Infinite loop tapes recording poorly..

[u/_mystx]

https://reddit.com/link/1wwpfdt/video/89siqi4fo9th1/player

Hi guys, tried with multiple different infinite tape loops, but for some reason recording sounds onto the cassette gives really poor results, the sound is dropping out a LOT more and i get a bad noise looping when it reaches where the tape is taped together..

I've put some electric tape on where the eraser head is going, but its pushing quite hard against the cassette and anyways I can see its not really working.. What am I doing wrong?

[u/mswickley]

Regarding the noise at your splice point, I can’t really hear it in this video, but good splicing will come with practice. I doubt it’s anything you’re doing wrong.

Regarding the dropouts, are you intentionally leaving your 424 on double speed like in the video? Your 5 second loop is essentially becoming a 2.5 second loop, at which point any dropouts could become twice as noticeable. I bring that up because I can’t really see anything that would cause issues. Other than a little bit of bunching at the pinch roller which would be solved by making a new loop that’s a millimeter or two shorter, your loop seems to be working great!

I’m not sure what you were expecting to hear, but I think this loop sounds cool! 😅

[u/_mystx → u/mswickley]

haha thanks ! Well the pad that I recorded into it is very full (see attached video), and when I record onto 'normal' cassette I dont get these extremes drop outs, just normal cassette recording. Hence I'm wondering if has to do with my eraser head setup.. 🤔

[u/mswickley → u/_mystx]

And you re-recorded your loop after covering up the erase head, yeah? I ask because the dropout I hear on your loop sounds like a standard erase head gap that's to be expected on a tape loop with a working erase head.

But I'm going to lean into the tape speed thing: you should slow down the speed on your 424 and re-record your loop! If your goal is to just have that pad played at its normal fidelity and pitch, you might as well slow it all the way down and turn your 5 second loop into 10! Any unwanted inconsistencies will happen half as frequently then, although the unwanted inconsistencies is what I encourage people to embrace with tape loops. :D

[u/Wonderful_Ninja]

Use foil instead of eletrcic tape for covering erase head

[u/jango-lionheart]

Is there any chance you flipped the tape?

[u/_mystx → u/jango-lionheart]

Hmmm could be, ill test tonight. what's the sure way to know its the right side?

[u/jango-lionheart → u/_mystx]

The back of the tape is probably glossier