Elson Trinidad (elson@westworld.com)
Thu, 09 Sep 1999 13:42:01 -0700
Moonlight wrote:
> >"Vinyl vs CD? It doesn't really matter, either format is acceptable with us.
> >However, if you use tapes, we will laugh at you."
>
> I actually think that might be cooler. Would that be easier or harder to do?
> Couldn't be that much different than using CDs, right?
>
Actually, tape is more like vinyl - tape is analog (unless it's a DAT), and
theoretically, you can "scratch" on tape (though the effect won't be as dramatic;
the tape reels revolve much slower than 33 1/3 RPM).
The first examples of electronic music were done on tape, and even performed on
tape - Stockhausen, Reich, et al, mostly by chopping up tape and re-arranging the
bits;- musique concrete, the forefather of all sample-based music was a
tape-based medium. Of course, we're talking about the old school reel-to-reel
tape, which has a better sound quality than cassette or 8-tracks and can be
manipulated due to their open mechanisms...Actually the audio effect known as
"flanging" was invented from tape -- by running two tape machines playing the
same tape, and pushing the *flange* of one reel, slowing it down slightly and
causing a tonal modulation between the two. Also, the first sampling keyobard,
the Mellotron, used tapes to store its samples (each key was a mini tape machine
and each sound was a stretch of tape that played on its own playback head).
But the weakness of tape as a DJ (TJ?) medium is evident: no random access (gotta
rewind, fast forward), tape can get eaten up or damaged (they're *much* more
fragile than records or CDs) and have a truly limited lifespan (most of my
cassettes bought in the early '80s don't have any sound anymore). Oh yeah, and
while vinyl crackle, rumble and popping may have its admirers, NO ONE likes tape
hiss! If you're gonna use tapes, you might as well put everything on one tape,
and if you;re gonna do that, you might as well not be there!
Elson
--
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:. elson trinidad, los angeles, california, usa
:. elson@westworld.com
:. www.westworld.com/~elson
"funny how frustration breeds desire" - meja
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