FAQs

That depends. In most equipment the absence of tabs makes it impossible to record over the contents of the tape. National Audio always uses tabs-out shells for duplication orders to prevent the tape from being accidentally erased by the end-user.

If you record on cassette tapes yourself, tabs-in are easiest, but you can record on tabs-out cassettes by covering the holes with adhesive tape. Breaking out the tabs (or removing the tape) after recording prevents erasure.

Some professional recording equipment can record onto either tabs-in or tabs-out tapes.

Cassettes are recorded as side A and side B. Two stereo pairs of tracks (four total) are available on a cassette tape; the first stereo pair is played or recorded when the tape is moving in one direction and the other pair when moving in the opposite direction. So a standard 60 minute tape can contain up to 30 minutes of recorded material on each side.

Prepare your audio tracks so that side A and side B are approximately equal in length so there is not too much silence on either side.

90 minutes total recorded audio is the new maximum length that can be produced.

Imprinting is the process of printing your artwork, in a single ink color, directly on any of our color cassette shells. The imprint ink is permanently fixed on the shell using NAC’s commercial printing presses with UV dryers for a professional result.

Laser printed paper labels are also an option for colorful or complex designs. Labels can be multi-color and full bleed designs.

There are separate templates for imprints and for labels. Please use the correct one for your designs.

National Audio can work with almost any kind of media or digital audio file as the original for duplication. The most professional quality is achieved if you send .wav files that sound exactly as you like. The audio engineers at NAC make slight adjustments to make your recording sound its best on cassette tape. For more specific information click here.