#134348  by Deadhead710
 
Well this is my very first post on this site, I actually just signed up today so here it goes!

First of all a little background, I am 18 and a Dead Head, due to the influence of my father who attended 30+ concerts of The Dead, sadly he just passed away a few weeks ago and I inherited all of his Dead tapes. I absolutely love them and really would like to listen to them, the only thing is that he was somewhat paranoid about playing the tapes because he was worried they could break. Well I would like to transfer them to a CD, the only thing is I have no idea what I am doing since I have no experience with anything like this.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated, and would be willing to send copies of some of the CD's that I get out of the process.

Stay Dead! :smile:
 #134350  by ccw3432
 
Really sorry to hear about your father. If it were me I would play the tapes as is if you have a decent quality tape deck. If you don't have one, I would think you should be able to pick up a used one for cheap these days. I still play my tapes from time to time. Sure it's possible the player could eat one, but unlikely if you use a decent tape deck and make sure the tape is not unraveled prior to playing it. There's something special about hearing these shows from an analog cassette, before the days of digital.

As far as transferring them to CD, you could do that. I considered doing that with my tape collection but with the digital world you'll get better quality recordings by getting into the digital trading if you're interested in that. If so, send me a personal message with your address and I'll be glad to send you a few nice soundboard CDs to get you started, or check out archive.org for some good streaming of Dead shows.
 #134356  by rugger
 
Good advice above. The only thing I will add is that if you are going to play them in a deck, make sure the heads are clean--easy to do with a q-tip and some isopropyl alcohol.

john in san diego
 #134361  by Deadhead710
 
Thanks for the help, I do like playing the tapes, but a while back one actually came undone at one of the ends, so I am hesitant to play them, as well as they are not the best quality and I would like to clean them up. I believe the one tape that came undone was July 13, 1984 at the Greek where they did Scarlet Begonias>Touch of Grey>Fire On The Mountain, as well as a awesome Dark Star for an encore, and the 2nd half of the concert was the one that messed up. Is there any way to fix one of the ends breaking?

A little something else is that my dad was at that specific concert :-)
 #134369  by gmchart
 
Welcome Jess, this is a good spot for answers to most if not all of your questions. As far as the Greek '84 tape, it seems to me (we're goin' back about 100yrs. here) that you can reattach an end. It's tricky but look for a wedge shaped piece right at the hub of the wheel, pull it straight out with a small pair of needle nose pliers. Work the new end around the wedge cavity and snap the wedge back in. Your Dad gave me a copy of that show many years ago and it's been a top 5 for me ever since. My brother gave me a digital copy for my birthday at some point (which I'm listening to right now) so let me know if you want one.
 #134373  by mgbills
 
Alternatively…you could save the tapes until you score a really nice deck that some audiophile really has taken care of….and just listen to those shows on Internet Archive.

Peace.
 #134383  by Deadhead710
 
Hey Greg thanks for the welcoming, the 1984 concert was on 2 tapes if I remember correctly and actually when I really started getting turned on to the Dead at the beginning of my senior year it was the first half of that concert with Scarlet>Touch>Fire that really got me in tune with them. But it was the second tape of that concert with the Dark Star as an encore that bit the dust, when it happened I looked at it and it did just look like the end of it came off of the reel, but I did not investigate it any further. Thanks for explaining that to me, when I come back in the summer I will need to find it and try to fix it, I am thinking of trying to find a blank tape or 2 and practice with those just in case I mess it up the first time around. I agree that concert is amazing, it is also one of my favorites.

I am not sure if my dad told you before he passed that he found his group of special tapes and his 1981 Paris Morning Dew is on it, and he was so nervous of playing just in case it would too bite the dust, so needless to say I am going to get all my practicing done long before I even touch those tapes haha. I would absolutely love a copy of that if you wouldn't mind, I found Scarlet>Touch>Fire and Women are Smarter on youtube with actual footage from the concert but it would be nice to hear the whole thing again!

I am definitely going to be looking into buy a nice tape deck, although funds are a bit tight at the moment so I will have a lot of time to do research on finding the absolute best one out there. I am also been on Archive and it is fantastic, there are a couple of glitches with the music stopping at random times but all in all it is a great website!

Thanks for the all the help everyone.

Jesse
 #134440  by Charlie
 
Nakamichi had a very good reputation for their tape decks back in the day. If you find one in good condition at a reasonable price that would probably be a good buy. Otherwise, three head tape decks were generally considered to be better quality, although it may not make a great deal of difference unless you are also intending to do some recording.
 #134486  by Deadhead710
 
Thanks for that info, I am limited on my funds at the moment due to just starting college, but I will definitely look into them.