After much googling and forum trawling, I have finally got the cassette recorder working!

Very pleased so far. It will play through the speaker and records from the built in mic, but there is a lot of interference when I tested it, so I have ordered a 3.5mm jack lavalier mic which I am hoping will clean up the recording. Once I’ve tested it with the new mic and happy with the results, I will transfer my existing recordings to the cassette.

The player is powered either via mains or batteries. If mains isn’t an option at the show, then I will use the batteries but the old C batteries might not be enough to power through the entire show – we’ll see!

I am also now on the hunt for some of the traditional orange foamed headphones with the 3.5mm jack. As for positioning, I’m actually thinking about laying the recorder and headphones on the floor at the base of my installation. This is for a number of reasons:

• My journey in life started with having those headphones glued to my ears, throughout all the mountains I’ve climbed music has been my saviour – it seems apt that I would be on the floor looking up at the journey ahead (the installation)
• I don’t want the soundbites to take over the installation – they are a part of the whole concept but the journey is much more important to me and the way this is presented.
• The cassette recorder almost represents the first rung on the social class ladder – one reason I have opted to use this specific device in the first place.
• As you listen to the soundbites, your eye will be drawn up and through the very same journey or tracks I have taken to get to this present moment.

In other news, Spotify are slowly removing my podcasts from my Tracks series sadly, although it’s taken them nearly 6 years to acknowledge the music contained in them! In the meantime, I haven’t been able to upload any more for my Art podcast which has been very frustrating over the last few months! Hopefully, it’ll be finalised soon and I can continue. Better late than never I suppose, but I really wanted it to coincide with my MA. And I am deeply dissapointed that Tracks will be unpublished.