SPLICE
To join two ends of MAGNETIC TAPE by means of an adhesive material called splicing tape which is usually slightly narrower than the tape itself. As a noun, it refers to a join (also called a joint in Britain) made in this way.
The join is usually at the 45° diagonal, and sometimes at 90° (butt splice). Improperly made splices, or those made with magnetized scissors or razor blades, may result in CLICKs.
Splicing is used for editing taped material, creating TAPE LOOPs, controlling the ATTACK or DECAY portion of a sound ENVELOPE, isolating SOUND OBJECTs for study, or for the compositional manipulation of sound as in TAPE MUSIC.
Newer forms of tape used to record digital audio or video material cannot be spliced, and therefore all editing must be done electronically. See: DIGITAL RECORDING.
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