Hey Tape Guys - Who's Looking For Used Metal?

[George S.]

I might just feed them into Audacity and make digital copies, but if I find Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” on one, it will head directly to the bulk eraser…

Metal Machine Music, arghhhh, the worst! Heard he did it on purpose because he owed the label one more album and was pissed at them. Shred and burn.

 

[62vauxhall]

That's the fun part of getting used tapes, sometimes you have nice surprises.

There is truth in that.

Some years ago I bought five or six 10" reels of used 3600' TDK Audua. Primarily because I was stockpiling that particular tape. Turned out it was a younger fellow who posted them for sale on CL. The tapes were recorded by his uncle while he was in Germany. No track listings were present, just numbering of the reels. One of those I wound up with was #36 so there were a fair few of them in total at one time.

None of what was recorded on them was music I would have chosen. Three stick out. One was disco, one was country and one was hits that would have had heavy radio airplay. But being as they were recorded at 3.5, each tape had 6 hours of music. Out of respect for that much time invested, I could not record over top of them. I'm fairly sure they were all recorded track by track from records.

I've only played them once through their entirety and for the time being I'm going to leave them "as found". I don't mind the music at all these days. My tastes seem to have mellowed as I've aged.

 

[MarkWComer]

Metal Machine Music, arghhhh, the worst! Heard he did it on purpose because he owed the label one more album and was pissed at them. Shred and burn.

I do have a few examples of worst garbage ever to exit a record press, and that’s one of them!
$2 from a flea market, in perfect unplayed condition- and will stay that way. 15 minutes per side across all four sides, side four carries the noise through the lead out into the concentric. “Mrs. Miller’s Greatest Hits” was recorded as a joke, but at least you can tell it’s a joke. I have my mom’s “Boxcar Willie” LP, one of those Ronco special deals available only from a TV commercial, and another travesty was Yoko’s “Plastic Ono Band” counterpoint to John’s release (the “primal scream” album) that I bought only because of the connection between the two.

 

[George S.]

I do have a few examples of worst garbage ever to exit a record press, and that’s one of them!
$2 from a flea market, in perfect unplayed condition- and will stay that way. 15 minutes per side across all four sides, side four carries the noise through the lead out into the concentric. “Mrs. Miller’s Greatest Hits” was recorded as a joke, but at least you can tell it’s a joke. I have my mom’s “Boxcar Willie” LP, one of those Ronco special deals available only from a TV commercial, and another travesty was Yoko’s “Plastic Ono Band” counterpoint to John’s release (the “primal scream” album) that I bought only because of the connection between the two.

Oh no, I like Boxcar Willie. Sigh. I inherited my grandmother's albums, yup, many Ronco. One of my favorites is Slim Whitman. To tell the truth, as I get older I'm just tired of the same old tunes. I now appreciate something different.

 

[MarkWComer]

Oh no, I like Boxcar Willie. Sigh. I inherited my grandmother's albums, yup, many Ronco. One of my favorites is Slim Whitman. To tell the truth, as I get older I'm just tired of the same old tunes. I now appreciate something different.

No insult intended…
At least nobody gets pissed when I say Yoko sucks…
Love that movie, too!

 

[Floyd Loonie]

He means metal particle tape, Type IV - not Type II chrome or chrome equivalents.

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Psst.. I'm 52 going on 21, pbbt. Now did you mean metal like Metallica (pre "pussy days"), Iron Maiden, Sabbath, Megadeath - THAT kind.. or did you mean wussy crap like Winger and Poison that your girlfriend made you listen to, or she would ask to go home before you had a chance to make a move on 'er?

(Joshin' ya bud, but Welcome to Phoenix)

Thanks for the kind welcome! However my girlfriend never 'MADE ME' go to the Winger/Poison concert...The slut was too busy fantasizing about banging Kip Winger while blowing Bret Michaels at the same time to care about me!! Personally -I fantasize about bumping uglies w/ Steel Panther LOL!!

 

[MarkWComer]

Package arrived today- thanks!
Looks like he used the same cataloging method I used for my VHS tapes. Two tapes of The Beatles, #96 was Lionel Ritchie on side A, Phil Collins on side B, a bit “vanilla” for my tastes, but saved it via Audacity anyway.

 

[jbeckva]

Good it got there, safe and sound Mark. Enjoy. How's the SQ so far tho? Did you need to use any dbx decoding?

 

[MarkWComer]

Good it got there, safe and sound Mark. Enjoy. How's the SQ so far tho? Did you need to use any dbx decoding?

Don’t have a dbx decoder, just recording them as is. I thought there may be a plug-in for Audacity, and there is, but it really doesn’t conform to the dbx specs. Yeh, they’re a bit compressed…

 

[MarkWComer]

@vince666
Retentivity…
My bulk eraser ran and hid under my bed! The cassette stuck to the eraser like a piece of solid iron, after a good “that should get it” zap on both sides, there was still some residual signal left on the tape! Metal tapes is some wicked stuff!

 

[J!m]

It’s tenacious stuff!

 

[vince666]

@MarkWComer : evidently that bulk eraser isn't strong enough for metal tape.
At this point it's better to leave it erasing by the deck which, if it has a proper metal position (meaning that it's not a too old model which predates metal tapes) , its erase head should be able to erase it.

or maybe, if its a sufficiently powerful eraser, another pass might do the trick?

edit: yes, i am spotting on your picture that your deck has metal tape position then i'd directly leave the deck taking care of the erasing work.

 

[J!m]

Or the turbo encabulator.

 

[vince666]

LOL.... brilliant one, J!m

 

[Elite-ist]

Sorry about not posting this earlier to the general membership, but I did contact Jerry right after I had received his parcel containing a number of great cassettes.




The tapes appear well taken care of and I hope to repurpose them down the road for future recordings. Thank you Jerry! Unlikely, you would happen upon a better deal for such cassettes. Another advantage to being a Phoenix member.

Nando.

 

[J!m]

I found a used Denon metal today amongst my crap.

 

[derek92994]

Arrived today, thank you Jer!

 

[derek92994]

Technics M253X is on dbx decoding duties.

 

[jbeckva]

Good deal, Derek! Enjoy.. let us know if you find anything exciting on those tapes!

 

[derek92994]

Mostly 70's and 80's mix tapes so far. DBX Encoded. Some or all? recorded from vinyl. Some good stuff on there.