Prerecorded or home made tapes?

[maxhifi]

I go out of my way to get prerecorded tapes most of the time, also have lots I made myself. It's getting hard to find them in good shape though, often times they get tight, or squeak, or sound dull, etc. Newly made tapes often sound great, and I like that they don't use Dolby anymore, but they are quite expensive and not so easy to find.

I wonder what others are using with their boomboxes and portable stereos?

 

[Brutus442]

My preference is for home made tapes and the simple reason being is they were mixes. Now in fairness I have been buying some new pre-recorded tapes (at a premium cost) simply to support the artists, but I prefer home made mix tapes.
My local thrift store sometimes yields a goldmine of good music on lightly used tapes but more often than not its a bin full of Teletubbies sing along shite lol

 

[BoomboxLover48]

From the little I know there are so many factors that got influence on the recording quality.

Use original LP record
The best turntable and stylus
High quality cassette tape or reel to reel tape
High quality receiver with the correct recording level settings
...


I normally record using my Technics SL1200, AKAI GX 747, or 635D using Marantz 2330B, Denon 5805, 4308Ci, etc. for reel-to-reel tapes.
Also use tape decks Nakamichi 482Z or Akai 570D for cassette tapes recording.

A nice CD to tape transfer also works well but I prefer the vinyl to tape recording.
I always loved TDK and Maxell tapes.

Our member Melvin is an expert in this area.

 

[goodman]

I prefer to record my own tapes. I get very good quality at a low price.
A few years ago I bought a nice cassette deck: Pioneer CT-676
And I received a DJ set DENON as a gift, which I am having a lot of fun with:

Free HI-FI equipment from one of my best friends

A few months ago my friend gave me this VCR - LG LH-C6231: It is in good technical condition, but there are scratches on the top cover. To use it, I also needed set of speakers that I didn't have. That's why I had put it aside and not used it. I recently saw a video on YouTube that impressed...

boomboxery.com

That's how I make compilations and albums that I can't find anywhere.
I also pay a lot of attention to the covers, so the end result is excellent:
You can look at the following topic:

Goodman's Audio Cassettes Collection

Last week I found this TDK cassettes in very good condition: TDK D-C60 - 01 by ivosn TDK D-C60 - 02 by ivosn TDK D-C60 - 03 by ivosn TDK D-C60 - 04 by ivosn TDK D-C60 - 05 by ivosn

boomboxery.com

 

[maxhifi]

I prefer to record my own tapes. I get very good quality at a low price.
A few years ago I bought a nice cassette deck: Pioneer CT-676
And I received a DJ set DENON as a gift, which I am having a lot of fun with:

Free HI-FI equipment from one of my best friends

A few months ago my friend gave me this VCR - LG LH-C6231: It is in good technical condition, but there are scratches on the top cover. To use it, I also needed set of speakers that I didn't have. That's why I had put it aside and not used it. I recently saw a video on YouTube that impressed...

boomboxery.com

That's how I make compilations and albums that I can't find anywhere.
I also pay a lot of attention to the covers, so the end result is excellent:
You can look at the following topic:

Goodman's Audio Cassettes Collection

Last week I found this TDK cassettes in very good condition: TDK D-C60 - 01 by ivosn TDK D-C60 - 02 by ivosn TDK D-C60 - 03 by ivosn TDK D-C60 - 04 by ivosn TDK D-C60 - 05 by ivosn

boomboxery.com

Your covers are beautiful. I used to do something similar but not as good when I first got a color inkjet, but these days I usually just record albums off Tidal and then just write something on the tape.

I've never really liked doing mix tapes, I pretty much like albums. The closest thing to a mix I do is when there's extra tape at the end, I will fill it with other stuff.

As for recording, my favorite sounding tapes are made on my TEAC A-100. Not sure why but it makes great sounding type one tapes.

 

[smeltedcheese]

Mostly homemade mix-tapes for me, but I sometimes buy new pre-recorded cassettes from independent bands, especially punk and metal. It's fun to support them and have something I can immediately listen to on a boombox.