8-Track vs. Cassette?

[mixtape]

I heard that on certain disco albums the 8-track actually sounded better than the cassette. Can anyone confirm this? 8-tracks in my opinion sound very muddy. Doesn't mean I don't have a bunch and a player that still works lol.

[BrunoRepublic]

8-tracks run at twice the speed of cassettes and have the same track width, so in theory, they are capable of better fidelity than cassettes.

In reality, this is almost never the case for several reasons:
- The 8-track has more wow and flutter due to design deficiencies. The tape is being simultaneously pushed and pulled, and then rubbed up against itself and twisted around in the loop inside the cartridge as it plays, so pitch control is never stable, not to mention that the tape wears out very quickly
- Crosstalk (hearing the adjacent program faintly in the background) is almost inevitable due to the moving playback head design
- As 8-tracks went into decline starting in the late 70s, many tape and recording improvements than went into the cassette never really made it to the 8-track (chromium dioxide tape, Dolby HX, etc.)
- Very few 8-tracks are currently playable without repair, again due to design issues: the splice which joins the loop often comes unglued, and the foam pads which push the tape against the playback head break down and disintegrate
- but most of all, high-speed tape duplication wasn't so good back in those days, so the results sounded HORRID.

Even when repaired and played on a decent deck, the majority of pre-recorded 8-tracks don't sound much better than AM radio, both in terms of frequency range and signal-to-noise ratio. And then you have the silliness of songs fading out at the end of each program unless the album can be divided into four equal parts.

[mixtape]

I completely agree with you. Never a sturdy format ever, and all the 8-tracks I have I sent out to be fixed for a cost of 3 dollars each so I could record them into Pro Tools, EQ them (ozone isotope is amazing) and throw them on my ipod. In terms of tape though, I still see a lot more 8-tracks available then audio cassettes for disco albums on sale. Perhaps people don't give them up as easily. I saw though that A Night At Studio 54 8track sounded better than the audio cassette.

[DJRAZ]

I hated 8 track...Even though I still have a rec/player with like 2 blanks. I still hate it. So many lost mixes from those days and then it jumped 4 times which was another story. So reel to reel or cassette was the way to go.

[Disco Funk]

Does anyone know if those quad 8 tracks really had stereo separation that different in each of the 4 channels, or did they just use a 2 channel mix and put echo to make it sound like 4? I invested in a couple of quad 8 track tapes, not for a lot of money, but I haven't bothered looking for an 8 track player that plays quad yet.

Disco Funk

[mixtape]

anyone ever use DATs? Lol another ancient but newer format.

[BrunoRepublic]

Does anyone know if those quad 8 tracks really had stereo separation that different in each of the 4 channels, or did they just use a 2 channel mix and put echo to make it sound like 4? I invested in a couple of quad 8 track tapes, not for a lot of money, but I haven't bothered looking for an 8 track player that plays quad yet.

Disco Funk

It depended on the mix. Some were true 4-channel, some were just stereo + echo.

[BrunoRepublic]

anyone ever use DATs? Lol another ancient but newer format.

Although intended as a consumer format, RIAA interference ensured that DATs never made it big in the home. However, they were widely used in studios until computer-based DAWs took over a few years ago.

[mixtape]

check this out: 8-track vs. vinyl@Everything2.com

this must be the reason why when they dont have the original master tape for re-issuing an album on CD they use vinyl and not the 8-track. LOL

[Disco Funk]

It depended on the mix. Some were true 4-channel, some were just stereo + echo.

Cool. Good thing I stopped at a couple. :)

Disco Funk

[mixtape]

Bruno, I am currently in some form remastering an old late 60s album that never got released for owner of Kama Sutra records. All he has left is the 8-track and the vinyl. Obviously the vinyl would be the way to go, the only possible reason I would feel to maybe use the 8-track is to not have all those pops and hits. I use Cool Edit Pro to remove some of the pops but in all honesty when you go over board with that tool, you start to get a muffled sound as a result. I have never used the WAV bundle for Pro Tools but im sure it has to be way better as it costs 1500. I record all my music into Pro Tools. However, with the 8-track a great deal of boost in EQ would be needed to make it somewhat listenable for a CD release. What would your suggestion be on this? Thanks man.

[BrunoRepublic]

Bruno, I am currently in some form remastering an old late 60s album that never got released for owner of Kama Sutra records. All he has left is the 8-track and the vinyl. Obviously the vinyl would be the way to go, the only possible reason I would feel to maybe use the 8-track is to not have all those pops and hits. I use Cool Edit Pro to remove some of the pops but in all honesty when you go over board with that tool, you start to get a muffled sound as a result.

Don't use the automatic settings. View the music in spectral view, zoom in to about half a second, and highlight only the clicks (they'll appear as spikes across the frequency range). Assign keys to the scroll back/ahead one page function and go through the entire track one bit at a time.

No automatic de-clicking algorithm can accurately know what is surface noise and what is supposed to be part of the signal. A mostly-manual method is the only way to get good results.

[eddie]

Master the reissues from vinyl. I can't stand tape drop-out even if it's on the master.