Freesound Forums
The 2nd Collab Dare - the lost and found tapes - warm-up stage
Started December 28th, 2012 · 76 replies · Latest reply by AlienXXX 11 years, 10 months ago
Dear Freesounders
As another year tick-tacks into the past, there is one item of great relevance to sonic history that moves one step closer to being found exclusively in musueums: tape.
It is only fitting that we should show our respect for this item that for so long served as the media for recorded sound in the studio and at home.
So, we begin this dare with a request for your uploaded sounds:
cassettes, reel-to-reel, mini-tapes, and even sound extracted from video tapes.
Here are the rules:
1) No copyrighted material (commercial music, recordings of TV or radio shows, etc)
2) Uploaded sections can be as short as you want but no longer tahn 10 min, please.
3) No post treatment/effects. We want the sounds exactly as they came out of the tape (YES, that includes all the hiss and humm!). Only exception is that you are allowed to boost the volume (make sure no clipping!) before uploading.
Also, please, no tape emulation effects - we want the real thing.
4) TAG YOUR FILES: must ccontain the tag "collab-2" and a tag describing the medium "cassette", "reel-to-reel", "VHS", etc
5) DESCRIBE YOUR FILES: must state brand and model of tape (if known), brand and model of recorder used to make the tape (if known), brand and model of the device used to play the tape (if known) and other equipment used. Must also include a description of what the recording actually is, g.g. "recording of me playing in the garden with my dog Polo when I was aged 10."
6) Post on this thread when you have uploaded sounds (for faster moderation)
7) Deadline: All sounds to be used for this dare must have been uploaded to Freesound by 22:00, 10 Jan 2013.
(see below on suggestions of what to upload)
What else? / What next?
- You are very welcome to participate in this dare with a collab. Please announce the collab paris in this thread. If you are part of a collab, at least one of you must contribute some tape sounds for the dare.
- You will, of course, be asked to create something with the sounds. Exactly what and what rules apply are still a mystery - and may well depend on how many sounds we get and what they are 
Also please note that you are welcome to upload sounds, even if you don't want to participate in the second part of the dare.
Some suggestions of what to upload
- Old tapes are great (old school projects, daft recordings you made as a kid, etc)
- But also new tapes, of course. In fact, you can even create sounds (e.g rhythmic loops), record to tape, import back to your computer and upload - make sure you do not apply any treatment/effects after the sound came from the tape.
- If you have old computer games on tape, those are allowed. But because of copyright, you cannot upload the whole sound - make sure you cut it before the end so that the sound cannot be used to load the game into a computer (otherwise that could be a copyright violation)
- Would be great to get some uploads from people with unnusual equipment 
- What about the opposite? Have no cassettes and no cassette recorder? - you can grab a walkman for £2 on ebay and some shops still sell tapes for £1 for a pack of 3... Go crazzy! LOL
Alternatively... ask a friend to help or borrow their old walkman. (why not introduce them to Freesound too?)
Are you kidding me?? Lol
This is going to be great!!!!!
The difference between noise and music is mostly down to the quality of your audio tape ^_^ Looking forward to this one...
First - a question - are these the kinds of things you're looking for? - http://www.freesound.org/people/thatjeffcarter/packs/9216/
Second - Does anyone need a partner?
thatjeffcarter wrote:
First - a question - are these the kinds of things you're looking for? - http://www.freesound.org/people/thatjeffcarter/packs/9216/
These are absolutely great.
The only watch out is to be carefull of copyrighted material (commercial songs, etc)
But these sounds are right along the lines of what I am looking for
For the dare I would also like the descriptions to be more detailed (brand and type of tape, brand and model of equipment, etc as noted on the dare rules).
I thought I'd make a probably not very useful but quite unusual contribution on the data streams side; not the well known Commodore 64 or Sinclair ZX Spectrum data, but my own data for the Korg Polysix synth.
http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/172661/
(intentionally micro-damaged to make it unloadable)
As a bonus, the sound of a very peculiar tape: a *head cleaning* tape
http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/172663/
...yes, the sound is nothing special, but those start and stop button presses give it a twist.
Enjoy!
copyc4t wrote:
I thought I'd make a probably not very useful but quite unusual contribution on the data streams side; not the well known Commodore 64 or Sinclair ZX Spectrum data, but my own data for the Korg Polysix synth.http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/172661/
(intentionally micro-damaged to make it unloadable)
As a bonus, the sound of a very peculiar tape: a *head cleaning* tape
http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/172663/
...yes, the sound is nothing special, but those start and stop button presses give it a twist.
Enjoy!
I tried both links but they were not found, please re-post them and I'll check 'em out ~_^
Snapper4298 wrote:copyc4t wrote:
I thought I'd make a probably not very useful but quite unusual contribution on the data streams side; not the well known Commodore 64 or Sinclair ZX Spectrum data, but my own data for the Korg Polysix synth.http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/172661/
(intentionally micro-damaged to make it unloadable)
As a bonus, the sound of a very peculiar tape: a *head cleaning* tape
http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/172663/
...yes, the sound is nothing special, but those start and stop button presses give it a twist.
Enjoy!
I tried both links but they were not found, please re-post them and I'll check 'em out ~_^
@Snapper4298
That is because the samples had not yet been moderated. Try again now
@copyc4t
Well, there was a type of cleaning tape long ago that had a green tape that turned to yellow as it got dirtier (or vice-versa, can't remember). I used to press both the "play" and "record" buttons on my stereo when cleaning the tape heads.
At some point I found, to my amazement, that some stretches of radio programs had actually been recorded onto the cleaning tape! - The quality of the recording was, obviously, appaling
And no... I don't have any of those cleaning tapes anymore !
Puniho wrote:
I know you dont want effects added, but would a bit of mild compression be acceptable? Its really just the same as turning the volume down on the loud parts that would otherwise clip.
You should be able to record from cassettes without the need for compression since the dynamic range @ 24 bits should be bigger than the range on the tape, provided volumes have been set sensibly (cassette player output and soundcard input).
Please note that no amount of compression can fix the sound if clipping is ocurring at the soundcard input. So if you get clipping, try lowering the volume on the cassette player. As I said above, the dynamic range at 24 (and even 16 bit) will cover well what you can get from the cassette (i.e., you can record the faintest sound that the tape system itself can capture and reproduce).
So my advice would be to digitize at a modrate volume and then apply digital amplification to increase the volume, if needed.
If you have tried tha above and are still finding it difficult to record without clipping and find that compression helps, go ahead. but please mention on the description if you have used compression.
Thanks.
The specific problem I'm experiencing is an old badly recorded tape that has a lot of very low feq rumble which clips if the volume is anything like reasonable to hear any of the other more interesting frequencies. Normally I would use a high pass filter. Indeed its my habit now to put a hi pass filter on all frequencies lower than 40hz on everything I record. No one actually can hear freq below that and it just eats up your headroom. Cassette tape format is I think already a form of compression though I dont pretend to understand all the tecnicallities of this!
It's no problem for me to transfer the tape recording without any extra digital clipping, as long as you dont mind all the low rumble. Personally I dont like it. I prefer to hear the lovely analogue hiss and crackle! Bear in mind that the tape already has lots of clipping, but that's what everyone wants to hear - tape saturation!
Hi Puniho,
Suspect I know what you mean. That kind of rumble easily saturates the tape and most everything else us lost or "hevily squashed".
As you say, the only way to get to whatever else is on the recording will be to highpass filter - you can mention that in the description. But keep the sound as is... You never know: someone might turn that rumble into a bassdrum!!
Ok, I've been having a lot of fun with this, rediscovering all my old cassette recordings!
How about these?
http://www.freesound.org/people/Puniho/sounds/172686/#description
http://www.freesound.org/people/Puniho/sounds/172688/
http://www.freesound.org/people/Puniho/sounds/172687/
and an extract of the rumbly one:
AlienXXX wrote:
@Snapper4298
That is because the samples had not yet been moderated. Try again now@copyc4t
Well, there was a type of cleaning tape long ago that had a green tape that turned to yellow as it got dirtier (or vice-versa, can't remember). I used to press both the "play" and "record" buttons on my stereo when cleaning the tape heads.
At some point I found, to my amazement, that some stretches of radio programs had actually been recorded onto the cleaning tape! - The quality of the recording was, obviously, appaling
And no... I don't have any of those cleaning tapes anymore !
@Snapper4298
Sorry for not specifying they weren't moderated yet, I took it for granted O:^)
@AlienXXX
Wow! Ghost recordings! They would have been great for horror ambience I guess
My tape is of the white kind, and I've never used it so much to see an eventual color change, maybe it takes a lot of particle deposit before it can mimic a recording tape, I won't be able to reproduce that in time...
Oh, if there's other info I should add to the descriptions of the sounds, just tell me and I'll edit them.
I will not be participating. Do not have Reel to Reel tapes. Maybe next time. Good luck everyone.
See sound in a different frequency and illuminate your vision.
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Bliss wrote:
I will not be participating. Do not have Reel to Reel tapes. Maybe next time. Good luck everyone.
Hi Bliss. I thought the same having no tape gear whatsoever, but then decided I could take part, by using the sounds that fit the genre already available on freesound, and hopefully some of those being posted for the dare.
http://www.pledgie.com/campaigns/14560.png?skin_name=chrome
Get Free VST Instruments @ www.stezzer.com/audios.htm
Download Free Mod Tracker software @ www.stezzer.com/buzz/buzz.htm
So, since this Dare will be tapes all around... why not going meta?
I've just uploaded a fresh recording of me operating the tape deck of my compact stereo.
http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/172771/
(not moderated yet while I'm posting O:^) EDIT: available now )
Sequence: open, insert tape, close, play, open, pick tape, close.
The sequence is repeated twice, separated by two finger snaps (done just as marker, but left here because Darers can make sounds out of anything!)
The open/close button is mechanical, the play is servo, but broken, so it auto-stops.
To make up for the fact that the recording is not old at all, I did it on a tape from around 1986
Snapper4298 wrote:Bliss wrote:
I will not be participating. Do not have Reel to Reel tapes. Maybe next time. Good luck everyone.Hi Bliss. I thought the same having no tape gear whatsoever, but then decided I could take part, by using the sounds that fit the genre already available on freesound, and hopefully some of those being posted for the dare.
http://www.pledgie.com/campaigns/14560.png?skin_name=chrome
Get Free VST Instruments @ www.stezzer.com/audios.htm
Download Free Mod Tracker software @ www.stezzer.com/buzz/buzz.htm
I just wish the colab dares were more open, and not so closed to a very specific theme.
I do have some old tapes somewhere but no tape deck.
See sound in a different frequency and illuminate your vision.
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