---
id: reich
title: "Phasing (Come Out)"
year: 1965
category: "Sampling"
lang: en
canonical: https://nodemusic.cc/node/reich
source: node.music
---

# Phasing (Come Out) (1965)

Sampling · https://nodemusic.cc/node/reich

## Summary

Steve Reich found music in a mistake. Two tape loops with a voice recording, started simultaneously, began to slowly drift apart. This "phase shift" created a hypnotic rhythm that became the foundation of minimalism.

## Full text

The discovery of the technique happened in 1965 (with the piece 'It's Gonna Rain'), but it was in 'Come Out' that the method reached perfection. Reich used two identical tape loops of a voice on two cheap tape recorders. Due to a tiny difference in motor speeds, the recordings began to slowly drift apart.

At first, it sounded like an echo, then like reverb, and then the rhythm fell apart into complex syncopated patterns. Reich did not compose these patterns — they were born from the process itself. This showed that a simple mechanical error could generate structures of incredible complexity and psychedelic impact.

## People

- Steve Reich (b. 1936) — American minimalist composer.

## Connections

### Influenced by

- [Magnetophon](https://nodemusic.cc/node/tape_inv.md) - ENABLED

### Influenced

- [Ambient Music](https://nodemusic.cc/node/eno.md) - INSPIRED

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_Out_(Reich)