![[Column] Tape Music / Musique Concrète](/../assets/images/column-tape-music-musique-concrete.webp)
1. Before concrete music: Thoughts that treat sound as an “object”
Text: mmr｜Theme: “Redefining tape music/concrete music in the context of the re-evaluation of 1970s avant-garde music”
1.1 Isolation of acoustic phenomena
Before concrete music, music was treated as a combination of abstracted elements such as pitch, rhythm, and harmony. However, with the development of recording technology, sound has been isolated as a temporal and spatial event, and has become an object that can be rearranged. This idea became the starting point for dismantling the distinction between instrumental sounds and environmental sounds.
1.2 Broadcasting technology and experimental space
The research facility attached to the broadcasting station functioned as an experimental space different from the performance venue. The sounds played in a space exclusively for reproduction were separated from the performer’s body, and the act of listening itself was restructured.
2. The substance called tape
2.1 Structure of magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a flexible physical medium. Operations such as cutting, splicing, unwinding, and changing speed were all performed as physical acts. This physicality became an important factor for reappraisal in the 1970s.
2.2 Composition as an act of editing
Tape editing was seen not as a recording of a performance, but as an act of composition itself. The decisions made in front of the editing table had the same, if not more, meaning than the decisions made on the score.
3. Deepening recording techniques
3.1 Proximity sound collection and material sensation
By placing the microphone extremely close to the sound source, minute noises and vibrations that would not be perceived in a normal performance space were recorded. As a result, sound came to be perceived not as an abstract pitch, but as a presence with mass.
3.2 Multi-point sound collection
Picking up sound with multiple microphones was the act of capturing a single sound source from different perspectives, and became the basis for redesigning the spatial structure later in the editing process.
4. Editing techniques and time manipulation
4.1 Cut editing accuracy
The millimeter cuts physically formed the rhythmic structure. Rather than a uniform time signature, the concatenation of heterogeneous time fragments created a new sense of time.
4.2 Loops and iterations
The tape loop blurred the distinction between starting and ending points and created a continuous sonic state. This technique had a direct influence on later drone, minimal, and noise practices.
5. Transform operation
5.1 Speed conversion
Changing the playback speed is an operation that simultaneously changes the pitch and time. The avant-garde music of the 1970s emphasized this irreversible transformation.
5.2 Reverse playback
Reverse playback dismantled the causal relationship between sounds and disrupted the listeners’ perceptual habits.
6. 1970s: Intersection with improvised music
6.1 Fixed media and improvisation
Improvised music is inherently premised on one-time performance, but tape fixes the result. At the same time, a practice emerged that treated tape playback as part of improvisation, blurring the line between fixed and variable.
6.2 Connecting to live electronics
Tape manipulation became the prototype for later live electronics. The act of instantly controlling playback speed and mixing erased the distinction between performance and editing.
7. 1970s: Continuity with Noise Practice
7.1 Noise Affirmation
With tape music, distortion, hiss, and editing marks were not eliminated, but treated as part of the musical structure. This is directly connected to the aesthetics of noise practice in the 1970s.
7.2 Media-specific noise
The saturation, dropouts, and wow and flutter characteristic of tape were reevaluated as expressive elements independent of the sound source.
8. 1970s: Fusion with electronic music
8.1 Electronic sound sources and tapes
Sound source generation using a synthesizer and editing and fixing using tape were complementary. Electronic music was created instantly, while tape music was structured.
8.2 Expansion of studio space
The studio has come to be seen as a sound design space rather than a performance space.
9. Structural design and listening experience
9.1 Nonlinear structure
Tape music did not necessarily require a beginning, development, and end.
9.2 Listening Retraining
The process by which real sounds were abstracted required listeners to direct their attention in a new way.
10. Diffusion of influence
10.1 Experimental music and beyond
Since the 1970s, tape music ideas have permeated a variety of genres.
10.2 Relationship between records and works
The recognition that recordings themselves were works of art took root during this period.
11. Chronology
- 1940s: The spread of magnetic tape recording
- 1950s: Systematization of Gutai music
- 1960s: Development of electronic music studios
- 1970s: Reappraisal through fusion of improvisation, noise, and electronic music
12. Technique relationship diagram
Conclusion: The heart of the 1970s reappraisal
Tape music/concrete music was rediscovered in avant-garde music in the 1970s as a foundation that crosses improvisation, noise, and electronic sound. The methodology of intervention in physical media redefined music as a temporal event, an influence that continues to this day.
