You guys ever microwaved a cassette?

[ApeLincoln]

I've heard hushed whispers in the dark corners of the experimental hip hop community that some ones friend did it, or that hot sugar does it.

All in all nobody seems to have any specifics. So have you done it? Was it cool? How long did you nuke it for? What kind of sound did you get? Any example recordings? Spill the beans

[coupleonapkins]

I've heard hushed whispers in the dark corners of the experimental hip hop community that some ones friend did it, or that hot sugar does it.

I'd fear the tape melting into itself in an actual oven (muy delicado), but leaving them in a car on a hot afternoon will probably do the trick, and your house won't smell like the TDK factory breakroom. I don't actually recommend any of this, since I spent a small fortune on tapes as a kid, and there are probably easier ways to go about this (voltage starver? pressing your finger against the gears while it plays?) without destroying anything too much. I always used to shake an old Walkman while it was playing if a track was boring, but I had more tapes than friends at that point (be nice to your friends).

[crochambeau]

Microwave ovens are pretty intense environments, this smacks a bit like the ol' "put antifreeze in your brake fluid" bit.

I say this having put a variety of things into microwaves in my youth, want to make an incandescent light bulb actually explode? A microwave oven will do that.

The magnetic imprint on a cassette is pretty faint in comparison. If you were to do this, I'd recommend 1 second bursts and work your way up if that doesn't do it for you.

[bob the r0bot]

aren't there usually metal screws in those things?

[crochambeau]

aren't there usually metal screws in those things?

Usually, plus a few more metal bits in the tape path support...


...not to mention the actual composition of the magnetic substrate on the tape is, to the best of my knowledge, at least partially metallic.



BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

[Pepe]

Be sure to put a raw egg inside the microwave as well.

[ApeLincoln]

Yeah I'm fairly skeptical of the idea but every couple of months I see someone somewhere mention the idea with out any explanation and it perks my curiousity every time yet no body ever had any thing beyond that anecdotal "I think so and so did that for track X" to say about it. I'm fairly skeptical but I thought if anyone had tried it they'd be on ILF.

[ApeLincoln]

http://iusedthis.tumblr.com/post/302480 ... sette-tape

Seems dumb but if you've got an extra microwave lying around it may sound interesting? Dudes normally pretty straight about what he did to get a sound so I doubt he's spewing nonsense to throw people off. Stupid idea maybe but I bought a garage sale microwave specifically to microwave CDs on video so cassettes can't be much worse.

[D.o.S.]

I mean maybe for like 3-4 seconds?

I wouldn't do it, though.

[coupleonapkins]

Semi-related:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky-shed_syndrome

[PeteeBee]

I'd use the microwave at work

[ApeLincoln]

Good note coupleonapkins. I'm not so concerned about wrecking the tape or microwave but I don't really want to end up fucking any of my tape decks. I wonder if there is some similar process (in terms of the effect on the sound) that is less destructive (in terms of the physical object)

[rfurtkamp]

I would not.

What I can tell you having spent my youth microwaving other things that shouldn't be microwaved:

Plastic gives no fucks. It's not even going to get hot.

You're not going to make it sound lo-fi by nuking it.

[rfurtkamp]

I once nuked a couple army men for 99:99.

All it did was run up the electric bill.

[manymanyhaha]

Fuck No. Not even the bad shit.