Despite being a member of the live-looping community for many years, despite performing at and indeed organising many “loopfests”, despite developing any number of software delays & loopers - despite all this, until this year I had never actually made a tape loop.
This album is the result of my addressing that gap in my experience. Obtaining an old Akai 4000DS Mk-II reel-to-reel recorder from eBay, I set to with a splicing block. The machine came with a few spools of tape, one containing an Abba EP that I didn’t recognise, which became the tape that got chopped up for loops. So each time I recorded new loops for this album, I began the session listening to a looped burst of ‘70s pop, before the tape was wiped. Who knows how this influenced my playing.
After some experimentation I settled on a solution for moving the tape away from the erase head to allow sound-on-sound looping. Then the question was, what to loop? The answer turned out to be contrabass clarinet, through amp simulator and reverb. Almost all the non-synthesiser parts on this record were created with that combination. A few modular synth parts also went through the tape looping process; and the first movement of ‘whispering’ features some tenor sax, not looped at all.
Alongside all this, at the time I was also coming towards the end of the development of a series of analogue synthesiser modules. The tracks here were the final test bed for these, particularly the ‘Lorelei’ VCO, which is why so many of the synth sounds tend towards fairly simple sine tones.
The result? I’ve never been one for message in my music, preferring instead the pure pursuit of beauty - but particularly that special beauty achieved by things that are beautifully ugly. Here, the grunge of the tape, the growl of the contrabass and the contrasting purity of the synths add up to something I find very special.
Dedicated to the memory of Jon Hassell (1937-2021), who passed away just as this album was completed. I had been listening to his “Vernal Equinox” on repeat around that time.
- Andrew Ostler, Edinburgh, October 2021
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:30 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
Product Overview
Despite being a member of the live-looping community for many years, despite performing at and indeed organising many “loopfests”, despite developing any number of software delays & loopers - despite all this, until this year I had never actually made a tape loop.
This album is the result of my addressing that gap in my experience. Obtaining an old Akai 4000DS Mk-II reel-to-reel recorder from eBay, I set to with a splicing block. The machine came with a few spools of tape, one containing an Abba EP that I didn’t recognise, which became the tape that got chopped up for loops. So each time I recorded new loops for this album, I began the session listening to a looped burst of ‘70s pop, before the tape was wiped. Who knows how this influenced my playing.
After some experimentation I settled on a solution for moving the tape away from the erase head to allow sound-on-sound looping. Then the question was, what to loop? The answer turned out to be contrabass clarinet, through amp simulator and reverb. Almost all the non-synthesiser parts on this record were created with that combination. A few modular synth parts also went through the tape looping process; and the first movement of ‘whispering’ features some tenor sax, not looped at all.
Alongside all this, at the time I was also coming towards the end of the development of a series of analogue synthesiser modules. The tracks here were the final test bed for these, particularly the ‘Lorelei’ VCO, which is why so many of the synth sounds tend towards fairly simple sine tones.
The result? I’ve never been one for message in my music, preferring instead the pure pursuit of beauty - but particularly that special beauty achieved by things that are beautifully ugly. Here, the grunge of the tape, the growl of the contrabass and the contrasting purity of the synths add up to something I find very special.
Dedicated to the memory of Jon Hassell (1937-2021), who passed away just as this album was completed. I had been listening to his “Vernal Equinox” on repeat around that time.
- Andrew Ostler, Edinburgh, October 2021
Technical Specs
Shipping Details
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK it's normally around £4 for order values under £150, and free above that. Shipping to mainland EU is typically between £7 and £20, depending on the shipping method and the size and weight of the order.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of Parcelforce, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS for the UK, and for international orders it's either Royal Mail, UPS, DHL or FedEx depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 15:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes FedEx or UPS may come a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Shipping times
Since April 2020 the couriers we use have suspended guarantees for shipping times, so even though we're paying them for priority services - 24-48 hours for most of the world - in practice it's often an extra day on top and sometimes it can be longer.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this unfortunately. If you are outside the UK and it's a life-or-death situation where you absolutely MUST have that passive mult for the next day then... it may be better to find a local supplier.
Saturday shipping
If you're in the UK and you order before 15:30 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday delivery (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). The success rate with DPD is about 95% so it's worth a punt most of the time. Please note that if you select Saturday shipping on an order placed earlier in the week, we'll wait until Friday to ship it.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
