Inspired by current sampling techniques, either as a piece of hardware or as software, Ishac Bertran takes an analog route emulating the audio tape cut&paste technique by literally cutting and pasting pieces of vinyl to create samples. Ishac tried out different techniques, from wire cutter to knife, to finally settle for laser, carefully considering laser power to get the cleanest cut possible and avoid any jumps between the samples.

The best setting was to let the laser go through *almost* through the vinyl, and then crack manually the last thin layer (1). If the laser goes all the way through, it melts too much material and leaves a gap (2). If the laser doesn’t go enough deep, it’s pretty much impossible to take the piece out without creating an undesired crack (3).

Larger sectors were cut on different records and exchanged to create loops or tunes using samples from different albums. Ishak cut the same angle in the label area so after the sectors were exchanged. The following images are the final resulting albums + see video below.

What I enjoy the most, and somewhat happy that the laser cutter was used, is the wonderful reversal of the analog and digital process. Where we generally tend to create digital assets from the analog, whether these be photographs or 3d scans, Ishac uses digital techniques to recompose the analog.

Read more about the process on Ishac’s blog.

Previously: ‘Generative Photography’ by Ishac Bertran (@ishacbertran …