u/ShipAny9570

Does anyone remember this?

Matt looks so fit in this MV

Always love to read their interviews with exclusive photos🤘🏻

These are photos from magazines. I just used ChatGPT to touch up the fold in the middle a bit.

I’m feeling pretty gutted right now and could use some insight.

I recently bought a rare interview cassette tape from eBay. It’s over 20 years old, but the seller had 100% positive feedback and claimed it was in great condition. I had it sitting on my desk for about 6 months before finally sending it to a professional digitizing service last week.

I just got the files back, and the audio quality is absolute trash. It sounds like the people are talking from the back of a deep cave—super echoed and muffled. The technician told me the original tape was already in bad shape.

Here’s the thing: I kept the tape right next to a small portable Bluetooth speaker the whole time. I know magnets are bad for tapes, but could a small speaker really do this much damage in 6 months? Does magnetic interference cause that specific "echoey/hollow" sound?

I spent over $100 on the purchase and the transfer, and I’m devastated. I’m trying to figure out if I’m the one who ruined it or if I just got unlucky with a bad tape. Any audio experts here have an idea?