Re: prerecorded loops

["Jonathan El-Bizri" <ssrndpty@hotmail.com>]

> Most of the time I'm turned off by prerecorded loops. A lot of
performances
> have lost points with me because the musicians put on a cd of the musical
> background and simply soloed over it. The same goes for pre-programmed
drum
> machines. To me it's a turnoff.

Hear hear.

I've seen more than one act get up on stage and do nothing but playback
beats from their synths. Why not just play the cd?  (If it's more than one
person, why not just synch up cd players? Or all stand around a repeater,
with one hand on your volume knob?)

It's also the biggest problem I have with my own current 'live' sound, 50%
of my noise comes from live loops and electric instruments, but the other
half is painfully sequenced. I've been trying very hard to get away from 
it,
but current technology limit things :<

At this point, the only option seems to be to >add< a second sequencer, to
make up for the poor level of interactivity of the one I am using. This 
will
be putting me one laptop outside the '10 minute set up' limit, and those dj
booths aren't getting any larger :/

> Part of the challenge behind making a live
> solo (or small group) performance work is to find ways to do everything
you
> need onstage, which includes cutting some elements that might not be
> necessary.

I wouldn't call it a challenge myself, though I agree with the gist of what
you are saying. It's not the 'challenge' or 'not challenge' that people 
came
to see - they came to hear expression in aural form, so you need to justify
the trouble they took to come and see you instead of just playing your cd.
Otherwise, why bother? And no, guitar noodle over pre-recorded tracks is 
not
'extra expression' :> (Not that I haven't been guilty of that myself in the
past)

>
> But then again, I come from a very improvisational background.
>

No need for caveats - you're making sense.

bIz