I'm considering starting a cassette label...?

[pianoforte]

I have been writing music for almost six years now, and recording it (using a secondhand four-track cassette recorder purchased from a local record shop for $60, and tapes from a local materials exchange and assorted thrift stores) for about two.

I have come to a point where I want to do a physical release of my music. I have a few songs available for name-your-price download on Bandcamp, but I have lately become interested in doing a cassette release.

I'm not sure whether I will concentrate my efforts on putting together a single tape, or spread my work over several tapes released incrementally (much like Justin Marc Lloyd is doing). I'm gravitating toward the multiple-tape route, as my work is very "all-over-the-place" genrewise.

One way or another, I want to make the tape(s) as DIY as possible. There are two reasons for this: financially, I can't afford to do anything but that, and equally importantly I want to learn to do every step of the process myself. From initial master-recording to making art, I'd like to learn as much as I can.

I assume that this first tape, or set of tapes, will not be my last release(s). With this in mind, I realized that it would probably be a good idea to create a singular entity/label under which I would release work under my various aliases.

But that's where the idea gets more murky. I'm not quite sure where to go from here in order to make this idea into a reality. As far as I know, what I should do is:

1. Make a master mixdown of my 4-track masters, sequenced as the finished cassette(s) will be. I have a stereo reel-to-reel which I plan to use to do this.

2. Purchase a cassette duplicator. There seem to be a lot of these on eBay, but I'm not at all sure what to look for. Are there any advantages to using a duplicator over, say, a nice dual-cassette deck?

3. Purchase blank cassettes. This isn't too much of a problem - I know of a few local sources for tapes, but failing that, Delta Media seems to have reasonable prices for blanks.

4. Duplicate from the mixdown master. Nothing else to say here - I assume it is a reasonably simple-ish process.

5. Make art. That part is easy - I have a number of friends who are really good artists and would be willing to do limited-runs of sketches or whatever for use as tape inserts.

6. Sell the tapes. Again, nothing to say here. I plan to use Bandcamp and possibly Etsy to do this.

This is as much as I know right now. Any further tips/suggestions/thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

[Cupz]

you might want to talk to these guys: http://lfd.storenvy.com/. They are from these forums.

[pianoforte]

I sadly know nothing about this process, however i would be all over them tapes if you ever got em made. Putting my money down in advance.

hey! for some reason i never replied to this. thank you very much. i didn't know you knew of my music. i appreciate your apparent enjoyment hahaha...

i think it's going to take longer to get to the point where i can put out a tape than i thought, but i'm sure it will happen eventually. somedayyyyy.

i've been browsing /r/cassetteculture which has been immensely useful in learning about the process and getting inspiration. plus there's a ton of rad music linked there.

[SampleScience]

Do you plan to release other people music on your label? If so, I'd like to release tapes too but if I can take the risk with someone else it would be a safer try.

[SampleScience]

I sadly know nothing about this process, however i would be all over them tapes if you ever got em made. Putting my money down in advance.

hey! for some reason i never replied to this. thank you very much. i didn't know you knew of my music. i appreciate your apparent enjoyment hahaha...

i think it's going to take longer to get to the point where i can put out a tape than i thought, but i'm sure it will happen eventually. somedayyyyy.

i've been browsing /r/cassetteculture which has been immensely useful in learning about the process and getting inspiration. plus there's a ton of rad music linked there.

Could you share what you learned, I'd like to learn more about this culture and the answer you've found for your questions.

[re-phaelam-ed]

hurry though...its getting harder and harder to get a deck worth playing cassettes on.

[pianoforte]

Could you share what you learned, I'd like to learn more about this culture and the answer you've found for your questions.

Pretty much everything I've learned has been gleaned from the cassetteculture subreddit and teen suicide (band)'s tumblr. Some highlights:

- High-bias tape sounds amazing in a four-track, but dusty, old, normal-bias tape goes really far toward getting that BoC/Pye Corner Audio sound.

- One can connect certain shoebox-style cassette recorders to audio inputs (like on a four-track or a laptop, or to an audio interface) and use them as mics of sorts, so you get the benefits of the shitty compressed mic but with multitracking capability.

- In terms of packaging, stickers for art on tape cases aren't a very good idea. They look icky and peel off and are gross. J-cards, while a bit more work, are well worth it.

- One can often get tons of blank duplicator-style tapes in bulk from churches, as they mostly record sermons and things on tapes and distribute them, but often have tapes left over that you/someone can get for free or cheap.

Nothing much I've learned is very new, but I find it fascinating!

[SampleScience]

Fascinating indeed! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[lostintegrity]

Thought I'd chime in here. I started a tape label about a year ago called 2060. It's been a pretty hectic, yet somewhat rewarding process. Here's a quick breakdown on what I learned.

Dubbing cassettes isn't difficult, not in the least. You seem to have the knowledge of doing so as well. As said before, you've got many options on the types of tapes you use and the clarity you'll get in doing so.

Duplicating cassettes can be a bit trickier. Or to put it another way, be wary of the duplicators you see on the market. I invested in a Sony duplicator that copied up to 3 tapes at 16x speed, only to find out that there significant quality loss (you can't change the speed either) and the particular duplicator I purchased only did mono. These devices range from 50-300 dollars. So in this effort, you'll be spending a lot of time if you're trying to make a lot of tapes. Which brings me to my next point.

How many artists do you want on this label? How much recognition do these artists have? How much time do you have to spend on this?

I had three back to back releases on the label and I went from putting out a tape or two a week, to 15 a week. Given my time constraints, it was hard to get them out in a timely fashion. If you're trying to do bulk shipments, outsource. As said before r/cassetteculture is a great resource to figuring out places to do this. I posted something a couple months ago in regards to this here.

In going for the DIY approach, you can invest in J-card templates and print them from a standard printer. You'll need to do a little research in getting the measurements right, but J-card bulk sheets are cheap! Bear in mind, however, ink is expensive. Probably one of the most expensive things you'll have to fork out cash for. Cases, cassettes, stickers (for the cassette) and J-card templates aren't too expensive.

Other things to point out, some of which I had to learn the hard way. Shipping costs. You'd think shipping cassettes would be cheap, and it is. Domestically. Internationally you'll have shipping one cassette go from a $1.50 to $10+. If you're selling cassettes with underestimated costs of labor and shipping, you'll be losing money.

Hopefully I gave you some insight. I'm still working out the kinks, but I'm always happy to share my experiences.