It may seem like oxymoron back in 1995 until today, but was
there ever a time where “audiophile cassette tape music recordings” were
commercially marketed?
By: Ringo Bones
Back in 1995, the phrase “audiophile cassette tape music
recordings” may seem oxymoronic and nonsensical to most audiophiles who are
bought and sold by the budget CD player wonder called “Marantz CD 63 SE KI
Edition”, but there was indeed a point in time where premium audiophile
cassette tape music recordings are commercially marketed and can be bought from
your nearest music store. Back in 1980, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab president
Herb Belkin after introducing Original Master Recording LPs back in 1977 tried
to introduce the cassette tape version of his “Mo-Fi” LPs called the Original
Master Recording Cassette that were recorded in real time – not via high-speed
dubbing – that made available audiophile quality contemporary popular music,
hard rock heavy metal and Jazz to almost everyone, including 1980s era budding
audiophiles. Later in 1980, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab later released Geo-Tape,
an audio cassette tape deck alignment device for consumer use.
Unbeknown to Mo-Fi president Herb Belkin, cassette tape
playing devices on the lower end of the food chain have the propensity to “eat
tape” – i.e. their capstans literally pull the tape out of the shell and
crumpling the tape forever ruining what audio signal recorded on it. Unlike the
advent of cheap boom-box CD playing devices of the 1990s, these don’t have
ultraviolet lasers that burn the recorded pits of music CDs. I think the last
“audiophile” cassette tape music album sold commercially was back in 1991 when the cassette tape
format of Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind album where the tape used was of the
cobalt-doped Avilyn type and it even said on the cover “recorded on premium
cobalt Avilyn tape. But was it because of the excessive high-frequencies
recorded on the master tape of the Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind open reel
studio master tape that resulted in too much – and messy – treble? At least you
can now listen to the album to freely judge for yourself.
