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Looper's Delight
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Quoting buzap@gmx.net: > > Hi folks > > here is a topic I find quite controversial: > When doing live looping, do you find it uncool/immoral if you see > somebody performing with some pre-recorded loops? > Great question. For me, it depends on the "gig". In most cases, I've been asked to give a "theremin concert". Thus, I have the flexibility to perform with or without loops and with or without my own pre-recorded material. The theremin is, well... an inherently limited instrument, so to vary the texture makes for a more interesting set. Thus, I do some works that are: straight ahead without looping, live looping combined with non-looped pre-recorded tracks, and live looping without pre-recorded material. My pre-recorded material is quite elaborate -- along the lines of Wendy Carlos and is an artform unto itself. At the Y2K7 festival, I did ONLY live looping without pre-recorded material. And I do think that entirely live music-making has a quality -- a kind of excitement -- that is hard to achieve with pre-recording, thus my direction is to expand on live-without-accompaniment paradigm. The theremin offers some unique challenges along these lines because of tuning issues. To build a loop with a theremin requires that the initial note of the loop be EXACTLY on pitch and EXACTLY in rhythmn. Since the loop's harmony is built up from the initial note it simply HAS to be correct. This makes theremin-looping insanely stressful -- (trust me on this one!) :) However, I just don't want to drag a keyboard around with me -- plus the theremin is demanding -- it is really hard to "serve two masters" when one of them is a theremin. (Grrrrr....) The notion of making music without a keyboard, fretboard, or mouthpiece fits nicely into a theremin set. However, there are times I want to introduce something other than theremin into my music. I have been experimenting with a midi controller on which I can trigger notes from the controller and play them via a VST synth. This would enable me to play "critical notes" from a fixed tuning source as well as give the ear a break from the theremin sound. An alternative is to use a small synth (such as a CZ-101) that is lightweight however that throws me into a keyboard paradigm. Artistically, I am teetering between being a "thereminist who loops" and a "looper who plays theremin". I will apply to play at the Y2K8 loopfest and hope to present a set that extends some of the looping ideas that I used at Y2K7. And, of course, in the spirit of a "live looping festival" nothing will be pre-recorded (other than a tuning pitch or two at the start of each number). Incidentally, all of my work is in surround-sound -- though in many cases I have to mix it to stereo. Surround-sound and live looping seems to go hand-in-hand. But, that's a topic for another thread! Happy looping! -- Kevin http://kevinkissinger.com http://myspace.com/kkissinger