Re: Backing tracks: A confession

[bill bigrig <billbigrig@yahoo.com>]

Howdy,

 I live in a cultural backwater too, (first, Lewis county, WA, now, Benton 
county, WA). Where's yours?

--- On Sun, 1/16/11, tEd ® KiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net> wrote:

> From: tEd ® KiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net>
> Subject: Re: Backing tracks: A confession
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Date: Sunday, January 16, 2011, 4:36 PM
> Hi there Mark,
> 
> Well if you were just playing to mere canned backing tracks
> (sort of in in effect a instrumental "guitar karaoke" thing)
> and doing covers of of other peoples' boring pop songs you
> might get a ribbing or two from some folks here.
> 
> But the conceptual use of looping as "backing tracks for
> something else doesn't bother me at all.
> 
> I've been on the list since early October of '96 (it began
> only a couple of months before that in June or July).
> 
> And while I have heard some people express minor
> disappointment from time to time here that so-and-so used
> "canned" loops as opposed to "real" live looping, it hasn't,
> as far as I know, really been a major axe to grind for
> hardly anybody.
> 
> I've been doing live tape-loop, analog and digitalL looping
> a long, long time.
> 
> But I have also been involved in so-called avant-garde
> music longer than I have ever been doing "normal" music.
> 
> In modern "art music" the concept of "music concrete" has
> enjoyed a long and wholly accepted tradition.
> 
> And, a little closer to mainstream, a good deal of Pink
> Floyd's recordings and performances would not be what they
> were if not for generous use of all sorts of pre-recorded
> material (most of which along the lines of "music concrete"
> or ambient/environmental sounds, or the signature cash
> register sounds of "Money").
> 
> At some point in the mid '80s I thought it would be cool to
> acquire a Roland sampling keyboard (even though I'm the
> worst keyboardist in the world) simply so I could perform
> with some longish canned loop samples from from various
> sources - along with my "live" looping.
> 
> I've been doing it all along.
> 
> After the arrival on the marketplace of various kinds of
> desktop "phrase" or "groove" sample players  (first
> from Akai then from Roland) I switched from the awkward
> keyboard hardware to that format to augment my live
> looping.
> 
> I never hid it, and I even sometimes brought that sort of
> setup to some of the early Y2K fests with no complaints from
> Rick.
> 
> Though I have largely NOT used canned loops for the past
> few years, I am about to begin doing it again in my MaxMSP
> laptop setup.
> 
> I have an eight track sample player in my new rig that can
> link to a folder with literally hundreds and hundreds of
> sound files in it and automatically pick and play a new
> random sound file every few seconds . . . or every tiny
> fraction of a second if I so chose.
> 
> I have all sorts of other controls over that content too,
> but that's beside the point.
> 
> Is it "music" . . . ?
> 
> Is it "live looping" . . . ?
> 
> Am I playing it like an instrument . . ?
> 
> I don't know but I sure the heck like mucking around with
> it and will continue to do so.
> 
> And let's face it, I (like yourself) am a guitar player.
> 
> Most of what I do with loops (canned or live) is to create
> a "context" for my primary mode of self-expression on my
> primary instrument.
> 
> I use and have always used those tools as "backing tracks"
> for my guitar playing when other "contexts" (a band of other
> musicians say) has not been available, or capable of
> providing a compatible one for me.
> 
> Though I like to perform with others (it does get lonely
> sometimes when you live in a cultural backwater) and will
> ditch the loops and do so at almost any opportunity that
> presents itself, I've always rather enjoyed being
> self-sufficient too.
> 
> I have never been ashamed of that.
> 
> I don't lay in my bed at night dreaming of different new
> ways to push buttons, and what those button pushes might
> do.
> 
> What I dream, if my dreams are musical at all, is about
> stuff I might play on the guitar.
> 
> If folks have a problem with that, it's their problem, not
> mine.
> 
> The Keller Williams mode of doing live looping is fine.
> 
> The "looper as another instrument itself" mode of thinking
> and working is just fine too.
> 
> But I'm with you on this (I think), I'm not really "there"
> in either of those ways of thinking about looping.
> 
> And I am certainly not "there" in being a purist as to
> what's live or not or what is a better way than another way
> or not.
> 
> Musically, it's all just stuff.
> 
> We do what we do.
> 
> Hopefully we'll keep doing it a little longer before the
> universe tells us to pack it in.
> 
> The point is, do you enjoy it?
> 
> Does it make your soul soar?
> 
> Anything that doesn't is a distraction or a waste of time.
> 
> Do what works for you, don't be ashamed of it or feel like
> you must make excuses for it.
> 
> Life's too short.
> 
> Tell the critics to get stuffed.
> 
> :-)
> 
> Ted
> 
>