Dr John – In a Sentimental Mood audio cassette (1989)

Here’s someone who’s lived a life. One time rogue, prolific session musician, immensely respected figure in American roots music… Mac Rebennack, much better known as Dr. John, is a genuine New Orleans pianist, vocalist and musician, most associated with the classic New Orleans blues/jazz style of piano. Whilst he’s also played guitar for a good proportion of his career, it’s the influence of Professor Longhair and a number of other cool and unorthodox American pianists which defines what he’s about.

The Type I Normal Bias Audio Cassette

The Type I normal bias audio cassette was the standard and most widely compatible tape format – the direct descendant of the original compact cassette. The tape preserved sound by means of a ferric-oxide coating, and first appeared on the consumer market in the mid 1960s. Heading the post you can see a fairly early Type I musicassette demonstrator, which was used to help drive the cassette format into wider use in 1970.

Sony AHF 90 Audio Cassette (1981)

The Sony AHF was an excellent normal bias cassette from the renowned hi-fi manufacturer.

At the dawn of the 1980s, there were three normal bias ferric oxide tapes in the Sony range.

The CHF was the basic offering. Light on treble definition, fairly noisy, and low in price – but in its class, still pretty good value.

The next step up was the BHF. This had noticeably better treble response, and whilst noise/hiss wasn’t exactly minimal, it was certainly more under control than with the CHF. The price was typically around 30% higher than that of the CHF.

Stepping up again to the most expensive Sony ferric, you found the technically superior AHF.