Re: replacing parts of loops

[cstecker@cogsci.berkeley.edu (Chris Stecker)]

I use this technique quite a bit.  I'm usually looping electronic (analog
synths) or processed speech (samples or a live mic).  The music is usually
big and noisy, which is fine with me, and one nice way to bring it all down
with a real edgy feel is to replace sections of the loop with new, sonorous
material. (I prefer silence or a nice soft drone as the new material).  On
my Ibanez DD200, I turn "hold" on and of with a pedal, and with my
echoplex, of course, I use Insert in rpl mode.  The insertions are usually
quite short, and I time them as randomly as possible.  There comes a point
where enough of the old loop has been replaced that the remainder
re-organizes itself perceptually into a rhythmic sequence of short "spurts"
of the original material appearing in silence or from that nice, even
drone.  Often, one section or another of the new, rhythmic loop will have a
better groove than the entire thing, and I'll use multiply-record to nab
just that chunk, and then I've got a nice rhythmic beat to build something
new upon.  When you listen to a voice become a mass of swirling voices,
then a giant cloud of noise, and then finally that same sound becomes an
electronic beat, it's pretty astounding.  That's why it's one of my
favorite things to do.  (It's also real handy when the rest of the band
just doesn't have the same appreciation for your 25-second looping
masterpiece, and you need something new for them to groove to.)


___________________________________________________________________________

Chris Stecker

cstecker@cogsci.berkeley.edu

Graduate Student, Psychoacoustics
3210 Tolman Hall, #1650
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-1650

Auditory Lab, B-50 Tolman Hall, (510)642-5352   http://ear.berkeley.edu

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