Copymasters Cassette

[fancifullyfry]

Hi everyone!

I‘ve seen some Copymasters cassettes of Smiths‘ albums sold in the past, and always wondered what they were.

Are they supposed to be demos or more as in-house reference?

I‘ve searched around and the general consensus seem to point that they are in-house references. However, there are still some who said that they are advanced demos for people in the music industry (producers etc.).

If they are in-house reference, what does that actually mean? What‘s an in-house reference?

Thank you!

 

[Anonymous]

I think they are early attempts by the record company at putting together a proposed album release, in terms of tracklistings and mixes, and getting everyone involved to sign-off on it. Presumably it was a lot easier to do these initial mock ups on cassette, so they could be distributed between the label, band and managers etc - once everything was agreed, then things would move onto the test pressing stage on vinyl.

Presumably most of the time everything on the Copymaster cassette was authorised and ended up on the final version, but occasionally stuff would get altered, as on the 'Hatful of Hollow' tape: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/20...ate-take-hatful-of-hollow-reference-cassette/

 

[fancifullyfry]

I think they are early attempts by the record company at putting together a proposed album release, in terms of tracklistings and mixes, and getting everyone involved to sign-off on it. Presumably it was a lot easier to do these initial mock ups on cassette, so they could be distributed between the label, band and managers etc - once everything was agreed, then things would move onto the test pressing stage on vinyl.

Presumably most of the time everything on the Copymaster cassette was authorised and ended up on the final version, but occasionally stuff would get altered, as on the 'Hatful of Hollow' tape: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/20...ate-take-hatful-of-hollow-reference-cassette/

Thank you! This is a very informative answer and I think this makes a lot of sense.