Ongoing History Daily: The race to save old tapes (part 1)
The race to save old tapes is on. Magnetic tape, the recording medium for music from the late 1940s through to the digital era, doesn’t age well. The older a
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Well, that’s another use for magnetic tape. I guess…
Introducing the Open Reel Ensemble, a group of musicians who use traditional bamboo bows to play magnetic reel-to-reel tape to make music. They call their new instrument a “JIGAKKU.” It
Read MoreOngoing History Daily: The most durable recording medium is…
Here’s a question: what is the best and most reliable way to store music for the ages? I’m talking decades and centuries. What’s the best recording medium as far as
Read MoreOngoing History Daily: Cool History of Audio Tape, Part 5
One of the important pioneers in the world of audio recording is Major Jack Mullin. Although he was a solider in the US, he was also interested in technology. While
Read MoreOngoing History Daily: Cool History of Audio Tape, Part 1
Before the 1930s, the only real way to capture music for playback later was on either a rotating cylinder or a rotating disc. The principle was the same: the mechanical
Read MoreOngoing History Daily: An update on tape rot
Storing audio for long, long periods of time isn’t as easy as we once thought. For example, about a dozen years ago, the UK found they had to deal with
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I think it goes without saying that we as a species would like to preserve our music forever and ever, right? But here’s the question: what format will last the
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Let’s give credit to three unsung pioneers of music.
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca and was adapted from the much more in-depth Ongoing History of New Music program/podcast on the subject. Check out Unsung Heroes of Music
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Ongoing History Daily: Sonic Youth’s guitar sounds
Few bands managed to get as many sounds out of a guitar as Sonic Youth. What was their secret? In the beginning, it was cheap guitars. Thurston Moore and Lee
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Random music news for Monday, October 28, 2019
In LA on a movie junket (more on that later), right in the midst of wildfire season. The best hope is that it starts to rain and the mudslides will
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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cassettes
If you’re a regular reader of these pages, you’ll know that I believe the cassette is a hateful, outdated, obsolete piece of technology that deserves to die. Those who romanticize
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