I decided to copy this similar effect but with my own tape loops. I recorded two of the same parts of a song onto two cassette loops and then played them together at the same time. This was the outcome.
I don’t think I did the best job, I read that he created two identical loops calibrate to be at the same speed and length. I didn’t do the same. At times the loop players closely and you can hear the phase but it’s not as perfect as his.
Perhaps I should try again?
I’m attempting to create more tape loops in order to have a few different ones to compose a generative piece. And use my second tape machine as another player going into my Tascam mixing desk. I’m curious as to what the different forms offer in length and audio.
I first split open a few more tapes and started cutting them down to size and looked online at a few different tape loop options that others have done. I tried this first one but It wasn’t working for some reason and I need to retry it again. Perhaps the tension wasn’t enough to make it spin around the heads.
I then went back to basics and created a similar small tape loop.
I did find that most of the tapes sounded horrible and didn’t really connect flush very well to the tape heads. I need to make a few more and compose with samples on tape loops alongside VCV RACK, and another thing is creating the phase loop that Reich creates that goes in and out of phase together. I have two cassette players so it could be interesting.
After the last few Praxis Sessions, I wanted to include samples within this modular/ambient/minimalist work I’ve been doing. I’ve found a module that lets me play WAV files within VCV rack and trigger these as if it was an oscillator. I used my previous Thames field recording sounds for this praxis.
The top left two modules are granular samplers and I decided to keep one grain for the first sound of waves from the Thames and the second sample to have 8 and for it to randomly decide when the loop ends which one to play. I fed this into the mixer module which had reverb and delay on auxiliary sends.
I also had a clock generator running into a sequencer that was sent into a quantizer that played notes into a scale. This was sent to my oscillator and gave it a scale arpeggiated format. This then later had LFO modulation for its Frequency and Timbre. I also had another FM synth called Dexter which I previously used and I found it very nice sounding. I had this triggered by an LFO as well as changing the filter on it and sending it to my mixer and then a mastering module and finally to audio out.
I’ve really happy with this outcome, now I know that I can load samples into this I think it’s time to create generative patches with samples and synth sounds. Perhaps one with just samples first? and one with both at an advanced level.
Then I need to make some different tape loop styles and try putting everything into my cassette 4 track.
Then create another tape loop for my walkman and play both together and see what happens. Perhaps try the technique from Steve Reich Come out piece and Brain Eno’s generative aspect of music for airports.
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.
I’ve been using this modular synthesis open-source software A LOT. I’m having a lot of fun and finding it meditative. I made another ambient patch using a new FM synth operator module alongside two other FM synths and learned about FM synthesis. Frequency Modulated is the reason why it’s called that. The sound comes from modulating parts of the oscillator instead of removing such as subtractive synthesis.
I’m not sure where this ambient stuff is going but I’ll keep doing this as I know I will include this in my final prototype piece. Again I want to look into using samples within modular VCV rack software and incorporate the field recordings I’ve acquired.
After doing research on Brian Eno and into generative patches and the studio as an instrument. As well as ambient music I decided to explore this idea through VCV rack open-source modular software. I wasn’t aware if there were any modules that allowed randomisation to occur so I watched this video.
This tutorial explained a few modules that have some randomisation options on sequencing, octave and gate. As well as the patch set out and layout.
I then created my own generative patch.
On the bottom right there is a sequencer module. It creates a random assortment which is the blue cubes once triggered. I also attenuated the number of cubes that fill the grid. The trigger for the randomisation to occur is triggered by an envelope module called rampage. The rampage envelope module has an interesting cv output which is called EOS output. End of sequence output occurs once the envelope finishes its sustain, which then sends a CV voltage to the sequencer and randomises the sequencer.
I’ve created a clock at 30 BPM that runs the sequencer along the square cube. And I’ve set the transport system of the sequencer to random, so it can go forward, backward and up or down. I’ve created two oscillators sent to VCA that have the rampage duo envelope triggering the attack and release of the volume. The envelope is triggered by a gate which is random based on if the sequencer hits a blue cube or not.
I’ve also created a noise generator that is triggered by an envelope that is attenuated by the octave CV outputs of the sequencer, for the attack decay sustain and release. With the attenuation set to the maximum. this means that whatever the voltage is from the octave output of the sequencer the parameter is randomised. Meaning a generative envelope each time the sequencer hits a cube.
I’ve then sent all of this into a mixer, with two effects. One reverb and one delay on the aux sends, going into a master module and then finally sent towards the output which is going into Logic Pro X.
I’ve also got the time and feedback attenuation being triggered by random octaves of the sequencer itself. Adding more generative options for the FX within the patch.
I’ve really happy with how this has turned out, I’m curious if I create tape loops with this stuff and how it will turn out. Incorporating some field recordings and other pieces! Making the right steps towards my final piece!
After having a meeting with Milo and discussing Steve Reich he gave me the advice to read black minimalism an article/essay by David Toop. I did some research and couldn’t find it online so I got issue 414 of The Wire at the library and had a read.
“The history of minimal music has been distorted by racist received wisdom that discriminates between white simplicity and black primitivism.”
I think this in itself speaks volumes. I hadn’t considered this outlook when reading into minimalism but now it’s something that is painfully obvious, the cannon is predominantly white European men. So how can minimalism be defined just by one type of creator? Why is minimalism defined only by the white European male canon?
David also goes to reference Yolana V and she quotes
Becker is a good looking white guy who has done very well out of his philosophy. Basically: simplify. Ten ways minimalism will change your life, his website advises, and who am I to argue? The thing that caught Yolanda’s eye was from Jon, who suggested that discarding outward signs of status and identity if you were African-American risked forfeiting respect and any kind of foothold in an unequal society. “Therefore,” Jon concluded, “is minimalism, much like golf, a white man’s philosophy”
This quote I took from the article continues on the ideas of white control. That minimalism for one group of people such as the eurocentric white male who this time was not the less dominant cultural human being in society. But having dominance sadly over others can consider certain aspects to be beneficial and create an idea of minimalism. When for Black African-Americans this was impossible, to further lower their status and identity when it was already at an all-time low doesn’t work. It also doesn’t consider this from others’ points of view.
“white Americans often feel entitled to respect for their sensibilities, sensitivities, and tastes, and to their implicit, sometimes violent, control over the soundscape of an ostensibly ‘free’, ‘open’ and ‘public’ space.” She cites the example of a white man named Michael Dunn marking his aural territory within a Florida petrol station in 2012: “Dunn didn’t want to hear hiphop at the pumps, so he walked to the jeep where Davis and his friends were listening to music and demanded they turn it down. when the teenagers refused, Dunn shot into their car and fled.” Jordan Davis, all of 17, was shot dead.
I think this part of the essay perfectly describes again the oppression people of colour face in a white-dominated society. The idea of a white-controlled and dominated soundscape is again something I haven’t thought about. That they are entitled to not have their taste or sensibilities challenged. They want to have their taste not be challenged and when Dunn was presented with something else he murdered. This is painfully obvious now why black minimalism or any other minimalism hasn’t been considered for the canon and this sort of essay/article is a good way of understanding the context.
The article also continues to argue the balance between black and white. John Cage and his piece 4:33 is arguably the first case of minimalism in modern artworks Cage was inspired by Rauschenberg’s white paintings but had cage seen the other black paintings which were supposed to be seen together what would have changed? It also continues on to discuss the idea of cultures having their own ways of doing things and as Toop says “that’s why different art forms exist?”.
Black voices were also heavily part of early white minimalistic works. Being sampled and used in music concretè by artists such as Reich, Young, Maxfield and others using it as a raw material. Without the context of the environment it was recorded or who was speaking. Again not considering whose voice is being used or is part of minimalism. The white narrative controlled by white people is something that needs to be altered. Different narratives and histories are always present. James Brown is considered in this article to also be a minimalist, his work didn’t have a higher meaning despite being for the culture and community. It had what can be described as a parallel movement to the white rich eurocentric males in the minimalism category. Due to the white-controlled soundscape, this hasn’t come to light.
I think this article/essay spoke volumes to me, especially if I intend to create some sort of minimalism within my work. It’s an interesting thing to consider what minimalism is within my culture and other cultures and where I situate my practice within it. It can be easy at times to seek the canon within each practice but this doesn’t create any sort of critical practice. I think reading this has brought up good points against my previous book on minimalistic music and its defined characteristics, something that I now wish to break completely.
After reading up on Brian Eno and his tape loops and generative compositions I was curious to read into Musique Concrète and understand some of the techniques that go into cutting tapes and creating compositional pieces with sound.
What we shall be dealing with is the use of recorded sounds, ‘musical’ or otherwise, which by the composer’s manipulation are sifted, altered, superimposed, edited, etc. to become a new creation justifying the title of the music. Many readers will know that the correct title for this is musique concrète and that it was invented by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry in the 1950s. The term ‘concrete music’ was originally coined to distinguish it from electronic music, in which the source of sounds is the oscillator or wave generator, a purely electronic device whose signals only become sound when fed through loudspeakers.
This historical context and definition of the act gave me defined uses and explanations on how to use this medium.
Now we must consider the characteristic features of sounds, with special reference to those aspects the composer will wish to control. The chief features are pitch, duration, timbre and volume, and the reader will be interested to learn that the tape composer can alter any of these factors at will, within limits, with regard to any recorded sound.
I have a 4 track cassette tape machine which also has three tape speeds. I want to experiment with the recordings from Stava Hill, changing pitch, duration, timbre and volume. Compose a music concretè piece?
I hope that the reader will become more and more interested in the sounds he hears around him every day, and will eagerly examine them for their intrinsic interest and individual character
I think I already have this quality based on sound walks and studying sound arts, my appreciation for ordinary everyday sounds has enhanced since starting this course. I’ve experienced this when speaking to friends that think it’s strange that I like the sounds I do. Now how do I create compositions with these interesting sounds? To see potential beyond the accurate representation of it?
What are the results of reverse play? Obviously, the events on the tape will come out in the reverse order, but an even more interetesting effect is the reversal of attack and decay. Where fading sounds or distinct room resonance are involved the sound is often almost unrecognisable because a crescendo comes from nowhere and is suddenly cut off at its loudest. The piano now sounds like an organ, and cymbal crashes and triangle pings are like well, you’ll have to hear them. Most sounds are changed somewhat, except long ones, which change hardly at all.
I didn’t consider the idea of reverse play with tape machines and how to use the envelope of the sound differently in reverse. I’ll try this as well when composing later.
These exercises interested me, can we compose with a story in our heads? This reminds me of Alex Delittle and his visiting practitioner lecture where he mentioned that he worked with architects to redesign Leeds town centre into a more green and open environment. He was tasked with creating the idea of what that city centre would sound like once the work was done. This has similar ideas but more fantasy? Can I create an ideal soundscape of Stave Hill?
This last quote was with loops and tape loops, an interesting exercise I want to attempt.
I think this book did help me see tape composition in a new light, again perhaps my work won’t end up being quote-for-quote music concretè but inspired definitely. As well as using similar techniques within my work that I’ve learnt here. Taking a bit of everything that I’ve researched. I guess the next step is to create some cassette loops stuff and compositions with sounds and field recordings.
Brian Eno (1948-; see also chaps. 17 and 34) is a key figure in the shift from “composer” and “musician” to “producer” in contemporary electronic culture.
I wasn’t aware that he was one of the figures pushing the idea of being a producer and not a musician or composer.
Brian speaks on the fact that music in the 1900s was an event and something that was perceived at the time. Not something recorded available at playback. Music was located in “space” once recorded.
Brian also speaks that before the three-track recorder on tape, an audio recording was all about the performance and creating a viable realistic feeling of this performance. Once the stereo two-track tape machine came along this improved. Then once we had the three tracks the idea of production became a thing, that the performance isn’t the finished item and more could be done after it.
Then came the 1970s, the 4 track had arrived and suddenly a specific studio era arrived. The idea of “in-studio composition, where you no longer come to the studio with a conception of the finished piece. Instead, you come with actually rather a bare skeleton of the piece, or perhaps nothing at all.” Brian was working with the idea of sound being a compositional element without being musical.
He finished the short essay with the idea that a studio is a tool itself, and that people like him who aren’t conventional musicians could have never done what he does now without a studio with the sound tools that are available to him.
After my tutorial with Milo and being recommended Brian Eno and his ambient project music for airports, I decided to look into this project and how it was made, as well as ambient music. I’m curious to see the differences and similarities to minimalistic music by Steve Reich.
I’ve been listening to this project over the last few days and weeks and found it very peaceful. I’m not sure if this is early ambient music or perhaps one of the earliest pieces but it does spark interest for me to look further. I can imagine creating similar ideas with my own field recordings. How can I present field recordings in a way that brings attention to issues? Or a creative composition, positive reinforcement through enjoying something?
How was music for airports made?
https://reverbmachine.com/blog/deconstructing-brian-eno-music-for-airports/
I found an in-depth blog discussing the famous Ambient 1: Music for Airports project.
This project was released in 1978, although not the first ambient project it was the first to have ambient in the title and explicitly be ambient music. This project was also one of the projects that Eno continued to research into generative music and tape loops. He was interested in systems that made music, to set up parameters and let the systems create the outcome.
The article goes on to say that this project is a continuation of Eno’s ideas with tape loops dating back to 1972. Where Eno would play guitar loops playing over each other from two tape machines that would go in and out of phase, creating delay and time differences. This reminds me of my previous research with Reich and his piece Come Out.
The particular piece I’m referring to was done by using a whole series of very long tape loops, like fifty, sixty, seventy feet long. There were twenty-two loops. One loop had just one piano note on it. Another one would have two piano notes. Another one would have a group of girls singing one note, sustaining it for ten seconds. There are eight loops of girls’ voices and about fourteen loops of piano.
I just set all of these loops running and let them configure in whichever way they wanted to, and in fact the result is very, very nice. The interesting thing is that it doesn’t sound at all mechanical or mathematical as you would imagine. It sounds like some guy is sitting there playing the piano with quite intense feeling. The spacing and dynamics of “his” playing sound very well organized. That was an example of hardly interfering at all.“
Brian Eno
Brian explains here how he composed some songs in the album, the long tape loops and letting them run, letting the system figure out what works in whatever way. Generative systems were clearly an important part of his work, this does remind me of soundscapes and I would say that soundscapes have similar aspects to this. Modern-day soundscapes are generative systems laid out by humans left to create themselves.
Graphic Scores
Later on, the article describes the graphic scores that would come with the vinyl of this record. Brian Eno created these scores for others to perform and play the record if they wanted to. He made sure to create these as he felt it was for non-musicians. That if his work was generative how could normal musical notation work for it?
I also found this short writing by Brain Eno where he explains ambient music and the ideas behind this album he created and the other 3 that accompanies the first one. I’m interested in these ideas he has on ambience and the generative systems, I will search if there is any essays or further writings by him.
I want to create some tape loops and graphic scores and experiment with my field recordings within it, perhaps making some sort of ambience minimalistic track?