| Tape splicing is a manner of creating a composite audio tape. When done correctly, one can make an interesting work of art from several different reels of music by cutting the two tapes at the points where they are to be linked together and fastening them so that they will run through a tape head as a normal tape would. The difficulty in editing a tape in this manner is keeping the beat of the music from being lost in the edit. If the music from the first section doesn't segue into the second section well, the finished tape will have a 'jerk' where the beat is lost for moment and continuity is broken. Tape editing by splicing the tapes is dificult to say the least.
An amazing example of tape editing:
Taken from the original editing instructions of "Pharaoh's Dance" by Miles Davis (20:02 minutes long.)
(The time values are the points where tape splicing takes place.)
Part 1
Loop A
- :15 Vamp #1
- + :46 Figure #2
- + :56 Back to part b
- + 1:29
- + 1:39 Back to top
Loop A-1
Loop B
- 2:32 Miles enters-
- 2:54
- + 3:31 Miles reappears
CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE
- 5:40 Bernie Maupin bcl solo
- + 7:55 Vamp #1
Loop
Part 2- Statement 1
Loop
Loop
- 8:52 2-beat phrase-
- + 8:54 Four loops of phrase
Loop
- + 8:59
- Part 2-1 Vamp/Miles solo
CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE
Part 2- Statement 2
CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE
- 16:38 Miles enters w/ melody
- 20:02 Ends
As you can see, sometimes the tape was edited every two seconds. Very cool, but also very complicated. Other cool examples of amazing tape splicing can be found in The Beatles Revolution 9.
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