Kishori Amonkar: Mharo Pranam - Meera Bhajans [STCS 850699] a cassette released in India in 1984

Here is a nice collection of Bhajans (devotional songs) sung by the great Kishori Amonkar. These sorts of collections (this one released almost 35 years ago and featuring Meera Bhajans) can sometimes have less than tasteful musical arrangements, but this one is serious and devotional without being over the top or overly prettified.

Upon listening to the beginning of the second side of the tape, I was very surprised to hear what sounded like Kishori ji underwater, whether singing or drowning I wasn't entirely sure. I picked up a small screwdriver I have in place for such circumstances and hoped I could adjust the azimuth to make the cassette sound as it should. It was close, but after I tightened the screw for the second (playback) head so that it was as far to the left as it could be, suddenly the sounds above 4000Hz sprang to life, and i was no longer worried about the safety of Kishori ji.

Anytime I hear someone complain about how bad a particular cassette sounds, I have to wonder if they have learned about azimuth adjustment and practiced it. I know that as for myself I have sold or thrown out several cassette decks in my long life which may have only had to have their azimuth adjusted. I will spare you a long post detailing every cassette deck I have ever owned.

Eventually I am going to do a YouTube video about azimuth adjustment (since YT reaches a much larger audience that this small blog). It might seem like I am always mentioning this, but in terms of cassette transfers the correct tape-head alignment (azimuth) is a much more important factor than the quality of the deck or the audio tape used.

Please note: unavoidable travel and work issues will keep me from posting to any of my blogs for at least a week. Please do not worry about me! I will just be away from home and will come back very much motivated to transfer a stack of vinyl for your listening pleasure. In the meantime, please take the opportunity to deeply listen to my uploads as well as those of my blogging comrades listed at the right. Some of them upload their delightful posts so quickly that I personally don't have the time to appreciate the music they are sharing with me. That is a shame and I will do my best to keep up with my listening. In real life if I purchase a stack of records but don't get around to enjoying them, there is a visual reminder. However, it should be obvious that with digital files there is no stack of cardboard or plastic to remind you to get back to serious listening.

Equipment used in this transfer:
Cassette Deck: Teac W890R (azimuth was carefully adjusted for each side)
Preamp: Parasound PHP 850
Recorder: Sony PCM-M10 at 24/96 resolution

Software: Audacity and xAct

24bit, 96kHz FLAC file (925 MB)

16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file (265 MB)

320kbps mp3 file (101 MB)