When I think of blank tapes in the 80s, I think creating an art piece and the beautiful complexity that came with it.
What kind of music did
I want to record on it? New Wave, Alternative,
Punk or Heavy Metal.
Depending of the type of music, I would choose the perfect
cassette.
What brand? Maxell, Denon, Sony, TDK were my top
favorites.
What position?
Normal, Chrome CRo2 or Metal
What length? 30,
60, 90 or 120 min
How much money did I
had in my pocket? I was in
highschool...'nuff said.
What artwork? What image from a magazine would I choose?
I used a lot of Maxell
UR-90 (position normal), that's what I could afford and they sounded good.
But I prefered the Maxell XLII-90
(Position Chrome/CRo2), that's been THE cassette I used the most for my
recordings in the 80's. Especially for
all my New Wave and Alternative music.
When I would have a little more money I would treat myself
with a Denon just because it was
more fashionable but I would end up most of the time being unhappy of the sound
result, to high for my liking, not enough bass.
So these Denon were good for my Heavy Metal and Punk music.
Sony HF-60
(normal) and the orange Sony LNX-60
(normal). For simple music use.
Another brand I used a lot was TDK, of all kinds. TDK D 90 (normal), good sound, not
expensive. Perfect for enless mixtapes for my friends and sports tournaments. I
tried the TDK MA 90 (Metal) but
there is something I never really liked with the metal position, it sounded
like an empty can....that's my personnal point of view from my teenage
souvenirs. TDK SA 90 (CRo2), great Chrome cassette but I prefered the Maxell XLII-90 by a bit. TDK D 60,
even if I prefered 90 minutes tapesl And
finally TDK SD 90 (CRo2), used them
a lot, much more then the TDK SA 90
but less then the Maxell XLII-90.
Sometimes you get yourself fooled by the cover. That's what happened with the very colourful
design of the Memorex dBS 110. Loved the look, hated the sound, just not a
quality cassette.
I guess my dad bought some BASF LH extra I 90 (Normal), didn't like it. The end.
What about the length
of a cassette? I never, ever had the
need for a 30 minutes. I guess people
used it to record their voice on it? So
short! The 60 minutes was so popular but
it was too long to record a full record that would leave to much blank space on
each side. My perfect size was the 90
minutes. One full album on each
side. That was perfect to record my
vinyl on my blank tape to listen on my Walkman at school. I sometimes was tempted by the 120 minutes
version to record long various mixtapes but I thought these would easily break
and the sound would loose in quality.
The artwork. I
remember using my best writing to write the titles and artists. My handwriting had to be even perfect than a
French exam. I would choose an image in
a magazine that would represent the mood of my mixtape. Even if my favorite magazines were music ones,
I would prefer fashion ones for my mixtapes because there were a lot of
abstract image to choose from. Cut the exact size and there it is; the perfect
80's mixtape!
MissEighties
MissEighties
