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Re: distortion, overdrive,fuzz,crunch,special sauce, secret goo



Very nice! Chaos is always information rich.

J

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Art Simon" <simart@gmail.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 12:38 AM
Subject: Re: distortion, overdrive,fuzz,crunch,special sauce, secret goo


> Amen Rick!
>
> The harmonic content of a distorted sound is vastly more complex than
> a clean one. So a single boring clean note can be a dancing symphony
> of harmonics with distortion. You can't play jazz chords or complex
> phrasing through distortion, it's too jumbled. But you can play simple
> stuff, and with distortion it becomes complex. It all depends on what
> you are listening for. There are no chops in Alvin Lucier's "I am
> sitting in a room," it's all about what distortion (and looping to
> stay on topic) introduces to the sound. The line between noise and
> music I think is the dominant post Cage stream in modern music. That
> doesn't mean I think all distortion is good, but I think it becomes a
> medium much like the guitar in itself.
>
> On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 8:53 PM, Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com> wrote:
>> I've been following this thread avidly because I am currently in love
>> with distortion, fuzz and overdrives in my own work lately
>> (and have spend stupid money that I didn't really have buying
>> up stomp box pedals in the vein).
>>
>> I totally hear what both Krispen and Bill are saying, viz a vis, the 
>fact
>> that
>> heavily distorted guitars over heavily overdriven amps at high volume 
>can
>> cause
>> a compression of both volume and a compression of timbre that can really
>> both limit nuance and dynamics and also, potentially, hide poor 
>> technique.
>>
>> At the same time,    I'm not a guitarist (though I own several) and I 
>> don't
>> tend to think like a
>> guitarist.
>>
>> I have neither skill or nuance in my 6 string playing, but I do think 
>> like a
>> multi-instrumentalist
>> and a composer and I love the timbral range that is available with all 
>> kinds
>> of different distortions, overdrives,
>> feedbackers  and fuzzes.
>>
>> If I was only playing guitar in my peformances, then I think I would
>> probably avoid the kind of
>> tones that can potentially put  Krispen and Bill off of Nels Clines' 
>> sound.
>>
>> As a composer, though,  I find his sound absolutely fascinating, 
>> sometimes,
>> specifically because
>> it IS linear and non dynamic.      I've also found that it is 
>efficacious 
>> in
>> some composing to
>> juxtapose musical lines that are very uni-dynamic against things that 
>are
>> much more so.........the
>> resultant contrast makes for interesting and very musical results.
>>
>> Trent Reznor has been really good at this:   using very monolithic 
>sounds
>> (compressed to hell
>> frequently) and then using a ton of dynamics in his vocals or in the 
>rest 
>> of
>> his arrangements
>> (even just controlling the volume of his heavily distorted sounds in his
>> mix)
>>
>> Lately,  I'm most attracted to sounds that are ridiculously
>> overdistorted........almost to the point
>> of obscuring the melody being played.
>>
>> I recently produced a very small Noise Festival and used my Olympus 
>> recorder
>> to record my sets
>> and the set of Bryan of Rape Shower fame.
>> I wasn't able to check my settings and the entire thing clipped horribly
>> with digital
>> distortion................arguably the ugliest distortion found.
>>
>> To my delight,  I went back and listened to some of Bryan's tracks 
>which, 
>> in
>> a digital sound editor
>> looked like solid black.   He had started his set out in a cool way , 
>> just
>> playing an old blues
>> song, fairly straightforward before launching into a very loud and
>> aggressive noise set.
>>
>> The blues tune, distorted to square wave clipping sounded really cool 
>to 
>> my
>> ears.
>>
>> Again, as my brother so wisely said,  everyone has their own aesthetic 
>> and
>> it's valid.
>>
>> I just wanted to put it out there that there is a lover on this list of
>> stupid overly distorted sound.
>>
>> A student of mine who I just turned on to the My Bloody Valentine body 
>of
>> work said,
>> "...............I'm also rethinking distortion now; I've never heard so 
>> much
>> color in distortion before!....."
>>
>> Noise and the noise-esque sounds you can get with radical combinations 
>of
>> distortion
>> are the equivalent of White light.   They contain hundres of sine waves.
>> To me the after the effect processing of such sounds can yield really 
>> subtle
>> and even
>> quite melodic work.
>>
>> Yeah verily!
>>
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Art Simon
> simart@null.net
> myspace [dot] com/artsimon
>


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