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---------------------------- Forwarded with Changes
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From: Russell Gorton at CreatSvc-Ada
Date: 3/24/97 10:28AM
To: INTERNET:dsclmc@ix.netcom.com at CSERVE
To: INTERNET:scottb@pmeasuring.com at CSERVE
To: INTERNET:Jsteve00@aol.com at CSERVE
To: INTERNET:tbalx8548k@aol.com at CSERVE
To: INTERNET:rahl_s@supplytech.com at CSERVE
cc: Robert Barney at CommAdmin-Ada
Subject: Giles-Kreuter
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twe weeks ago I took delivery of an Echoplex Digital Pro (4 Mb/ 50.3
sec).
It is by far the best piece of gear (meaning: most dramatic new
impact on
overall rig) in the rack.
The Oberheim made its public debut last night to a surprisingly
populated
room at Planet Gong coffeehouse on the old North end of downtown
Grand
Rapids, MI.
The venue is a very low-key place; some Tuesday nights they watch
progressive videos (i.e. Yes, Genesis, Gong, Hawkwind) on the
big-screen, Thursdays is Japanimation, Fridays is techno, there
are rotating themed nights for movie buffs, etc. Typical 90's
coffeehouse retro-style of rumpus room furniture, board games,
etc. Owner is die-hard old Trekker who is hiding a Juno-8 in the
basement.
Anyway, my comrades Jameson and Joe dubbed our band "Giles-Kreuter"
and
we schlepped everything over there. Sound was provided by stereo mix
from our Tascam 688 Midistudio (20x8 bus mixer/8-track cassette
recording desk), which was OK by me 'cause I can control levels of
_everything_. I think loopers enjoy running their own sound...is
this
true? Outputs ran on a looooooooooooooonnng RCA patch cord to the
house stereo, which is a big surround-sound receiver running a
5-speaker system (essentially a home theater setup) -- but it worked
well for the size room and ambience.
Did I say ambience? Well, that's what we were there for. Ambient
loops. Straight up, no chaser.
"Uh...are you guys kind of like...uh...industrial?"
"No."
Anatomy of looping-friendly setup:
Inputs Mixer Effects Loops
chan.
Korg Polysix 1
Korg monoSynth 2
Wavestation L 3 aux send 1 --> Oberheim Echoplex
Wavestation R 4 eff ret 1-2 <-- loops
Condenser mic 5 aux send 2 --> Korg A3 <- Les(s) Paul
Akai Tube mic 6 eff ret 3 <-- effects <- fretless
bass
SM-57 mic 7
Effects ret 4 8 ---> always sent to aux 1 for looping effected
Pre-taped tracks 9 signals
A crazy set-up and certainly cordfuck all over the place, but it
worked
beautifully.
Notes: Korg analog synths were crucial for creating the Klaus
Schulze-esque backdrop of swirling oscillating waveforms. We
improvised a crude note-holding feature on the monoSynth, namely,
shoving a matchbook between keys so it holds the switch closed.
That frees up the keyboard-playing hand to concentrate on wave
modulation (knob-twiddling) while the other hand lights your
cigarette.
Korg Polysix (a grand old keyboard, 6-oscillators and a zillion
fun knobs to play with) often locked into very slow arpeggiated
chord pattern, cutoff knob amply rotated. Nice to see these
features have been brought back on the awesome new Roland J?-8000
model synth.
Microphones were variously deployed for capturing (for loops, of
course!) harmonica, egg shakers, shortwave radio, Skeletor toy
microphone, throat gargling, tin whistle, Honeycomb Hideout
code-tapper toy, etc.
One of the Korg A3 effects outputs went back into a main mixer
channel, so I could then send it selectively to the Echoplex loop.
The other output came back into the effects return path, for straight
signal of guitar (cheap Les Paul copy) and bass, which were both
preamped and effected only by the A3 (we were really leaning on that
A3, but it sure beats luggin' separate, dedicated guitar/bass
amplifiers)
Pre-taped tracks included direct-from-television samples of the guy
who sells getrichquick schemes ("by placing thousands of TINY
classified ads in newspapers ALL OVER the country, YOU TOO can make
MILLIONS of dollars, JUST LIKE I have...") -- looped 50 secs by
Echoplex and burned to a tape track earlier that day -- and other
nonsense.
Guitar/bass featured the magic of the E-bow. Great for creating
hollow drone loops, preferably with a big, thick, "1964 BAC-111
taxiing for take-off" flange ladled over.
Best part of this band is 1) being able to get up and chat with
audience during show, i.e., leave the command center of mixing board,
keyboards, effects rack, pile of mics and noisemaker shit, and walk
around a little; while loops, samples, and arpeggiators fire away....
and 2) that GREAT feeling you get when:
<holding E-bow to open bass string, modulating string with bottom of
Jolt cola bottle a la Henry Osborne, triggering Echoplex with feet;
intrepid fellow musicians making resonance-sweeping noises on Korg
synth products, entire room filled with boomy overtones and a warped
pitch-shifted repeating echo of Jerry Springer>
Slacker/choade kid walks over at that moment: So, are, like,
you....um...guys gonna play?
Joe: Can you say that again?
<grabs microphone, hold it in kid's face>
Slacker/choade kid: Oh...is this shit all on and making that noise?
Oberheim: "Oh...is this shit all on and making that
noise?.....Oh...is
this shit all on and making that noise....Oh...is this shit all on
and
making that noise?....Oh...is this...."
Yes, it's certainly wonderful when you're _that_ close to performance
art that people aren't even sure you're making music. Validation was
when we finished and a techno/trace CD went on the stereo. People
thought it was STILL us.
Somehow, inexplicably, it was worth moving all the gear. Hell, they
even wanted us to come back! And we even got free coffee...wow. At
least it keeps the smoke out of my apartment, for a change.
Rt "_loving_ that Echoplex...it's the chiz" Gorton