So between moving around and being in a emotional rollercoaster in my life, audio hobbies took a backseat. My life is calming down now and I need to grab onto the important things in life like music! Music never cheats on you, doesn't lie to you, doesn't use you for monetary gain. Music is truly my Best friend along with people who share in it with me. Okay, enough soap-boxxing...looking forward to Tony's tape. I should do a mixtape for describing the aforementioned rollercoaster of emotions over the last 3 years. Even if noone is interested in hearing it, maybe it would be therapeutic for me.

Mike

 

[BlazeES]

Both of you were very timely in completing your mix tapes.

Nando.

Looking back, something was always up during the tape projects I joined. Either impending holidays, family turmoil, moving, vacation stuff or just swamped with work. None of those things are big impediments for me now and even if work ends up getting busy, screw it, I'm doing the 'work/life' balance thing by making more time for my home, the WRX, the audio gear in general - and to record. Life's too short.

And mix tapes are easy to gin up when the theme is fun... and the time spent rewarding.