Sound collage with two reel-to-reel machines and 40" tape loops #soundart #analog #tapes

Bit of the auld Revox mangling with the strong coffee this morning. Paul Cousins - Oxide Manifesto (Castles In Space, 2024) @paulcousins.bsky.social @castlesinspace.bsky.social

Less than a week to go until this beautiful evening of music. Come along!

🎛️Trevors Virtual Cassette Library 137🎛️ Drop a comment on the timeline of the Mixcloud show (if you have an account) 🎧 www.mixcloud.com/djsofabed/tr... 🎨 @paulcousins.bsky.social Trem 77 Shadow Dancer Wodwo Stewart Keller Fallen Anadol Tycho @willowlaun.bsky.social @larrytoadman.bsky.social ...

Analog 🇯🇵 #akai #yamaha #roland #teac

Working on the audio collected from our recent Composing with Tape workshop in Port Navas, Cornwall. Memories of a fantastic week come flooding back. I really enjoyed creating the programme for the workshop, and sharing the techniques & exercises with those in attendance was the best part of all.

Joe Harvey-Whyte & Paul Cousins ‘in a fugue state’ album launch, Thu 6th Nov at The Horse Hospital. Support from Vera Sacra Released via @nonemorerecords.bsky.social www.thehorsehospital.com/events/joe-h...

Reassembly 🔊〰️

Manual rhythmic glitches using the pause lever. Loop two is a half-speed CR-78 drum machine sample. Everything going through a Roland RE-201, with intensity on the edge of feedback. Patch notes 〰️ #tapes #analog #reels

I'll be playing at the @monochapel.bsky.social night at Trades Club in Hebden Bridge on Friday, with @paulcousins.bsky.social , @kyliemonologue.bsky.social , and @flcartographer.bsky.social . COME ON DOWN! dice.fm/event/7daegb...

Deep in prep for my show @thetradesclub.bsky.social on 15th Aug. I usually start by creating a small library of tape loops. I then map out sounds into a framework for the show. This leaves enough room for improvisation, whilst providing a foundation on which to play. thetradesclub.com/events/mono2

Had a great time on Craig Charles’ BBC 6 Music show, preaching about tape and my upcoming projects for a truly generous stint. Here's a clip, the full piece is available on BBC sounds starting at 1h41m www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Excited to announce a new collaborative album with Joe Harvey-Whyte ‘in a fugue state’ blends tape loops and pedal steel guitar in a warped ambient journey to the subconscious released via @nonemorerecords.bsky.social on 17th October 2025 ‘lift’ is out now. LP pre-order: tinyurl.com/3p6p83ek

what genre is this? 〰️ Prepping for my next show, deep excitement for this one - 15th August in Hebden Bridge at The Trades Club for @monochapel.bsky.social alongside @polypores.bsky.social @flcartographer.bsky.social @kyliemonologue.bsky.social thetradesclub.com/events/mono2

In May 2023 I launched my album ‘Vanishing Artefacts’ with a show at Iklectik in Waterloo. This was also my first live performance! It was a pleasure to perform with Joe Harvey-Whyte and Vincent Curson Smith. The LP is available now via the wonderful @castlesinspace.bsky.social subscription library

lucid dreaming 💭 With the tape machine in pause mode and the play head engaged, you can manually move the tape across the play head. #analog #tape #ambient #soundart

We’re back in Hebden Bridge for a HUGE night of live electronics and big screen visuals with… @paulcousins.bsky.social @polypores.bsky.social @kyliemonologue.bsky.social @flcartographer.bsky.social Venue - thetradesclub.com/events/mono2 DICE - link.dice.fm/m5f608aa2a47 How good is this?!?! 🤯

Next show 9th June, a collaborative performance with Popular Music at The Horse Hospital, WC1N 1JD www.thehorsehospital.com/events/popul...

Composing With Tape, a five day residential workshop in Lamorna, Cornwall. In a beautiful house surrounded by woodland we created, recorded, experimented, talked and listened. Thanks to all the wonderful artists who attended and shared their ideas. #analog #tape

Umph! The new @paulcousins.bsky.social test pressings have arrived for the SL and they are sounding just beautiful.

After 7 years producing shows for @vpraudioclub.bsky.social & RFM I'm finally calling time... Dedicating this one to all the labels & artists who've supported the show, plus anyone who's ever found time to listen. You'll find my final Electronic Odyssey here 🙏💙x www.mixcloud.com/vpraudioclub...

If your tape machine has 3 heads, you have a tape echo. Connect your instrument to a mixer. Connect the tape machine output to a 2nd mixer channel. Connect the mixer output to the tape machine input. Make sure you're monitoring the play head. Press record & control the echo using 2nd mixer channel.

More from this setup. The technical limitations in using this equipment always gives interesting results. Adding wonky glitches using the pause lever, as I needed to slow machine 1 down. I've realised this is basically an awesome, elaborate guitar delay pedal with a finite timer (the tape length)

Spring is here, enjoy some Frippertronics. Playing a Tele into a TEAC mixer, which is blended with playback from deck 2 then sent back into deck 1, which is recording. Once the tape spool runs out, the entire recording is on it. I got lost for hours and hours.

One year ago today we were shooting this film for Fact. This was a prototype of my installation ‘Atomised Listening’. I learnt so much about the work before installing it at Stone Nest in November. The full film is available here: www.factmag.com/2024/06/07/p...

more Pause Lever, this time using it to build a sequence. This is a great way to construct loops, and can achieve the effect of different sections of tape being spliced together. Using the same sound here, but it could be anything. The workmen making a racket outside my window, for instance. #tape

new release! ‘Half-Speed Bias no.3’ is an abstract sound collage of prepared 1/4” tape loops, field recordings and sound effects. This is an honest expression of how I create using tape. pay-what-you-want on bandcamp for 48 hrs 🥜 paulcousins.bandcamp.com/track/half-s... #analogue

Released this Friday 21st March. 'Half-Speed Bias no.3' is a 14-minute tape loop sound collage. Created using two reel-to-reel & captured live in one take. It will be PWYW for 48 hours on Bandcamp: paulcousins.bandcamp.com #analogue #soundart #tapes

This is how to manually record at different speeds using the pause lever on a reel-to-reel. When the pause lever is engaged and recording is activated, you can move the tape across the record head manually. The faster you move the tape, the lower the pitch. #analog #voiceover #reeltoreel #recording

More experiments with this setup. I will never tire of 'Repeat Rate' on the RE-201. It's my favourite control on any piece of equipment, ever. Bliss! 🎶🧡 #tapes #analog #experimental

Quite obsessed with this patch. 5 inputs: Akai 1722L, Akai 4000DS, Juno 6>Mercury 7, Echosystem (send), RE-201 (send). The loop on the 1722L is constantly flipping over and playing the other side in reverse. Some interesting results with this, but is completely random & hard to replicate. #analog

26" tape loop. I cut 9 sections from other loops and randomly spliced them together. Have you ever seen a Copicat echo snap? 🐈 ➰ #analog #soundart

Back in the lab 〰️🧪 Akai 4000DS mkii Akai 1722L WEM Watkins Copicat TEAC M-30 Soundcraft EPM6 #analogue

Now the call for MAINS in #PeoplesPop24 has launched, I can post the list I submitted. Think of this🧵 as an adjunct to my Not #Top24of24 Starting with my MAIN. The campaign to vote for this gorgeous track starts here! Paul Cousins @paulcousins.bsky.social “Thought Loops” youtu.be/WiaF67IN3fA?...

A New Year a new show: An Electronic Odyssey with a difference... Easing into 2025 with a continuous one hour mix evoking the senses of the iconic BBC Shipping Forecast which turns 100 years old this year 🚢🌊 Tune in and listen via @vpraudioclub.bsky.social www.mixcloud.com/vpraudioclub...

I know how protective @castlesinspace.bsky.social are over their output, which makes a sale taking place there something that feels like a genuine gift. Plus the sale includes this beauty, one of my albums of the year, by @paulcousins.bsky.social too x paulcousins-cis.bandcamp.com/album/oxide-...

Hey Bluesky, I'm (finally) new here so thought I would do an #introduction. I make music & sound art using #analog equipment and magnetic tape. I'm hoping to connect with other #electronicmusic #soundart #ambient devotees. I'm always looking for new, experimental, weird music recommendations 💙

Rebuilding the studio. #analogue

Appreciate we've a couple more weeks 'til years end, but thought I'd share my annual thoughts now... I'm certainly not qualified to assert these as the 'best' of the year, but they're certainly those that have proved most special to me In no particular order... My 24 Albums Of The Year for 2024 x

Atomised Listening at Stone Nest, a two-day interactive sound installation using obsolete technology. Visitors were able to create their own soundscapes using a mixing desk, 5 reel-to-reel machines and a Space Echo. The building is a former chapel on Shaftesbury Avenue, built in 1888 #soundart