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Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

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Re: Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

#61

Post by speedgoose »

raffael_de wrote: post #60
speedgoose wrote: post #52

In my opinion, nothing is quite the same as real analog cassette sounds. It's nice to play around and prototype, but if you really want a good cassette sound effect, you have to use real hardware, for now.

what is the appeal of cassette sound effects / analog cassette sounds? is it nostalgia?

Nostalgia for sure, but it also makes the sound less perfect in a way that can be interesting musically. It adds harmonics, slightly detune everything, compresses, adds noise.

It's a good tool to make a sound that sound very artificial, sharp, perfect, into something more soft and perhaps interesting to some.

Re: Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

#62

Post by sandworm101 »

speedgoose wrote: post #61
raffael_de wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is the appeal of cassette sound effects / analog cassette sounds? is it nostalgia?

Nostalgia for sure, but it also makes the sound less perfect in a way that can be interesting musically. It adds harmonics, slightly detune everything, compresses, adds noise. It's a good tool to make a sound that sound very artificial, sharp, perfect, into something more soft and perhaps interesting to some.

Ie they sounded like crap. Those of us old enough to live through the tail end of cassettes loathed them. Just like records before tape, every time you played them they sounded a little worse than the last time. And you rolled the dice on whether your player would eat the cassette. CDs were like magic. Nobody should look back.

Re: Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

#63

Post by sandworm101 »

brnt wrote: post #46
massagedpelican wrote: post #5

How would one go about determining what effect to add for each cassette type? I don't know much about cassettes, I'm curious if this was something that could be done by ear or if these are commonly held opinions about the sound of each tape. Again knowing nothing about tape, if I were tasked with this I would probably try to record the same audio to each of the tapes and then compare it with the original.

I was too young to do much with this information, but I not-so-vaguely recall my father cared deeply about getting metal-tapes. Not the music, but the material. I don't know if they lasted longer or sounded better (and now I would suspect: maybe have a sound profile he liked, rather than have high fidelity), but it was important to him.

Metal tape (the dark black tape) sounded much better but only if you had high end equipment. Pure metal tape was rare outside japan and contributed to japan's 80s status as a mecca for consumer electronics.

Re: Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

#64

Post by brnt »

sandworm101 wrote: post #63
brnt wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was too young to do much with this information, but I not-so-vaguely recall my father cared deeply about getting metal-tapes. Not the music, but the material. I don't know if they lasted longer or sounded better (and now I would suspect: maybe have a sound profile he liked, rather than have high fidelity), but it was important to him.

Metal tape (the dark black tape) sounded much better but only if you had high end equipment. Pure metal tape was rare outside japan and contributed to japan's 80s status as a mecca for consumer electronics.

I think he only had Japanese equipment (Awai, TDK) and mostly TDK tapes.

Re: Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

#66

Post by TrojanHookworm »

sandworm101 wrote: post #62
speedgoose wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nostalgia for sure, but it also makes the sound less perfect in a way that can be interesting musically. It adds harmonics, slightly detune everything, compresses, adds noise. It's a good tool to make a sound that sound very artificial, sharp, perfect, into something more soft and perhaps interesting to some.

Ie they sounded like crap. Those of us old enough to live through the tail end of cassettes loathed them. Just like records before tape, every time you played them they sounded a little worse than the last time. And you rolled the dice on whether your player would eat the cassette. CDs were like magic. Nobody should look back.

Those qualities are exactly what makes the casette/analogue sound appealing to some ('organic', 'imperfect' etc.) Sonic aesthetics cannot be reduced to a question of fidelity alone.

Re: Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

#68

Post by hypercube33 »

speedgoose wrote: post #52

In my opinion, nothing is quite the same as real analog cassette sounds. It's nice to play around and prototype, but if you really want a good cassette sound effect, you have to use real hardware, for now.

My pioneer tape deck has a high end DSP that spanks dolby and removes tape noise and I love the sound it produces.

Re: Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

#69

Post by speedgoose »

sandworm101 wrote: post #62
speedgoose wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nostalgia for sure, but it also makes the sound less perfect in a way that can be interesting musically. It adds harmonics, slightly detune everything, compresses, adds noise. It's a good tool to make a sound that sound very artificial, sharp, perfect, into something more soft and perhaps interesting to some.

Ie they sounded like crap. Those of us old enough to live through the tail end of cassettes loathed them. Just like records before tape, every time you played them they sounded a little worse than the last time. And you rolled the dice on whether your player would eat the cassette. CDs were like magic. Nobody should look back.

I’m old enough. The bad sound quality is the point.

It’s like emulating old video games. On a perfect display it doesn’t look very pleasing but if you add CRT and NTSC analog artefacts, it may have some charms.

Re: Simulate cassette tape audio profiles using FFmpeg

#70

Post by mark_something »

Lio wrote: post #55
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half of wow and flutter. The tape speed wasn't perfectly constant, so the pitch wobbled. Wow was slow speed variations (under 4Hz). Flutter was quicker warbles. Both were caused mechanically. The rubber wheel - pinch roller - that moved the tape might not be perfectly circular, the motor that pulled the reels might be uneven, and the tape case sometimes pressed on the tape reels causing variable friction. Analog medi…

> Analog media really were a bit crap. True but I find it strange how many of my favourite recording were made with this "crap" analogue equipment (well before I was born) and how many modern "perfect" recording sound terrible to me. To me the sound of even subtle autotune is "eww". I can't stand the over compressed, "sugary" sound of current pop music. It's just not for me. Perfection is Herbie Hancock's Head Hunter…

Over compression is horrible, but unrelated to this.

I grew up with cassettes, but was happy to switch to CDs when I was around 18. The better the recording and playback, the closer it is to what the artist intended, and to how it would sound if the artist was playing right in front of you (if they don't use autotune or compression).

It's a fact that people get accustomed to the distortions in music playback, in the old days it was the noise of vinyl, which got better later, then cassettes, then heavily compressed MP3s. People should aim for the best possible audio quality and get rid of their preference for distortion.

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