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Re: Looperlative Linearity Questions



On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 11:28 AM, Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com> wrote:

>  ..........it just takes to long to do so and you begin to lose your
>  audiences attention if you don't create your song structures
>  more quickly.

Exactly my point as well!



>  I'm curious and will start a new thread to poll this:   I wonder how 
>many
>  tracks people use
>  in a multi tracking loop situation?

The faster I want to build an arrangement, the fewer tracks (as in
"parallel instantly sounding multiple loops")  I use. And I figure out
ways to layer stuff by using Overdub and Multiply to create different
song parts in different loops on the same stereo tracks (not possible
with the LP1 as I understand it, but I'm an "EDP guy" mostly using
Mobius).

One particularly fast and convenient setup I think is using two or
three tracks. Then my context is to dedicate one track for percussive
sounding loops that should not need pitch/rate shifting when going
into parts with other chords (or when changing key).

Sometimes I also use a dedicated track for bass, because I like the
attitude of a bass line staying the same while other parts change
chords/key.

Finally, the track where I do the chord changes etc: On this track I
use two methods. One is to make a new loop for each chord/key. The
second, and faster that is my favorite method , is to use Rage/Speed
Shifting. This is like when going HalfSpeed on an EDP, but I have a
full floor pedal bank that shifts the speed to acquire most needed
scale steps (think "moog pedal").

As for the other important factor Rick brought up, the issue of
"Timbral Masking", I use  a combination of four ways of staying clear
from problems:

1. Orchestrating (choosing instruments that fit together).

2. Performance (playing my instrument differently at different layers
so the musical parts will sound different in a way that I think they
fit in better)

3. "Reverse Engineered Mixing" attitude.
I play my instrument through 20 alternative effect chains that are
carefully designed to shape the sound in a way that makes it fit well
together with a sound played though another of these 20 patches. I
think about my patches as if you solo a track in a mix - it may sound
"thin", "sharp", "muddy" as such, but will add something nice when put
to work in a full mix. Of course, not all patches go well together,
but I know them all and can go for the right one in a blink as soon as
I hear what already is there in the loop.

4. Looping techniques.
Wont's bother you with everything, but one particularly useful trick
is to set up your looper to create a "pocket" in the old layer at the
place where you Overdub or Substitue new audio into a loop. This is
the old disco music studio production trick from the seventies, where
you typically used a compressor on the bass to duck the signal
side-chained from the kick drum (kick and base being a good example of
two "timbrally masking" instruments). With Mobius this is easily
achieved by keeping a fader assigned to the Secondary Feedback. In
SooperLooper there is a direct tic box for it in the GUI. The EDP has
it too, when you plug a pedal, or dummy plug, into the pedal jack on
the rear panel.

-- 
Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
www.stockholm-athens.com