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the loopy stylings of Giles-Kreuter



---------------------------- Forwarded with Changes 
---------------------------
From: Russell Gorton at CreatSvc-Ada
Date: 3/24/97 10:28AM
To: INTERNET:dsclmc@ix.netcom.com at CSERVE
To: INTERNET:scottb@pmeasuring.com at CSERVE
To: INTERNET:Jsteve00@aol.com at CSERVE
To: INTERNET:tbalx8548k@aol.com at CSERVE
To: INTERNET:rahl_s@supplytech.com at CSERVE
cc: Robert Barney at CommAdmin-Ada
Subject: Giles-Kreuter
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Twe weeks ago I took delivery of an Echoplex Digital Pro (4 Mb/ 50.3 
sec).  
     It is by far the best piece of gear (meaning: most dramatic new 
impact on 
     overall rig) in the rack. 

     The Oberheim made its public debut last night to a surprisingly 
populated 
     room at Planet Gong coffeehouse on the old North end of downtown 
Grand 
     Rapids, MI.
     
     The venue is a very low-key place; some Tuesday nights they watch 
     progressive videos (i.e. Yes, Genesis, Gong, Hawkwind) on the 
     big-screen, Thursdays is Japanimation, Fridays is techno, there 
     are rotating themed nights for movie buffs, etc.  Typical 90's 
     coffeehouse retro-style of rumpus room furniture, board games, 
     etc.  Owner is die-hard old Trekker who is hiding a Juno-8 in the 
     basement.  
     
     Anyway, my comrades Jameson and Joe dubbed our band "Giles-Kreuter" 
and 
     we schlepped everything over there.  Sound was provided by stereo mix 
     from our Tascam 688 Midistudio (20x8 bus mixer/8-track cassette 
     recording desk), which was OK by me 'cause I can control levels of 
     _everything_.  I think loopers enjoy running their own sound...is 
this 
     true?  Outputs ran on a looooooooooooooonnng RCA patch cord to the 
     house stereo, which is a big surround-sound receiver running a 
     5-speaker system (essentially a home theater setup) -- but it worked 
     well for the size room and ambience.
     
     Did I say ambience?  Well, that's what we were there for.  Ambient 
     loops.  Straight up, no chaser.   
     
     "Uh...are you guys kind of like...uh...industrial?"  
     "No."  
     
     Anatomy of looping-friendly setup:
     
     Inputs           Mixer        Effects Loops
                      chan.
     Korg Polysix       1
     Korg monoSynth     2
                          
     Wavestation L      3          aux send 1 -->  Oberheim Echoplex 
     Wavestation R      4          eff ret 1-2 <-- loops
     
     Condenser mic      5          aux send 2 -->  Korg A3 <- Les(s) Paul 
     Akai Tube mic      6          eff ret 3 <--   effects <- fretless 
bass 
     SM-57 mic          7
     
     Effects ret 4      8 ---> always sent to aux 1 for looping effected 
     Pre-taped tracks   9                signals
     
     A crazy set-up and certainly cordfuck all over the place, but it 
worked 
     beautifully.  
     
     Notes:  Korg analog synths were crucial for creating the Klaus 
     Schulze-esque backdrop of swirling oscillating waveforms.  We 
     improvised a crude note-holding feature on the monoSynth, namely, 
     shoving a matchbook between keys so it holds the switch closed.  
     That frees up the keyboard-playing hand to concentrate on wave 
     modulation (knob-twiddling) while the other hand lights your 
     cigarette.
     
     Korg Polysix (a grand old keyboard, 6-oscillators and a zillion 
     fun knobs to play with) often locked into very slow arpeggiated 
     chord pattern, cutoff knob amply rotated.  Nice to see these 
     features have been brought back on the awesome new Roland J?-8000 
     model synth.
     
     Microphones were variously deployed for capturing (for loops, of 
     course!) harmonica, egg shakers, shortwave radio, Skeletor toy 
     microphone, throat gargling, tin whistle, Honeycomb Hideout 
     code-tapper toy, etc.
     
     One of the Korg A3 effects outputs went back into a main mixer 
     channel, so I could then send it selectively to the Echoplex loop.  
     The other output came back into the effects return path, for straight 
     signal of guitar (cheap Les Paul copy) and bass, which were both 
     preamped and effected only by the A3 (we were really leaning on that 
     A3, but it sure beats luggin' separate, dedicated guitar/bass 
     amplifiers)
     
     Pre-taped tracks included direct-from-television samples of the guy 
     who sells getrichquick schemes ("by placing thousands of TINY 
     classified ads in newspapers ALL OVER the country, YOU TOO can make 
     MILLIONS of dollars, JUST LIKE I have...") -- looped 50 secs by 
     Echoplex and burned to a tape track earlier that day -- and other 
     nonsense.
     
     Guitar/bass featured the magic of the E-bow.  Great for creating 
     hollow drone loops, preferably with a big, thick, "1964 BAC-111 
     taxiing for take-off" flange ladled over.  
     
     Best part of this band is 1) being able to get up and chat with 
     audience during show, i.e., leave the command center of mixing board, 
     keyboards, effects rack, pile of mics and noisemaker shit, and walk 
     around a little; while loops, samples, and arpeggiators fire away.... 
     and 2) that GREAT feeling you get when:
     
     <holding E-bow to open bass string, modulating string with bottom of 
     Jolt cola bottle a la Henry Osborne, triggering Echoplex with feet; 
     intrepid fellow musicians making resonance-sweeping noises on Korg 
     synth products, entire room filled with boomy overtones and a warped 
     pitch-shifted repeating echo of Jerry Springer>
     
     Slacker/choade kid walks over at that moment:  So, are, like, 
     you....um...guys gonna play?
     
     Joe:  Can you say that again?
     <grabs microphone, hold it in kid's face>
     
     Slacker/choade kid:  Oh...is this shit all on and making that noise?
     
     Oberheim: "Oh...is this shit all on and making that 
noise?.....Oh...is 
     this shit all on and making that noise....Oh...is this shit all on 
and 
     making that noise?....Oh...is this...."
     
     Yes, it's certainly wonderful when you're _that_ close to performance 
     art that people aren't even sure you're making music.  Validation was 
     when we finished and a techno/trace CD went on the stereo.  People 
     thought it was STILL us.  
     
     Somehow, inexplicably, it was worth moving all the gear.  Hell, they 
     even wanted us to come back!  And we even got free coffee...wow.  At 
     least it keeps the smoke out of my apartment, for a change.
     
     Rt "_loving_ that Echoplex...it's the chiz" Gorton