tape music

Berna Vintage Electronic Studio – a Mac OS X software recreation of the classical electronic music studio – is now available for 10.69€ as a digital download. A demo version is available.

If you’ve used Berna, leave a comment with your thoughts! Read more…

Kid Baltan (Dick Raaijmakers) and Tom Dissevelt at Philips “Nat. Lab” in 1959, explaining how electronic tape music is made.

Broadcast by VARA television (Netherlands) on January 17, 1959

via schreu26

Rolling Stone has a review of Lou Reed’s recent live performance of Metal Machine Music – Reeds’ controversial symphony of noise.

When Metal Machine Music was released in 1975, people did not know what to make of it. The album, influenced by the drone music of La Monte Young and John Cale,  consists entirely of guitar feedback played at different speeds.

Two guitars were tuned in unusual ways and played with different reverb levels. Reed then placed the guitars in front of their amplifiers, and the feedback from the very large amps would vibrate the strings — the guitars were, effectively, playing themselves. He recorded the work on a four-track tape recorder in his New York apartment, mixing the four tracks for stereo. Read more…

Matti Niinimäki created this video, which visualizes William S. Burrough’s thoughts on the origin and theory of Tape Cut-Ups.

via RichardMetzger

The San Francisco Tape Music Festival, being held Jan 30-Feb 1, will feature music from classical electronic composers, including Luciano Berio, Edgard Varèse, Pierre Schaeffer & Paul McCartney:

A three night festival of new and classic audio art by 30 local and international composers diffused live over a pristine surround system consisting of 20+ speakers. Seated in the dark, it’s a unique opportunity to experience music forming, literally, around you. This year marks both 50- and 60-year anniversaries, being 50 years since many now-classic “tape music” pieces had their world premieres, and being 60 years since Pierre Schaeffer presented “Concert de Bruits,” the first concert of musique concrète. $7 for “underemployed” people per night, otherwise $12 per night.

Details below: Read more…