ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the recording medium and the history of editing practices for electronic music conceived with the recording medium in mind and composed directly on that medium. The tape recorder made possible several basic techniques for repeating sounds that have been popular since the earliest experiments with tape composition. Tape echo quickly became a staple effect of electronic music composition. Reversing sounds quickly became a popular technique in tape composition and an indispensable tool for the composer who wanted to modify sounds without quite changing them altogether. Many of the fundamental ideas for editing sound arose from the technology associated with the magnetic tape recorder. Most software designed for the editing and processing of sounds continues to borrow its lexicon of terms and controls from the world of magnetic tape, where the concepts of Record, Play, Fast Forward, Rewind, and Pause were first applied.
