"bring it back down"

[matthias@bahianet.com.br (Matthias Grob)]

Siobhan Canty about how to "bring it back down" ?

>I only have one of these toys, which is limiting so
>I have more ideas at this point than practical applications....Right now, 
>I
>make the last vocal line I lay down indicate impending harmonic or 
>rhythmic
>change with a twist or turn that is noticeably different than the previous
>loops.  Then I bring down the volumn while singing a live line that builds
>on that last twist... in effect then, the last loop acts as the transition
>loop and the listener is moved through the transition smoothly...I guess
>what I try to do is create a distraction so that they don't pay too much
>attention to the fact that the machine is being taken out...make them move
>forward with you...before they know it, you have changed pitch or rhythm,
>and have started a whole new looping sequence.

I think I did such transitions, too. Isn't that last twist slightly
disharmonic, so that the listener feels rather relieved than missing
something, when you shut the loop down? (is that what "impending" means?)
Do you cut it at once or with a slight fade?

On the Echoplex, I developped the following methods to "bring it back 
down":
1. Use Undo to go back to the beginning of the buildup and than either fade
this thin base or build on it into another direction.
2. Use multiple loops, record the base on one, copy it to another while
building on top of it and then come back to the first to  "bring it back
down"
3. Use Replace: While the full loop is going, you sing another voice on top
(probable rather "on the bottom") of it and the next time around, only the
last voice appears and you can go on building on it, without ever being
"left alone" by the machine. This function is the same as Feedback down +
Overdub on.
4. Multiply: You chop out a bit of the full loop, either one or two bars
(Multiply-Multiply), or even a different timing (Multiply-Record) to create
a new rhythm, and then fade it while building the next base whereon you can
build a longer theme with Multiply again.

>Ideally, however, I would love to have a number (at least two) of Jammen 
>so
>that I could create overlapping harmonies that fit together yet act as
>different sections when playing alone.  For example, I could lay down four
>vocal parts on one JamMan...and then lay down the next two, three or four
>in the same basic tempo but on a different JamMan and with different
>harmonic and rythmic qualities.  I could let them groove for a bit (until
>that dangerous monotony starts threatening) and then pull out the first
>JamMan, leaving the second one to continue...You could hand the sections
>back and forth between Jammen that way...Just ideas...I can't wait until I
>actually have two to see what really happens....

Some people on the list are strong on that. I somehow could not handle it
and now my partner percussionist Bira Reis uses second Plex syncronized but
with independent multiple of bars. Its a broad field. We usually keep both
going and modifying. One can fade out while the other stays or one can stay
in a non rhithmic base while to other starts a new theme on a different
loop length where then the first can resynchronize to.
I keep learning about the necessary software to make this easy, too...

Loads of inspired loop chants!
Matthias