Wow. Cool Splicing video.

[Danly]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQxFcUq7LrI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_roqS4ho9J4&NR=1


As a side note, whatever that second song is, I love it. That's a Linndrum, right? What about the bass? I love that sound, what is it-- sounds like "slap bass" general midi but better. I should start another thread about how to get 80's sounds. such a cool song, the splicing is amazing too.

[JGriffin]

So strange to see people commenting on those videos and saying "gee, so that's how it used to be done; I'll have to try that sometime." Very weird, to be nostalgic for tape editing.

[Oldschoolwax]

LOL, I never did mind splicing, One of our assignments in electronic music in high school was to make a 5 minute composition using tape edits... I did mine at home with my old Akai, I think I was the only one who didn't just use the school anlogue synth to play sections of notes and make a simple melody from the pieces.
I'd still rather cut and splice than try to fly in extra tracks from my old Scully and try to manually keep them synced with the MM1000 during a mix. That would be my horror of the old days nightmare.. just when you got it right, someone else would fuck up the mix.. grrrr... actually, I think cheesy gated reverb on drums is worse than all of that... Yeah, gated reverb and working with coked up assholes, I don't miss the eighties at all come to think of it.

[drumsound]

The 80s tune reminds me that very few people use editing creatively these days. It's all about "perfection" but not uniqueness.

[JGriffin]

LOL, I never did mind splicing, One of our assignments in electronic music in high school was to make a 5 minute composition using tape edits... I did mine at home with my old Akai, I think I was the only one who didn't just use the school anlogue synth to play sections of notes and make a simple melody from the pieces.
I'd still rather cut and splice than try to fly in extra tracks from my old Scully and try to manually keep them synced with the MM1000 during a mix. That would be my horror of the old days nightmare.. just when you got it right, someone else would fuck up the mix.. grrrr... actually, I think cheesy gated reverb on drums is worse than all of that... Yeah, gated reverb and working with coked up assholes, I don't miss the eighties at all come to think of it.

I didn't mind it either, I just don't see it as something to revisit nostalgically--it was what it was.

Electronic music class in high school? Wow!

[thieves]

those blow my mind, i didn't realize tape splices were ever used to that great an effect.

[JGriffin]

those blow my mind, i didn't realize tape splices were ever used to that great an effect.

You should check out "Alchemists of sound," the documentary about the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Lots of interesting examples of using tape splicing to create musical compositions.

[thieves]

i'm sure i could find this in a tutorial, but how did they keep everything in tempo like that? i'm assuming some quick math using the tempo of the song plus a ruler could be a method, but then there would be the whole task of figuring out exactly where the sounds are on the tape... eeek

[JGriffin]

i'm sure i could find this in a tutorial, but how did they keep everything in tempo like that? i'm assuming some quick math using the tempo of the song plus a ruler could be a method, but then there would be the whole task of figuring out exactly where the sounds are on the tape... eeek

As far as figuring out where the sounds are on the tape, you scrape the tape across the heads and listen, then you mark the tape with a grease pencil when you find the right spot.

The "scrub" function on many DAWs is an attempt to replicate this technique.

As far as tempo, the math and rulers do help...after that there's trial and error. Don't err too many times though, as you'll fuck up the tape if you keep pulling splices and re-cutting!

[Brett Siler]

Cool analog studdering effect, that was pretty impressive. I bet that took quite awhile to do. I really liked the song too. What happened at the end though? It got all muffled...

[Oldschoolwax]

LOL, I never did mind splicing, One of our assignments in electronic music in high school was to make a 5 minute composition using tape edits... I did mine at home with my old Akai, I think I was the only one who didn't just use the school anlogue synth to play sections of notes and make a simple melody from the pieces.
I'd still rather cut and splice than try to fly in extra tracks from my old Scully and try to manually keep them synced with the MM1000 during a mix. That would be my horror of the old days nightmare.. just when you got it right, someone else would fuck up the mix.. grrrr... actually, I think cheesy gated reverb on drums is worse than all of that... Yeah, gated reverb and working with coked up assholes, I don't miss the eighties at all come to think of it.

I didn't mind it either, I just don't see it as something to revisit nostalgically--it was what it was.

Electronic music class in high school? Wow!

Oh, no, I quite agree with you! Yeah, we had ( I can't remember what anymore ) Freeking huge 60's era synth... It was mandatory class for a high school music major. Our "Text book" was Electronmusic by De Voe.


But hey kids, use a sharpie not a grease/china pencil, it'll transfer wax to the transport! We had major geek teachers! ( not that they weren't right! )

[JGriffin]

But hey kids, use a sharpie not a grease/china pencil, it'll transfer wax to the transport! We had major geek teachers! ( not that they weren't right! )

Of course, it's a lot tougher to clean sharpie marks off the heads if you tend to color outside the lines!

[thieves]

i'm sure i could find this in a tutorial, but how did they keep everything in tempo like that? i'm assuming some quick math using the tempo of the song plus a ruler could be a method, but then there would be the whole task of figuring out exactly where the sounds are on the tape... eeek

As far as figuring out where the sounds are on the tape, you scrape the tape across the heads and listen, then you mark the tape with a grease pencil when you find the right spot.

The "scrub" function on many DAWs is an attempt to replicate this technique.

As far as tempo, the math and rulers do help...after that there's trial and error. Don't err too many times though, as you'll fuck up the tape if you keep pulling splices and re-cutting!

i don't think that i'd really ever try something as precise as some of these youtube videos, but i have an old reel to reel sitting around and i think this might finally motivate me to get a reel for it and some splicing tools.

[swelle]

Alex Newport is a badass with a razor and block... and not just 1/4", he'll cut up a 2" without blinking an eye. It's kind of nerve wracking to watch, but he's kinda old school like that.

[Randy]

When my band recorded with Steve Albini he made a couple of really cool tape edits that took him less time than it would have if it were me with my computer and Digital Performer. He zapped out a couple of stick hits on the snare mic (a Sony C37 FET at that...he didn't even flinch) and then spliced the perfect ending from the lackluster second take onto the perfect (except for the ending) first take. He even had lined up so the cymbals didn't pump. The whole time he did it he was telling us an amusing anecdote about one of the interns.

I used to splice tape doing radio production work and it's fun. Working with voice is just as tricky as working with beats. There are a lot of natural rhythms in speech that you don't notice until they don't work out right.