Editing Reverse tape effects (section)

== History ==

In 1877, [[Thomas Edison]] invented the [[phonograph]], a device allowing [[sound]] to be [[sound recording and reproduction|recorded and reproduced]] on a rotating cylinder with a [[stylus]] (or "needle") attached to a diaphragm mounted at the narrow end of a horn. [[Emile Berliner]] invented the familiar lateral-cut disc [[gramophone record|phonograph record]] in 1888. In addition to recreating recorded sounds by placing the stylus on the cylinder or disc and rotating it in the same direction as during the recording, one could hear different sounds by rotating the cylinder or disc backwards.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kittler |first=Friedrick |title=The Gramophone |work=Adventures in CyberSound |publisher=[[Australian Centre for the Moving Image]] |url=http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/PHONO_KITTLER.html |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20040302130000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/13071/20040303-0000/www.acmi.net.au/AIC/PHONO_KITTLER.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2004-03-02 |access-date=2007-03-01}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Kittler|first=Friedrick|title=The Gramaphone|url=http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/PHONO_KITTLER.html|accessdate=2007-03-01|archive-date=2004-03-03|archive-url=http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/13071/20040303-0000/www.acmi.net.au/AIC/PHONO_KITTLER.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1878, Edison noted that, when played backwards, "the song is still melodious in many cases, and some of the strains are sweet and novel, but altogether different from the song reproduced in the right way".<ref>{{cite book |last = Blecha |first = Peter |author-link=Peter Blecha |title = Taboo Tunes: A History of Banned Bands & Censored Songs |year=2004 |publisher=Hal Leonard |isbn=978-0-87930-792-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/tabootuneshistor0000blec |page=48}}</ref>

Reverse effects were regarded largely as a curiosity and were little used until the 1950s. The 1950s saw two new developments in audio technology: the development of ''[[musique concrète]]'', an [[avant-garde]] form of [[electronic music]], which involves [[audio engineering|editing]] together fragments of natural and industrial sounds, and the concurrent spread of the use of [[tape recorder]]s in [[recording studio]]s.<ref>{{cite web |last=White |first=Ray |title=Musique Concrète |url=http://whitefiles.org/rws/rx01.htm |publisher = whitefiles.org | access-date=2007-11-05| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071118094321/http://whitefiles.org/rws/rx01.htm| archive-date= November 18, 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> These two trends led to tape music compositions, composed on [[magnetic tape|tape]] using techniques including reverse tape effects.<ref>{{cite web |last=Peters |first=Michael |title=The Birth of Loop: A Short History of Looping Music |url=http://www.loopers-delight.com/history/Loophist.html |publisher=loopers-delight.com|access-date=2007-03-10| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070328220400/http://www.loopers-delight.com/history/Loophist.html| archive-date= March 28, 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> 

The reverse tape technique became especially popular during the [[psychedelic music]] era of the mid-to-late 1960s when musicians and producers exploited a vast range of special audio effects.