Experiment 5: Tapes

I knew that the tapes editing of audio cassettes would be the most time consuming part of the entire experiment process, and as a result decided to only edit two tapes.

Tape 1: I started by carefully pulling the tape out of the cassette, and cut a large section of the tape away. I then cut a small piece of clear tape (around 1-2cm in length) and taped the two ends together, ensuring that the tape did not twist in the process. I repeated this process over and over, randomly cutting out varying amounts of tape, whilst trying to vary the distance between the joins. This process was extremely intricate and very time consuming. It took almost two hours to complete the entire tape. On play back I notices that I had left large portions of tape untouched, allowing the tape to play the original audio. As soon as the head reached a piece of tape that had been taped together the audio would either speed up or slow, creating an interesting whirling effect to the audio. Whilst the playback was extremely successful, and the technique create some interesting and unusual audio outputs, I feel that the output could have been improved by a great frequency of joins, and leaving less tape in-between the joins.   

Tape 2: Having tested out tape 1, I decide to cut the second tape more often, leaving smaller amounts of tape in-between the original tape. I believed that this would improve the glitch output, and would result in a unique sound. Again, this technique took around two hours. Whilst my technique had certainly improved, I was cutting more, and as a result creating more joins. I tried to play the finished cassette, but there were some issues with playback. It would seem that the increased amounts of clear tape made it difficult for the head to read it, resulting in the tape getting stuck. Whilst I assumed that the addition of more tape and cut would improve the glitch, it instead pushed the format and player to its limits, making it difficult for the tape to be played and heard.

In order to incorporate this technique into the orchestra, I will need some further testing. I think it is possible to find a happy medium, where the original is still heavily glitched and still playable. My only concern is this technique is extremely time consuming.