Manufacture landscape of music cassettes that can be continued at the last US "cassette tape duplication factory"

Writing "rewind" on a music player or a video deck is already a past story and there are many people who were shocked to realize that the latest equipment is marked as "fast reverse". "Rewind" was the term of the era when using magnetic tape for recording media, but since music was treated as digital data, seeing the cassette tape that everyone used before I'm quite low.

Even in such a time, there are people who seek the sound of cassette tapes in the world. Companies that have been manufacturing and duplicating cassette tapes for nearly 50 years in Missouri, USA,National Audio CompanyHas continued to make new products at the cassette tape duplication factory that it became the last in the whole country, and such a state is summarized in the following movie.

The last audio cassette factory - YouTube


"People think that they are" stubborn "or" stupid "by looking at our work," said Steve Step, president of National Audio Company (NAC). However, the company is said to have boasted the highest production number ever in the period of 2015.


A number of devices aligned with the slurry in the factory. These are dedicated devices called "Duplicator" which reproduces the sound source of the "master tape" to be copied to the magnetic tape and duplicates. In a place like a professional dubbing machine, NAC uses these machines to copy sound sources to empty cassette tapes to manufacture music cassettes.


In the morning, employees came to the office. It seems that the task of tape duplication is piling up on this day as well.


NAC seems to have been born as a company that manufactures a raw cassette called "blank tape".


In the 1990s and 2000, many cassette replicating companies who cashed out cassette tapes began to transform business to digital media represented by CD.


NAC at the time was not involved in the cassette replication business, so it did not get damaged due to market shrinkage. But the step president stepped on when the time to review the cassette comes.


Therefore, the company purchased a company that switched business or withdrew, conducted regeneration of used equipment, and prepared a system for cassette replication business.


Step The president's reading is stunning. As a result of fewer competitors, the company's cassette replication business is doing well.


"The best thing about working with Steve (Step President) is that he is" King of Analogs ", said Susie Brown, who is in charge of production control at NAC. "Steve has been aiming for the" last cassette tape factory ", but now I will proudly tell you that it has really become the last cassette tape factory.


A tape that is set on an open reel deck that is disappearing even in a music studio now. This equipment is a duplicator manufactured in the 1970s, NAC continues maintenance and continues to use it as active.


On the other hand, cassettes that have not yet contained tapes are set one after another on this machine. What is this machine ......


It was a device to transfer album jacket to the surface of cassette using stamper.


In the next step, first set the transferred cassette in the machine.


Then the reel of the cassette rotated and the duplicated tape was taken up. This is the figure of Monozukuri in analog age.


In this way, 2000 cassette tapes are produced per day.


This machine is a machine that wraps the completed cassette with film. It seems to have been manufactured in 1938.


By continuing to use such machines, NAC still continues to produce cassette tapes.


Robert Coverston who is in charge of equipment maintenance at NAC. It is a man who drifts atmosphere like a veteran.


Manufacturers of these devices have disappeared long ago. Mr. Coverstone seems to be carrying out the maintenance of the equipment on a daily basis based on knowledge and experience so far.


Mr. Coverstone is tackling the training of engineers who inherit these skills in addition to daily maintenance.


However, unlike digital equipment which can be solved by programs mostly, analog circuits require a lot of electricity knowledge, so it seems that it is difficult to train technicians not to go along with it.


Although digital music is now in full swing, there is also a trend to look back on analog devices such as cassette tapes. There seems to be an increasing number of people attracted by a kind of nostalgia that owns cassette tapes full of music.


The company also seems to be seeing various requests for tape duplication. MARVEL movie "Guardians of Galaxy"Production of the soundtrack is being done ......


I wonder how it flew down in the background, album of the big metal heavy metal band "Metallica"KILL 'EM ALLIt seems that he is also undertaking the work of. There should be some people who come to the unique atmosphere like self-made tapes.


"In the generation under the age of 35, I feel very encouraged that many people prefer analog sounds," he said.


The number of people who reevaluate the warm sound quality of the analog sound is increasing, and the scale is said to continue expanding.


Step The president said, "I do not have an iPod nor an MP3 player, and I still laugh at the mobile phone is a conventional flip type (so-called" pakapaka ").


It is an encouraging place that the analog world that can be said as the origin of music continues to live in the age of digital prime. It was a movie that I can not help wishing that such technology can be inherited forever.