Re: [LOOP] Using pre-recorded material in performance

[burnett@pobox.com]

On Sat, 7 Aug 2004, Travis Hartnett wrote:

> I'm curious as to how many people are using some form of pre-recorded 
> material when they play out, and what the audience response has been.  
> I know that some people assume that I'm playing over backing tracks 
> from a CD or something similar when I play (I don't), but I've never 
> heard anything negative from them about that idea (maybe the ones who 
> disapprove just don't talk to me).  They're always a bit surprised when 
> I explain how it's all Live Looping, and sometimes I'll do a tune 
> that's a combination performance and talked-through demonstration on 
> how it works.  A friend of mine has been doing open mics recently, 
> playing live guitar over a CD-R of backing tracks that he'd recorded 
> (he's got a Johnson amp simulator, a Tascam CD player and a little 
> mixer all mounted on a music stand when he plays, so it's just one 
> cable out to the sound guy), and the musician's union has yet to bust 
> him (joke), and it aroused my curiousity as to how widespread this sort 
> of thing is outside karaoke bars.
> 
> TravisH

I don't use anything pre-recorded myself. Some of the people I've 
played with like using CDs or other sources of sound effects, chants, or 
environmental noises as background layers. 

I will confess to keeping a loop from the most recent practice session in 
the RC-20 or Z-Vex Lo-Fi Loop Junky when going to a show. I keep that 
loop around for emergencies: if something goes wrong I can trigger that 
loop (assuming it fits what I/we're doing at the time), and swap 
instruments, replace a bad cable, or take five seconds to recover my 
derailed brain and get back into playing. I don't think I've ever used it, 
but it's insurance. 

My preference towards live performance looping extends to the placement 
of my loopers in my signal chain - they're all at the end, just before 
the amp. I've tried using a looper at the beginning of the signal chain, 
capturing the unmodified sound of my instrument (Chapman Stick or 
theremin), but I just don't seem to have as much fun tweaking the effects 
to modify the saved raw sample as when I'm modifying what I'm playing 
live, then capturing the effected result and looping that. I hope that 
this ramble made some kind of sense. 

best,
Steve B
Phasmatodea      http://www.phasmatodea.net/
Subscape Annex   http://www.subscapeannex.com/