Fun stuff I read since his passing yesterday in the Dutch newspapers.
Although he had indeed humility about his contribution to the cassette tape and the CD, he also was frustrated what Sony did in this department. He wanted the CD to be 11,5 cm instead of 12 cm and was disappointed Sony sold the first CD and invented the concept of a walkman instead of Philips.
His opinion about cassette tapes and vinyl having a revival because of the analog experience?
"I am not a psychologist, but that music experience is of course all nonsense. Nothing can match the sound of the CD. It is absolutely noise and rumble free. That never worked with tape. But who am I to say what's better, I'm over ninety and have old ears. I have made a lot of record players and I know that the distortion with vinyl is much higher. But some people call it "warm audio." I think people mostly hear what they want to hear. But there are always madmen who want to look back to the past. There is always a market for that.”
Whenever I hear people talk about the superior sound quality of vinyl my response is "Yeah, there's nothing quite like the sound of a rock being dragged over bumpy plastic!"
80’s thrash metal and tapes go together really well. The cutting, trebly sound of tapes really works with the staccato, percussive sounds of bands like Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, etc.
There’s been a resurgence of bands putting out limited runs on cassette. I think a lot of this is nostalgia (often from people too young for much exposure to tape). Cassette sound quality is definitely inferior, but that can be adopted as part of the overall sound.
Well, vinyl is indeed "warmer audio" in a sense, in that it is more compressed and has higher saturation (due to the format properties), both of which can sound naturally pleasant. (It's also more tactile, which adds to the warmness psychologically).
CDs didn't have that great dynamic range or noise floor anyway (they were copied from -usually- 2inch master tapes, so tapes were still involved, and thus noise). 24bit/48 or 96Hz, on the other hand, now we're talking (but still most people wouldn't hear much of a difference in most mixed music, and in the majority of cheap headphones/speakers).
It's fascinating that someone, within their lifetime, can invent something, watch it become a household item in the entire world and then fade so far into obscurity that new generations only find out about it from encyclopedias.
The cassette tape really is an astounding invention, or I guess a great packaging and convenience improvement, compared to existing tape formats.
A revolution in music portability, distribution (both licensed and DIY), home recording, you name it. All kicked off by "little boys who had fun playing".
Tape trading is still big in certain circles, especially within the punk and black metal milieus. Some albums, EPs and demos get their only physical releases ever on limited edition cassette tapes, both because it is inexpensive, easy to DIY and fits the lo-fi aesthetics.
Where vinyl has a strong presence among audiophiles (for various mostly imagined reasons) and was always a format for those with money to spend, the humble cassette tape was the format of choice for the youth, the working class and people on the go, and it still carries that down-to-earth appeal today.
I know at least for me growing up in the 80s and 90s in a family with just enough money to get by, hand-me-down cassette tapes were how I experienced music, not to mention how we experimented with recording our voices and playing them back at different speeds, and learned what happened when you play the same bit of tape over and over again because it had a really funny bit on it. Getting my first CD and CD player was exotic and felt like science fiction in comparison to the trusty old cassette tape.
I keep a drawer of a few old and obsolete physical formats that meant something special to me. My cassette tapes of Deep Purple In Rock, Machine Head, Sgt. Pepper's, and The Triumph of Death are there, next to the 3.5" floppy disks and Minidiscs.
Tapes were fun. I grew up playing in bands. Demos were all recorded to cassette and shared among band members for reference or maybe passed on to clubs. I was right at the tail end of this, when CD burners became cheap and then we were expected to deliver demos as a cd.
I grew up in the era of cassettes. I’d tape songs of the radio as a kid. In high school and college I would tape my records and the new “cds” so my music would be portable (Walkman and parents car).
My brothers and I bought a really good Yamaha three head cassette player. We did some a/b testing with cds and with Dolby c it was really hard to tell the difference.
Though with Walkman you’d have to clean the rubber rollers when they got a little gummed up and there was always the danger of the tape failing and getting pulled out.
I think a cassette fresh out of the case was great, sound quality wise on good equipment, the big complaint was the wear and stretching over time. Then of course there was the eating of the tape, which you could recover from usually but there was usually a scar in the sound quality that you’d learn to ignore.
The humble cassette was a core part of my upbringing. Creating and sharing mixtapes a great way of signalling affection. I treasure the few times it happened, because as a nerd with social anxiety my interactions with the opposite sex developed a lot later than most people. Forgive me:
I thank Lou for his contributions. Cassette mixtapes were a huge part of teen life in the 80s.
I fondly remember the mix tape. Exchanging mix tapes was a huge part of both my friendships and romantic interests. Spent many hours creating them as well as my own jacket art (while the tapes were recording).
There is a great documentary[0] about the cassette. They explore its creation, history, and what it meant (and means) to people. They interview Ottens extensively as part of the film.
That's a great interview. You really get the sense he saw the engineering as a way to optimise the user experience. He wasn't just trying to put some tape in a tiny box for the sake of it.
I hope we all appreciate the "hackability" of cassette tapes. Even as a young kid I was able to use the family Hi-Fi to record my own cassettes where I could mix together sounds from a microphone, vinyl, CDs, the radio, etc. Literally any signal I could send through the stereo jack. I often think of one of my first programming books detailing how to save your BASIC programs to a cassette tape - though our family computer had no such attachment.
I don't have quite the same memories from my later days of MP3s and ripping / burning CDs.
edit: I've noticed hexagonal pencils seem to be less common than circular ones now, and I can't help but feel it's because they just aren't as useful anymore.
Another kind of hackability: There is a whole little music genre called "tape loops" where people make music by cutting open cassettes and taping the ends of the tape to make infinite loops. You record onto a few of those of different lengths, play them back in parallel and get neat rhythmic effects as the loops go in and out of phase with each other.
Yeah, the main shift from cassettes to copying CD's to downloading MP3's to where I am now, Spotify, has been one of quantity.
I had a few tapes, often re-recording over them with whatever CD my brother bought (he paid money for them, the fool!). Later on I had a stack of burned CDs that I accumulated over the years, once again mostly copied from my brother; during my paper rounds I would flip between the handful of CD's I had.
Then I got an iPod Mini and permanent internet, and my daily listening habits broadened a bit.
And I listen to the most and broadest range of music ever thanks to Spotify. Mind you, its algorithms do tend to steer me to the same things regularly. At least when I had all of my music in itunes I would know what I had and liked better.
Not to underestimate Mr. Ottens' contribution, but as the article notes, he was the "head of product development at the Belgian Hasselt branch of the Eindhoven company Philips" - so I guess he didn't single-handedly invent both the Compact Cassette (as it was called initially) and the Compact Disc, I think it was more of a group effort under his leadership...
A little anecdote/legend from the Philips Research Labs (Nat. Lab.):
When the team demonstrated the first CD they drilled some holes in them, and showed: "Look how robust, they even work when they are this damaged" (paraphrased).
In reality the locations of these holes were chosen very precisely. Not sure if this is true, but this is a story that my colleagues told me in the 90's...
This seems unlikely. CDs don't have physical sectors. But they do have generous error correction, with cross-interleaved versions of the data combined with parity spread out along the "groove".
The rule of thumb is that error correction can compensate for gaps of up to 2.4mm. So if a hole is smaller a CD should be able to cope.
What’s interesting to me beyond the invention itself is all the technology that was developed around it. For example my friend’s Dad had a Nakamichi cassette player that would physically flip the cassette to play the other side. And on the other end of course using a pencil to advance the tape or wind up slack if it accidentally got caught in the player.
He has an extensive article in the Dutch Wikipedia, with a star, and shorter ones in German and Polish :) The Dutch one seems well-cited, so it would probably be okay to just translate it.
I once visited an art exhibition where the theme was art objects that change while being displayed. Once exhibit which I particularly enjoyed was a cassette that was being played, while its outrolled tape was tightend around some bars in the room. So the tape slowly grinded down and changed the (cryptic) sound that was being played. It was a super cool idea, which also played with the experience of an unwound cassette tape, that everyone (who is a bit older) knows.
Neat! If you're ever interested in more of that kind of stuff check out Hainbach, heres a similar thing to what you described with some really great background info on the technique and tech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVy9ABT5-iY
My youth would not have been the same - we made our own mixtapes back then and the good ones were made on TDK chrome tapes.
This was before we had internet (it came 1991) and our local radio stations back then never played funk or R&B music so one night I listened on AM to an overseas station and heard this awesome song and I taped it and listened to it over and over despite the bad AM quality.
Later I found it was "When Doves Cry" by Prince and I became a lifelong fan.
ps: I don't know how much an urban legend it is, but jdilla (famous in the hiphop beatmaker circles) is said to have learned his very very skanky sense of rhythm through a bare tape recorder that he used to overlay various samples by rewinding it with a pencil.
[+] [-] clydethefrog|5 years ago|reply
Although he had indeed humility about his contribution to the cassette tape and the CD, he also was frustrated what Sony did in this department. He wanted the CD to be 11,5 cm instead of 12 cm and was disappointed Sony sold the first CD and invented the concept of a walkman instead of Philips.
His opinion about cassette tapes and vinyl having a revival because of the analog experience?
"I am not a psychologist, but that music experience is of course all nonsense. Nothing can match the sound of the CD. It is absolutely noise and rumble free. That never worked with tape. But who am I to say what's better, I'm over ninety and have old ears. I have made a lot of record players and I know that the distortion with vinyl is much higher. But some people call it "warm audio." I think people mostly hear what they want to hear. But there are always madmen who want to look back to the past. There is always a market for that.”
[+] [-] marshmallow_12|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] excitom|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lc9er|5 years ago|reply
80’s thrash metal and tapes go together really well. The cutting, trebly sound of tapes really works with the staccato, percussive sounds of bands like Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, etc.
There’s been a resurgence of bands putting out limited runs on cassette. I think a lot of this is nostalgia (often from people too young for much exposure to tape). Cassette sound quality is definitely inferior, but that can be adopted as part of the overall sound.
[+] [-] VMG|5 years ago|reply
Higher-end ones probably have some buffering.
[+] [-] duxup|5 years ago|reply
I know my old CDs very much had a weird sorta cold, almost distant sound and I felt that later CDs did not.
[+] [-] coldtea|5 years ago|reply
CDs didn't have that great dynamic range or noise floor anyway (they were copied from -usually- 2inch master tapes, so tapes were still involved, and thus noise). 24bit/48 or 96Hz, on the other hand, now we're talking (but still most people wouldn't hear much of a difference in most mixed music, and in the majority of cheap headphones/speakers).
[+] [-] mertd|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tqi|5 years ago|reply
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_printing
[+] [-] KozmoNau7|5 years ago|reply
A revolution in music portability, distribution (both licensed and DIY), home recording, you name it. All kicked off by "little boys who had fun playing".
Tape trading is still big in certain circles, especially within the punk and black metal milieus. Some albums, EPs and demos get their only physical releases ever on limited edition cassette tapes, both because it is inexpensive, easy to DIY and fits the lo-fi aesthetics.
Where vinyl has a strong presence among audiophiles (for various mostly imagined reasons) and was always a format for those with money to spend, the humble cassette tape was the format of choice for the youth, the working class and people on the go, and it still carries that down-to-earth appeal today.
I know at least for me growing up in the 80s and 90s in a family with just enough money to get by, hand-me-down cassette tapes were how I experienced music, not to mention how we experimented with recording our voices and playing them back at different speeds, and learned what happened when you play the same bit of tape over and over again because it had a really funny bit on it. Getting my first CD and CD player was exotic and felt like science fiction in comparison to the trusty old cassette tape.
I keep a drawer of a few old and obsolete physical formats that meant something special to me. My cassette tapes of Deep Purple In Rock, Machine Head, Sgt. Pepper's, and The Triumph of Death are there, next to the 3.5" floppy disks and Minidiscs.
[+] [-] theandrewbailey|5 years ago|reply
Putting a laser into almost anything makes it feel like it's from the future.
[+] [-] lc9er|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] acomjean|5 years ago|reply
I grew up in the era of cassettes. I’d tape songs of the radio as a kid. In high school and college I would tape my records and the new “cds” so my music would be portable (Walkman and parents car).
My brothers and I bought a really good Yamaha three head cassette player. We did some a/b testing with cds and with Dolby c it was really hard to tell the difference.
Though with Walkman you’d have to clean the rubber rollers when they got a little gummed up and there was always the danger of the tape failing and getting pulled out.
[+] [-] aksss|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] faichai|5 years ago|reply
Oh Frances, how beautiful you were,
Mixed Dinosaur Jr tape I did share,
You returned another, so eclectic,
My crush on you fades electric.
[+] [-] mmmBacon|5 years ago|reply
I fondly remember the mix tape. Exchanging mix tapes was a huge part of both my friendships and romantic interests. Spent many hours creating them as well as my own jacket art (while the tapes were recording).
[+] [-] drawkbox|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] freebreakfast|5 years ago|reply
[0] https://www.cassettefilm.com/
[+] [-] niea_11|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TheOtherHobbes|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] macksd|5 years ago|reply
I don't have quite the same memories from my later days of MP3s and ripping / burning CDs.
edit: I've noticed hexagonal pencils seem to be less common than circular ones now, and I can't help but feel it's because they just aren't as useful anymore.
[+] [-] munificent|5 years ago|reply
AMULETS is a good example of a musician making songs like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVon_9VmMEc
The r/tapeloops subreddit is a nice little community for it.
[+] [-] rorykoehler|5 years ago|reply
Love the cassette though. Still use it to apply warmth to audio to mix back in with my digital productions.
[+] [-] Cthulhu_|5 years ago|reply
I had a few tapes, often re-recording over them with whatever CD my brother bought (he paid money for them, the fool!). Later on I had a stack of burned CDs that I accumulated over the years, once again mostly copied from my brother; during my paper rounds I would flip between the handful of CD's I had.
Then I got an iPod Mini and permanent internet, and my daily listening habits broadened a bit.
And I listen to the most and broadest range of music ever thanks to Spotify. Mind you, its algorithms do tend to steer me to the same things regularly. At least when I had all of my music in itunes I would know what I had and liked better.
[+] [-] yread|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] apples_oranges|5 years ago|reply
I still sometimes feel like this when programming. What a great job this is..
[+] [-] thinkingkong|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rob74|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gjvr|5 years ago|reply
When the team demonstrated the first CD they drilled some holes in them, and showed: "Look how robust, they even work when they are this damaged" (paraphrased).
In reality the locations of these holes were chosen very precisely. Not sure if this is true, but this is a story that my colleagues told me in the 90's...
Rest In Peace Lou Ottens.
[+] [-] TheOtherHobbes|5 years ago|reply
The rule of thumb is that error correction can compensate for gaps of up to 2.4mm. So if a hole is smaller a CD should be able to cope.
[+] [-] colanderman|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gcheong|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] booblik|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pwdisswordfish0|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] makeworld|5 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Ottens
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] niklasd|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mumphster|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tibbydudeza|5 years ago|reply
This was before we had internet (it came 1991) and our local radio stations back then never played funk or R&B music so one night I listened on AM to an overseas station and heard this awesome song and I taped it and listened to it over and over despite the bad AM quality.
Later I found it was "When Doves Cry" by Prince and I became a lifelong fan.
[+] [-] uberdru|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tibbydudeza|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gshubert17|5 years ago|reply
https://nypost.com/2021/03/10/cassette-tape-and-cd-inventor-...
[+] [-] agumonkey|5 years ago|reply
ps: I don't know how much an urban legend it is, but jdilla (famous in the hiphop beatmaker circles) is said to have learned his very very skanky sense of rhythm through a bare tape recorder that he used to overlay various samples by rewinding it with a pencil.