#126

I used Alpha Duplication for a recent CD run and from submitting my first email I got the stock back, first class post in 6 days. I would recommened.

They mainly focus and adverstise on CD / DVD but click on the Other Services at the bottom of the home screen and you’ll see they do Audio tape and vinyl as well.
Not used them for either of these formates but the quality of the CDs were very good and really good customer service and communication as well.

1 Like
#127

I have a question regarding tape length.
I don’t want to extend my material to just fill all the available space on a cassette, however leaving silence is not a good approach either. I have some cassettes from local underground bands where only half of a cassette side is filled, I don’t mind it personally, but for the own release, I don’t want to leave that much of silence.
I found that there was a C46 standard for cassettes, but looks like those are harder to find compared to C60/C90. Are there any other options?

#128

Many duplication plants also have the option to customize tape length to something else than standard lengths, with the obvious caveat that the sides have to be of identical length of course :slight_smile:

And in case you’re planning to do your own duplication, I believe there are many places where you can order custom length cassettes too.

1 Like
#129

Most places that duplicate + sell blanks will be able to make them to custom lengths. Tapeline here in the UK for example do this as standard (except for new-old-stock/branded blanks)

1 Like
#130

One of my favorite artists, ouzkxqlzn, often releases tapes where the same material is recorded on both side A and side B. No one feels ripped off, it’s nice knowing the tape is always ready to listen to. That might be an option for your project as well.

C46 was a standard because it matches about the max length for vinyl (think about this next time anyone worries that their album release isn’t long enough or doesn’t have enough songs—Dark Side of the Moon was only about 42ish minutes long). As others mention you should be able to find some cut to length for you from one of the distros where you are.

4 Likes
#131

Just if anyone from europe / germany is reading this - we’ve released four tapes throughout the last couple of years with this company:
https://tapemuzik.de based in Leipzig
They’ve been really supportive, fast and professional :slight_smile:
It used to be called audiobiz or something like that.
So yeah…

1 Like
#132

Game-plan the silence by adding a short “easter egg” sample (or mini track) at the end of the silence.

Record a conversation with someone, or a kid playing with toys, or a dog barking, or whatever. If there is space remaining, do something with it.

Imagine your listeners’ surprise if, when the tape os playing out, suddenly a person (or five persons) shriek as if they are about to die. Or a kitten lets out a single, quiet meow right before the tape ends.

Seems like an opportunity, IMO.

4 Likes
#133

Hi Hi! I made an album this year (post to the Releases category forthcoming) using some advice from this topic to make tapes DIY style. I actually have orders, yikes! I’m at the shipping part and it seems there are these middleling companies that advertise “costs less then the USPS” print-at-home labels. Are they worth it? A couple tapes I bought this year have a Pitney Bowes sticker on it but that company wants to send me a physical scale.

I found two others. Pirate Ship (cool name) and Endecia. They all seem to be doing the same things. Should I just walk each order to my local post office as they come in?

1 Like
#134

I just bring them all in at once when they’ve accumulated and when they haven’t waited too long (once per week is the most I’ll go to the post office and I let people know that so they aren’t worried). If I had a lot more orders I would note the weight from shipping them (it’s the same weight either way) and then use Click N Ship for domestic but still walk in for overseas. If I was going to use a service I’d use Endecia because they’ve been at it forever.

Mostly, just make sure you’re not losing money on shipping and packaging for shipping.

1 Like
#135

Now that brexit is hitting the UK for real I don’t know if I want to still oder anything from there, since I’ll now pay a lot of money in import duties.
So if anybody has a tip on where to have small quanties of tapes (20-30pcs) made in EU please let me know! https://tapemuzik.de looks good, but they have a 50pcs min. order requirement.

2 Likes
#136

These look awesome! Spray painted?

#137

Would love to know too :slight_smile: If needed, would also be happy to arrange group buys!

#138

image
image480×640 70.1 KB
image
image480×640 103 KB
image
image480×640 92.1 KB

Just a follow up about BandCD’s - after contacting them again (I was given an email address of the manager by a lines forum member), things went extremely quickly - shipping took 4 days from the UK to Thailand! Very pleased with the UV prints as well as the quality of the tape / print and recording. No complaints. From order to receiving it was 3 weeks.

3 Likes
#139

You could try Vinyl Plant in Estonia. They seemed open to customization. I just had my latest album made there.

#140

Now that you mention it, they do indeed look like they’ve been spray painted! But no, this graphic actually comes from a photo I had made inside the bridge where I recorded the track “bridge”. It’s this low depth-of-field photo made looking through some pipe that goes up, with the sun shining in:

DSCF2474
DSCF24741500×1000 93.5 KB

The photo has of course been heavily manipulated, colours inverted, contrast hightened, etc.
The designed who made the graphics added some more grain and the printing did the rest.

@Noisetrees thanks! I’ll def. check them out!

3 Likes
#141

Oh nice! That’s awesome. I love the look of it on the tapes. It looks like an extremely neat, careful spray job. I was wondering how you managed it, as I make short cassette runs with spray paint, and they never look that good haha.

#142

You know, for a moment I thought: yeah, I could spray paint the tapes! But I don’t know if I would be able to do a good job…
But I do like the look of the paint blobs on your tapes. Is that your label?

#143

Yeah, thanks! Spray paint looks cool as if you do it right. I just have no patience or skills haha. I’ve played about with different ways of making the tapes more interesting on the cheap, so it’s very DIY. I do very small runs of tapes to accompany music I make, as well as putting out the odd release for friends or other folks I get to know.

2 Likes
#144

Thanks for the advice. I heard elsewhere that there is this mysterious thing called USPS Media Mail. Some of the packages I’ve got through artists on Bandcamp have this word printed on the label. But the service-with-a-scowl I got at my local post office led me to believe this was not actually a thing and they told me it would cost $15 to mail one 3oz package with a single tape enclosed.

This was a lie.

Media Mail is real, it’s $2.80 for private individuals for 16oz or less and the Pirate Ship service can deliver PDF files of these labels with paid postage. Yea!

4 Likes
#145

Is there anything to take in consideration when mastering for tape?

2 Likes