Sonic Youth Unloads Their Tape Stockpile

In the early 2000s, as digital recording came to dominate the music industry, it seemed like magnetic tape was about to become obsolete. In order to preserve their preferred medium, rockers Sonic Youth stocked up.

Now, with their fears of a completely tape-free future unfounded, Sonic Youth has a stockpile of reels, including 2" and 1/2" reels from Ampex, Quantegy, BASF, and others, alongside other assorted formats – and they're putting them up for sale on Reverb.

The tapes do not contain any secret, to-be-discovered Sonic Youth recordings. While they are all used, they were used in other studios before being acquired by the band. They were all sourced by Sonic Youth members from studios that were then clearing their shelves and trading in their tape machines for Pro Tools rigs.

Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley told us, "We want this stuff to be used. It's useful, we love analog tape, and it would be terrible to throw it in a dumpster, so, it's priced to sell, it's priced to use, and hopefully someone will give it some TLC and make something awesome with it."

Pricing and Availability:

See the Sonic Youth Reverb Shop

More information:

• Reverb

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