Busking and Physical Acoustic Looping

["Rick Walker (Loop.pooL)" <GLOBAL@cruzio.com>]

Travis wrote:
I don't know how cognizant the typical listener was that I was looping,
unless they were
watching really closely, but the performances went okay. One thing I've
tried to do.

Rick Walker replied:
For what it is worth, rather than trying to hide my looping process, I have
started, in recent concerts, to actually take a second out and call
attention to the technology that I am using and give a quick demonstration
of it.  I have found that audiences are really interested in the process.
I had always been afraid that they might think it was 'cheating' and was
suprised the first time I got a favorable reaction.  I now try never to 
take
for granted what the audience knows about what I am doing.

    Another thing that I have incorporated into my performances is carrying
along a large bag of blue bottles and a bag of those fisher price toy 
apples
that have chimes in them (I've been collecting them for several years at 
the
flea market:  top price $2/apiece);handing them out and then getting an
audience member to come up and 'conduct' the audience.    By waving there
hands up and down (volume) and side to side (creating a wave like at
football games) I enjoin the audience to help me create  acoustic loops or
ambiances that I record with two condenser mics (without monitoring) and
incorporate into the piece.

    I've also sampled the crowds making 'sssssssssss' sounds and
'shhhhhhhhhhh' sounds which I loop (with the volume off) and later bring
into a rhythmic industrial spring piece that I do.  I can then bring up the
volume, mute it suddenly or mute on and off or radical change the e.q. of
the noise source with e.q. kill (performed manually on my bass, mid and
treble buttons on my mackie mixer).

    I've also taught my audiences how to create simple overtone singing by
going very slowly from
the 'ER'   sound to the 'EEE' sound at one pitch (about five harmonics in
between those two sounds) and, again, gotten an audience member to conduct
them while I do a looping piece based on overtone singing.  When a whole
crowd does this (the far left is 'ERRR', the far right is 'EEEE') you can
really distinctly hear the overtones created even though each individual
person is not yet able to make the sounds real distinctly.  It creates a
beautiful and eery effect.

    I've found that audiences love to participate and that they can
frequently do many more sophisticated things if you challenge them than one
would ever think possible.   Ever since I
saw Peter Gabriel ask an audience to put there hands in the air during his
song "Lay your Hands On Me" and then proceed to walk out over the audience
(ON TOP OF THEIR OUTSTRETCHED HANDS) while he continued singing, I have
vowed to ask things of my audience.  It really pays off
in the intimacy that is created between audience and performer.  And I
perform really abstact shows at times, music that would normally be
considered to 'challenging' for a normal audience.
I've even done this at First Night performances where there is a range from
little kids to grandparents.    I had this one woman come up to me and say,
"I am 80 years old and I thought
you were crazy when you first started your show.  Now, I think it's the 
most
beautiful thing I've heard in many years".   I nearly started crying when
she told me that.

later,  Rick Walker (Loop.pooL)