Frippertronics

Frippertronics is a specific tape looping technique used by Robert Fripp. 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. The effect is now routinely found in many commercial loop station guitar digital effects boxes such as the Boss RC-3.

Frippertronics (a term coined by poet Joanna Walton, Fripp's girlfriend in the late 1970s) is an analog 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 later on the second. The audio of the second machine is routed back to the first, causing the delayed signal to repeat while new audio is mixed in with it. The amount of delay (usually three to five seconds) is controlled by increasing or reducing the distance between the machines.

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.

Fripp first used the technique while recording in Brian Eno's home studio, combining guitar performance with two-machine tape delay, on the 21-minute piece "The Heavenly Music Corporation" released on the album (No Pussyfooting) in 1973. A subsequent album, Evening Star, was released in 1975. These recordings were not purely tape loops, since some after-the-fact processing, overdubbing, and editing were done as well.

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