Swope, NYC 1983
(photo: R. Miller)

Martin Swope, tape loops

Martin used a Braun tape deck which had (if I recall correctly) 2 speeds, probably. During soundcheck, he would cut 3 or 4 tape loops, a couple feet or so in length (circular, of course, once he taped them together). They would always be blank.

During a performance, he would record material while the band was playing a song - usually these bits would be pre-worked out (a vocal bit, drum hits, guitar noise, etc.) Then, while we went on playing, he would feed this back into the mix at the appropriate time: sometimes he had twisted the tape half-over to make it play backwards; or drop or raise the speed the tape was playing at, whatever was appropriate. Sometimes he would use the tape recorder as a slap-back echo. One nice feature of the Braun is that when you changed speeds on the fly, it would "glissando" down or up to the next chosen speed. Thus the slowing down of the vocal loop at the end of "Red". Sometimes the composer of the song would have an idea for Martin, and sometimes he'd come up with an idea and clear it with us. When we approached Bob Weston to fill Martin's position, we told him he could use current digital technology (which accomplishes Martin's antics in an easier fashion). However, Bob opted for maintaining the original integrity, and uses a tape deck. What kind? I don't know {an Otari MX-5050, ed.} - I always see it in its case. Bob learned Martin's parts as a starting point, but has added alot of his own gestures, especially in the new songs.

(RM)