AW: musicianship for solo loopers? (was OT NINE INCH NAILS)

["Rainer Thelonius Balthasar Straschill" <rs@moinlabs.de>]

> So what are your thoughts regarding how you approach making 
> your solo looping gig more visually engaging?

A few thoughts in no particular order (without defining a clever and easy 
to
follow concept I might add):

*  As a looper, you have the advantage that the music keeps playing (or can
keep playing) even when you're not playing your instrument.

*  Adjusting parameters/settings on some kind of effects processor (which
includes a looper) can look very unappealing - see the following thoughts.

*  Someone adjusting parameters on a big synth with lots of knobs and an
immediately audible result for the audience can look cool (think somebody
tweaking knobs on a Waldorf Q while an arpeggiator pattern runs).

*  Diving through sub-menus on a multi-fx device always looks stupid.

*  This is only surpassed in its nerd factor by someone looking at a
computer screen and working with a mouse.

*  Using something like a kaoss pad is normally accepted by the audience.

*  Move around on stage. Make eye contact, more generally engage the
audience!

*  Play an instrument that looks cool.

*  If possible, try to create a relationship between the device-operating
things the audience sees you do and an immediate effect on the audio 
output.

*  Good lights and good video projections are good.

*  I would rather not have somebody sit in mainly for optical appeal - but
there may be exceptions to the rule.