Recording
dlp 1.1
William Basinski
- Released
- 2002
- Label
- 2062
- On one list
- Ambient
- Updated
- 2026-08-28
Ranked No. 3 in Ambient
A tape loop physically disintegrating as it plays, recorded once and never repeatable. The concept would be a gimmick if the decay were not so genuinely devastating to sit through.
Analysis
12 sections, no single moment the energy jumps to, 10% of it spent climbing.
- Tempo
- 123 BPM
- holds throughout
- Key
- F major
- estimated from the pitch content
- Dynamic range
- 11.7 dB
- wide open — the quiet parts are genuinely quiet
- Length
- 63:36
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintrobar -2
- 0:15Apeakbar 5
- 7:01Asteadybar 213
- 15:26Asteadybar 472
- 25:49Asteadybar 791
- 33:18Asteadybar 1021
- 39:21Asteadybar 1208
- 42:21Abuildbar 1300
- 48:41Bsteadybar 1495
- 53:34Bliftbar 1645
- 61:00Bbreakdownbar 1873
- 61:59Boutrobar 1904
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 8 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:15
- Energy
- 20
- Brightness
- 31
- Density
- 67
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 8 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 6:46
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 11
- Density
- 96
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 8 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 8:26
- Energy
- 72
- Brightness
- 11
- Density
- 90
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 8 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 10:22
- Energy
- 53
- Brightness
- 13
- Density
- 90
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 8 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 7:29
- Energy
- 43
- Brightness
- 9
- Density
- 82
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 8 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 6:04
- Energy
- 38
- Brightness
- 8
- Density
- 76
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 8 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 3:00
- Energy
- 24
- Brightness
- 12
- Density
- 86
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental · one of 8 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 6:20
- Energy
- 17
- Brightness
- 12
- Density
- 80
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 4 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 4:53
- Energy
- 34
- Brightness
- 6
- Density
- 83
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build · instrumental · one of 4 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 7:26
- Energy
- 77
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 4 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 1:00
- Energy
- 23
- Brightness
- 2
- Density
- 64
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
the closing fall · instrumental · one of 4 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 1:36
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- build
- energy and brightness climbing without a break
- lift
- a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- outro
- the closing fall
Against Ambient
Measured against 5 Ambient records.
12 sections here; 8 is typical.
Drawn from the 5 records on our Ambient list we have measured. The line over the energy curve above is that median.
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.