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> as a child of the 80s/90s attempting to master the art of the perfect mixtape

I hit upon the plan of taping stuff off the radio onto 1/4", and then I could splice a not-talked-over beginning onto a not-talked-over ending.

Later, I worked out that I could extend or shorten tracks, particularly if I could get a tape of the instrumental version, using the same trick.

No-one uses tape and razors these days, but it was good fun.

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1/4” is a much better “master” of capturing higher fidelity than my method, a compact cassette using two different cassette tape decks. I remember when I swapped it out and got a dual Pioneer compact cassette deck, which could also be controlled by a remote control. It was fantastic, until the home Compact Disc recorder drive came on to the scene. Alas, compact cassettes are not as effective to splice, and I miss the 90’s.

You can do the same thing with cassettes but they're so fiddly to splice.

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