There is a guy in Zaragoza that is starting to act as a cassette DJ, but looks to me that he doesn't understand what the cassette revival should be and doesn't know how good a cassette sounds. 'DJ Falceitor' now calls himselm 'CJ' (one year ago when he started he didn't use any special name) and I guess after he saw my nickname, CJ Walkman Archive (Cassette Jockey). He says he is the very first Dj to make a party in the millenium, with 'pirated cassettes' in aragon (a Spain province). He doesn't know that my friend TJ Autoreverse did it 3, 2 and one year ago. He says he only uses pirate cassettes! And I ask myself: what's the interest in using them? Will the police look for him, btw? If he is using self-recorded cassettes or recorded by others, what's the point in stating that they are 'pirated cassetes'? Won't people think that the quality will be so bad? But, hey, wait: there's still more. the first time he did it, one year ago, he was using decks but now he is using walkmans like TJ Autoreverse and me. But he is using ION walkmans. Yes, those crappy walkmans that sound like hell. With pirated cassettes. And, guess what? He is not using good cassettes like my friend and I do, like TDK SA, MA, XLII, UX, UX-S and all that. He uses plain TDK D and SONY HF. For a party where is supposed that you are the professional that drives it. My friend and I record our tapes from good quality sources (CD or vinyl) and some of our best top of the line, 3 head decks (like the SONY 909ES, Pioneer CT-93 or AIWA XK009), but he doesn't record anything. He just uses the tapes that he recorded many years ago in his boombox or a friend did record for him. So, does the cassette really deserve this kind of return? Definitely, not. PS: This guy calls himsself the "great" DJ Falceitor. Cough, cough, "great"...
Here you an see it in a short video I was sent: [GALLERY=media, 1291]DJ with ION walkman 2019-05 by walkman archive posted May 28, 2019 at 6:41 PM[/GALLERY]
He is a needs a lot of attention. That is why he uses the word "pirate: copy or first! CJ or great DJ Falceitor.
This made me think of a few things: The Tristar 777 CB rig which was advertised as "Illegal in Every Country in the World", which was true due to its extended frequency range). The Who's "Live at Leeds" Album. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_at_Leeds and far more recently Rave Culture. If he wants real credibility he should break into some disused building and do the Gig there. In fact it still seems to be happening https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/what-happened-ravers-took-over-489373
I think wants to be more popular but fails in the very beggining: to be better in what you do. Unless he nail down his own fails, he won't become a better DJ. I think he just have to stop, watch himself from the outside, get some honest critics and start over. But he has an important rule in a very well known music magazine and everyone always says good things about him, mainly because he works where he works in but not for what he really does. People don't want to be ignored by him in the magazine, thus noone is encouraged enough to tell him the truth...
To me it looks more like he's just doing this for fun and having fun doing so. Personally I see nothing wrong with that as a whole (the details are another story). But then again I wouldn't be one to criticize anyway since I simply lack the money (as of yet) to buy a proper recording deck (thus being forced to use a cheap deck). Of course I also see and understand the (legitimate) concerns about tapes being presented in a worse light than they could shine in, but sometimes people do something particular just to do "crazy" things because it amuses them. Then it's less about the details than about the overall concept for them and I wouldn't exclude that's the underlying motivation here as well: Do something unusual/crazy and present it that way. To be fair, one can say it does have to do with attention and all of the criticism I read here about what could be done better is justified. It might be worth a try sending him a polite mail or letter with suggestions on how to improve his performance - or just inviting him to a proper walkman DJing session so he can see how there are people who did it before more professionally... if he's someone to reason with of course. Not everyone can take criticism. Well, let's focus on the good side: Some people might get interested in tapes as a result anyway or they will just feel the nostalgia and dig in their basement. Some will dig deeper, possibly develop a passion and start grabbing "the good stuff" when they can. Exposure is still exposure.
I kind of like the premise, the execution is pretty bad. Now I have to pull out my Live at Leeds and revisit it Longman!
I understand what you say, Sly, and you are very kind. I don't know that guy but I respect what he does. Of course he is free to do it. However, I don't like it. He did another performance past year with a Technics dual deck, and a friend went to see him, so I'm 100% sure of that. He is a 40+ yrs old guy that seems to live alone (no kids) and he has a fixed job as a locutor in a radio station as well as publisher in a music magazine and also does as a DJ (digital, of course). So I doubt he is in need of money to buy better gear. He can buy the gear if he wants, actually tomorrow. The problem is that he doesn't understand the cassette as a good quality, 100% analog medium. To combat the most common sentence you hear today about cassettes ("they sound like garbage") you have to show a good quality ones to the people. I don't mean using TDK MA-XG in a Nakamichi Dragon but, hey, there are quite good midpoints. Not only that, if you are doing a professional, paid, performance DJ session with cassettes, you must play high quality music to your audience, same as if you want to do it with digital. Even more in case of cassettes, to avoid those comments. The problem with this guy is that he seems to be unaware that cassettes can deliver actually very high quality sound... but he is a sound professional for many years. I've listened him in the radio say that he 'still remembers to play cassettes in the station'! C'm0n, I can't believe that a guy that has been there for so many years doesn't know how a cassette can sound. For me there are two options: He doesn't know, so to me he is very ignorant. Not knowing this medium if you work on that tells nothing good about your skills and your internal ambition to become a better professional. He knows but he intentionally prefers to use very low cassettes and pay absolutely no attention to the final result, which is even worse than 1) And again, I haven't been there, but a friend was. This friend has very good ears and can differentiate by ear even a good MP3 from a CD and, of course, from a cassette. He knows very well how a good cassette can sound. He told me past year that the sound was poor. And this year, that it was a pain to the ears. The worst sound he has listened to in a pub, ever. So, yes, it's good that he shows cassettes to the public but, please, do it with a minimal quality. Don't spread the bad fame of the worst of the cassette.
I agree with @Sly. that there is no such thing as "bad publicity". I learned about the existence of hi-rez Pono Player from a viral internet video thrashing Pono, hi-rez, and all things hi-end. I was quite happy with my modded iPods, Discmans, and Ray Samuels h/p amps. After watching that crap, handsomely presented by David Pogue, I just HAD to buy Pono. And fell in love with that ugly contraption. At least this Dude here does not thrash cassettes, he is just trying to get some extra creds and/or bucks. This is the good part. Is this good for cassettes or music? My personal opinion is NO! He does the same disservice to cassettes as Crowley and Ion turntables are doing for vinyl. Vinyl and "analog" survived the "Perfect Sound Forever" ages because of DJs (or so the legend says)... and Mike Fremer ( ) ...and also because it Does sound better than digital. But Not though a $100 turntable If you play Ion Walkman through the speakers, you are just nurturing the fad, not "reviving" anything
I certainly agree with your first points. A few months ago I tried to give some of my late Mothers cassettes and LPs to Oxfam (a big UK chain of charity shops). They were very happy to take the LPs but weren't interested in the cassettes (despite both being of similar musical styles). Now I am actually quite pleased, although will have to find somewhere to keep them. Today I was in my local supermarket and they still have a big display of new LPs. With some pressings like Amy Winehouse I wonder if they were actually ever on vinyl when first released on CD. Whatever you think of the infamous Crosley and its slightly better alternatives like the Audio Technica LP60, I doubt if the Vinyl Revival would ever have started if they hadn't been brought out and marketed.
Very true, I really do not understand this Crosley bashing that goes on. They do more business that any other turntable manufacturer, as far as i am concerned they are the main players keeping the vinyl momentum going. Yes they may not be as good as what people on here have, but it’s all a lot of people can afford. Why all the snobbery, we need to stop this as all the snobbery does is put people off joining our hobby.
(HRMPH!) More like DJ "Fellatio"... because this guy blows! If he wants to revive something, and be the center of attention, he should've became a VJ (Video Jockey) like MTV had... THEN he'd be embracing something culturally significant from the past which deserves a comeback!
I will stick with what I saw: vinyl revival started before ION and Crosley parasites came along, it was/is fueled by Those Who Care and by the Industry itself because LPs cannot be illegally downloaded or copied. Maybe I am dead wrong and this whole thread is totally irrelevant. The Joker will continue his Cassette J-ing using Ion Walkmans, once there will be more of them, cassette "revival" shall be upon us "snobbery" is another nicely massaged word in hi-end: sales personnel in specialized audio shops are snobs, if your cart or CD player is over $100 you are snob, if listening to "Top 40" makes you sick you are snob, etc etc... Personally, I see snobs among people who go poetic about turntables with speakers embedded into the plinth (just think for a sec of this brilliant idea!!) In our age of smartphones supporting AppleLossless, FLAC and even hi-rez, hearing Analog Bliss in such corners sounds like snobbery to me. Anyway, I said what I wanted to say on the subject here: BLACK GATE CAPACITORS AND “SNAKE OIL” IN HOME AUDIO The only common ground I have with some posters is my hope that Rega, Pro-Ject, or Music Hall put their snobbery to rest and strip down one of their $200-400 offerings to sub-$100 point. This will push parasites to the bottom; the talk of some "music lovers who can afford $40 turntable but cannot afford $85 TT" will continue (of course it will!). But that will be just silly...
Some interesting points in this article which isn't what the title suggests. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/falling-great-vinyl-scam/ Taking, like the author, David Bowie as an example, buying his albums on Vinyl is the mark of a true fan, just as buying a single of your favourite artist and eagerly waiting to here its chart position the next week was in the 60s to 90s. Listening to David Bowie on a streaming service might simply indicate that you were wondering who he was.
I think the reasons for the two revivals are a little differnt Longman, I think vinyl lovers have always talked about it's superiority and thus had a built in market the last 30 years for the high end guys and also the guys with large record collections that didn't see a need to upgrade to CD. Cassette on the other hand might have fully withered but people still had these really cool gadgets to play them on, forums like this gave people a first hand view of all of the really neat players along with the lore of the 80's where everyone had one. Since there's still a bizillion tapes still around for cheap, it made it easy for the youngsters to check it out. I looked up the guy, he seems to be a performance artist and this seems like part of his art, not a serious CJ or DJ but a guy putting together a fun show. Sure if would be cool if he used vintage high-end equipment but not everyone knows what that means. We all chuckle when guys want to save some low end Walkman but a lot of newbies just want to see a working unit regardless of how nice it is. Crosley TT's have been givin a lot of shelf space in stores, fueling their marketing and sales. Most experienced users know these are as basic as it gets but it does get interest in the hobby. Crosley is most likely a contract manufacturer that gets bids for production and can move fast and change with the times, I can't complain because they might have the opposite effect Jorge is talking about. By having a $100 turntable, they force the other guys to drop their prices. I do know I saw the turntables before I saw the vinyl in the stores, so which came first? Ion is a little different, they have some extremely nice products and some low end units. At least they are priced like an entry level units with the packaging and build showing they are not trying to be something better, they were one of the first with a portable cassette to mp3 players, it's nice that someone took the plunge into this unknown market, who knows what effect this had on the hobby, these recorders have been around for a few years, I'm pretty sure before the current revivial.
good luck to him, if he is having fun..... let him. But we ALL KNOW, there is only one real Cassette D.J
I don't want you guys to think I'm an intolerant person, because I'm not. In fact all people that personally knows me (and some are here) agree that I'm very kind and tolerant person. I always tried to be. I'm ok with those that simply want to enjoy the cassette, with whatever gear they have: top, mid ot low end gear. It's everyone's choice, of course. Nothing to say. What pisses me is this guy that claims himself as "professional CJ", "great", that *has* the experience, the compromise, the passion (and, of course some money) to do it well, and... I don't know why, but he just doesn't seem to bother to do it the right way. I'm not blaming him for not using TDK MA-XG together with a Nakamichi or several upgraded D6C, but... come on... Can't he just buy a decent walkman, like one of those 90s thin SONY (that can be found for cheap) and record a decent tape onto a decent deck? Claming he is the "great DJ" and using such, errrr, rubbish (I'm sorry) for his *professional* job makes me think he's either a scammer or a complete charlatan. If he just doesn't claim he is a professional CJ nor "great", I'd say: well, ok, it's simply a cassette fan enjoying them his way. But claiming he's a "professional"... come on... Sorry if I seem a bit harsh with him, but I think he's a dishonor to the cassette culture and to real fans like you guys. The cassette is outdated but that doesn't mean it's rubbish. Audiophiles in the 80s and 90s weren't stupid or were fooled.
Agreed... Even today I can't walk into a resale shop without "tripping-over" a good dual-cassette deck, so why don't he just learn to load, cue-up & play on something like that? But NOOOO!... he's got to an "artisté" who's "saying something" about modern society and it's nostalgia for "passé" media.
Sounds like this guy is the Cassette equivalent of one of the dodgy DJ's that gets music by ripping Youtube and shows up with a computer full of malware. He probably has to stay really quiet when he puts his recorder up to his bluetooth speaker.
