10
Stopped at a dusty antique mall in Ohio and found a whole bin of old cassette tape cases filled with hand-labeled mixtapes from the 80s
I was killing time between loads near Columbus and wandered into this place off Route 40. There must have been 50 tapes in there, all with handwritten track lists on the inserts. Stuff like local bands and obscure radio recordings. The seller wanted 2 bucks each. I grabbed a few and popped one in my truck deck. It was a live recording of a high school battle of the bands from 1984. The sound quality is rough but it's a real time capsule. Has anyone else come across old mixtapes or homemade recordings in unexpected places? Any tips on cleaning up the tape without damaging it?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
robin_campbell3623d ago
dude that's awesome, "time capsule" is right. i read somewhere that if you're trying to clean cassette tapes, the best trick is to use a dry q-tip and gently roll it along the tape path inside the player, not the tape itself. for the actual tape, some people swear by rewinding it fully and then fast forwarding it once to loosen it up, but never touch the magnetic side with anything. if the sound is warbly, it's probably the player's belt needing replaced, not the tape. i found a box of old mix tapes at a flea market in indiana once and half of them were just someone recording top 40 radio off a boombox, still neat though. you got a killer deal for 2 bucks each, those local band recordings are the real hidden gems.
4