Mix Tapes
 

I'm sure this must have been done at some point, on this or the old board, but is anybody interested in swapping mix tapes?

And I mean CASSETTES, not burned CD's or anything else.

I don't know how this would work but I thought I'd see if there's any interest first.

Depends. Where does one get blank cassette tapes these days?

The last time I wanted to put stuff on a tape I ended up going to a charity shop and buying a Michael Bolton tape for 49p, but when I tried to record over it, Mikey kept leaking through. This is, sadly, a true story.

By the way sonicl.It's all morning that i'm trying to upload another part of the Scientists' s tape that you sent me.It's driving me mad.It's a big file for sure(18 minutes and in wav too),so does anyone know of a better net service that allows you to upload big files?Thanks in advance

Woolworth, Sainsbury's, Wilkinson, where I live. Argos (not sure about that one).

I get mine in Wilkinson.

megaupload allows files upto 250 mb.
http://www.megaupload.com

Excellent,thanks i'll try that one.I don't know what's wrong with yousendit today.

i think the file you're uploading is just too big for yousendit, because they only allow files upto 100mb. 18 minutes of wav would be around 180mb or so.

Thanks for reminding me why I specified mix tapes.:p

don't blame me, blame pork. he's hijacking every thread! :D

anyway, the sad thing is that i'm not even sure whether i have a working cassette player at the moment. :(

I can't blame porkmarras for anything, he's too lovable.;)

As you can see i didnt let the conversation go any further that it should have(actually,i have now).Yes i am lovable.Wouldnt you sit me on your shoulders and walk me along the sea?

i'll think about that and get back to you

I think the invitation was sent out to me, if anybody's going to give porkmarras a shoulder ride along the sea, it'll be me!

I don't know, there's far too much frivolity on this board.

Did I say board? Bordello, more like.



Getting back to mix tapes - Yeah, I'm there.

They've been doing this for some time on another forum I use, and this is how it works:

One trusted boardie acts as the hub. He or she recieves a tape from each person involved. They then distribute the tapes randomly, one to each sender. The recipient does not know what the music is on the tape he or she recieves, and does not know whose tape it is. Ideally, each recipient then writes a little review of the tape that they recieved. Going by convention, such a scheme on this board would involve the taping of music OTHER than Sonic Youth. At the start of each 'round', addresses are sent by pm to the organiser and a deadline is set for tapes to arrive.

If one person keeps control, then it means that the tapes distributed are anonymous, and it means that people aren't put in awkward positions (ie they don't have to reveal their address to a board nemesis!).

I suppose to cover postage, a small amount of cash could be sent to the organiser along with the cassette?

That's it, really.

Sounds a good place to start to me. I would happily volunteer to coordinate if enough people were interested.

I'll wait for further interest & whether everybody is ok with the kind of arrangement Hip Priest is suggesting.

i'm very sorry sir!


as for the topic, i'd be interested but as said before i'd have to check my cassette player first. i've been listening to a few old tapes at work not too long ago though.

i buy tapes often in electronics shops

If anyone has trouble finding cassettes, then try a charity shop. Even if there's none for sale, they probably have a ton lying around to be thrown out; imost places won't sell tapes that people have recorded themselves, as it is classed as trading in illegal bootlegs, but such tapes get get donated all the time. If the shop won't sell them to you, they can still give you them in return for a donation.

There are loads of small shops that sell blank tapes.They are also particularly cheap in pound shops.

A pound maybe?

49p the last time i bought one.

Here in the states you can find them at electronics shops...you may try one of those.

Wow, yeah, maybe, if I can commit the time.

I've gotten into it recently. And yes, on cassette tape.

I've been investing in a box of 10 a month lately. I use Maxel High Bias 90 minute tapes. They're great. I've been trying to tape all my LPs to preserve them and save wear on my stylus.

But send me details, Pookie, and I'll see if I can do it. Sounds like fun.

ill do it!

you can get blanks at like walmart...
i ususally just record over old shit tho, i never have bleed problems.

you can order them for dirt cheap at bulk quantities online too.

Yeah, I see them various places. I have my source for the good ones (high bias) which seem to be not as easy to find). But the normal bias blank tapes are fairly easy to find. Must be enough of us lo-fi techies still around.

Well I suppose we've got enough already to make it worthwhile, I'll just give it a while longer to see if anybody else is interested. Then it's just a matter of working out how best to go about doing it.

I think Hip Priest's idea of sending them all to me & me distributing them randomly sounds ok but if anybody has a better way, then all suggestions welcome. The plus side of this way of course would be that I'd get to listen to them all first (& pick the best one for myself - only joking). Then we could keep a thread going for reviewing them.

You have 1,111 posts. Cool.

Anyways, I usuall buy boxes of blank cassettes at HMV. They have them in stacks by the tills.

Hey, I never noticed (the 1,111 I mean - not the cassettes), I'm going to spoil it now by writing this.

really cool idea.

For inspiration, I suggest reading Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture.

Great book & my inspiration for this idea.

I have to admit there's more than a hint of nostalgia to this. My friends and I always used to do this & there are so many bands I like now that I got to know through mix tapes. I still have quite a few of the tapes still. One of my favourites was one a friend made using only his mum's records. Lots of show tunes!

It's also nice if you do some sort of artwork for the cover (no pressure - you don't have to).

I'd go in on this, but I don't know if I could afford to go out mailing shit and stuff. How much d'you reckon it'll cost per tape (buying, mailing, etc)?

I'm looking forward to my 666, coming up in about 60 more posts or so.

Will this be a sort of lassaiz faire approach to the taping? That is, we all come up with our own themes, ideas, etc., vice following an assigned theme or idea. This is a Sonic Youth forum, after all, we're slackers...

I find cassettes in the voice recorder section at Target/Wal-mart or wherever. I have a voice recorder that records on full sized tapes, so that's where I get them.

How do we account for the fact that we'll probably hate the other person's music? I mean I'm cool listening to new stuff, but I expect some people will be upset if they get a "crappy" mix.

I think we just have to figure that's part of the fun. We should just be open to anything and realize we might not like everything but at least we'll be exploring stuff we might not have heard otherwise.

find some old cassette in your closet, tape the tapes and record.
or if you have a blank to record over shoot man go for it.
shipping would be about a dollar.

its not like an investment...

Okay, I've bought my tapes. And I may even start recording later. I'm getting excited now!

Exactly, it's all part of the fun indeed.

"Will this be a sort of lassaiz faire approach to the taping? That is, we all come up with our own themes, ideas, etc., vice following an assigned theme or idea. This is a Sonic Youth forum, after all, we're slackers..."

Exactly again. Themes can be too limiting I find, although if this works it can be an option at some point.

I'm going to start soon as well.

I'm psyched. I'll start making some, too. And we'll await your further instructions.