> TAPE DECAY

Tape Decay

The concept: A year long experiment was conducted in which Tribes of Neurot documented the degradation and disintegration of four unique sounding analog tape loops. The results of this experiment were documented at the Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. These results were issued in a limited edition subscriber only CD series from Tribes of Neurot.

The method: On December 21st 1999 Tribes of Neurot Neurot created four characteristically different tape loops and began to run them on four different inexpensive reel to reel playback machines with the intention of allowing them to play continuously for the duration of the year. It was our belief that this unusual amount of time would cause an extreme and sonically interesting degradation of sound due to the inherent nature of magnetic tape and consumer level tape machines. After a few weeks, fifteen minutes of each sound loop was recorded to document its current state of decay. Each disc begins with the four sounds presented individually for reference followed by a sound collage of the four loops interacting with one another. The decay was allowed to continue for the rest of the year, to be documented quarterly on each seasonal change. In order to achieve continuity, and to allow for easy analysis by the listener, each sound on the documented recordings remains in a fixed position within the stereo field for the duration of the project. See diagram.

Quarterly Notes on progress of the experiment:

Spring Equinox 2000 Tape Decay Series disc 1 of 4

Events and observations:
> Frequent cleaning of machines due to decomposing tape particles saturating heads radically reducing signal output.
> Intermittent squeaks and pops.
> Variations in loop tension causing pitch fluctuation.
> Signal to noise ratio decreased.
> Loop breakage resulting in repair edits.

Summer Solstice 2000 Tape Decay Series disc 2 of 4

Events and observations:
> Frequent cleaning of machines due to decomposing tape particles saturating heads therefore radically reducing signal output.
> Mangling and fraying of tape causing signal drop outs.
> Signal to noise ratio continuing to decrease.
> Motor failure causing increased variations in playback speed.
> Increased breakage of loops resulting in radical repair edits changing the inherent nature and rhythm of the loops.
> Stretching and warping of tape.
> Warbling sound due to vibrations caused by tape slipping partially off tension arm.
> Tape getting caught up on mechanism only to release itself causing strange pitch fluctuations and pauses.

Autumn Equinox 200 Tape Decay Series disc 3 of 4

Events and observations:
> Frequent cleaning of machines due to decomposing tape particles saturating heads therefore radically reducing signal output.
> Tape machine burnout, complete malfunction and replacement.
> Dramatically decreased signal to noise ratio.
> Variation in tension and pitch seem to occur more often with longer loops.
> Continued warping, stretching, mangling and fraying of tape.
> Some areas of the tape have very little oxide left.
> Tape seems to be wearing thinner and stretching more.
> Increased breakage resulting in more edits and shorter loops.
> Due to the volume of tape breaks, it was impossible to assemble some pieces in the correct order, so the character of the loops has changed significantly.
> Wearing of the tape head very noticeable.
> High frequency loss more apparent.

Winter Solstice 2000 Tape Decay Series disc 4 of 4

Events and observations:
> Frequent cleaning of machines due to decomposing tape saturating heads therefore radically reducing output signal.
> Tape wearing very thin, extremely small amount of oxide left on some of the loops.
> All frequencies showing extreme loss of fidelity. It actually seems amazing that any recognizable bit of original sounds still exist after so much play.
> Increased breakage of loops, so radical in fact that they are merely remnants of their original state. Some pieces were too short to remain
loops, so blank tape was added to the remnants to allow them to continue in this project.
> 3 of the original 4 tape machines were replaced due to head wear and other mechanical problems beyond affordable repair.