I bought some blank cassette tapes, a screwdriver and some tape to make some tape loops. Ever since reading about Music for Airports and Minimalism, I’ve been interested in trying this technique. I’ve watched a few videos and read the previous book on music concretè for beginners so I’m understanding a bit about tape splicing.
I decided to start out simple and just test the process, I created a simple rough tape loop that didn’t really work and kept getting caught so I tightened the looseness of the tape loop and it worked. I then decided I wanted to record some of my synth into channels one and two and did so, then some bass into 3 and 4. I then decided to run my SP404 MK2 as the effects unit. It has FX built in and can create some really good atmospheres.
After this, I need to experiment with speeds and better tape loop styles, as well as using the FX send properly on my TASCAM portastudio. And load in field recordings and other pieces alongside my synth. I also have another cassette player that I can hopefully make a loop for with my tape player and combine some sort of generative process?
Lets explore.