If you’ve ever wondered how to make a mixtape with a cassette, you’re in for a nostalgic treat.
Creating your own personalized custom cassette mixtape is a delightful blend of creativity and craftsmanship, bringing back the charm of a bygone era.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of making a mixtape from start to finish
We’ll help you curate the perfect collection of songs, design unique artwork, and add personal touches that make your mixtape truly special.
This guide will provide you with all the tips and tricks you need to create a memorable and meaningful musical keepsake.
Table of Contents
FIRST, WHAT ARE CUSTOM MIXTAPES?
If you’re not born in the 80s, you may be asking what’s the difference between custom mixtape and albums. We all know how albums are composed of songs or tracks that are from the same musician, artist, or band, etc…It’s the stuff we pay for in music stores.
Mixtapes are different. They are a set or compilation of tracks from different musicians which are produced or released by DJs. This is also the stuff we used to make for our crushes when we’re in High School.
There are four different ways you cancreate your very own personalized custom cassette mixtapes.
These ways are not very different when executing the steps, what greatly differs them from each other is the medium used. The first way is the cassette to cassette, second is the CD to cassette, third is the vinyl to cassette, and fourth is the music on online streaming sites to cassette.
________________________________________________________________________
Cassette Mixtape Creation Option #1: Cassette to Cassette
You will need:
- A dual cassette deck
- Several cassette tape albums
- Blank cassette tapes
Dual cassette decks are cassette decks that have two cassette wells, one on the left and one on the right. One cassette well can only play a cassette tape while the other can play and record.
Instructions:
To make your custom cassette mixtape, place one cassette tape album on the well that only plays tapes .
place a blank tape on the well that can play and record.
Play the tape and when the track you want is on, press PLAY and RECORD together.
________________________________________________________________________
Cassette Mixtape Creation Option #2: CD to Cassette
You will need:
- A CD player
- Cassette deck with RCA ports
- RCA cables
- CD albums
- Blank cassette tapes
Instructions:
Before making your mixtape, you have to connect the CD player and cassette deck with the RCA cables.
You have to plug the cable to the CD player’s RCA output to the cassette deck’s RCA input.
Just like the first way, all you have to do is play your CD on the CD player and then press play and record on the cassette deck to create your mixtape.
________________________________________________________________________
Cassette Mixtape Creation Option #3: Vinyl to Cassette
You will need:
- A turntable with built-in preamplifier
- Cassette deck with RCA ports
- RCA cables
- vinyl records
- blank cassette tapes
Instructions:
Same as the one above, you will have to connect the two equipment using an RCA cable, with the cable plugged into the RCA output of the turntable and the other end plugged into the RCA input of the cassette deck.
And just like the first two ways, press play and record on the cassette deck, press start on the turntable, and then drop the needle on the track that you want.
These three ways all used cassette decks, and these cassette decks have either an auto bias or manual bias. It is a tool that helps improve the audio quality when you record on cassette tapes.
Before recording for your mixtapes, you can test out the recording by recording while adjusting the bias and the record volume. Make sure both bias levels and record volume levels are to your or other people’s liking.
________________________________________________________________________
Cassette Mixtape Creation Option #4: Music on Online Streaming Sites to Cassette
You will need::
- A portable cassette player and/or recorder
- Blank cassette tapes
- AUX cord and your phone
Instructions:
Using the AUX cord, connect your phone to your cassette player/recorder.
To start making your custom cassette mixtape, you need to press the play and record buttons then play the music on your phone. If the next song is not to your liking, you can press the pause button and then unpause it when you want the next song to be recorded. After you’ve finished, you can press the stop button.
You can set up a playlist before the recording so that you will not need to pause and unpause. It would also be better to turn off your phone’s wifi and Bluetooth to avoid having a pulsating tapping on the record.
After recording your own mixtape, you can design them in whatever way you want. You can buy j-cards, and cassette tape cases and design them too. You may use paint, like acrylic, stickers, washi tapes, colored markers, and more. After designing them, you can give your personalized mixtape as a gift to someone you want to give it to or maybe have it for yourself.
________________________________________________________________________
If you want a more hassle-free way of having your own personalized custom cassette mixtapes, then you can order them from us!
You can choose what kind of materials to use and what kind of design you want. It’s 2021 so we have soooo many options for custom tape duplication.
J-cards are more awesome, the customization options for cassette tape packaging is endless!
Whether you want to make a custom cassette mixtape for your friends or you want a collab with other musicians, this is something fans and friends would like to have!
________________________________________________________________________
James Hill is a veteran of the music industry. He first worked at Warner Reprise Records then later joined Interscope/ Geffen Records where he managed producers and songwriters and got his first platinum record for Keyshia Cole’s The Way It Is. He is now helping indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD, custom vinyl records and merch company in LA.
