ALL THINGS MUSIC
PAGE 4 • GO! MAGAZINE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
“The reason why people have to use
the pencil is because it’s getting out of
alignment, or when you pull, it’s eating
the tape. The reason why it’s eating
the tape is because the rollers and the
pincher are spinning much faster than
what the actual little wheels are allowing.
Continued from previous page
singles, DVD audio and SACDs (super au-
dio CDs) as “other physical media” in its an-
nual and midyear reports.
While vinyl sales have steadily increased
since 2017, all other physical media catego-
ries have steadily declined according to the
reports. However, the 2020 midyear report
noted a roughly 10% uptick in sales of other
physical media, with revenue in the same
category up about 7%.
Cassettes make up about 5% of all sales at
Smith Rock Records, owner Patrick Smith
said. A few tapes are displayed in the front
case, while used cassettes are found on
shelves toward the back of the store.
“I would say stickers are a bigger seller
than cassettes,” he said.
Smith, a Central Oregon native and life-
long music collector, including cassettes,
took over ownership of the store from
Ranch Records owner John Schroeder last
year, with the change announced in May.
“He wasn’t looking to sell; (he) and I had
talked about it for a couple of years,” Smith
said. “… He didn’t put it up for sale any-
where; he just was trying to keep it with
friends and family. I’ve known John for 20-
plus years.”
While the business has taken a hit due to
the pandemic, Smith hopes to start hosting
livestream concerts in the store soon, with
in-person concerts when conditions allow.
He redesigned the interior to give more of a
— Patrick Smith, Smith Rock Records owner
Brian McElhiney/The Bulletin photos
Smith Rock Records owner Patrick Smith shows off some of his cassette tape collection in the up-
stairs office of the record store.
concert hall or nightclub feel and beefed up
the store’s vinyl section.
Smith Rock Records is the first record
store Smith has worked at, let alone owned.
But as a collector, he’s noticed a small resur-
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gence in recent years. The appeal of cassettes
to collectors such as Smith is similar to what
draws music fans to vinyl albums: namely,
audio fidelity.
“Say something like the Blind Melon
(cassette) versus CD, it’s probably going to
sound a little nicer on cassette,” Smith said
while holding his copy of the band’s 1992,
self-titled debut on tape. “And it’s always the
sibilance; it’s the high frequencies, it’s the
cymbals. Everything that has any kind of
digitalization to it. The cymbals, especially
crashes and hi-hats, they all have a pixeliza-
tion or a halo to the sound, and it’s just the
way it is with digital stuff. Analog, it sounds
more realistic.”
Similar to vinyl and record players, cas-
settes and cassette decks require mainte-
nance. Music fans of a certain age probably
remember their favorite tape being eaten by
a car tape deck, or having a pencil handy to
rewind the tape on its spools. Many of these
issues can be avoided with regular mainte-
nance and cleaning, Smith said.
“The reason why people have to use the
pencil is because it’s getting out of align-
ment, or when you pull, it’s eating the tape,”
he said. “The reason why it’s eating the tape
is because the rollers and the pincher are
spinning much faster than what the actual
little wheels are allowing. And sometimes
depending on if it’s dirty or not, that actual
material will lag going between the rollers
and the pinch head and the head, the play-
back unit, and it will get caught.”
Windlinx hasn’t had too many issues
with her truck’s tape deck. Occasionally, a
tape will get stuck and start making clicking
noises; a quick bang on the dashboard usu-
ally fixes the issue.
“I had a tape stuck in that truck for the
first six months that I was driving it because
my grandfather got something stuck in it,”
she said. “But after I beat the dashboard a
while, it finally popped out and I realized
that’s the trick to it.”
Despite the niche market cassette tapes
now occupy, Antoniou doesn’t consider
Zarlok’s tapes collectors’ items.
“I think people just want to get them be-
cause they’re cool, not because they’re par-
ticularly cassette tape collectors,” he said. “…
This is what we make; this is our music. It’s
not a novelty to make it on cassette.”
Windlinx’s collection began out of neces-
sity, but the physicality and the artwork of
the tapes keep her collecting. Smith Rock
Records is her go-to spot, and she enlists
her family to help find tapes as well. Her
top finds include Def Leppard’s “Hysteria”
(an old childhood favorite) and Fleetwood
Mac’s “Rumours.”
“It’s a total rush,” she said. “I’m probably
addicted to it. It’s like drugs for me, finding
that rock album you’ve been looking for for
a while.”
e e
Reporter: 541-617-7814, bmcelhiney@bendbulletin.com
music note
Smith Rock Records offering ticket
refunds until summer
If you’re still holding on to tickets for a can-
celed show from last year, it’s time to get your
refund.
People who purchased tickets from Ranch
Records (now Smith Rock Records) to a show
that was canceled by the pandemic last year
have until the end of May to present the ticket
at the store and get a refund, owner Patrick
Smith said.
If there are no announcements about the
shows being rescheduled, at the beginning of
summer Smith will donate whatever cash is left
over in the ticket fund to a local homeless shel-
ter or food bank, he said.
— Brian McElhiney, The Bulletin