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Looper's Delight
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I'll bite. I don't have a problem with people using pre-recorded material such as triggered samples and such, as long as it's something that's being played as an instrument. I'm not too fond of people who either 1) Put their backing tracks on a cd or computer, and play only the 'lead' tracks in their show or 2) Use pre-recorded loops or drum machine rhythms for the background. I've got 4 reasons. The biggest one is that pre-recorded tracks usually sound like training wheels to me - as if the musician doesn't feel capable of creating interesting music by themselves in real time, so they need something that will keep the flow going automatically. There's a traditional thinking that all music should contain a 'rhythm section' (bass, drums, etc). Not true! In most of the live music I hear with canned rhythm, the rhythm is something my ears try to 'hear around' or tune out. I'm really there to hear the musician make sounds. If the music is a little more sparse for the lack of a standard element, let it be sparse! It's more unique that way. The next 2 reasons are more personal. As a frequenter of improvised music shows, I've become fond of the idea that I'm witnessing a creative process. My favorite live music is completely free-improvised, but even if someone is playing something they've already written, there's usually variation in the way they do it. When you're using a fixed recording, it takes that much variation and creative process away. That percentage is not you creating on stage, but reliving a previous creative moment, and that's what listening to cd's is for. Lastly, I personally believe that live shows and recorded cd's are art forms as different as film and theatre. Like an actor, part of a musician's development is either learning to do both well, or learning to focus on one or the other. Live shows don't often make good cd's (except for some classical music and a few cases of classic rock and jazz), and attempts to recreate a studio recording in a live environment don't make terribly interesting live shows for me. Though I admit it's weird for me to be the guy thinking "turn off the drum machine!" Matt www.ribosomemusic.com qua@oregon.com <qua@oregon.com> went: > I don't understand the problem some folks have with artists using bits of > pre-recorded material in their live or recorded presentations. e.g. > triggering a found sound you've recorded, or a sound you designed, or >even > a loop you just recorded, or a video or backing track you've prepared. If > this bothers you, please elaborate... seriously, I'd like to know more > about your why you feel this way. > > -Qua >