Frippertronics

Frippertronics is a specific tape looping technique used by English guitarist Robert Fripp.[1] It evolved from a system of tape looping originally developed in the electronic music studios of the early 1960s that was first used by composers Terry Riley and Pauline Oliveros and made popular through its use in ambient music by composer Brian Eno, as on his album Discreet Music (1975). The effect is now routinely found in many commercial loop station guitar digital effects boxes such as the Boss RC-3.

Technology

Frippertronics is an analogue delay system consisting of two side-by-side reel-to-reel tape recorders. The machines are configured so that the tape travels from the supply reel of the first machine to the take-up reel of the second, allowing sound recorded by the first machine to be played back on the second machine. The audio of the second machine is then routed back to the first, causing the delayed signal to repeat, while new audio is mixed in with it. The length of the delay (usually three to five seconds) is controlled by the distance between the two machines, and the number of repeats is controlled by the volume on the second machine.

Fripp used this technique to dynamically create recordings containing layer upon layer of electric guitar sounds in a real time fashion. An added advantage was that, by nature of the technique, the complete performances were recorded in their entirety on the original looped tape.

Origin of the term

The term "Frippertronics" (or "frippertronics") was coined around May 1977 by poet Joanna Walton, Fripp's girlfriend at the time, for a performance they planned to do together at The Kitchen performing arts space.[2][3]

The (No Pussyfooting) recordings

Fripp had first used the technique when Brian Eno introduced him to it in Eno's home studio, combining Fripp's guitar performance with the two-machine tape delay, on the 21-minute piece "The Heavenly Music Corporation" recorded on 8 September 1972 and released on the Fripp & Eno album (No Pussyfooting) in 1973.[4] A subsequent Fripp & Eno album, Evening Star, was released in 1975. These recordings were not purely tape loops however, since some after-the-fact processing, overdubbing, and editing were done.

The delay system was first used in live situations for a short European Fripp & Eno tour in May–June 1975 promoting Evening Star, with the 28 May 1975 concert at the Paris Olympia Theatre being bootlegged as Air Structures (in 2011 the concert was officially released as a download, along with Eno's original backing loops).[5]

After returning from this tour Eno released his own version of the open loop tape system with Discreet Music (1975), one side of which features looping. Eno mentions in the liner notes that "here is the long delay echo system with which I have experimented since I became aware of the musical possibilities of tape recorders in 1964."[6]

Frippertronics and its types

Frippertronics was later expanded to different situations. In what he called "Pure Frippertronics", Fripp created loops in real time without additional editing. Sometimes he rewound the recorded tape, to be played back while improvising a guitar solo on top of it. Fripp used this type of Frippertronics to perform live solo concerts in small, informal venues. It allowed him to be what he referred to as a "small, mobile, intelligent unit", as opposed to being part of a massive rock concert touring company. One such show was in a room at Faunce House at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, in a venue built to be a tiered classroom.

Only one and a half albums of Pure Frippertronics were officially produced: Side A of God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners in 1980; God Save The Queen was the pure Frippertronics side, containing three compositions; Red Two Scorer, God Save The Queen, and 1983. He then produced Let the Power Fall in 1981, which takes up where God Save The Queen left off, with works entitled 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989. Marriagemusic was the B side of a League Of Gentlemen single; it is clocking in at over 11 minutes.[7] Additionally Fripp made available an audience bootleg recording of a live Frippertronics concert (recorded at The Sound Warehouse in Chicago, Illinois, on 18 June 1979) as an MP3 download, available on the Discipline Global Mobile web page. There is also a 2-LP bootleg of live Frippertronics entitled Pleasures In Pieces recorded at The Kitchen in New York City on 5 February 1978, containing five tracks (in order of appearance; The Second, The First, The Third, The Fourth, The Fifth, ranging from almost 7 minutes to over 24 minutes. The titles of the pieces are most certainly not given by Fripp. This bootleg has also been issued by persons unknown as a single CD. It is most likely a CD-R recording of the vinyl 2-LP set. Of course Pleasures In Pieces was not and is not authorized by Fripp. However, the Sound Warehouse recording was issued by Fripp as an MP3 file through his DGM web page, though he makes clear that the recording is an audience bootleg and was not originally authorized by him.

Fripp also used Frippertronics in more conventional rock recordings, replacing what could be viewed as musical parts normally served by orchestral backing. He referred to this as "Applied Frippertronics". Several of Fripp's albums, as well as albums by Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, Daryl Hall, and The Roches, featured this usage. Also, Side B of God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners included what Fripp termed "Discotronics", mixing Frippertronics and a disco-style rhythm section.

According to Eric Tamm,[8] the first album to feature "proper" Frippertronics was Daryl Hall's Sacred Songs (recorded 1977; released 1980).

From Frippertronics to Soundscapes

In the mid-1990s, Fripp revamped the Frippertronics concept into "Soundscapes",[9] which dramatically expanded the flexibility of the method by using digital technology (delays and synthesizers).

Discography

Digital implementations

A "loop station" is a modern commercial effects device that uses digital delay channels to approximate the original Frippertronics analog delay chains. Examples include:

  • Boss RC-3[10]
  • Boss RC-30
  • Lexicon JamMan
  • ELOTTRONIX - VST processor
  • Expert Sleepers Augustus Loop] VST processor[11]
  • Audiodamage AD049 Enso Looper VST processor[12]

References
  1. Fricke, David. "Electronic Music and Synthesizers" Archived 2008-05-04 at the Wayback Machine, Synapse Magazine, Vol. 3 No. 2, Summer 1979.
  2. https://happymag.tv/frippertronics-how-robert-fripp-and-brian-eno-introduced-looping-to-the-world/
  3. https://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Robert_Fripp_by_Dick_Tooley
  4. Prendergast, Mark (2001). The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Trance: The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 119. ISBN 1-58234-134-6.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-05-05. Retrieved 2014-05-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Liner notes to "Discreet Music".
  7. http://www.musicmirror.de/stories%204e.htm
  8. Tamm, Eric (1991). Robert Fripp Archived August 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. ISBN 0-571-16289-4.
  9. Baldwin, Douglas (November 2007). "Guitar Heroes: How to Play Like 26 Guitar Gods from Atkins to Zappa", edited by Jude Gold and Matt Blackett, Guitar Player, p.111.
  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20160605042633/https://allguitareffects.com/products/boss-rc-3-loop-station/6641
  11. http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/augustusloop.html
  12. https://www.audiodamage.com/products/ad049-enso
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