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Looper's Delight
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I see this as performance vs pure music. I like to see someone pushing the boundaries of possibility in performance but it's not enough in itself. It's only valid for me if the musical results are there. The goal must always be the quality of music, however it is achieved, pre recorded, live, DJ's, singers et al. It's supposed to be all about the music isn't it ? If a drum loop sounds groovier than an attempt at making a guitar sound like drums, use the loop I say! (and vice versa). Open all doors - and close none!! Peace Gareth > Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:49:56 -0800 > Subject: Re: Rick's percussion post > From: mattdavignon@gmail.com > To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com > > Hi all, > > I'm totally on board with what most of what Rick says. I have a member > in one of my bands who attempted to use pre-recorded drum machine > tracks. It was banned by me, since when he kicked on his drum machine: > 1) The rhythm would be too dense - it jumped in sounding like a > completely recorded song rather than like a collaborator. > 2) The drum machine would be the only member of the band that was not > playing live - it was like having a drummer who was completely > ignoring the other musicians. > > I'd take it a step even further and say that many songs don't need to > have all the "rock band" elements (rhythm, bass, chord progression). I > agree with Mark that waiting for someone to build all the elements can > be just as tedious as listening. > > I often feel like my solo sets combine elements of magic shows and dj > sets. When I say magic shows, I'm not saying "the music is magic" - > rather, I'm trying to create illusions that I'm not using loops. I do > that by: > --Using non-rhythmic loops. > --If I use rhythmic loops, I don't loop in phrase repetitions of 4 for > a 4/4 song. Instead, I'll loop on repetitions of 5 or 7, so that that > the elements of the drum loop only fall in the same place every 4th > loop repetition. > --Playing occasional variations of the loop live. Say you have a drum > loop. You could occasionally play an occasional bass drum or snare on > top of the loop (not into the loop). Or even better, record 2 or 3 > spare non-sequitur snares and/or kicks on a separate looping device > that's cycling at a different interval. Voila - you have fills! Of > course, whether that actually sounds good depends on the musical > context. > > The DJ elements involve trying to keep an ear as to when a particular > element gets too repetitive. That's a clue that it's time to take it > out. One way I like is to shut off the loop and start playing that > part live again, then transition it to something else. Or play > something that complements it on a separate loop and take the first > loop away, making a transition into a different song. > > Another thing I often do to mask the task of me building up a pattern > is to quickly build a loop of something non-melodic/non-rhythmic for > the audience to listen to while you gradually build up the elements on > another channel. I usually try to imitate field recordings, loop it in > a non-predictable point, then start building rhythmic/melodic elements > on a different device. > > My ears got tired of many contexts of rhythmic looped music at about > the same time that rave music started getting old for me. I need my > variation. Strangely, I can listen to irregular loops (such as in the > much of the music of Rapoon) for much longer periods of time before I > get bored. It accesses a more passive portion of my attention span. > > -- > Matt Davignon > mattdavignon@gmail.com > www.ribosomemusic.com > Rigs! www.youtube.com/user/ribosomematt > |