Old media like cassette tapes, vinyl and photographic film are more popular than they have been in years. But a full revival is impossible because we have lost the skills to mass produce them all.
Cassette tapes make unexpected comeback in music streaming era
Tascam has just announced that it will once again be making cassettes for use in its iconic Portastudios, small recording and mixing consoles for home musicians that recorded up to four tracks on a standard cassette. This has led to some speculation that Tascam might also be making a new line of cassette-based Portastudios. These would likely sell as well as any other niche music device, but the components would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.
“In making our film, we used working tape recorders that we found on eBay and did extensive research on the timelines of both 8-track and cassette tapes,” veteran indie filmmaker Dan Mirvish told Lifewire via email.
“But as we are discovering with our upcoming soundtrack release, there is far more demand for vinyl than production capacity can serve. Given the scarcity of vinyl presses and the overall supply chain issues impacting the economy, it is estimated that even small vinyl productions can have six months to a year of lead time.”
