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Looper's Delight
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Okay, okay... It was a field test, frankly. And as with the space mission, there are no failures, only opportunities to learn how to keep 'em from happening again. Frankly, I was spared from derision by others and myself by one main thing: the difference between my sound pre-Mackie mixer purchase, and post, was dramatic enough noise-wise such that the noise level in combination with the awful house current uh, well, NOBODY NOTICED. I'd started the evening on a bad foot, using a prescribed inhaler to help with some shortness of breath during moving stuff out to the car. Alas, steroids is not my drug - and I'd never used an inhaler before (I've got a light case of bronchitis presently). Result was a bout with Rapid Heart Rate that I nonetheless endured while continuing to pack the car, sweating so much that I knew electrolytes were just jumping off of me, thus some Gatorade (the drink for ACTIVE musicians!) helped a little bit. And a change of clothes for when I got everything set up. THAT took hours, but once the power problem was identified, a level of resignation set in that gladly noone saw... I couldn't use the 7.6 Time Machine at ALL due to its happy conversion to Noise Source upon encountering the two-prong plug; my ORIGINAL plan was to have the 7.6 and the Zoom 2100 running together, providing a full set of textures for my listeners' ears to chew upon. Unfortunately not to be this time, of course; thankfully, the "Tape Loop" effect offered by the Zoom 2100 more than filled in on this level, with the only bad effect being that one can't close the loop and jam to it (ie not add to it while soloing). To add to this, the video projector that I'd planned on running the interactive video through wouldn't obey - or rather the person who brought it didn't know whether it was functional or not - and of course as noone else had ever seen it, they'd also never learned to expect same. Another non-disappointment to them, not to me though... And so, thanks also to the Zoom 2100, nobody was disappointed in the small group attending (perhaps 15 people) - I'd originally thought that they'd just come inside because the police had come and stopped the drumming outside, but then I'm my own worst critic, as if to head off everyone else... :) Don't worry though - I'm looking for a site that has its own video setup, hopefully screens all over, and their own PC hooked up via sound card, such that I can just lug my sound gear up, and not have to dismantle my entire PC setup at home/work here... Having learned from the above I plan on definitely doing something before July in the LA area. I'll let you know. HOWEVER! I might mention that the place I became comfortable with playing in front of people, the TUNNELS IN SAN GABRIEL CANYON (East Fork, actually Shoemaker Canyon, up the 39 from the 210 in Asuza), is happening THIS WEEKEND as the time is changing again. It happens twice a year of course, but I don't go in the Fall, as it's fire season (even the Donner Party had Fire) so it's too cold for this fellow. While I only go in the Spring, this weekend is probably the last time I'm going to go in a while, as I'm getting married and moving over to London in August/September. Those interested should email me directly at sgoodman@earthlight.net Stephen Goodman EarthLight Productions * http://www.earthlight.net