(Part 3) Top products from r/cassetteculture

Hey, I've been shooting some of the cassettes with /u/killallmusic above. Heres some tips. First, as others have said, OFF CAMERA FLASH IS ESSENTIAL. That goes for any product photography. By far, the best bang for you buck is the Yongnuo IV and the wireless trigger to make it sync here. They are fully manual so no TTL (which is a feature of more expensive flashes that auto set the flash output to the available light) but I'm a big fan of learning strobe photography with manual flashes. You'll get way better way faster and there are a MILLION places online to read flash tutorials to get you started and plenty of video guides to get these flashes synced with the controller. On top of that, another absolutely essential part is some sort of diffuser. Softboxes are most often recommended. I use the following with my shots. These are both very nice pieces of gear and you can definitely find cheaper options that will do just fine on eBay and Amazon. You can get away with 1 for sure but I usually end up using two sources, one for a key light and one for a fill to add texture back to the shadows. As for actually shooting cassettes, your biggest problem will be glare. Any light hitting at a 45 degree angle to your lens will cause a flare so just adjust your angle of the tape or flash until you get rid of the glare. Last tip, when it comes to light, the closer a source is, the softer the light will be. That might sound backwards but its true. So get that flash all up in its business as close as you can to the product. Check out the Strobist blog for an amazing flash primer course. Trial and error is the name of the game. You can see some examples at http://killallmusic.storenvy.com. The Coutoux and Jay Pray tapes were shot with the exact gear and method I listed above. Happy shooting!

That's a really broad question; you're doing a good job, here, by asking specifically for what you need help with. Sadly "how do I get the belt on there" has a broad answer - you just have to keep disassembling until you see a way through.

I really don't mean to be snarky or rude.

"Water based solutions to clean the inside" where did you get this strange notion?

For general cleaning, use 99% isopropyl.

For contacts and switches, use Deoxit.

Basically - if you have specific questions, then people can do their best to help you. There isn't any "HERE'S HOW TO FIX OLD TAPE DECKS" guide out there.

If you're looking for cassettes you can still buy new, the Sony HF and the Maxell UR are your best bet. They're perfectly fine for recording onto, not the greatest tapes in the world obviously but they get the job done.

I think walmart sells Maxell UR's in store as well, if you want to buy them in person.

I highly recommend picking up one of these mini perforators. It makes your folds much cleaner and prevents wrinkling. I also use a ruler to make sure the lines are straight when I'm perforating.

http://www.amazon.com/Tonic-Studios-806-Rotary-Perforator/dp/B000641G9Y

Super cool! Reminds me of those VHS adapters for camcorder tapes.

One of these cables is what I use to connect my Mac Mini to my receiver. My Mac only has a headphone jack and it works pretty good.

i have made mixtapes in the way you've described (with an ipod, not a pc, but it's the same idea). get a 3.5mm headphone-to-rca cable and connect that to the "record" jacks on the back of the unit.

you should be good to go!!

Eh, it's really on a case-by-case basis. Some, people will bid to high heavens, others won't get a lot of attention and the prices will stay low.

In the case of this one the Joy Division tape alone goes for $45.00 on Amazon and the Sonic Youth tape goes for ~$20.00. Others ones on that listing are $5.00 - $10.00, some aren't even available on Amazon.

is it rotating? thinking you might have let it go to a place beyond the notch of 10 when you put the cover back on.

I got a thing I use, anyway, I'll edit with a link of an inline volume control, extremely hard to find when just clicking around amazon.

And congrats on the repair!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00001P4XH/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008DJTB32/

Well the one on the left would be Ghost In My Elevator by Coral Florist and the right one has a ton of classical music on it. I only know that the B-Side is a copy of Pops In Love by the Boston Pops Orchestra, but I don't know what is on the A-Side.

The Sony Pressman is a little smaller than the Marantz, check it out.

Neither is mine.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-TCS-30D-Pressman-Cassette-Recording/dp/B00006IS5L

Have you tried to DeOxit?

did a reverse google image search with your picture and it is Duke Ellington.
The same picture was used for this DVD:
https://www.amazon.com/Duke-Ellington-Classic-Hollywood-Years/dp/B0002N979K

Use this and the other link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0016LC5VY/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_1O2fvb0W5WP51 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NMXY2MO/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_iQ2fvb0JR3BP7 Try not to buy from Chinese sellers it could take 1 month to get there

all you need is a walkman and aux cable

I don't think any of those had that because..."internal microphones" were and are shit. And those Sony's were serious machines, not toys. I have a WM-D6C that came with a cool vintage small stereo Mic:

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-ECM-DS70P-Electret-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B00006HOLL