I started my sound recording journey with a small Fostex 4-track cassette recorder (the only features being level and pan – no inter-channel bouncing), as it was cheaper than buying an interface and software. It taught me a lot about simple principles such as gain staging and how to record audio so that it sounds the way you want, rather than manipulating in post. Upgrading to a better 4 channel recorder (Tascam 414 MKII) opened up my horizons vastly, and it felt like I was at the controls of a vast spaceship, overflowing with possibilities. Low and high shelving EQs, inter-channel bouncing (ping-ponging), 2 sends with dedicated returns, switchable noise reduction, variable doublespeed and more. I quickly taught myself to splice tape, both to repair broken tapes and also to create the holy grail of tape experimentation – tape loops. Inspired by Frippertronics, plenty of Eno’s work and also early radiophonic workshop experiments by D. Derbyshire and D. Oram, I soon discovered the fun of creating sound-on sound loops that I could pitch up and down, filter, and even play backwards. You can imagine the joy of my first mobius strip, and my first long loop that ran the length of my bedroom. I created drum loops to play along to, guitar loops slowed down to infinity (even recorded on a doublespeed machine, then played back on a standard machine) to create smeared ambient textures reminiscent of synth pads, and once I acquired my first monophonic synthesiser I layered multiple notes on the same channel (using sound on sound recording) to make chords, then played these chords using the faders.

In recent years, I have fallen out of love with the tape loop. It became very finicky to splice, frustrating and I was also ending up with plenty of wasted tape, without any blank shells to put the reels into. But, the first assignment to create a sound piece got me thinking, and I brought out an old loop to re-record onto. Layering voices and messing with the pitch, I found the finishing touch to my track, and also found myself in child-like awe of the simple tape loop once again. Life has looped around again, full circle. Excuse the pun.