Common Tape Manipulation Techniques and How They Relate to Modern Electronic Music

Common Tape Manipulation Techniques and How They Relate to Modern Electronic Music Matthew A. Bardin Experimental Music & Digital Media Center for Computation & Technology Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803 [email protected] ABSTRACT the 'play head' was utilized to reverse the process and gen- The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical context erate the output's audio signal [8]. Looking at figure 1, from to some of the common schools of thought in regards to museumofmagneticsoundrecording.org (Accessed: 03/20/2020), tape composition present in the later half of the 20th cen- the locations of the heads can be noticed beneath the rect- tury. Following this, the author then discusses a variety of angular protective cover showing the machine's model in the more common techniques utilized to create these and the middle of the hardware. Previous to the development other styles of music in detail as well as provides examples of the reel-to-reel machine, electronic music was only achiev- of various tracks in order to show each technique in process. able through live performances on instruments such as the In the following sections, the author then discusses some of Theremin and other early predecessors to the modern syn- the limitations of tape composition technologies and prac- thesizer. [11, p. 173] tices. Finally, the author puts the concepts discussed into a modern historical context by comparing the aspects of tape composition of the 20th century discussed previous to the composition done in Digital Audio recording and manipulation practices of the 21st century. Author Keywords tape, manipulation, history, hardware, software, music, examples, analog, digital 1. INTRODUCTION The phrase `tape recording' has become deeply entrenched in modern society, but as we continue to move further away from the physical recording technologies common in the 20th century to an increasingly digital and online means of audio production then the basis for the processes utilized in modern music production run the risk of being abstracted and potentially forgotten by the modern composer. The item that made many of the developments in electronic music in the 20th century possible is magnetic tape: A thin plastic strip coated with magnetic particles on one side. This tape was developed in the 1930s in Germany. Figure 1: A 1969 Astrocom Marlux Tape Machine. [3] In order to record onto this tape, the electrical signal from the microphone picking up whatever was being It was because these audio recordings could be stored on recorded would be sent to an electromagnet. The changes tape, artists could record sounds and alter them in various in electrical current would cause fluctuations in the mag- ways. This simple fact is what caused many early electronic netic field produced in the 'record head': a physical piece music composers, several of whom are mentioned in this of hard ware that was positioned around the tape as it was paper, to feel that this new process was liberating from fed through. By running the tape through this field at a the previous tradition of composition. [11, p. 173] This fixed speed, the fluctuation would manipulate the magnetic technology directly influenced the development of modern particles on the tape. These fluctuations would then be Electronic Music, and the recording of music in general to stored on the tape. A separate piece of hardware, called what it is today. 2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF TAPE COMPO- SITION Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Following the development of magnetic tape in the 1930's its 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Copyright popularity soon skyrocketed as an effective way to store and remains with the author(s). playback various data. Many audio recordings and eventu- The History of ElectroAcoustic Music, Spring 2020, Louisiana State Uni- ally films were stored on variations of the original tape be- versity cause it allowed for a relatively large amount of data storage in a relatively small and inexpensive format. Many early pieces of tape music were developed at var- In a different vein, we can see Elektronische Musik develop ious national radio stations because these places had the out of Germany at around the same time period as Musique materials, equipment, funding, and means of distribution Concrète. Compared to the French, the German develop- for the relatively new art form. Pierre Schaeffer and Karl- ment of electronic music was more gradual, which helped heinz Stockhausen, both mentioned in the following section, it develop its own, unique aesthetic. [11, p. 62] Two main did a large portion of their work in Radiodiffusion Fran¸caise parts of this aesthetic include the use of 12-tone serialism, (RDF) and the West German Broadcasting Station (WDR) and the use of recorded material that came from electroni- respectively. [11] cally produced means. As technology began to develop, and Europe began to Contrasting the objets sonores utilized by Musique Con- recover from the effects of World War II, Tape composi- crète, German tape composers would often record tones gen- tion began to develop into a new art form in the mid-late erated via electronic means such as electronic tone gener- 1940's. Understanding some of the key distinctions between ators and predecessors to modern synthesizer. This would previous acoustic and tape compositions are fundamental result in material with a definite pitch (to contrast the real- to understanding exactly what tape composition is and the world sounds utilized in Etudes´ de bruits) The Germans processes utilized in the writing of these pieces. One large would then utilize the 12-tone system as a common way to difference is that acoustic music is traditionally written as organize these sounds. These elements gave Elektronische a series of instructions to be given to a performer, whereas Musik its own timbre that was noticeably distinguishable tape music is \concrète". [7] Tape composers create a phys- from Musique Concrète. It allowed Elektronische Musik ical collection of sounds that is exactly the same every time composers to be able to control the elements of their music it is reproduced, and rather than focusing on time passing with extreme precision, especially in the case of Karlheinz as a series of musical measures, are building their materials Stockhausen, whose total serialization allowed him to seri- out of mathematical relations based on lengths of tape. [7] alize all of the major aspects of his music. This is because tape music composers were working with In a specific work of Elektronische Musik, Karlheinz Stock- pre-recorded material; whether they or some other person hausen's Elektronische Studie II (1954), a listener can hear created the sounds that were originally recorded. Tape com- how it is entirely composed of electronically synthesized posers could define the characteristics of their music to ex- sounds, created through Sine Tone generators. Looking at tremely specific degrees in order to create a product that the score, of which Elektronische Studie II was the first would sound identical every time it was performed, regard- piece of electronic music to have a complete score, it can be less of the time or venue. They could duplicate, edit, and seen that Stockhausen was arranging his material in terms re-record any sounds that had been previously recorded onto of frequency, timbre, and duration. By combining, splic- the tape they had; something that had previously been im- ing, re-recording, and adding other processes to his sam- possible. Because of a wide variety of new possibilities, com- ples, Stockhausen was able to create the timbres heard in posers tended to group into different schools of thought in the piece. relation to how to go approach tape composition. Of which, the most prevalent in Europe being Musique concrète and Elektronische Musik. 2.1 Musique Concrète Musique concrète developed in France in the years following World War II. Pioneered by Pierre Schaeffer at RDF, the composer defined Musique concrète as \music made from recorded natural and man-made sounds" [15, p. 6]. A slightly more in-depth definition by Andre Hodier defines Musique Concrètein the following way: Composers of Musique Concrète begin by recording various sounds (either musical sounds or noises of indeterminate pitch) and then, by speeding Figure 2: a rendering of the score of Elektronische them up, slowing them down, filtering or in- Studie II, which is available as an example in the verting them, metamorphose these sounds into Max software \sound objects" (objets sonores) whose origin it is not always possible to distinguish. [10, p. 140] Although the both utilized the manipulation of tape recordings, the two schools did not agree on the sounds and pro- The key aspect of Musique Concrète that defines it as cesses used by each other, and were vehemently opposed something separate from Elektronische Musik is that the throughout the 20th century. This opposition was due in material utilized by these composers naturally occurring no small part due to social and political tensions between sounds, not tones generated through electronic means. For France and Germany following World War II. Example, looking at Pierre Schaeffer's Cinq Etudes´ de bruits (1948), credited as the first piece of Musique concrète, [11, 52] one can that each etude is comprised of a collection of 3. TAPE MUSIC TECHNIQUES sounds from various real work sources such as trains, per- While Elektronische Musik and Musique Concrète had a dis- secution instruments, piano, and household objects. This tinct style from each other, both utilized similar methods of aesthetic of taking recordings of items found in various ev- manipulating tape recordings. In the following section, The ery day settings and manipulating so that they take on a author will present a series of some of the more common new, unique, and at times unidentifiable characteristic is the tape manipulation techniques that allowed for electronic core element of Musique Concrète and its objets sonores.

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