Re: Need help with backwards-tape setup

["Jonathan S. Drukman" <jondr@sco.com>]

In article <GOBBEL.91May3125129@cogsci.edu> jgobbel@UCSD.EDU writes:
>There's a song on the new Motorhead album ("Nightmare/The Dreamtime") in
>which about half the lyrics are recorded backwards.  I know that there are
>readers of this list who've figured out how to listen to some of Kate's music
>backwards.  If you could tell me how to do that, like what equipment is
>required and how it has to be set up, I'd really appreciate it.

Four ways of playing sounds backwards:
1. If it's on a record and you've got a turntable that can stay on but
put the motor in neutral, you can just drop the needle and spin the
record backwards.  It's kind of tricky to get the speed right, and the
temptation to start doing rap-style scratching can become overwhelming
(put a layer of wax paper between the record and the turntable platter
if you want to scratch)...

2. If it's on cassette, swap the plus and minus sides of the DC power
going to the motor and your tape deck will play backwards, I think.
Never tried this one, but theoretically it's sound enough.  Try it on
a cheap Walkman first.

3. Get a 4-track cassette deck.  They use all four tracks of a
standard audio cassette going the same direction, so if you put the
tape in wrong side up (that is, if what you want to hear is on side
two, you put side one facing up) and listen to tracks one and two,
you'll hear the backwards stuff.  This is my favorite method because
it's fast and the speed control is automatically taken care of.
Unfortunately, most people don't own 4-track cassettes.

4. Digital sampling.  Almost every sampler in the world can reverse
the sound.  It's one of the most basic algorithms in the world.  Of
course, in order to hear a long section of sound, you'll need a lot of
memory.  And if you lower the sampling rate to increase recording
time, the sound quality will deteriorate.

>Actually,
>while I'm at it, I'll probably want to go back and listen to some of Kate's
>backwards lyrics, so I can hear for myself what she's really saying....

I can't think of any places in the KT oeuvre where she's actually
using backwards messages.  Most of the "weird" stuff is done by
listening to the backwards tape and then approximating the sounds
heard.  You record the approximations in reverse.  When you finally
flip the tape around to hear the finished product, the sound is very
strange indeed, due to the human voice's inability to exactly mimic
the reversed sound.

On the other hand, here are some famous examples of backwards stuff
that sounds quite cool when deciphered:

1.  The Beatles - "Rain" -- doesn't say anything too exciting, but
it's generally accepted as the first use of reversed tape in pop
music.

2.  Pink Floyd - "Empty Spaces" -- the secret message!  (it's hiding
on one channel, mixed really low...)

3.  The B-52's - "Detour Thru Your Mind" -- I don't want to spoil the
surprise, but this one will have you in stitches.

4.  Prince - "Darling Nikki" -- Weird shit in that little "postlude"

5.  The Beatles - "Revolution 9" -- Play the whole thing backwards.
Gave me nightmares for a week.  Turn me on dead man...

-- 
jon drukman                 jondr@sco.com       always note the sequencer:
sco docland wage slave      uunet!sco!jondr     this will never let us down