Ode to the cassette: a combination of feelings
In 1960 the Dutch engineer Lou Ottens was employed at the Belgian Philips factory in Hasselt to find a solution for the clumsy, large hinge systems of the time. So he set out to find a more practical solution that was smaller and more portable. The result? A handy device called a cassette. The effect? Being responsible for setting the lives of people around the world to music.
Philips then developed the first radio and cassette recorder, later known as the boom box or ghetto blaster, paving the way for innovations like the Sony Walkman, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. This changed the way we experienced music outside of our homes and cars as close companions in our daily lives.
In addition to the music that the cassette contained, the product itself had a number of sounds associated with the experience. When you're old enough to remember how I played tapes, you can safely focus back on the sound of a cassette being inserted into a player, the clunky sound of the eject button, and the constant manual winding of the tape back into place and place when it got caught in the player mechanics. The cassette is a symbol of nostalgia and the beginning of real musical freedom.
THE MIXTURE
When Ottens (who died earlier this month at the age of 94) introduced the first portable tape recorder and cassette, it was of course an easy-to-use recording and hearing aid for practical reasons. However, it quickly became a means of recording our own voices and sounds. It enabled sampling and the creation of soundscapes, a concept that was later popularized by artists such as Brian Eno in the 1970s.