Everything You Need to Know About Tape Loops

Tape loops are an often used medium for sound, and they're pretty malleable and customizable - even in their miniature form. Here we have a fascinating documentary on Tape Loops from  AMULETS as shot by independent student filmmaker Kilian Vidourek. The documentary coincides with Amulets latest release Blooming, available on bandcamp here. Here's more details on the vid: 

In the fall of 2019 Notre Dame student Kilian Vidourek reached out to me about making a mini documentary about me and my work as Amulets. Funded by a grant from his school, KIlian flew out to Portland and followed me around for the week leading up to my album release show for "Between Distant and Remote". This experience was really fascinating for both of us and I think he did a great job capturing me in my element. Since its release Tape Wizard has been played at the Bellingham Music Film Festival, Bolton International Film Festival, Portland Film Festival, Mid America Film Festival, and The Notre Dame Student Film Festival to name a few. 

And in this follow up video we see an iterated technique to create your own tiny tape loops which remain in the cassette, and (hopefully) don't get chewed up. You'll find his 3D Printable objects here and an article which inspired the video here - with a taster below: 

What is a "Mobius Twist"?

A "Mobius Twist" is when you make a single twist in the tape loop. It will play what you record and then flip over and continue playing, doubling the play time. This truly only works on stereo cassette decks, and not 4-track recorders, although some have reported it creates interesting effects. The audio that plays on the second half, will sound a bit muffled, but should otherwise play.

Helpful Info About Tapes and Tape Players

• At normal speed, cassettes run at 1.875 inches per second.
• At high speed, cassettes runtime is about 1/4 the running time at normal speed.
• Standard cassette players can play and record both sides of a cassette in stereo.
• 4-track cassette records consume both stereo channels, so you can only play one side.

Illustrations of Standard and Modified Loops

To help visualize, I illustrated a few of the most creative loop designs I found during my research, some with extra guide rollers and supply wheels to get extra length out of your tapes. On each diagram, I've noted the length of tape and its duration in time when played at normal playback speed. If there was no specified length/time in the information I've gathered from other folks, I tried to build one and provide that helpful information.

Here's another video on Tape Loops:

And some further reading (taken form the article linked above) 

• Dust Breeding: Cassette Looping
• Cementimental.com: The Two Perfect Loops
• Unique and easy way to cover the erase head for sound on sound recording
• Instructables.com: Audio-Cassette-Loop
• disquiet.com/2011/07/10/jared-smyth-tape-loop/
• Of Sound Mind: Wonders of the cassette tape loop, part 1
• Pete Smith: Endless Cassette Loops
• Michael Ridge: Endless Loop Cassettes
• Michael Ridge: Dead Flies Tape Loop
• Sciencemuseum.org.uk: Make Your Own Tape Loop
   

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