>(he could sway and move his body as his played, unlike a which is why man invented the keytar =D> Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 19:05:47 -0800 > From: looppool@cruzio.com > To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com > Subject: Re: nerds with toys > > Per Boysen wrote: > /*"For this reason I try to kick off certain looper comands from laptop > keys instead of instantly doing it "on the side" by a > floor pedal while playing a physical instrument up front. Just to add a > little laptop mangling to the show."*/ > > I have really thought a lot about how to make the live looping > experience more compelling for an audience as I have > seen some laptop loopers give fairly boring presentations of otherwise > beautiful music. > > One experience really shaped me in this, several years ago. > > When I first got into sampling (and would also, by the way, put velcro > on all the notes of my midi keyboard controller so > that I could velcro down a note which would loop as long as I wanted it > to) but before there were dedicated > digital live looping gear, I'd go home and put hours into > customizing my samples that I would play in concert. > > At the time I was playing gigs with a musician who played a wind synth > controller. This musician was a fantastic player but > was not concerned with creating custom patches or samples on his gear. > > I, myself, was fascinated by the sonic morphing capacity of my Akai S950 > sampler. I could repitch sounds, change their envelopes, etc.) > > But after all that work on creating unique sounds (this was the genesis > of my love affair with found objects as musical instruments) > at the end of the gig, people would swarm my wind synth playing friend > with a barrage of questions about his 'magical' instrument. > > At that point I realized that seeing me play the keyboard to trigger > those samples left the audience with no visceral perception of me > playing these unique sounds. Even though he never customized his > sounds (and even played pretty old fashioned 80's new age synth > sounds) the fact that he had this unusual looking and very physical > looking (he could sway and move his body as his played, unlike a > keyboardist) > was vastly more 'entertaining' to the audience. > > So when the late great Dr. Richard Zvonar made the point at the Y2K3 > Round Table discussion that the future of looping lay in the creation > of interesting new controllers, I agreed 100%. > > Modern audiences have been so inured to the fact that fairly canned > shows can be made with laptop computers, foot controllers, keyboards > and turntables > that the next place to go is creative theater presentation with more > kinaesthetically interesting controllers. > > Of course an instrument is a kinaesthetically interesting controller, > as it were and it is obvious that some people make that a visually > stimulating experience > while others can make it be a yawn producing experience. > > ****** > Now, after saying all of that, I think it's completely okay, as well, > for people to just make music that is interesting to listen to, > irregardless of the use > of 'theatrics' I myself, like to be entertaining, if possible > but it's perfectly okay if others are not so drawn to that approach. > > ****** > and just saying that reminded me, too, that I went and saw one of my > favorite abstract electronica acts, Autechre, for the very first time. > They had the sound of god and it was in 5.1 stereo all around the huge room. > They then turned off all the lights in the place (except emergency exits > and the lights of the bar at the rear of the room) so there was > nothing to look at. They even figure out how to cloak their laptops > so that you could not see even the glow of the screens on their faces > (how they did this, escapese me, but hell, I could see anything as was > their intent. > > Sonically it was one of the most interesting things I've heard. The > sound was awe inspiring. > > I got bored 2/3 of the way through and left early. My poor ADD > brain just needed something to look at. > Honestly, unless they change their tack, I won't pay money to go back > to see them. > > Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. Check it out. |