It's involved with the editing process in addition to simply recording.
Here's a dictionary definition, listing several uses:
http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/CUTTING
noun:
1: The activity of selecting the scenes to be shown and putting them
together to create a film
- film editing



An example: In filming or taping, there's the "cutting room floor."



verb:
10: Cut and assemble the components of
"cut recording tape"
- edit , edit out

19: Make a recording of
"cut the songs"; "She cut all of her major titles again"

20: Record a performance on (a medium)
"cut a record"


Gary Schnabl


"Christopher C. Stacy" wrote in message
...
What does "cut a tape" mean, and why and where does that come from?

(This is something we would commonly say; someone is
trying to track down the history of this phrase.
I'll refrain from posting my interpretation here.)