Re:Newbie question; the live approach

["Per Boysen" <per@boysen.se>]

 > Chris Olden wrote:
> >  I wanted to ask the listers about their approach to  looping in a
> >live setting.

To me, being on stage with a looping rig is like "being a teacher instead 
of
a being a writer". I mean, you have to let people see what you are doing,
not simply letting them hear sounds from the PA system. Traditional
instruments like guitar, sax and voice are already visual enough, but you
can do a lot to enhance performance values of other, more discrete, sounds
sources you are using.  So instead of using a CD player connected to my
looping rig I prefer to keep sounds on cassettes and use a small portable
cassette tape player to bring those sounds into the rig. If I'm "playing" 
an
electric guitar I'll simply hold the tape machine close to the pickups and
if I'm "playing" the saxophone I would bring the tape machines little
speaker up close to the mic.

But of course there is also this other concept where you want random to 
play
a big part besides musicians jamming. I would rather call this "an
installation"  than a "performance". I've done this only a little and hope
to get the opportunity for more "sound installation gigs". In this scenario
microphones hidden out among the audience are also going into the loops. So
if someone is saying "what the hell does this guy think he's doing" while
I'm in record mode on the EDP or Repeater - that spoken line will as well
start looping back. Sound leakage and overhearing between microphones can
also start off cool things while passing through delay lines or picking up
room ambience. If you leave a "sound on sound" loop for a long time it 
picks
up the "voice of the room" when certain frequencies, that are more heavily
reflected in that room, start to take over. I once put two tape recorders
with a several meters long tape loop in an art gallerie and after some 
three
hours they started howling like a bunch of tortured ghosts - until the 
owner
ran out an disconncted everything ;->  ("scaring customers from looking at
the art")

/per boysen