Re: Turn All That S**t Off

["max valentino" <ekstasis1@hotmail.com>]

Hi gang.....
In regards to this whole thread about "Live vs. Recorded", I tend to not 
look at my looping machines as recorders...or machines, for that matter, 
but 
as instruments in their own right.  Musical instruments that require an 
outside sound source. I got into looping due to a penchant for audio as an 
art form. Personally, using computers, tape reels, pre-recorded bits, 
sequenced tracks, audio loops, or vats of marmalade makes no difference as 
long as the result is creative.
Yet, in  a performance, there is that beast known as the audience. I do 
not 
wish to sound elitist or condescending, but most audiences (and I will 
stress the most...or maybe a few less than most) don't recognize or 
appreciate challenging music. It is not their fault. It is their 
conditioning. Being spoon fed MTV, VH1 etc. and all the trappings of 
"entertainment" and "show biz". In our society music is thought of as an 
entertainment source.....and shallow, banal, homogenized sounds fill the 
critera of musical entertainment if they are dressed up with enough glitz 
and colored lights (or even spandex and blow dryers).  As performers we 
must 
recognize that part of what we do is entertainment.....but as artist we 
can 
use that "entertainment factor" to expose the general public to new forms 
of 
expression.....and even new technology.
A big part of the general audience really hates when musicians use 
prerecorded tracks. That has been my experience.  It is not the technology 
used really...but that it is canned.  They feel they are somehow being 
cheated.  Another part is completely oblivious to tracks being used. And 
most just don't care, as long as the show sounds like the CD. They have 
come 
to expect a live performance to be exactly like a recorded one (partly due 
to the fact that many live performances are recorded 
performances....someone 
was talking about the superbowl?) Really, that's not bad....it is merely 
entertainment; show biz.  Like going to see an action movie....escapist 
entertainment, dazzling effects...but a lasting piece of art?
But "playing" recordings, as opposed to "playing to recordings"...that can 
be both entertaining and artistically fulfilling. And that what, IMHO, 
looping is all about.
In my performances, I have found that doing something gives the audience 
their entertainment factor. Using sequences may have superior sonic 
results, 
but creating loops live and onstage, factors in the risk element, 
demonstrates a manual operation of sorts.....and really pushes the 
audience 
to accept and understand more.
In the past year I have spoke to audiences at my shows who originally 
asked 
"so all of that is recorded?" to now being very curious of how all that 
sound comes from a bass. Thusly, they become more accepting of this new 
form, and they become more accepting of challenging musical ideas. And 
this 
happens very quickly....in the period of one 45min. set, I have seen (and 
felt) audience reactions change from being hestitant (even openly opposed 
to) the entire concept of using loops and digital fx, to being quite 
engaged 
in the performance (and openly excited by the challenges the performer has 
placed on them). And that is a very wonderful experience.
That taught me that the same "genaral public" I spoke of, while they are 
spoon fed all of this homogenized "entertainment", wants to be challenged. 
 
We tend, as artist, to sometimes not expect too much from our audience, 
but 
maybe we, as artist, should expect more.
oh....that's a bit more than two cents.
Max Valentino




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