Physical copy resources

[thetenthousandthings]

Did some scouring and found no thread explicitly dedicated to this... but do link me and delete this if I missed it!

For example, I have been trying to track down a place to get C20 Chrome Type II tapes in bulk, quantities of 50, 100, etc. The best luck I have had so far is duplication.ca but all they have for custom loaded chrome type II tapes is a transparent red shell, which I believe does not fit the visual representation of the audio I am putting to tape, though I may have to compromise!

So I was wondering, who/what do you all use as your sources for acquiring tapes(specifically type II tapes if you wish to help me), cases, stickers, etc. Even beyond the scope of tapes feel free to mention resources for vinyl, cd's, and other formats that only people who are a part of this forum would find exciting. It would be cool if this thread was more of an index rather than discussion but who am I to say. Thanks in advance.

[Theodore]

Was going to tell Tapeline https://tapeline.info/v2/blank-audio-cassettes.html where you can choose from many shells and lenghts, but just notice they ran out of chrome tape. Send them a question about when they will have.

[FiEND]

was discussing this last night w band mates. this is a global problem. most factories in china stopped manufacturing tape full stop.  NAC recently started making their own, but rumor has it the stuff is trash.

fit the visual representation ... I may have to compromise!

you could always paint them.

[deutscheasphalt]

EBAY

[theworldisawarfilm]

was discussing this last night w band mates. this is a global problem. most factories in china stopped manufacturing tape full stop.  NAC recently started making their own, but rumor has it the stuff is trash.

As an 'industry insider'  I can say that yes, a lot of the usual sources are stopping production/running out and NAC's stuff seems to be not quite there yet. From what I understand a lot of what is left to be used in the meantime is basically Dictation-grade trash. Sad, but probably not something that will see a quick fix.

Edit: That being said, I'm not sure it will actually affect peoples' ability to print and sell cassettes. With download codes etc. I can't see most people being too torn up about a (hopefully) temporary dip in sound quality on tape.

[thetenthousandthings]

Thanks for the input everyone. I wrote a message to tapeline, we'll see what they say.

The NAC website seems to be corrupt or something as I kept getting directed to spammy web pages and such. I hope NAC isn't gone and it's just a temporary bug of sorts.

eBay seems hard to find a good deal on a lot of tapes but I suppose saving searches and staying on top of new postings could warrant some strong results.

Here's to seeking a more reliable source or two...

[drcz]

Hi! Just my 5 cents:

(1) I didn't try these Germans: https://tapemuzik.de/ but they do have type II, custom lengths and custom shells, also sell cases, and seemed slightly cheaper than tapeline was;

(2) tapeline seems to have moved their bargains to ebay (though they will prolly tell you that anyway) so I second deutcheasphalt's point; also recently got some unused type II C90s from Spanish ebay and they are nice, though that's just as you said, just have to wait for the offers of 50-100 (that's one thing their annoying alerts _sometimes_ do help).

(3) Oh yes, one more thing: tapeline offers superferric tape only now, which is claimed to have slightly better characteristics. Maybe worth giving it a try? I only have one (and ~8 ferrics from them) so I can't do any comparison for you right now...

(4) http://stereostyle.pl -- but you have to email them to get any prices. They do answer quite fast though, also (just as tapelike nad tapemuzik) do polygraphy [quite nice] and duplication [okay-ish]. I paid ~110eur for 30 (type-I) cassettes with one-side print and glossy o-cards with printing. it's significantly cheaper for 50+ cassettes and for plastic cases ofc. but that was last year, so just check if you're curious. small choice of shells but you should be good (with plain white or black I suppose). I guess I'll use their services once more anyway...

(mind that if you are outside of EU you might be charged some customs fees for those 3 though)

Also my [tiny] experience is if you are more into low hiss level than sharp/clean sounds and duplicate at home, try recording slightly hotter signal, like +3dB (and use dolby B, there are hardly any players which don't offer it and it does quite a good job) -- I was amazed it's not necessarily badly distorted. But I'm a half-deaf ignorant too and I record lengthy ``drone walls'' only.

Last thing:
(5) I was advised to avoid tapes from aliexpress, though prices are attractive at least their ferrics leave a lot of dirt on heads/pinchrollers...

Good luck, last December tapeline did offer a pack of 40 or 50 type-II C20s, so it does happen!

[Theodore]

I wrote a message to tapeline, we'll see what they say.

Let us -me- know what he will answer re: chrome.

and use dolby B, there are hardly any players which don't offer it and it does quite a good job

Dolby is for pussies ! - Seriously, better dont use it if it is the recorded tapes to be played on other decks. Decks are old, many are misaligned. Dolby will make things more complicated. If you use it, then stay close to 0 , dont record in the red. That said only as safety measure to record / playback staying close to the original. Not for better or worse sound.

[drcz]

Dolby is for pussies !

:D

- Seriously, better dont use it if it is the recorded tapes to be played on other decks. Decks are old, many are misaligned. Dolby will make things more complicated. If you use it, then stay close to 0 , dont record in the red. That said only as safety measure to record / playback staying close to the original. Not for better or worse sound.

Oh, many thanks! Sounds legit. I didn't think about it until now -- of course, since dolby boost the high ends, with already boosted ones it will distort badly...
In my case staying in the 0-3dB strip didn't cause any trouble (while eliminated most of the hiss); but these pieces have most of ``the heat'' (is that how you call it? the brightest area of spectrogram?) around 100-300Hz and not much upper harmonics... It also sounded the same to me when played back on my walkman (but again, my hearing is impaired, the pieces have not much in the upper registers anyway, and perhaps my deck and walkman are not that different wrt characteristics).
I guess it's worth experimenting though, as noise/drone/experimental pieces differ significantly and so do the effects of equalizing, recording levels, tape types etc, especially if faitfulness of the recording is less important.