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Re: Rafa's One Man Band (Live Looping w/ Ableton ScreenGrabs
Per, I hadn't read that article before (it's a good one), but I have been working on a somewhat similar technique partly inspired by your chat about the Chapman on the Mobius page.
I was messing about with stacked 5ths when it occurred to me to stack them from tertial chord tones with each stack on a different track.
Thinking in Cm, on track one I record a rhythmic loop using just C G and D.
Track 2 gets the same pattern, but the notes are Eb, Bb and F.
Track 3 gets the same again with G, D and A.
Now I've got a nice C Dorian thing happening and if I shift track 2 up a semitone, it goes Lydian.
Adding a shift up of one tone to track 3 can be an Em Dorian, and so on.
The intent was to get away from that mono-chordal looping trap, but still be able to get nice voice leading with fairly radical changes in tonality. It also has the advantage that the rythmic loops for the whole tune can be laid down in 3 measures.
I'm still quite new to this looping game. Most of the time I do freelance 'cocktail jazz' gigs to pay the rent. I've been trying to integrate looping into a trio where the other guys aren't quite so bent on looping as I am, and it's tricky to find a balance where the drummer doesn't feel like he's stuck playing to a click. Then, with the changing tonalities using this technique you need to get the bass player aware of his own possibilities -there can be several roots these stacks, so we need to jam it out a bit and explore.
As an experiment, I wrote 'Akira's Tune', which we played a few weeks ago. We'd only banged it around in one rehearsal before the gig, but took a flier on it to see what would happen. The bass player has recently begun to play cello, so he chose that for this tune on the gig. I apologize it takes so long to get it off the ground and there are some pretty dead spots in the middle where we're all floundering, but I can at least find some encouragement in there that the method is worth pursuing.
In the first few minutes, I'm laying down a background of 3 additional tracks that are routed to the same 3 pitch shifters, so that the ethereal stuff changes key with the rhythmic loops that are added later.
These first loops are restricted to the same 3 note sets on each track. If you play anything else on them it can get pretty ugly later -hence, the somewhat tentative beginnings.
I'd appreciate any comments or criticism on the idea --heh, I'm already aware the performance leaves a great deal to be desired!
Akira's_Tune_23rd_mix110510-2.mp3
Keith
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Rafael Nunes
<supersimples@gmail.com> wrote:
Per,Great video, as usual. Yea I think the focus should on striking that balance between art, performance and entertainment. I enjoy composing live, creating beats and arrangements, then keeping one layer rolling while I start a new song. At the end of one song, I'll switch whichever loop I want to use as a transition into no tempo control, no song control, with a long delay or verb. I quickly press stop in the arrangement section, letting the layer I'm using as a transition play alone, then recording a new loop to use as a clock foundation, and eventually fading the transition loop out. I'll record an improv video this week, where I don't plan on anything beforehand, and create a jam vehicle type arrangement, for me to solo over, on keys and guitar. This discussion is great btw, thank you guys!
Rafa
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 8:21 AM, Matt Stevens
<mattstevensguitar@btinternet.com> wrote:
Thats clever
On 11 May 2010, at 16:10, Per Boysen wrote:
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 4:50 PM, Matt Stevens
structure is a problem with looping
Doesn't have to be. You can very well use a looper like the EDP or
Mobius where you can stack up as many alternative loops for
"structure". I tend to agree with Rafael that the challenge rather is
to find a performance strategy that doesn't bore the audience. Reyn's
posted videos give a good example that this is possible. A while back
I posted a tutorial video for two different techniques to perform a
multi chord progression song with looper and one source sound
instrument (not the "one-man-band" approach):
Greetings from Sweden
Per Boysen
--
Keith Smith -Guitar
Keith Smith Trio -Afterthought
www.keithsmith.cahttp://www.plungerecords.com/
http://cdbaby.com/cd/keithsmithtrioNorthern Lights – Altai Khangai
The 35th Anniversary Project
http://www.nl4tet.ca/