BEATS on TAPE: CASSETTE (Type II/IV) vs REEL-TO-REEL Comparison // Do They Sound Different??

Comparing what a beat sounds like when recorded to Cassette (Type II and Type IV) and Reel-To-Reel tape. Here's the times for each example, should be easy to bounce between them to fully appreciate their differences:

0:00 Intro
0:53 Original Audio
1:18 Type IV Cassette
1:44 Type II Cassette
2:13 Reel-To-Reel (3 3/4 ips)
2:40 Reel-To-Reel (7 2/3 ips)

The beats in this videos are from my album "CHOPSMITH OFFCUTS 2" streaming now everywhere online, including:

‣ YouTube -    • Nonjuror - CHOPSMITH OFFCUTS 2 (SP 404 Bea...  
‣ Bandcamp - https://skybarstudios.bandcamp.com/al...
‣ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/1zVHRz...
‣ Soundcloud -   / chopsmith-offcuts-2-sp-beat-tape  
All the rest of the links → https://nonjuror.xyz/links

Decks:
Pioneer CT-W205R (1990s)
Akai X-200D (1970s)

Tapes:
BASF CSII (Type II Chrome)
Maxell MX60 (Type IV Metal)
RTM SM911 1/4" (Reel)

Why do I record stuff to tape?
I really like what tape saturation adds to the personality of a beat and I figure it's probably coz I was a kid in the Sony Walkman era. Even when CDs took over (before Discmans n CD Burners became more common), your friend would buy an album n you'd give them a blank tape to record it to...and essentially that's what this is sonically - taking a digital recording n dumping it to tape. The first time I heard Metallica's "...And Justice For All" album on CD it felt weird, particularly the drums coz I was used to it's sound on cassette. Also, my first 4-track recorder was a Tascam 244 Portastudio which is where I got into Metal tapes & fkn around with tape speed.

My mastering process for CHOPSMITH OFFCUTS 2
Each beat before going onto a cassette was mastered to a point. Compression / Limiting and taming wild frequencies is important - you want the track to be loud enough to compete with the signal-to-noise ratio (more music vs hiss) but also bearing in mind that tape saturation will compress it further and you don't want the end result over compressed. It's a balancing act. With mastering EQ you need to be aware that if you have too much sub lows that there's a good chance they'll distort which for better or worse sound quite different to the original audio.

Something to note, each audio example in this demo was normalized to -0.3dB. The original audio is pretty consistent with how high the kicks / snares peak but looking at the tape waveforms you'll see more variation in the loudness of the drums. As far as finishing off the mastering chain is concerned, what I would do at this point would be to put a limiter on this to squeeze at least 1dB out of it to make the beat louder n get them kicks back up to -0.3dB.

For the CSOC2 beats, if I wanted a beat to sound crisper / cleaner / transparent I would usually aim for the Type IV Metal. For a dirtier / warmer / more grunge in the lows sound I'd choose the Type II.
Also the input gain when recording is something to experiment with. Type IIs break up at 0dB, Type IVs can take a bit more before distorting.

I'm curious, for the beat in this video, which tape would you use?
I went with the Type II. In case you're interested here are the pairings for the whole album:

Type II: Offcuts 1, 5, 11, 13, 14, 16.
Type IV: Offcuts 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15.

The Akai X-200D Reel-To-Reel is a pretty old machine n I imagine it sounds nastier now than what it did in the 70s. Fkr weighs so damn much too, every time I put it on my desk I feel it in my lower back for a damn week...sound it worth it tho. The tape saturation of the Reel-to-Reel is so much more aggressive than that of the cassettes, as much as I'm a fan of it, I don't like them next to each other on a project. I prefer to have all reel or all cassette coz of the tonal difference. For me the R2R makes beats sound so much more energetic n interesting and putting a track then after that which was mastered to cassette sounds weak...at least to me. The Akai is a particularly bright sounding deck n has a few different speed options, I prefer usually the 3 3/4 inch per second as it isn't as bright n has a little more depth in the lows compared to the higher quality 7 1/2 ips.

Hopefully you find my gibberish on this subject not too boring...feel free to get at me with any questions about how I do this stuff.

--

I have a couple of sample packs:

"SP-202 LO-FI P BASS" - individual notes played and recorded with my Fender 50's Precision Bass then resampled with the Boss SP202 at it's various sample rates: https://bsta.rs/ea73ee5

Also:
SP-404MKII STARTUP ART STASH
LO-FI JAZZ GUITAR
BEEFY GRIT DRUM STASH, VOL. 1 & 2
SP-202 LO-FI CHOPPED BREAKS, VOL. 1 & 2
SP-202 DUSTY LO-FI 808 [FREE DOWNLOAD]
SP-202 LO-FI 2 DRUMS [FREE DOWNLOAD]
SP-404 SCRATCHING SAMPLES [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Visit → https://www.beatstars.com/nonjuror/so...