Tape loop

A section of magnetic tape joined end to end so that playback repeats its recorded sound continuously. Tape loops can create rhythmic patterns, drones, and evolving textures.

Magnetic tape recording: A method of recording sound as magnetic patterns on moving tape. A loop repeats because its recorded magnetic pattern passes the playback head again and again.
Musique concrète: A compositional practice that builds music from recorded sounds and their transformation. Tape loops let composers reshape everyday recordings into structured musical material.
Pierre Schaeffer: A French composer who pioneered musique concrète and experimental work with recorded sound. His studio practice helped establish tape manipulation, including repeated fragments, as composition.
Magnetic tape: A flexible strip coated with magnetic material used to store audio and other information. It is the recording medium that can be cut, joined, and played repeatedly.
Splicing tape: Adhesive tape used to join cut sections of magnetic recording tape. A clean splice closes the strip while reducing clicks and mechanical snags.
Steve Reich: An American composer known for minimalist music and process-based works. His early tape pieces used slightly out-of-sync loops to generate shifting patterns.
WDR Studio for Electronic Music: A Cologne studio founded in 1951 for composing and producing electronic music. Its tape-based methods formed part of the postwar studio culture that explored loops.
Audio feedback: A signal loop in which output returns to an input and is amplified again. Feedback can arise when looped playback is routed back into recording.
Tape head: An electromagnetic transducer that records, plays, or erases signals on magnetic tape. The playback head converts each pass of the loop into an audible repetition.
It's Gonna Rain: A 1965 tape composition by Steve Reich built from repeated speech recordings. The work makes phase drift between tape loops audible as a changing musical process.

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