tape loops on the radio

[Michael Peters <100041.247@CompuServe.COM>]

> He makes these loops the old-fashioned way, on 1/4" tape, often 20 or 30
> feet long using mic stands to turn the corner, go down the hall into the
> studio, turn around, and come back.
 
This technique has already been used in the early sixties by Terry Riley
(before he came up with the 2-machine, tape delay-feedback system which was
the forefather of Frippertronics).
 
Terry Riley:
> I was working with Anna Halprins Dance Company.  I was working with tape
> loops, sort of primitive technology.  This was in the late 50's early 
>60's.
> I was using tape loops for dancers and dance production.  I had very 
>funky
> primitive equipment, in fact technology wasn't very good no matter how 
>much
> money you had.  Everything was mono.  Using these machines I would take
> tapes and run them into my yard and around a wine bottle back into my 
>room
> and I would get a really long loop and then I would cut the tape into all
> different sizes and I would just run them out into the yard and I would
> record onto one machine just sound on sound.
 
-Michael