RE: computers suck creative energy

["greg williams" <gregorwilliams@comcast.net>]

This is a great thread which is very revealing. I personally find by
limiting my tools I can find more depth, strength, and of course immediacy
in the music. At the moment, I am only using acoustic guitar and delay
(including looping of course), no other instruments or effects. I find a
certain purity and consistency by only manipulating time - past, present,
future, nostalgia, etc - less stuff to fiddle with with my feet too, which 
I
find hard to do while playing. I'm not a very good multitasker.

A few years back I produced a CD of my old acid jazz band on PC using Sonic
Foundry's Acid and Cakewalk, incorporating loops and samples with live band
performances. I found the choices to be overwhelming. The production
occupied an OBSCENE amount of my time for eight months. At the time I was
focusing on a plethora of small sonic details and experimentation, yet when
I listen to the final result I am disappointed and all I hear are big broad
things that I should have caught, such as the fact that the drums are too
loud. Whatever.

Shortly after I bought a Tascam CDR recorder and I record straight to that
now with no possibility of remixing. This makes me happier and gives me 
more
time to play guitar and drink coffee.

~Greg Williams
www.myspace.com/gregwilliamsguitarist



-----Original Message-----
From: Glenn Poorman [mailto:glenn.poorman@autodesk.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 6:35 AM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: RE: computers suck creative energy

I think that getting side tracked by gear is a growing pain that will 
always
happen. Being somebody that likes certain types of sounds, I definitely 
went
through a searching phase putting my rig together and can admit that there
were times when the tech stuff was all consuming. But this should be
considered a transitional thing. I pretty much arrived at my current live
setup a good four or five years ago and haven't changed a thing since.

Studio is another story.

Glenn
www.detroitstick.com
www.121normal.com
www.coupdetroit.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Davignon [mailto:mattdavignon@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 2:26 PM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: computers suck creative energy

I dunno - I'm completely dependent on tone-mangling effects. However I
do see a trend with many electronic musicians where the lure of all
the technological doodads provides too much of a distraction from
actual musicmaking.

I saw a concert at CNMAT (Center for New Music and Technology) in
Berkeley last year that was a textbook case in this. The individual
had set up 6 gestural controllers in his violin, so that his computer
was changing and sampling the music he was playing in real time based
on the velocity and angle of the bow, the angle of the violin, the
pressure on the bow hair, etc. The resulting sound was a technological
marvel,  but lacked any appeal beyond the "ooh - gadgets" factor.

For the same reason, I've learned over the years to not be swayed by
the 'wowness' of new gear. I make an effort to only use electronics
that are directly productive, and that I have a good amount of control
over. I also have to keep an eye on myself, so I can rein it in when
I'm making too much of a sonic mess.

I've noticed lately that some of the best 'weird' music that I listen
to isn't completely made of 'as weird as possible' sounds. A lot of
them also have some untreated instrumentation too. (I love the use of
marimba on some of Coil's recent albums.) That's another thing I've
been trying to take to heart, sort of like building a context by
including that sort of variety and dynamic.

Matt Davignon
www.ribosomemusic.com

On Nov 27, 2007 9:00 PM, Krispen Hartung <khartung@cableone.net> wrote:
>
>
> It's liberating isn't it?  For the last month, I have been looping with
just
> my clean jazz guitar sound, and my max/msp looper. I have been
concentrating
> on what I can do with just my instrument without the aid of tone mangling
> effects, just the tone of the guitar and the power of the looper and its
> features. It occured to me how easy it is (at least for me) to make 
>decent
> sounding music with loads of effects as a artistic crutch...a few lush
> ambient fripp like patches, some long delays and modulation, granular
> synthesis, layers of effects and pitch, etc. After a while, my primary
> instrument is overshadowed, the love of my music life that has been with
me
> for  28 years. I find it much more interesting and challenging to work
with
> just my guitar tone now, and see what limits I can push, what boundaries 
>I
> can leap without the aid of the all so seductive tone mangling effect
> crutch.  :)  We'll see where this goes....
>
> Kris
>
>
>