In the ever-evolving landscape of music production, the quest for unique and inspiring soundscapes often takes us back to the roots of audio technology. Tape Suite stands as a tribute to this journey, offering a collection of four effects plugins based on the same physical model of magnetic tape. From this model, we wanted to honor the medium and bring our touch of modernity and flexibility to the effects techniques developed by tape based composers, musicians, and engineers.
To get the most out of Tape Suite, it’s important to take a look back at tape-based electronic music, and explore the pioneering efforts that transformed magnetic tape from a simple recording tool into a versatile instrument of innovation for modern musicians.
The evolution of sound recording
From Milton Babbitt to Brian Eno, tape techniques have been used to create some wonderful and creative sounds. The physical tape itself becomes a medium when the magnetic coil on the recorder generates a magnetic field and rearranges metal oxide particles on the tape itself. When playing back, the recording head transitions into a playback device that senses the location of the magnetic particles and converts that into an electrical signal sent to an amplifier that you can hear.
Rather than work sequentially, let’s take a look at some creative use of magnetic tape from basic to more complex. At its heart, reel-to-reel magnetic recording systems evolved from wire recorders in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. These devices were used for a variety of recording purposes from military to documentary. Eventually, in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, magnetic tape started to find use in early multitrack recording for both Hollywood and pre-recorded radio broadcasts.
Rather than work sequentially, let’s take a look at some creative use of magnetic tape from basic to more complex. At its heart, reel-to-reel magnetic recording systems evolved from wire recorders in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. These devices were used for a variety of recording purposes from military to documentary. Eventually, in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, magnetic tape started to find use in early multitrack recording for both Hollywood and pre-recorded radio broadcasts.
The roots of Musique Concrète
Eventually, musicians and engineers began to realize that magnetic tape could be used as a source of inspiration and creativity in itself, and not just to record acoustic music. French composer Pierre Schaeffer began to sketch out ideas in his journal for a ‘symphony of noises’ in the 1940’s that all came from magnetic tape as a sound source. Schaeffer expressed a need to create music using ‘concrete objects’ and even attempted to document a notation or vocabulary of these taped objects and their sounds. As Shaeffer’s work developed in 1949, musicians started referring to his ‘Musique Concrète’ which focused on the use of sound (as opposed to traditional instruments) as the main resource. As more
Eventually, musicians and engineers began to realize that magnetic tape could be used as a source of inspiration and creativity in itself, and not just to record acoustic music. French composer Pierre Schaeffer began to sketch out ideas in his journal for a ‘symphony of noises’ in the 1940’s that all came from magnetic tape as a sound source. Schaeffer expressed a need to create music using ‘concrete objects’ and even attempted to document a notation or vocabulary of these taped objects and their sounds. As Shaeffer’s work developed in 1949, musicians started referring to his ‘Musique Concrète’ which focused on the use of sound (as opposed to traditional instruments) as the main resource. As more composers started to join Schaeffer in experimenting with pre-recorded sounds on magnetic tape as an instrument in itself, many composers began to make significant alterations to the tape via splicing, altering speed, and more.
composers started to join Schaeffer in experimenting with pre-recorded sounds on magnetic tape as an instrument in itself, many composers began to make significant alterations to the tape via splicing, altering speed, and more.
Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète was a collection of like-minded musicians who began to truly push the boundaries of what pre-recorded tape could be used for. Musicians in GRM would utilize recorders, mixing desks, mechanical reverb units, filters, microphones, and more to truly twist and warp pre-recorded magnetic tape sounds into something that nobody had ever heard before.
Creative effects techniques
By utilizing tape loops, some truly amazing effects could be achieved by musicians and audio engineers long before these effects lived in our Digital Audio Workstations. When you take 2 identical loops on 2 tape machines and adjust the speed of one, you can get a phased or chorus effect. By progressively re-recording a loop, you can intentionally alter the sound quality and make some lovely purposeful distortion. Some composers accelerated loops to an incredible degree and rhythmic elements become perceivable as pitch due to the high rate of speed at which they are played back. Many
musicians, such as Brian Eno and Barry Anderson, utilized custom-created tape loops to craft their unique sounds. These loops could extend up to eighty feet in length, allowing them to create mesmerizing and expansive ambient soundscapes.
Tape effects weren’t reserved for ambient and experimental musicians. George Martin, the producer of The Beatles famously cut and spliced tape meticulously to help craft their sound. The keyboard solo in ‘In My Life’ is consistently mistaken for a classical harpsichord but is, in fact, a piano part recorded slower, sped up on tape (which also shifted the octave of the performance), and inserted into the song. Lee Perry transformed Jamaican music and utilized tape echo to define an entire genre of music. Once Pandora’s box was opened, audio engineers everywhere began to explore the
vast potential of magnetic tape. They quickly realized the haunting and unique effects that could be created by manipulating its various elements, leading to a new era of sonic experimentation.
Introducing Tape Suite, a new
era of Tape Effects
By creating Tape Suite, we decided to pay homage to this legacy of effects techniques. With Tape Suite, we aimed to put the power of tape-based effects into everyone’s hands, not just high-end studios and collectors. With advanced physical modeling of magnetic tape and transport, you’ll be able to experiment with Musique Concrète elements in your own productions. You’ll be able to utilize tape effects to create a unique chorus, color, delay, and flanger sound. Tape Suite effects can be used as a subtle master effect to add a bit of character or on a specific sound source to completely mangle and distort audio. Just like the golden age of tape-based experimentation, the best of what Tape Suite has to offer will come from musicians and producers utilizing it in unique ways.
