Asklemmy

First rule of tape recording: don't do it.

Second rule: it's super damn fun so do it (and spend a lot of money)

I am really into tape recording and budget audiophile listening. Mostly all reel to reel, cassette is pretty crap tbh. I have 6 machines now. Something is so fun about the physicality of audio on tape that cannot exist anywhere else at that point unless you manually copy it.

Keep in mind this is for tape machines we can actually afford. Not 10,000 dollar Studers.

I always recommend starting with a used machine that's been taken care of and fix it as you go. If you start with a broken one you may never get to have fun with it if you can't fix it.

Kept note I mostly stick with 1/4" width tale machines as they are the most prevalent and affordable. Tape also a lot cheaper than 1/2 or especially 1" (studio quality, $400 per reel).

Brands to look for in my favorite order:

Otari Revox Akai TEAC/Tascam Sony (some bad, some good) Pioneer

learn the formats There are many different machine formats. The most common is 1/4" quarter track meaning 2 tracks, backwards and forward. Higher spec machines can do true 4 track forward only, or half track forward only (best quality). Pre recorded tapes need to be played on the machine fornat they are made for. Any 1/4" blank tape works on any machine.

Stay away from: Single motor units Units that have head wear (heads are not being made now. They can be refinished however if wear isn't too high) Units that the owner knows nothing about Most Dokorder Most fostex Some sony

Look for: Knowledgeable owner Clean heads 3 motor Units Units with small defects that are probably user error (I see a lot of "wont play but will rewind" which is usually the tape being threaded improperly and not tripping the auto stop switch. )

Find a knowledgeable helper. That can be me if anyone ever wants to reach out.

Tape: i would not recommend buying used. You never know how it was stored.

Capture is a good new cheap brand of tape.
Don't use ATR tape until you're experienced and have a semi pro machine.

You'll definitely want a mixer with your tape machine. Any 12 channel or so mixer is fine but I prefer Allen Heath for quality and price. The GL series is excellent.

I'm mostly referring here to recording and playing your own tapes. For listening to prerecorded tapes, I'll say it's very small market and you can only get new recordings for the most part on half track 15 inch per second tapes.

When you start crochet, nobody tells where every loop ends up in: Every loop basically counts as a single line segment, and you just draw a grid out of them. The thing about grids is there is the 'fencepost error'.

What people should know from the start is that if you make a 10x10 grid, you generally start going from bottom left to right, pulling 10 loops horizontally, then 1 up, then 1 back to the left. People just say "chain 12" though, which is confusing to noobs. From there on out you stop doing chains, and do crochets, which means inserting the hook wherever you want to draw lines from and alternating between adding horizontal and vertical line segments. When you stretch a crocheted fabric, each crochet can move yarn from the horizontal loop to the vertical one or back, to stretch one way and shrink the other. But the foundation chain was made with subsequent horizontal bits and will not stretch! (and chainless foundation rows exist but are not even mentioned to noobs)

So beginners will be confused by the fencepost error which requires mixing in the occasional 'chain' at the end of rows of 'crochets'. Since you pull new loops out of identical looking crochets 90% of the time, but then have to deal with different looking ones on the edge its easy to mistake a vertical bit for horizontal or vice versa and accidentally increase or decrease unintentionally.

So many ruined projects and people giving up on the hobby just cause everybody is making tutorials and nobody is explaining the logic.

EDIT: I added a few things.. can anyone tell I have ADHD yet?

When keeping a plant alive, you need to look up how it likes to be in the wild, and try to EMULATE that best you can. Monstera deliciosa has root rot? Well in the wild their roots are very compacted, maybe that gallon sized pot needs to be downsized. They also grow on trees, give it some support, etc

Cast iron cookware: when seasoning the item you need to apply the thinnest layer of oil possible. It should look almost like you’re trying to wipe the oil away or clean it.

PC building: your local electronics recycler is an amazing place to get simple fundamental equipment. You won’t find a 5090 in the bin, but you’ll find cheap ram, any cable you need is 1$, hell, my NAS is a 22tb (after redundancy) raid array where I paid 7$ for each 2tb drive. Sure, it’s slower and clicks like hell sometimes, but it’s in a closet, and I can lose a few drives before I lose my data.

Car/motorcycle repairs: your local chain auto shop probably loans/rents specialty tools. (This is pretty well known but still) need a tool to compress your brake cylinders when changing pads? It’ll cost 10$ rather than like 80$.

Gardening: mulch. In my area the sun is an absolute killer in the day while I’m working, so laying mulch over the soil keeps it from drying as fast

Cooking: following recipes isn’t that hard for most things, the way you know that you’ve really leveled up is when you start to realize how certain flavors and textures interact, and come up with something new or, more often, start modifying and improving recipes

Terrariums: the most crucial aspect is the amount of water. It will easily make or break (or kill) your plants and design. A good drainage layer, followed by chunkyish soil, and a layer of peat moss is the way to go most times. Also, BUGS. springtails and isopods are a learning curve but are an insanely helpful group of fellas.

Stopping down doesn't always give you sharper images. You may run into diffraction softening.

Focusing and then stopping down may shift your focal plane. Try to focus at your chosen aperture.

Try to use the electronic shutter function for astro photography. Even the shutter moving across the sensor can cause vibrations.

The 500 rule is useful for astro, but with modern higher resolution sensors, the NPF rule is better suited.

Not getting amazing astro shots? You may need to modify or buy a camera that is sensitive to Hα (Hydrogen-alpha) removing the infrared/IR filter off your camera will allow you to shoot full spectrum. Although you will need something to only allow 450 to 520nm and from 640 to 690nm into your sensor.

Sensors will always have dead or stuck pixels. You can take 10-20 black frames to try to help your image processor find and erase them.

Optical vignetting is common when you shoot wide open. Stop down 2-3 stops from your max aperture to try and remove the effect.

Shooting expired film is fine, just make sure you over expose 1 stop per decade it's expired. So a 20 year old film, shoot 2 stops over exposed.

A stronger spring isnt always the answer for your foam blasters to hit harder. Sometimes you can get away with adding a spacer or, depending on the blaster, increasing the length of your barrel. If you go the spacer route, don't leave it in permanently or you could warp your spring.

Hiking/backpacking (not exactly niche?)

1. Don't buy a ton of stuff for day hikes. You need less than you think. If you carry enough for an overnight there is a good chance you'll be so slowed down that you'll end up staying overnight.
2. Carry the ten essentials. GPS' run out of battery and you can end up in areas without satellite reception. Always have a compass and paper map and visualize your route before going if you are backpacking in deep. Be aware where roads and bailouts are relative to your route.
3. Occasionally look behind you to get an idea of what the route back will look like if you'll be returning the same way.
4. If it doesn't look like a trail, stop, you need to backtrack to the last sure spot. Don't plow ahead blindly thinking it will resolve itself.
5. Winter hiking means less daylight and more stuff (slower). Plan accordingly.
6. "Mountains generate their own weather". Bring some light raingear and insulation even if it is warm at the trailhead. I've started in 80+ temps and gotten snow near summits.
7. Carry hiking poles. They are invaluable for things like stream crossings. They saved me from breaking a leg stepping down boulders once.
8. If the trail is blazed and you can't see them look up and behind you for them, sometimes they are painted high up for snowpack.
9. Carry traction (ice creepers) if going up into the mountains in spring/fall. Early/late snow and ice is common. In winter bring crampons.
10. Always check the weather, especially for mountain hikes. Be ready to turn back or change your plans if the weather looks sketchy. Don't get "summit fever" just because you made a special trip.
11. If you are shopping for gear spend the most on boots. They will be the major deciding factor in how comfortable your hiking is. Make sure to break them in before a trip. I've been on a multiday mountain trip where a guy had brand new boots and his feet were bleeding by day 3.
12. If winter hiking and there is a snow pack wear gaiters (or built in ones). Snow in boots = cold/wet feet = frostbite. I've seen too many people have to turn around because their boots were getting packed with snow and they were suffering.

One of the biggest things that most amateur filmmakers or video makers make is not getting sufficient tone.

Before shooting, record a fairly long stretch of just the ambient sound in the area where you're filming so that when you are editing, it can be laid under the audio tracks and help to smooth out the jumps in audio from different clips.

Language learning: I tricked myself into building a daily flashcard study habit by using gambling as an incentive. I bought a box of Magic the Gathering packs and allowed myself to open one a day only after I had finished my daily flashcard study. According to Atomic Habits it takes roughly 50 days for a habit to be set in stone as part of your daily routine. A full box of Magic packs took me to day 36. Feels like a bit of an unethical life pro-tip, but once you're over that hump of forming the daily habit it becomes a lot easier, so find a way to hack your brain and make it feel rewarding until it becomes automatic.

Closest I got to a hobby is reading a shit ton of books. Highly recommend listening to an audiobook while you read a physical copy, cannot stress enough how much this helps me focus.

If you burry a fresh carcass, you need to put big stones on the grave or something will dig it up.

It's funnier without context.

Protection goggles when removing supports from your resin 3D prints. ALWAYS

My niche hobby was late night coming home drunk pizza baking.
While resting the dough is a normal part of the process, falling asleep is not good.

Hobby: Chess

Tips: Ill state a few mistakes here that I see beginners do a lot (mistakes that I also made as a beginner and had to learn to not do and why not to do them).

1. Don’t give check just because you can give check. Beginners love to just check you with zero follow up. Its like it creates a sense of purpose for their moves but without a proper follow up it is a waste of a move.

2. Consider the fact that I can make moves and formulate my own plans. Half the game is what you play and the other half is what your opponent plays. If you only consider your moves/plans, I, and any chess player beyond a beginner, will easily beat you.

3. Every move has a purpose. If you make a move and I ask you why you made that move and you cannot provide a reasonable reason, then you either wasted a move or got lucky and just happened to guess a good move.

4. Dont try to learn opening theory as a beginner. You should learn the three main opening principiles (develop you pieces, get your king to safety, and control the center of the board) and some very common lines to play but after that you should move on to the middle game and end game. Revisit opening theory once you understand the game at a deeper level. It will make it easier for you.

5. You paid money and spent time travelling to tournament. You have over an hour on the clock and you oppenent just made a move. Stop and think for a moment. Dont rush your moves and try to play instantly all the time. You waste time, money, and the day since you played like shit (whats the point?).

6. (Last) Do NOT have an ego or underestimate your opponent. Especially of they are a little kid. There are two types of kid chess players: the ones who learned how to play 5 minutes ago and the ones that humble you. Very little in between there. There are two types of (non-kid) chess players: those who think a 10yr old kid by default sucks at chess, and those who have played enough kids to realize what the fuck is up. It is funny to watch the former turn into the ladder. Those kids at tournaments are such wild cards

If you have to use more than 3 adapters, stop and reevaluate what you're doing.

Why wouldn't you buy a sub from a speaker company? Here's one for audiophiles: if you want real good sound look at studio equipment rather than expensive hifi stuff. A high end studio interface plus a pair of full range studio monitors will sound more accurate than any hifi setup.

And another one: listening experience is 95% acoustics. Don't bother with speakers above say 2k if you're not willing to invest money and space into proper acoustic treatment.

Buying a cheap 2nd hand E-bike (right now) means the same as buying any other broken bike: You need to know how to switch a chain and adjust brakes. The electronics themselves however are surprisingly resilient.

Boardgames

Its easier to make gamers into friends than it is to make friends into gamers

Don't split the party

I've found this to hold true in almost every hobby I have but particularly in technology, engineering and music playing/making: avoid hitching your wagon to one approach. It's easy to get trapped under a pile of 'musts' when trying to do anything that you are skilled in, but that's also the worst environment for innovation; and almost every innovation in your hobby of choice was borne from people pushing boundaries, not forcing themselves to fit within them.

Hobbyist race car builder/mechanic, sometimes you need cheap tools to break, bend, grind or cut to do one job.

I have a spanner that has been lovingly butchered to remove one sensor on a steering rack on one model of car. Its a common failure point and replacing it either means custom specialty tool or complete steering rack removal and wheel allignment.

As someone who enjoys growing and studying about many many different kinds of carnivorous plants, don't worry too much about feeding them, instead make sure you get them enough lighting and good water supply through good quality substrate (not something that's been decomposing for 3+ years and turning into mulch) with adequate aeration. The need for metabolic energy always comes first before nutrition (which is what these plants get from eating meat), same concept to how not having access to oxygen to breath is a lot more dangerous to a human or animal than being malnourished.

Happy growing! :D

I got seriously into speed cubing about a year ago. I don't even know where to begin giving tips. There's so much to learn. 🙈

At least I've reached my goal for 2025 and am now averaging around 30-35 seconds. I was at about 3 minutes when I was using the beginner's method. Now using CFOP.

Need to learn more OLL algorithms though.

Code golf:

If you think there is no way eval can save bytes, there is

Woodworking

Measure twice cut once is rookie numbers. Measure 10 times, cut a test piece 5 times, measure twice after each, then do your real cut.

This is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Also, measure after each operation to check your work as you go so you can spot mistakes as early as possible. This includes checking for square, doing test fits, and all manner of sanity checks to ensure that your operations are achieving the desired results before you repeat them on other pieces or move on to do more work on those same pieces that may already be ruined or need fixing.

For glue up, always always always dry fit first. Then plan ahead. Put all your clamps on and have them adjusted before you add glue. Once the glue is on the time is short and you need to have everything ready and waiting.

If you use a table saw, take it seriously. Always use your riving knife when possible, be mindful of the control you have over the pieces, use push sticks and sleds and jigs to improve stability and safety, always wear ppe. Check that your blade is aligned to your miter slots and your fence. Having a slight relief angle on your fence can be good, but never have it canted towards the blade. That can be dangerous. Also make a crosscut sled, they’re amazing.

Beware of dust. It causes cancer and it lingers in the air. Wear a respirator and use ventilation when possible.

Make or buy a workbench with a vise and some hold down capabilities. Being able to hold your work easily is a huge benefit.

If you are looking to improve your accuracy and precision, buy a nice hand plane and learn how set it up, sharpen it, and how to use it. They are absolute game changers. Also make or buy a shooting board for it. Also, buy a machinist’s square, a set of feeler gauges, and a nice 36in aluminum straight edge and learn to use them.

Etc

Obviously that’s a lot, and a lot of it it depends on what you’re actually trying to do, but those are all things that have helped me a lot in my journey towards making furniture, picture frames, cutting boards, etc