MCPM016
Tape focused Special
Currently compiling the 3rd episode of the audio interface magazine - mcpm016 coming end of June...
Tape focused special featuring interviews with
Paul Cousins, Thomas Ragsdale and Everyday Dust
plus the usual hardware / software / music reviews and other peripheral underground experimental electronica guff.
if you want a shout or review included its not too late to send something over (but it will be too late by 10th June)
It will be available either through the label sub club as part of the subscription moolakiiclubaudiointerface.bandcamp.com/mc-sc-singles-club
or on via its own page at mcpm.bandcamp.com/
£10 with cover album
In July therefore there will be an option for a subscription for the zine only via the mcpm.bandcamp.com page
Excerpt from the zine
A Brief History of Tape: From Propaganda to Sonic Alchemy
The manipulation of iron oxide on polyester ribbons
The Origins of Magnetic Tape
There’s a unique magic in magnetic tape that no digital plugin has ever been able to replicate. That warm hiss, the subtle pitch wobble, the way sounds bleed into one another like wet paint, these were never mere technical flaws, but secret tools that reshaped modern music.
The story begins with Fritz Pfleumer, a German-Austrian engineer who, in 1928, developed the first practical magnetic tape by coating thin strips of paper with iron oxide powder. His invention laid the groundwork for further development by AEG and BASF, who introduced the Magnetophon K1 in 1935 - the world’s first reel-to-reel tape recorder capable of high-fidelity sound reproduction.
From Nazi Broadcasts to Hollywood Studios
Initially used for Nazi propaganda broadcasts during World War II, Magnetophon machines were captured by Allied forces. Jack Mullin, an American Army Signal Corps engineer, brought two Magnetophons back to the United States in 1946. He demonstrated the machines for industry figures, most notably Bing Crosby, who recognised their potential for radio production.
Crosby became the first major figure in entertainment to embrace magnetic tape, investing in Ampex (a company soon to revolutionise recording) and using tape to pre-record his radio shows—allowing for editing and higher-quality playback. This marked the transition of tape from military and broadcast tool to creative recording medium.
Musique Concrète: The Art of Manipulation
In postwar Paris, Pierre Schaeffer, a French radio engineer and composer, pioneered a new genre he called musique concrète. In 1948, he created Étude aux chemins de fer, built from recordings of trains that were cut, looped, and arranged with razor blades. Schaeffer’s innovations challenged traditional notions of music, focusing on recorded sound as the primary material.
Multi-Tracking and Studio Innovation
In the United States, Les Paul (1915–2009), a pioneering guitarist and inventor, developed multi-track recording in the late 1940s using modified Ampex tape machines. His technique allowed musicians to record instruments separately and layer performances—laying the foundation for all modern multi-track studio work.
Avant-Garde Exploration and Tape as Instrument
In Germany, Karlheinz Stockhausen pushed the boundaries of tape manipulation in electronic music. His 1953 piece Studie I was one of the first works composed entirely from sine tones and noise, generated electronically and shaped on tape creating a landmark in electroacoustic music.
At the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, British composer Delia Derbyshire brought tape editing to mainstream audiences. Best known for her 1963 realisation of the Doctor Who theme (composed by Ron Grainer), she manually cut, spliced, and manipulated tape segments to create one of the earliest and most iconic pieces of electronic music in popular culture.
The 1960s: Minimalism and the Loop
In 1965, American composer Steve Reich created It’s Gonna Rain using two reel-to-reel tape loops of a preacher’s voice that gradually drifted out of phase. This technique, known as phasing, introduced a new dimension of repetition…
Will drop some more teasers ahead of Release day…