Tapegerm FAQ v2.02
I Background and Introduction
Who are / What is Tapegerm?
Tapegerm is a group of musicians and sound artists dedicated to making loop based music. We contribute loops to a pool that can be used by other Tapegerm artists to create new mixes based on these loops and conversely create our own new mixes from the loops provided by other Tapgerm artists. Essentially, we share bits of sound, and the end results of what we do with each others sounds.
Where is Tapegerm?
Tapegerm exists in the collective creative commons of its members. We lease a server located in Virginia USA for the group's use + offer single domain / website hosting for individual members as well. Although Tapegerm is a non-profit organization members contribute a reasonable yearly membership fee as either loop artists or mix artists to help pay for the server.
Maintaining Tapegerm is a distributed effort. The main web site is currently maintained by Tapegerm artists Bryan Baker, Chris Phinney, and Scott Carr. Your ideas for web site additions are welcome, of course.
When did Tapegerm come into existence?
In its current form Tapegerm started in late May 2000, though it's probably best to think of it as always coming into existence.
Why Tapegerm?
A long time ago ape people became human people and soon after this they began to intentionally bang upon and stroke objects with the goal of producing sounds. A bunch of human people made up this thing called music based upon the combination of sounds and they began making special objects specifically designed to produce this music. A vast tapestry of sound and noise emerged over the centuries with many interesting methods of composition, instrumentation, distribution, performance, and storage evolving in each epoch.
In the period spanning from the late 19th to the early 20th century the first devices for recording, broadcasting, playing, and receiving sounds were invented. While the latter two became widely available to the public, it wasn't until the advent of cheap audio cassette recorders combined with the creative use of the postal system in the early 1980's that sound artists were able to make their own recordings outside of expensive studios and distribute them to people around the world. Some excellent resources on music exchanged in the loosely knit network of home recordists who exchange music through the mail check out The Cassette Mythos, Factsheet 5, Gajoob, Demo Universe, Shouting at the Postman, AutoReverse, and Homemade Music.
In the past two decades computers and the Internet have begun to revolutionize all aspects of music from composition to more recently even broadcast and distribution. Tapegerm is all about exploring these new avenues that have been opened to us. And also it's about just having fun, making interesting music, and encouraging artistic growth + community.
What is sampling?
Sampling is the art of digitally recording short selections of sound to be used as instruments. Almost any kind of sound source can be sampled, so quite a wide array of instruments can be created, giving the artist a rich palette with which to create music.
What constitutes a loop?
A loop is a special kind of sample that can be repeatedly played end to end seamlessly. There are two basic types of loops: rhythmic and ambient. A rhythmic loop is usually a measure or several measures of sound that when looped produce a patterned beat. Loops of the ambient ilk have no melody or meter. They are simply noise or static notes that repeat seamlessly.
What does a mix sound like?
No rules here. A mix sounds like whatever you'd like it to sound like. You have complete freedom in how you implement the loops and with what you can add to them. Play kazoo over them if you'd like.
II Communicate
There are several communication options for members. The first is the Yahoo Groups Tapegerm Members e-mail list. The traffic on the list and can be anywhere from 0 - 50 posts on a given day. On average it's probably around 10 per day. Once you setup a login for Yahoo Groups you can select how you want to receive or view the list. Finally we have a blog which should be reserved for musings, thoughts, current projects, and any other generally bloggy stuff (don't discuss passwords and the like here as they will be posted for the world to see.)
III Copyright, Copyleft, and the murky lands in-between
The loops are copyright Tapegerm, which is a shared collective consisting of its members. You may use any additional samples and loops of your own to make a mix. Tapegerm is not averse to plunderphonics and the like, but we're not all about remixing the latest commercial RIAA offerings.
Mixes are copyright collectively by Tapegerm AND the artist who created them AND tapegerm artists whose loops are used in a track. You may upload your works to your own sites and you may include these works on CD's or otherwise do with them as you would any other composition you control. However, for each track you must credit Tapegerm AND credit any artist whose loops are present in the track.
These same copyright guidelines apply to images, text, and any other intellectual property produced by the collective as well.
The music found on tapegerm is listed automatically with the project where its loops originate. You'll find the exact text to include in your song credits on each page. For instance, if your song includes loops from a guest artist project, just go to that page to see what text to include in your credits so that your track appears automatically on that page. It's easy once you do it once or twice and it gives your music a little extra exposure.
IV Various How-to's
How do I upload and download loops?
Each Tapegerm LOOP artist is allocated a directory in the loops directory on the tapegerm.com server. This is where you will put your loops. This directory is shared with all your tapegerm friends. You access it via FTP, a user name and password is provided via the collective. Do not share this information.
Please upload your samples/loops in the Microsoft .wav format (16 bit 44kHz stereo/mono). Loops should be named using the following convention:
username_month_year_loopname.wav or username_month_year_loopname.mp3
for example:
scarr_July_2002_weirdbass.wav
Please match your username with the name of your root loop folder.
Also please respect the server: Do not use it for non-Tapegerm purposes.
There are always lots of loop projects going on at tapegerm. LOOP artists are encouraged to contribute loops to these projects as well. They are open to tapegerm mix artists. These projects and loops can be accessed through your account page. Scroll toward the bottom on the menu buttons and you'll see a button to get the loops. There are lots of them, so have fun.
Newcomers to tapegerm are required to create a track using loops from the sample loop pack before you can access all the project loops. We do this to help create a better community. As you participate in the activities here you'll understand better how cool it is. The music elements begin to evolve through different create uses.
Where are the mixes? How do I upload a mix?
Music is uploaded to your Jamroom account. Be sure that you include any project information in the Credits box. The text is indicated on each project page. If you don't follow this convention your mix will not automatically appear on the correct mix page + you will incur the wrath of the administrator. :)
You may include loops from more than one different project; just include the right text for each project in the song credits box so your mix appears correctly on each page.
How do I make loops?
There are probably as many ways to make a loop as there are to make music, but here are a few hints.
Decide if you are making an ambient loop or a rhythmic loop or if you're just making a sample (one shot, not looped).
Pick your source. This could be a short part of a song you've already done, a tape fragment, midi sequence, sound of fingers on a chalkboard - just about anything. To create a new loop just make up a line or a wall of noise and record it with an audio editor (Like Cool Edit or Sound Forge for Windows, Sound Hack for a Mac OS, or ? in Linux).
Always test your loop. The best way to do this in an audio editor is to select a region of a recording that looks like it will loop well (believe me, the more you do this, the better you'll be able to tell. Do it a bunch and you'll start seeing potential loops in all graphical representations of sound!) Most audio editors let you play in loop mode. Select that mode and just keep modifying the start and end points of the wave. When it stops sounding like a record skipping (unless that's the effect you're going for) trim or crop the wave to your selection.
Fine tuning: Make sure to eliminate leading and trailing gaps or silence. Shrink your view of the waveform to the smallest you can get it. Make sure the wave is zeroed by going to the beginning and selecting the first few samples and then fading them in. Go to the end of the wave and select a few samples and make them fade out. If you really want to be picky make sure the wave is in phase by checking that the fade in at the start and the fade out at the end are moving to and from zero in opposite directions.
How do I make a mix?
There are many tools available for making mixes on all major computer operating systems. Each tool has its own unique properties and can be useful or frustrating depending on the user. To get a an idea of some of the software favored by Tapegerm Members see our links page here.
This FAQ is maintained by Scott Carr and was last modified on 04/10/2005
If you have any questions, please post them to our message board.