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Looper's Delight
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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 _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com