Not sure if the average Memphis Rap listener knows this, but in general, cassettes—especially dubbed copies—tend to have noticeably worse sound quality on Side B compared to Side A. If you go through a lot of my rips, you’ll start to hear it: DJ Paul – Volume 14, Serial Killaz, Tommy Wright – Memphis Massacre Mix, etc.
A lot of times, I end up having to EQ and mix Side B more heavily to make it sound decent. That’s why you might notice Side A sounding a little brighter or louder in the treble range—like on my Serial Killaz rip. It’s all part of getting these old tapes to sound as clean as possible.
I noticed this when I was trying out different noise removal settings on DJ Paul & Juicy J Vol. 2. I need to make sure I separate any sections that are different and capture their individual noise profile for best results.
Also, do you do any noise removal on any of your uploads. I didn't think you did, but the spectrogram for DJ BK Volume 34 looks a bit strange.
I have uploaded an image from of a section DJ BK 34. There are these patchy gaps in the higher end of the spectrum separated by "empty space". Doing noise removal can create the patchy areas depending on the settings, they usually create those sort of metallic chirps you hear in over processed cassette recordings. Although it sounds fine. Just curious because none of your other uploads look like this as far as I have noticed.
It's rare that I do NR on a rip since it pretty much just ruins high end. It's honestly hard to remember what I did for Volume #34. But I will tell you that it was my very first rip ever. The more I think back on it the more I think I tried to EQ the high end on it for whatever reason. The only other tape I can recall that I used NR on was Lady Bee Part #1 and I think Mac D.L.E. Volume #7 a little bit.
