The genre was created by Pierre Schaeffer in Paris in the 1940s. He recorded natural sounds, manipulated them with various tape techniques to change their timbre, organized them and played them back in a musical context. Other types of music begin with abstract ideas that become concrete only in performance while musique concrète starts with concrete material that is made abstract during experimentation and composition - according to Schaeffer.

• Looping the tape, causing repetitive rhythmic or metrical patterns
• Changing the Direction of the tape
• Changing the Speed of the tape, affecting the pitch
• Causing an Echo or a Delay
• Cutting and Splicing the tape
• Changing the Attack (or envelope)

A digital audio editor such as Cool Edit Pro can replicate these effects.

Each extract lasts about 60"; fv = full version

Williams Mix (John Cage, 1952; fv = 5'42"); Dripsody (Hugh le Caine, 1955; fv); Poème Electronique (Edgar Varèse, 1958; fv = 8'); Come Out (Steve Reich, 1966; fv = 13'); Idle Chatter (Paul Lansky, 1985; fv = 9'26")

Electronic music uses sounds that are synthesised directly from soundwaves whereas musique concrète begins with pre-existing sound elements.

Musique concrète: Etude aux chemins de fer (Pierre Schaeffer, 1948, fv = 2'53")
Electronic music: Kontakte (Karlheinz Stockhausen, 1960, fv = 35')

Since many compositions use elements from both musique concrète and synthesised music, the umbrella term 'electroacoustic music' is used to refer to music that uses electronics in any way to produce or manipulate sound material